Music Shops
Although many shops around the sector sell musical instruments, there are three leading music shops in the sector at present, one in each of the faction cities.
{-Syncopate-} is a trendy hangout and retail establishment in one. The famous Scatterhome music store has that crisp, new-insulfoam smell of a recently opened Haven City business. The riveted metal walls of the store are plastered over with images and photos in multiple media formats, from the old-fashioned, dog-eared paper posters of vintage bands to flickering insta-holo snaps of concerts in Gravity, all neon glare and thrashing bodies. A pair of pulse speakers thump in the corners of the shop behind the counter. Lining shelves and counters and dangling from hooks are guitars and string instruments of all sorts, while the center of the room is dedicated to larger, free-standing pieces like drum kits and synthboards.
The store has a free sound-proofed practice space available for musicians who wish to rehearse.
+.Pulsetones Music Store.+ in Song City draws musicians from far and wide. The impressive shop is the flagship store of a popular franchise throughout the Song Dominion systems. The lights of the entertainment district flash and reflect throughout, shining in through the enormous plate glass windows that allow a clear view of the store's contents to those passing by on the soaring walkway outside. Holographic tech embedded in the windows displays the name of the establishment in purples and blues. The air inside hums with music; sonorous tones and smooth but random harmonics emitted from the bright-tiled floor whenever a patron walks across it. The walls are invisible behind the myriads of exotic instruments on display, and small booths allow customers to take an instrument into a sound-proofed space to test it out.
The store also has a larger soundproofed practice space for bands to use. The room is up a flight of spiral stairs in a sort of circular tower, which is entered through a trapdoor in the floor. It offers a superb view of the entertainment district, with the Verge visible piercing the skyline to the south.
The "Arcoscapes" music store is situated in Litharge. Lining the walls of this fancy-looking music store are instruments of all kinds, shapes and colors. The place itself is broken off into many smaller areas, each of the areas housing a specific instrument, a different shade of pale yellow on the walls separating them from each other. It also acts as a kind of musical museum, with reinforced glass counters scattered throughout the shop displaying pieces of musical history - guitars from famous bands, drumsticks, vintage synthpads, microphones from famous concerts and many others.
The shop has a small but well-equipped musical practice space for bands to use, which is soundproofed.