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Free Sound Samples?
TwistedSquare asks: "I like to write small games from time to time, and have often wondered about adding sounds. Searching around on the internet, I can find loads of GPL sound libraries but no sound effects/samples that are both royalty-free and free (as in beer). Can anyone suggest how I could find such effects and does anyone else find it odd the contrast between the amount of GPL software and non-GPL-type items in areas such as sound effects?"
Use a microphone and an audio recording device.
To sample the sound of a person falling use a strategically placed bannana peel.
The sound of an automobile accident can be generated by using a wrench to unbolt a stop sign.
The sound of spectacular space battle explosion can be created by unplugging the microphone.
134340: I am not a number. I am a free planet!
I have sat through hours of DVD extras and have come to the conclusion that sound effects are done from scratch by sound gurus for every single movie. It's almost like professionals ALSO don't have a huge library to draw upon.
Ok, so maybe they don't do it from scratch every time, but they always talk about how they record everyday sounds and modify them, from swooshes for punching to clangs and ching sounds etc. I'm sure for a few dollars you can record your own high-quality sounds. Look at the "inside the matrix" DVD for one guy who describes the sound made by the keanu power-plant sphincter door (the one that keanu is 'flushed' through') as a 'choonk'ing sound comprising a heap of different sounds, everything from a tyre iron hitting an empty tire to a wet fish hitting a bench.
Try a search for 'foley' for a host of groovy techniques to make sounds.
/* affect != effect */ void affect(int *thing,int effect) { *thing += effect; }
Home of the tracker instrument repository.
.xi instruments are in samples/ft2. Cheesetracker and Soundtracker can use them.
Free as in "get it now while it's still there."
The tracker instrument repository used to be mirrored all over but less and less mirrors can be found.
The message on the other side of this sig is false.
(Responding to myself)
In case you need some ideas to get you started:
- Simple musical notes -- m(f) = sin(t/f) where f is the frequency. IIRC, 440hz = A natural below middle C, and you multiply by 2^(1/12) for every half-note higher.
- More realistic notes -- M(f) = (m(f) + c1*m(f*3/2) + c2*m(f*4/3) + c3*m(f*4/2)
... )*k1/(k1+t*k2), where the c's provide harmonics and the k's give a fade out.
- I'm sure a little googling will give even better formulas...
- White noise -- w = random
- Equipment -- w*c1*sin(t/f1) + w*c2*sin(t/f2)
..., where the c's & f's are used to modulate the white noise (because machines typically cycle)
- Rain -- w*w*w
- A waterfall -- c1*w + c2*w*w + c3*w*sin(t/f1+k*rand)
..., where you have 1) a steady roar, 2) some random splashes, 3) random, quasi-periodic fluctuation in flow, etc.
Heck,this could be more fun than writing the game!-- MarkusQ
Doing creative video production can be a lot like creating a game, and in this particular instance, what you're searching for is pre-made foley.
A lot of effects can be made simply by rubbing/banging objects together and then tweaking them, e.g., a grandfather clock is a piece of thick, taught cable hit lightly by a tire iron, slowed down 300%, and repeated. A sizeable personal effects library can be made by going around with even so much as a tape/MD recorder and a good mic just getting sounds from anywhere and everywhere. I'd recommend a boom mic if at all possible to prevent picking up background noise. But you might look a little weird doing it.
For "artificial" effects and maybe a little music, Korg's Electribe series of synths (EA-1 Analog Synth, ES-1 Sampler, ER-1 Rhythym Synth, EM[X]-1 "Music Production Stations" -- does all of the above to a limited extent) can provide endless resources, when properly played with, at least. I remember being in a crunch for a project and synthing out a perfect submarine "ping" in ten minutes on the ER-1. Obviously, more expensive synths will do more.
If you're really going for pre-made (despite my lectures to the contrary), try Opsounds -- Copyleft for audio. Make sure and contribute back, mmmk?
And of course, Sounddogs. The sounds (and even short-length compositions) are incredibly cheap -- we're talking $0.30-2.00 or so depending on length and license, high-quality, downloadable OR they can burn a CD and send it to you, and it's royalty-free forever at purchase. Considering they merely resell licensed effects, you'll probably find more than a few effects that you're trying to imitate in the first place.
http://www.flashkit.com -- there are tons of sound clips and music loops with various licenses. I think most (if not all) of them are available as MP3. A lot of them are available as free-with-credits, some are public domain, some have to be purchased.
Standing at the very edge of my imagination, I peered into the inky void and realised -- I couldn't think up a new sig.
There are a variety of stock sound effect cds that can be used. Some are royalty free, others require license for certain usage (need to read the agreement).
Sound designers, like any other artist, enjoy making unique sounds that fit the usage exactly. It represents their craft.
Instead of looking for stock SFX cds. Try hooking up with a young Sound Designer looking to get into games. (try colleges/schools with music engineering programs - Berklee, Full Sail, etc). When I was in school, I would be more than happy to work for just a screen credit so I could put it on my resume.
This sort of thing is not similar to OS development - it is more of an art form. Clip art might be something that could be open source, but good art will never be. Sound design is much closer to art than coding.
Before you disagree, think about good code being usable in as many places as possible, and then think about whether sound effects for your favorite movie or game can be leveraged into every other movie or game and give you the same feeling.
Many people could produce random noises, but there's no point. "Here's a game over sound. I think it works for most every game I've played, so I'm releasing it."
I forget what 8 was for.
You might also get results if you turn to other online forums for musicians too - there's no point asking slashdot.org, when you could spend maybe 10 minutes to find some of the musician communities that are out there, and just ask there.
/files section, too ... you might spend some time browsing our archives, there are sound effects in there, and more importantly, contact details for folks who contributed such effects too...)
Come to ampfea.org, subscribe to the music-bar mailing list, and ask for folks on there to help you come up with original sound effects for free inclusion in your game. There are *plenty* of budding sound designers, musicians, and sound engineer types on this mailing list (music-bar) and more than likely you'll find what you need.
Maybe you'll even come up with some interesting new directions in sound design for your game engine too?!
(PS - we have free samples in the ampfea.org
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
Says their samples are 'copyright-free'.
URL: http://www.samplenet.co.uk/
lots of drums/synth stuff, but also an 'effects' section with odd noises. Use your favourite sound editor to tweak to your desire.
They used to have an FTP site where I would often 'mget' loads of wavs, but now it just seems to be http and mp3 files.... Maybe the FTP wavs are hidden away somewhere...
Baz
I just read an article about Creative Commons and how their license is all about creating this sort of thing. Their stuff seems to be the like GPL.
Anyway - found this site with lots of Creative Commons Licensed effects - most of which are professional quality as they were used on the author's radio program.
http://www.leoville.com/sfx.shtml
First, since you're just playing around and not developing commercial games, you can use just about anything, depending on the public exposure and your tolerance for licence issues. There is alot of legally-useable stuff out there anyway.
Your options are:
Free stuff all over the net. Downside is often the quality may be lower,and you don't have 100% confidence that they can legally distribute the sounds.
Low-cost CDs. There's always been a alot of LPs and CDs available to the public. Go to any large CD store. I've picked up some great BBC sound effect CDs, and even the effects from Star Trek. Note that most but not all are licenced for re-use.
Multimedia CD-ROMS - I always see multimedia and clip-art CDR's in the $9.99 bin. Many of these have some reasonable effects.
High-end CDs (see www.sound-ideas.com) this is what most pro's use (as well as foley). These suckers are expensive!! but the ultimate. This market is dying so they often sell the libraries at a lower price - see their Blue-Plate special.
By the way, they have a $99 Flash effects CD geared to the Flash professional, which is good value if you use this sort of stuff frequently. Sound Ideas used to have a killer demo CD that was full of pro effects.
Recording your own. Takes time, but alot of fun. I use a portable MD recorder, then transfer to PC and edit the heck out of them.
Why do we still use sound samples? It seems to me that a sound engine or chip that could generate sounds by using physical laws to simulate real materials producing sound in a computer would be able to create a far wider range and more unique sounds.
For instance, instead of recording the sound of a door slamming, the device could simulate a large wooden slab turning on hinges and hitting the door jamb. In most games that have doors slamming, its a prerecorded sound that doesn't vary. A simulation could produce the sound of the door a various velocities and types of material, ie. if you slam a door really hard versus just nudging it, it'll produce a very different sound, and the same goes for a metal door versus a big heavy oak one.
I have no idea if this is possible, but it just seems odd that we're still using recorded samples, and PC gaming audio technology doesn't seem to have advanced very much, especially with respect to the pace of graphics development.