Sound, "The Art of Noise"

[jhook]

Greetings pilots,
I hope to get some feedback on the way sounds are used on flight sims. Having launched jet aircraft myself, the sounds of most flight sims are very lame, in my opinion. In Falcon 4.0, the switches and aircraft ambient noise aren't very accurate. Even implimenting a new sound code (with alot of bugs that they still haven't fixed yet) doesn't sound very good (even if they recorded them from a real cotpit). My next part of my wish list will be to emphisize the sound data to the point where it is as ture to life as can be. (sound crads are pretty good now, most using 24 bit technology, in vurtual 5.1 suround or better) If you switch to a fly-by view, and your jet is cranking out 800+ knotts, a nice double thunder clapp "sonic BOOOOOM!!!", should be there some where. The effects of going "super sonic" should be modeled better as well. When going MACH, the cotpit is a very quiet place, actually. As you break the sound barrier, a high pitched wine should be all that you here from the surrounding airframe. The comm sounds are short, brief "key up and out" on the mic. Other aircraft that "key up" should sound properly muffled as there oxygen mask is tightly strapped around the helmit/face. I haven't heard a good flight sim yet as I hope these and other sounds are modeled more accuratly. What do you think pilots? :D

[IxianMace]

Having completely no experience and/or knowledge in this area, I'll take your word for it. It would be nice to get the sound as realistic as possible as well IMO. :thumbsup:

[spyro23]

Yeah, sonic Booom, doppler effect, inside cocpit noises should be implemented. I don't know much about this but I hope FO developers make all sound great. My only experience in this area is 2-3 hour flight in proffesional military Su-22M4 (aka. Su-17M4) simulator. And I know one thing: There is a lot noises in cocpit!

[jhook]

Spyro 23 wrote,

And I know one thing: There is a lot noises in cocpit!

I was reffuring to "outside the aircaft" noise. In other sims, you here evrything (including bomb explosions) outside the aircraft. This isn't accurate as the jet will fly faster that the sound waves can travel (at MACH) or the canapy will mask most of the other sounds. Talking to former pilots though, thunder can be heard quite well for some reason. :shock: I would like to pose this question to Haole and other current pilots to see if this is true, but I believe my sources. :thumbsup: Any other sounds that I might have over looked pilots? :?

[spyro23]

I see what you mean.I wrote not only about hydraulics,engine ect. sounds but also about external sounds(I wrote about doppler effect-check it) I send my last post because in many sims in cocpit is to quietly. My sources also says that many of external sounds are quite well heard in cocpit (he also mention thunter so there must be truth):D
By the way. One this source (pilot) make some experiment because some noises in professional sim sounds unrealistic in his opinion. He put unpluged headphones on his head(all sounds were generated by sim loudspeakers outside pit) He says that in headphones all sounds looks better. I write this because in majority cases all sounds are recorded in cocpit. Pilots have helmets (with headphones) so maby this is the reason why some sounds are "unrealistic" in pilots opinions??

[jhook]

You and I are on the same page again Spyro 23, as in a fly-by view, the doppler effect would be predominant. When you go to the target view, you should be able to here all of the explosions ect. But inside the aircraft, when the canapy is closed/sealed, only the internal cotpit noise is heard. :thumbsup:

Great stuff guys. To make it realistic, the noises should be implemented correctly. I agree with you on this :thumbsup:


:drink: :drink:



:military:


~S~

[Antler]

Originally Posted by jhook

I was reffuring to "outside the aircaft" noise. In other sims, you here evrything (including bomb explosions) outside the aircraft. This isn't accurate as the jet will fly faster that the sound waves can travel (at MACH) or the canapy will mask most of the other sounds. Talking to former pilots though, thunder can be heard quite well for some reason. :shock:

That shouldn't be too hard with sound occlusion EAX effects on SoundBlaster cards. (Don't be mad if I'm wrong - I haven't actually any programming experience with EAX). Of course not everyone has a SoundBlaster card, so this should be scalable. The same thing with 24 Bit sounds. We can't exclude 16 Bit sound card owners.

That is also very true Antler, you can't satisfy just one crowd of people. Anyway what are the chances of two people having the exact same setup? So you have to cater for people with older hardware setups as well
:drink: :drink:

:military:

~S~

[jhook]

Pretty much everything is scaleable. But what I'm suggesting is that the sound it'self is modeled accuratly. The source of the sound is good, but how it is heard in the cotpit, and the vibration and engine noise should be modeled correctly. :thumbsup:

[TexMurphy]

Sound means a great deal, understatment I know. But some game devs have really gone out of their way to ensure the audible experience is just as high as the visual one. Im thinking of Flying Lab Software that hired academy award winner Richard King as their sound producer for Pirates of the burning sea. Mr King worked on the Master and Commander movie as the sound producer.

This is really a great step in asuring to get the best possible and realistic sound experience for the title.

Hiring a professional and experienced sound producer with movie making experience would be great for Fighter Ops as well.

Tex

[jhook]

Demos and intros will have some kind of musical score to be sure. I think that would be good to get you in the mood for some serious flight time. As for music during the flight, I don't think so. Music would be too much of a distraction and you might not here other important info on threat detection. :?

[TexMurphy]

I wasnt speakin music... I was speakin sounds... two different things.. ;)

Sounds producers do sounds and not music. ;)

I could care less for ingame music as I always turn it off.

If I play multi player I always use voice coms which doesnt go well with music. Though my singing over TS2 is stelar. ;)

Tex

[Bladehawk]

As other factors sound is vital...

For the internal cockpit sounds, real pilots must have the final word I guess. If a viper pilot say that "this click isn´t heard" is because is the real thing in a viper!

For the exterior sounds I think that pilots and a good sound producer would be great for Fighter Ops.

I´m thinking of The ace combat 4 Sounds... fantastic...

[spyro23]

Never played Ace Combat 4 but I belife what you wrote Bladehawk :thumbsup: