Offbeat

Offbeat puts you in the role of a jobbing composer in 198X. Starting with a tiger-shaped toy keyboard and a Sequence-O-Matic 4-track bought by your uncle from a shady pub regular, you take commissions, compose music, earn money and build a sound of your own.

Commissions and equipment

Your early jobs include recording tracks for weddings, workout videos and corporate presentations. As your reputation grows, you are asked to score fantasy movies, museum openings and other projects. You spend your earnings on sound-making equipment from the Riches & Rags Catalogue, then visit Electric Lacey to upgrade and modify it. The catalogue ranges from singing garden gnomes and shredders that shred sound as well as paper to high-end synthesisers and musical effects.

Making music

The instruments are fully simulated, and the music you record is real. Offbeat is also an audio production tool, designed as a playful, low-pressure way to learn the basics of audio production. As you experiment and express yourself, you learn about synthesizers, sound design, composition and recording.

Chapters and tracks

You play through chapters themed around different styles of electronic music and meet a range of unusual characters. Each piece of music you create is exported to your computer as a WAV file, which you can use however you want or share with friends and others.