De-harshed thruster audio

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ubertuna
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Joined: Sun Mar 23, 2025 12:08 am

De-harshed thruster audio

Post by ubertuna »

Just thought I would leave this here. I do a bit of audio/production work and I ended up making this edited version of "Thruster_large.ogg" for my personal use, because I have always found the original sound effect to be just a bit harsh on my ears. If there is any other SFX work that needs to be done I'd be happy to try and contribute more!

https://files.catbox.moe/54xwrd.ogg
impaktor
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Re: De-harshed thruster audio

Post by impaktor »

It's different, but I have no preference between the two.

I'm sure we're in need of some more SFX. I can ask the rest of the team over on IRC.
(I'm mainly on IRC, some of the orhters are both on IRC and discord).

(Sorry for late reply).
bszlrd
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Re: De-harshed thruster audio

Post by bszlrd »

Hi!
I think it sounds good in isolation, but in-game it feels muffled and distant, but not in a way the hull would muffle it.

About SFX in general, I think there's room for polish in about every sound effect, so if you are interested in contributing, I'd say first play around a bit, and then we can discuss.
impaktor
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Re: De-harshed thruster audio

Post by impaktor »

Do we have sounds for docking?

We might get docking into master branch this year (or some future year), I assume we might need some sound effect, for clamps grabbing hold of hull, or air preassue equilization and such.

I don't know yet how complex the approach to the docking ship would be, but I could imagine some beeping sound that indicates how on course you are for matching the docking collar, but I'm getting (way) ahead of myself (or c++ coders sturnclaw/gliese) here.

EDIT: and hatch opening.
bszlrd
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Re: De-harshed thruster audio

Post by bszlrd »

Indeed, that would be nice!
ubertuna
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Re: De-harshed thruster audio

Post by ubertuna »

bszlrd wrote: Sat Mar 29, 2025 9:21 am Hi!
I think it sounds good in isolation, but in-game it feels muffled and distant, but not in a way the hull would muffle it.

About SFX in general, I think there's room for polish in about every sound effect, so if you are interested in contributing, I'd say first play around a bit, and then we can discuss.
Hey, thanks for checking out my sound! I also remember this "distant" feeling while testing it, I had to do several iterations before I got one that felt (to me) passably loud. It seems like the game reduces the playback gain of the main thrusters (and pans them) specifically when the camera is inside the ship (panning also occurs outside but gain reduction does not). If firing multiple thrusters the game stacks these gain-reduced tracks, I think. So firing multiple is quite a bit louder than firing one. I'm not sure exactly what is happening under the hood but this is my guess.

I tested the original sound effect again because I have been using the modified one for some time, to me the original also felt quiet at least when firing only the main thruster, I think this is the gain reduction at play. The original sfx has a lot more high frequency noise, higher frequencies sound loud at lower amplitudes relative to lower frequencies and so they will "weather" this gain reduction better and also stack more aggressively. Which is why the OG effect sounds so harsh even when it isn't played very loudly! Same thing in music, high frequencies give an illusion of loudness because our tolerance for them is lower, it's that blisteringly loud sensation of drums or a screaming guitar. In my edit of the sound I completely cut the highs around 5kHz and the mid frequencies are boosted. It can't be juiced much more before "bricking" it (compressing past the point of clipping, it becomes blown out and loses texture/definition), these SFX are already pretty loud. I think a slight tweak to how the engine does this gain reduction inside the cockpit could be more effective at solving the "muffled" issue.
impaktor wrote: Sat Mar 29, 2025 3:19 pm We might get docking into master branch this year (or some future year), I assume we might need some sound effect, for clamps grabbing hold of hull, or air preassue equilization and such.
I could certainly play around with some docking sounds! I think what you wrote is enough to start on, details and direction are quite helpful especially if we're talking about editing existing sounds (personally I think the game has awesome sound, really it's only the thruster_large sfx that bugs my particular ears).

Full disclosure my experience is in music production and not SFX/foley, so this will be a small adventure for me. But I think it will be fun and I already have some ideas for these docking sounds! If they turn out like crap, well I don't think too much was risked anyways :) Glad for a chance to possibly contribute something to a project I love! I guess I'll post here when I have something to share, and possibly hop on IRC later if you like the ideas and want to discuss further?
impaktor
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Re: De-harshed thruster audio

Post by impaktor »

Sounds like a plan.

Also, I realized we don't have any sounds for messages what I can see. These can come in different priorities, but maybe we only want sound for the highest priority ones, like direct messages to the piolot from NPCs. Maybe just a beep (or typewriter sound?) indicating there's a new message in the comms window. It was just a thought that hit me now.

At some future point we might want to deply mining machines on a planet surface. That could also use a sound. But do note: no one is working, or plan to work, on implement this any time soon (comming year(s)) as far as I know.
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