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Instrument
v50.15 · v0.47.05 This article is about the current version of DF.Note that some content may still need to be updated. |
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An instrument ¿ is a procedurally-generated item used by performers for making music in taverns and temples.
Instruments come in four types, defined by the skill necessary for playing one: keyboard, stringed, wind, and percussion. Some instruments are made in a single step like other finished goods, however many instruments are assembled from multiple individual components. For example, a bell might be one-piece, but a pipe organ would have a keyboard, pipes, bellows, and a body to support it all.
Instruments can be either small enough to be hand-held by a dwarf or so large that they are considered "stationary". Stationary instruments are built from the furniture menu with the b-f-i command. Hand-held instruments can be carried around by dwarves or placed in coffers in taverns or temples, where they can be used for performances.
Instrument names[edit]
There are no standardized instruments or names for them, nor are there intended to be. For any new game, specific instruments are semi-randomly generated at world generation (both their names and the details of any components they are built of), and are usually specific to each civilization. So, the stone triangle your dwarves have in this fortress will almost certainly not be the stone triangle you have in the next fortress, nor the one that other civilizations have either (and so attempting to look up specific instrument names in the DwarfFortressWiki Search will not give any useful information). This can make remembering the various instruments a challenge - a notepad or equivalent may be handy.
Traders may bring individual components for other instruments from their civilizations, but you will be unable to assemble them into instruments unless your dwarves have the necessary knowledge for that specific instrument. In theory, a dwarf can play any instrument if it is complete (but see "usage", below – they may never want/need to).
In order to find out what instruments are available to your fortress, start by going to any craftsdwarf's workshop and look under the Add new task / Make instrument (piece) section. It will show most of the available instruments, either as a whole instrument or some individual component. Choosing then to select a specific "material" will give you an idea what sort of material the instrument (or that part) is made from, a further clue to what sort of instrument it may be. Many instruments require multiple components, often made at other workshops, which then must be assembled at the craftsdwarf's workshop. Go to the other 5 workshops (listed below) for additional instruments and/or parts.
Selecting and examining an actual individual instrument (the item, not the job listing in a workshop) will show a detailed description and material(s) required.
Usage[edit]
Dwarves will use instruments in taverns or temples only if they know a particular song or dance that requires their use. If you see a dwarf with the job status "Simulate <*instrument name*>" then the dwarf would use that instrument if it were available. Note that due to a bug, musical compositions known to civilizations will use instruments from all civilizations of the same type. As a result, the more dwarven civilizations you have in your world, the less likely your citizens are make use of instruments that you have produced yourself or have purchased from your civilization’s caravan.
Construction[edit]
Any instruments with a single component can be made directly. More complex ones require each instrument piece to first be made separately and then assembled into the final instrument. The option associated with them is "assemble <*instrument*>". Make a note of the name of the instrument and enter the work orders screen with o. Clicking the button to create a new work order and typing the name of the instrument in the search box will show all the pieces required (possibly from other workshops). Single-piece instruments created at other workshops will not be listed in the craftsdwarf's shop; those can be found by checking the potential workshops or scrolling through possible jobs (by specific instrument name) in the work orders screen.
During a strange mood, dwarves may create instruments which use improper materials and/or do not include the required components (e.g. a metal-bells-on-a-glass-stand instrument made from wood with spikes of leather).
Components[edit]
Many of the instruments/components are made in craftsdwarf's workshops b-o-r, however certain types of instruments or components may only be created in more specialized workshops:
- carpenter's workshop b-o-p for wood instruments/components
- glass furnace b-o-u-g for glass instruments/components
- kiln b-o-u-k for ceramic instruments/components
- leather works b-o-l-l for leather instruments/components
- stoneworker's workshop b-o-t for stone instruments/components
- metalsmith's forge b-o-i for metal instruments/components
Instruments and their components can be made out of a variety of materials, including wood, bone, shell, stone, silk thread, plant fiber thread, glass, ceramics, metal, or leather. Out of those, thread and leather can only be used for components, not for a full instrument.
The details menu can be used to select the specific material for most instruments and components. However, ceramic and glass instrument jobs do not yet support the details menu; the potter will choose the material for ceramic instruments at random, and all glass instruments made in your fortress will be from green glass (although caravans can bring glass instruments or instrument parts made out of other types of glass). Assembling the instrument after all the components are finished is performed in a craftsdwarf's workshop, and the skill needed to assemble it is defined by the material of the "main" part of the instrument (see "Components", below).
Below are tables of parts that instruments can have and what materials they may require. It should be noted that, for a given world, only one material type is possible for each specific component. Thus, if a given instrument uses a metal keyboard material, it cannot be made using any other materials. Shell is only rarely chosen as a material.
A completely assembled instrument has a very high base item value (50). The quality of the overall item is determined by the quality of the "main" part of the instrument, from which the instrument takes its description, e.g. a superior quality black bronze stelid'. The main part also determines which skill is used to assemble the instrument (bonecarving, glassmaking, leatherworking, metalcrafting, pottery, stonecrafting or woodcrafting). Main parts are designated by an asterisk (*) in the table below.
Keyboard 
[edit]
| Part | Component name | Materials | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Silk | Plant Thread | Leather | Wood | Bone | Ceramic | Metal | Glass | Stone | Shell | ||
| Keyboard | Keyboard | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |||
| Body* | Console | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |||
| Chest | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||||
| Body | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||||
| Case | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||||
| Vib | Strings | Y | Y | Y | |||||||
| Bells | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||||
| Pipes | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||||
| Bellows | Pump | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |||
| Bellows | Y | ||||||||||
Stringed 
[edit]
| Part | Component name | Materials | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Silk | Plant Thread | Leather | Wood | Bone | Ceramic | Metal | Glass | Stone | Shell | ||
| Neck | Neck | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |||
| Frame* | Frame | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |||
| Body* | Body | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |||
| Sound-chest | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||||
| Yoke | Yoke | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |||
| Strings | Strings | Y | Y | Y | |||||||
| Prod | Bow | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |||
| Plectrum | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||||
| Hammers | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||||
| Neck_res | Neck bowl | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |||
Wind 
[edit]
| Part | Component name | Materials | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leather | Wood | Bone | Ceramic | Metal | Glass | Stone | Shell | ||
| Blow | Blowpipe | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
| Bellows | Y | ||||||||
| Bag* | Bag | Y | |||||||
| Melody | Melody pipe | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
| Drone | Drone pipe | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
| Body* | Body | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
| Wind-Chest | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||
| Pipes* | Pipes | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
| Horns* | Horn | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
Percussion 
[edit]
| Part | Component name | Materials | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leather | Wood | Bone | Ceramic | Metal | Glass | Stone | Shell | ||
| Stand | Stand | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
| Body* | Drum | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
| Chime | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||
| Block | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||
| Bowl | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||
| Triangle | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||
| Bell | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||
| Bar | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||
| Ring | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||
| Head | Head | Y | |||||||
| Mallet | Mallet | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
| Hammer | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||
| Stick | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||
- * refers to the "main" part of the instrument - see explanation, above.
Realism[edit]
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Due to the procedurally-generated nature of the instruments, it can be expected to see some resemblance to certain real-world instruments such as organs, as many large stationary instruments will include metal pipes and various keyboards as components. It should also be noted that dwarven ingenuity can create instruments that could not be considered playable in the real world, such as the Kat: a small hand-held percussion instrument consisting of a metal block. The "musician" shakes the block. The instrument has a single high pitch.
Due to the block's only means of producing this high pitch being the displacement of air as it is shaken, it can be inferred that the dwarf shakes the block at several kHz, providing a great source of strength and endurance based cross-training for military dwarves.
Single-part instrument - example raws (as extracted from world.dat) |
|---|
item_layer
[OBJECT:ITEM]
[ITEM_INSTRUMENT:ENT51_INW2]
[GENERATED]
[SOURCE_ENID:51]
[NAME:ushlub:ushlub]
[VALUE:50]
[SIZE:19000]
[MATERIAL_SIZE:3]
[BONE_MAT]
[SOUND_PRODUCTION:BLOW_AGAINST_FIPPLE:SELF]
[PITCH_CHOICE:STOPPING_HOLE_KEY:SELF]
[VOLUME_mB:0:10000]
[PITCH_RANGE:-1650:2350]
[TIMBRE:NOISY:FULL:DARK]
[MUSIC_SKILL:PLAY_WIND_INSTRUMENT]
[DESCRIPTION:The ushlub is a mid-size hand-held cylindrical bore bone wind instrument with a flared bell. The musician blows into the fipple at one end. The musician selects the pitch by pressing keys to stop holes. The instrument has a three-octave range going from a mid-low to a high pitch. The instrument has a noisy full dark timbre.]
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Multi-part instrument - example raws (as extracted from world.dat) |
|---|
item_layer
[OBJECT:ITEM]
[ITEM_TOOL:ENT51_INS1_BODY]
[GENERATED]
[SOURCE_ENID:51]
[NO_DEFAULT_JOB]
[INCOMPLETE_ITEM]
[UNIMPROVABLE]
[NAME:etes body:etes bodies]
[VALUE:10]
[METAL_MAT]
[TILE:155]
[UNIMPROVABLE]
[SIZE:34200]
[MATERIAL_SIZE:3]
[DESCRIPTION:The etes body of the instrument vibrates with strings, producing sound.]
item_layer
[OBJECT:ITEM]
[ITEM_TOOL:ENT51_INS1_STRINGS]
[GENERATED]
[SOURCE_ENID:51]
[NO_DEFAULT_JOB]
[INCOMPLETE_ITEM]
[UNIMPROVABLE]
[NAME:etes strings:etes strings]
[VALUE:10]
[METAL_MAT]
[TILE:155]
[UNIMPROVABLE]
[SIZE:1800]
[MATERIAL_SIZE:3]
[DESCRIPTION:The etes strings vibrate, causing the instrument to produe sound.]
item_layer
[OBJECT:ITEM]
[ITEM_TOOL:ENT51_INS1_PROD]
[GENERATED]
[SOURCE_ENID:51]
[NO_DEFAULT_JOB]
[INCOMPLETE_ITEM]
[UNIMPROVABLE]
[NAME:etes bow:etes bows]
[VALUE:10]
[WOOD_MAT]
[TILE:155]
[UNIMPROVABLE]
[SIZE:2000]
[MATERIAL_SIZE:3]
[DESCRIPTION:The etes bow is drawn across the strings of the instrument.]
item_layer
[OBJECT:ITEM]
[ITEM_INSTRUMENT:ENT51_INS1]
[GENERATED]
[SOURCE_ENID:51]
[NAME:etes:etes]
[VALUE:50]
[SIZE:36000]
[DOMINANT_MATERIAL_PIECE:BODY]
[INSTRUMENT_PIECE:BODY:ENT51_INS1_BODY:body:bodies:STANDARD]
[INSTRUMENT_PIECE:STRINGS:ENT51_INS1_STRINGS:strings:strings:ALWAYS_PLURAL]
[INSTRUMENT_PIECE:PROD:ENT51_INS1_PROD:bow:bows:STANDARD]
[VOLUME_mB:0:10000]
[SOUND_PRODUCTION:BOWED:PROD:STRINGS]
[PITCH_CHOICE:SUBPART_CHOICE:STRINGS]
[PITCH_RANGE:-3240:3360]
[TUNING:PEGS:STRINGS]
[TIMBRE:VIBRATING:BRITTLE:STRIDENT]
[MUSIC_SKILL:PLAY_STRINGED_INSTRUMENT]
[DESCRIPTION:The etes is a large hand-held metal-stringed instrument with a metal body. The instrument rests flat as the musician plays the fifty-six main strings with a wooden bow. A drone string is occasionally plucked. Tuning is accomplished by pegs. The instrument has a five-and-a-half octave range going from a very low to a very high pitch. The instrument has a vibrating brittle strident timbre.]
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