Music Tracks
The term Music Tracks refers to the background music played while Starbound is running. Different from Music, music tracks automatically play regardless of whether an instrument is being used, and they can be muted by setting the Music setting to 0.
Contents
Choosing a Track
Depending on the state of the game at a given moment, the game can choose to play one of several tracks.
Certain situations, such as the title screen, zones within instanced areas (including Missions), and some cinematics, only allow one track to be played. In these cases, the one track will usually be played on a repeating loop until the situation changes such that a different track is required.
Other situations, however, allow more than one track to be played. In these cases, the next track is chosen randomly out of all allowed tracks and played once. A track may be interrupted if the situation changes such that the currently-played track is no longer allowed - in this case, the current track will stop abruptly, and a track allowed by the new situation will begin to play.
List of Tracks
Music Tracks
Below is a list of the names of all 71 music tracks present in the assets. Most, but not all, of these tracks can be heard at some point or another during normal gameplay.
- Accretion Disc - used at the end of the Miniknog Stronghold mission
- Arctic Battle 1 - used in the second half of the intro mission and the Miniknog Stronghold mission
- Arctic Battle 2 - used in the Dreadwing the Penguin and Shockhopper MK I encounters
- Arctic Battle 3 - used in the Asra Nox and Big Ape boss encounters
- Arctic Constellation 1
- Arctic Constellation 2
- Arctic Exploration 1
- Arctic Exploration 2
- Atlas
- Atlas 8-bit - used in the visual novel arcade Space Encounter
- Blue Straggler
- Body Electric - used in Electric Vaults
- Casiopeia - used in the Great Sovereign Temple
- Crystal Battle 1 - used on the Ruin's surface
- Crystal Exploration 1 - used before the Shockhopper MK I encounter
- Crystal Exploration 2 - used in the cinematic played before opening the Ark
- Cygnus X1
- Dead or Alive - used in planetary criminal encounters as part of Bounty quests; added in 1.4
- Desert Battle 2 - not used in normal gameplay
- Desert Exploration 1
- Desert Exploration 2 - used in Tech obstacle courses
- Drosera - used in Poison Vaults
- Epsilon Indi
- Eridanus Supervoid
- Error 0xbfaf000
- Europa
- Event Horizon - used in the Challenge Rooms, the Baron's Keep battle and the second Arena fight
- Forest Battle 2 - used in the Heart of the Ruin boss encounter
- Forest - not used in normal gameplay
- Forsaken Grotto
- Gravitational Collapse - not used in normal gameplay
- Gravitational Collapse (Loop) - used in the Erchius Horror, Ixodoom, Kluex Avatar and Bone Dragon boss encounters and the first Arena fight
- Haiku
- Home (Concept) - not used in normal gameplay
- Horsehead Nebula
- Housecleaning - used in virtual reality criminal encounters, bounty missions, and the Dantalion mission as part of Bounty quests; added in 1.4
- Hymn to the Stars
- Impact Event - used in the Ancient Vault boss encounters and the third Arena fight
- Inviolate
- I Was the Sun - used in all Arena missions before and after the fights
- Jupiter - used in Player Space Stations
- Large Magellanic Cloud
- Lava Exploration 1 - used in hostile NPC Ships and Space Encounters
- Lava Exploration 2 - used in Ceremonial Hunting Caverns and Fire Vaults
- M54
- Mercury - used in the cinematic played after defeating the Ruin
- Mira
- Nomads
- Ocean Battle 1 - used in the Erchius Mining Facility
- Ocean Exploration 2 - not used in normal gameplay
- On the Beach at Night
- Planetarium - used as in the first half of the intro mission as well as in the Outpost and Koichi's Museum
- Procyon
- Psyche
- Scorian Flow - not used in normal gameplay
- Stellar Acclimation - used in the credits cinematic played after defeating the Ruin
- Stellar Formation
- Swansong - used in the Swansong bossfight; added in 1.4
- Temple of Kluex - used near the Ark, on Ancient Gateway celestial objects, and near Ancient Gates on Garden planets
- Tentacle Battle 1 - not used in normal gameplay
- Tentacle Exploration 1 - not used in normal gameplay
- The Apex - used in Ice Vaults
- The Deep - used in the Grand Pagoda Library
- The Eternal Tide - used in the cinematic played upon first meeting Esther Bright near the Ark
- The Peacekeepers - used in Peacekeeper Stations; added in 1.4
- Title Menu Music - current title screen and menu music
- Title Theme (Concept - Old) - not used in normal gameplay
- Tranquility Base - used in friendly NPC Ships and NPC Space Stations
- Ultramarine
- Ultramarine (Loop) - not used in normal gameplay
- Vast Immortal Suns
Object Tracks
These tracks exist in the game assets, but are instead categorized as sound effects - they do not play as background music, but are instead assigned to an object that acts as music source.
- Clubdecks 1 - used by Club Decks
- Clubdecks 2 - not used in normal gameplay
- Dancebound - used by Dance-Dance Machine
- Gramophone - used by Frontier Gramophone, based on I Was the Sun
- Honky Riff - used by Saloon Piano, based on Starbound Leitmotif
- Hylotl Radio - used by Traditional Radio, based on The Deep
- Jukebox - used by Protectorate Radio and Jukebox, based on Title Theme (Concept - Old)
- Jungle Love All - used by Standard Issue Turntable
- Music Box 1 - not used in normal gameplay, based on Starbound Leitmotif
- Music Box 2 - used by Decorated Music Box, based on Atlas
Experimental/Unused/Removed Tracks
These tracks were composed as part of the Starbound soundtrack, but are not currently present in the game assets in any form.
- Forest Battle 1
- Forest Exploration 1
- Forest Exploration 2
- Glacial Horizon
- Ocean Exploration 1
- Tentacle Exploration 2
- Via Aurora
Music Track Groups
Many music tracks can contain shared melodies or play in the same situations as other tracks; thus, it is useful to organize tracks into track groups which include all valid tracks for a certain situation.
Two very common situations are day-time and night-time on planets. Many biomes and layers use the same two sets of tracks for these two times of day.
Starbound Leitmotif
These tracks and sound effects include a characteristic, recurring tune.
- Honky Riff - used by Saloon Piano
- Jupiter - first appears at 1:27
- Music Box 1 - not used in normal gameplay
- On the Beach at Night - first appears at 0:12
- Poptop Sing - whistled by Poptops
- Title Menu Music - first appears at 8:52
- Vast Immortal Suns - first appears at 2:49
- The Peacekeepers - first appears at 1:53
Other Musical References
- Stellar Acclimation - is a remix of the track Stellar Formation.
- Swansong - is a remix of the track Forest Battle 2.
Day Tracks
These tracks have a chance of playing in most areas during the day on a planet.
- Epsilon Indi
- Hymn to the Stars
- Procyon
- Stellar Formation
- Vast Immortal Suns
- Atlas
- Blue Straggler
- Cygnus X1
- Europa
- Haiku
- M54
- On the Beach at Night
Night Tracks
These tracks have a chance of playing in most areas during the night on a planet.
- Jupiter
- Arctic Constellation 1
- Arctic Constellation 2
- Mercury
- Mira
- Procyon
- Tranquility Base
- Psyche
- Accretion Disc
- Cygnus X1
- Eridanus Supervoid
- Horsehead Nebula
- Large Magellanic Cloud
- M54
- Nomads
- On the Beach at Night
Boss/Mission/Encounter Tracks
- Arctic Battle 1 - used in the second half of the intro mission and the Miniknog Stronghold mission
- Arctic Battle 2 - used in the Dreadwing the Penguin and Shockhopper MK I boss encounters
- Arctic Battle 3 - used in the Asra Nox and Big Ape boss encounters
- Body Electric - used in Electric Vaults
- Casiopeia - used in the Great Sovereign Temple
- Crystal Battle 1 - used on the Ruin's surface
- Drosera - used in Poison Vaults
- Event Horizon - used in the Challenge Rooms, the Baron's Keep battle and the second Arena fight
- Forest Battle 2 - used in the Heart of the Ruin boss encounter
- Gravitational Collapse (Loop) - used in the Erchius Horror, Ixodoom, Kluex Avatar and Bone Dragon boss encounters and the first Arena fight
- Impact Event - used in the Ancient Vault boss encounters and the third Arena fight
- Swansong - used in the Swansong boss encounter.
- I Was the Sun - used in all Arena missions before and after the fights
- Jupiter - used in Player Space Stations
- Lava Exploration 1 - used in hostile Space Encounters
- Lava Exploration 2 - used in Ceremonial Hunting Caverns and Fire Vaults
- Ocean Battle 1 - used in the Erchius Mining Facility
- Planetarium - used as in the first half of the intro mission as well as in the Outpost and Koichi's Museum
- The Apex - used in Ice Vaults
- The Deep - used in the Grand Pagoda Library
- Tranquility Base - used in friendly NPC Ships and NPC Space Stations
Trivia
- Many of the music tracks are named after real-life space objects, places, or occurences.
- Accretion Disc is named after the accretion disk of a Black Hole.
- Blue Straggler is named after Blue stragglers, stars which are bluer than expected.
- Casiopeia is likely named after the Cassiopeia constellation.
- Cygnus X1 is named after Cygnus X-1, a galactic x-ray source very likely to be a black hole.
- Epsilon Indi is named after Epsilon Indi, a star system.
- While not space related, Drosera is named after the type of carnivorous plant, Drosera.
- Eridanus Supervoid is named after the CMB cold spot, a "cold spot" in the cosmic microwave background radiation of the universe.
- Europa is named after the moon, Europa.
- Event Horizon is named after the Event horizon of a Black Hole.
- Gravitational Collapse is named after Gravitational collapses, the occurence of an object in space collapsing due to its own gravity.
- Horsehead Nebula is named after the Horsehead Nebula.
- Impact Event is named after impact events, which is the name for two objects in space colliding measurably.
- Jupiter is named after the planet, Jupiter.
- Large Magellanic Cloud is named after the galaxy, Large Magellanic Cloud.
- M54 is likely named after the star cluster, Messier 54.
- Mercury is named after the planet, Mercury.
- Mira is named after the star, Mira.
- Planetarium is named after real-world Planetariums.
- Procyon is named after the star, Procyon.
- Stellar Formation is named after the process of gas collapsing into a star, Stellar formation.
- Tranquility Base is named after the place where humans touched down on the moon for the first time, Tranquility Base.