LudoCrypt
Soundscape Designer, Musician, Developer
Hello! My name is Monika Carpenter, but online I go by Ludo! I am an Ambient-Electronic Musician, and Java Developer
Feel free to browse this site, check out some of my work, and reach out to me if you feel so inclined!
About
Hello! My name is Monika Carpenter, but online I go by LudoCrypt (Ludo for short). I am an ambient electronic musician as well as a soundscape designer. I've been making music since the summer of 2020, picking it up as a hobby alongside Minecraft modding. I have a language disorder and relatively low social intelligence, so I have a very hard time communicating and understanding what the people around me are saying or thinking, but I do my best to help wherever I can!My first Minecraft 'mod' was a dimension, and I wanted a soundtrack to go with it, and that's what got me interested in music. I wasn't very good at first, but I persisted, and now it's become one of my favorite things to do! The music I make takes inspiration from video games such as Minecraft, Hollow Knight, and Rain World. While I initially got into just music, I eventually started leaning towards making soundscapes too. I find the two to be interlinked within my work.I didn't always like or appreciate ambient music, and it was only when I actually forced myself to make it that it started to make me think more deeply about it. At the time, I was a very determined young woman, and I had a very specific vision for how I wanted my work to be scored. Because of this, I would listen to some of my favorite musicians and try to focus on what exactly they were doing. Which is something I still do to this day! Back then, that was mainly Daniel Rosenfeld, more commonly known as C418, the original composer for Minecraft. Daniel's approach to music is what formed my foundation when I started.Over time, the foundation of my music slowly morphed when I started playing games like Hollow Knight and Rain World. These games and their soundtracks are where my current approach to music comes from. Minecraft, being a sandbox, taught me to explore creativity. Hollow Knight, being a deep and thoughtful game, taught me to pay attention to emotion. And Rain World, being truly ambient, taught me to be patient, subtle, and embrace repetitivity. What I add to the genre is a mix of everything Ive learned over the years: a focus on the world, a subtler approach to melody, an emphasis on emotion, and plenty of unique soundscapes to immerse yourself in.What drives me to create is the emotions I wish to portray. Melancholy is a common theme in my music—that feeling of longing for something more. Often, too, my music is somber or bittersweet, sometimes even dark! But one specific emotion I've tried to include in almost all of my work is the feeling of anemoia, or nostalgia for a time you've never known or an experience you've never had.Looking to the future, I continue to experiment and toy with what I do, always having new ideas and aspirations. One major goal of mine is to one day score Minecraft itself, the game that got me passionate about life. But dreaming smaller, I hope to score an entire game soundtrack by myself. Even if it's just a small indie game, to score a game at all would be an honor. It's a privilege to get to work on any project, and not a day goes by where I don't appreciate everyone and everything that has gotten me to where I am today. My many, many thanks go out; this has changed my life.
Music
This album was inspired by C418's Excursions. When writing this album, the first thing I did for every track was lay out the background ambience, to guide the mood of the song while writing. And the music just flowed out of me, like it was butter. This album is calm yet intriguing, but also takes a back seat most of the way.
This track was one of three commissioned for the mod The Bumblezone by TelepathicGrunt. This track was meant to play on loop while you were in a bee themed dungeon. I took great care into the ambience of this track as it would set the mood for the entire time you're in said structure. In fact I had three different versions of this song, this being the final.
An album made for Nature's Spirit. A biome mod adding many beautiful new biomes to the overworld. This album has me experimenting with the Noire Felt, as well as instruments from EastWest ComposerCloud. I wanted to know what I could do with a more natural, acoustic sound, rather than soundscape or synth instruments. I used pianos, music boxes, even kalimbas!
Over a years worth of work, time, and effort were put into this singular two and a half hour album. This was made for a project my team and I are still working on. This mod would add a new dimension called The Hiemal, a cold barren wasteland of giant rocks in the shapes of icicles. With magical elements, souls, and the damned. The album is the soundtrack for this project, including menu tracks, biome tracks, music discs, and more! By far my most ambitious creation yet.
This album was made for the mod The Corners, which is a mod that turns Liminal Spaces into procedurally generated dimensions. Liminal Spaces are fascinating as they can make a viewer experience anemoia. The mod's OST brings out this feeling of anemoia (Nostalgia for a time you've never known), and translates this into music. I get to experiment with a very specific kind of ambient music.
The following tracks aren't attached to anything specific enough to warrant its own section, but I feel are still worth showcasing here.
I do have many more tracks and albums for other projects, but I can't show them all here. If you want a more extensive list, you can check out the playlist I have on YouTube. These are some of my best work for other projects. I show these tracks in particular as they give an example of the wide range I can go with the themes and vibes of my music. If you want to see all of my work, everything I have is listed on my Bandcamp page. You can also find me on streaming services under the name LudoCrypt.
Contact
I appreciate that you want to get in contact with me! You can easily do so by either filling out the form below, or emailing me directly! The email button at the bottom of each page should direct you. If you would like me to work for your project, send me an email! I will try to respond to as many as I can!