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What's the Sound Of A MethaneFall?

Posted by timothy on from the remember-no-one-is-around-to-hear-it dept.

Kevin Nichols writes "Ever wonder what a "waterfall" on Titan might sound like? Professor Tim Leighton, of Southampton University, worked out what the sound of a methane and/or ethane fall might sound like. You can listen to a .wav file of the sound here: ISVR - Institute of Sound and Vibration Research. The Cassini-Huygens mission will carry a microphone with the Huygens lander. Perhaps we'll find out if he's right." (Here's a direct link to the simulated Titan fall, slightly buried in the text.)

2 of 31 comments (clear)

  1. Sounds like... by Spokehedz · · Score: 5, Interesting

    chipmunks on speed, gnawing away at my eardrums.

    Seriously though... this is interesting stuff. I mean, if we can simulate physics for the earth, and its weather patterns... then why couldn't we simulate the physics of sound?

    Sound is, after all, just vibrations from things hitting/passing each other... One would think that on a powerful enough computer, you could simulate the liquid methane flowing down over and crashing into... whatever.

    I mean, I'd for one like to see a game where the sound wasn't pre-recorded stuff played when two objects collide their meshes together... Could you imagine having a game engine advanced enough where depending on what kind of shoes your wearing--and how fast your walking/running--the sound would change automatically from click-click on tile to the soft pad on carpet? All without any programming?

    And then there's the whole car crashes, and gunshots, and echoes... That stuff's hard to program normally. And the best thing is, because its all generated at 'runtime' if you will... the sounds never get repetitive. Its always exactly how its supposed to sound, for exactly where you are.

    1. Re:Sounds like... by Spokehedz · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I didn't say that it would be possible tomorrow--I'm saying that when you program in some of the more base physics, then the other stuff kinda falls into place.

      having friction and gravity present in a world will allow a tire to push/pull a cart along, without any additional 'vehicle' code whatsoever. Just like if you have air density, and the physics of the interaction of that air to surfaces, then aircraft become available. Jet engines would react like a jet engine, and a propeller engine would react like a propeller engine.

      Ask any pilot if there's a difference between those two, and if any flight simulator comes close to what either of those feel like in the game... Chances are, they are going to say "well yea, nothing feels like the real thing!" but what if it could?

      I mean, the propellers aren't going to be perfectly aligned on those planes... so there going to wobble a bit. what if the vibration was made from the actual propellers on the engine, it travelled through the framework of the aircraft, to arrive at the controls to cause the vibration--all the while, making sounds as it went, because of the vibration.

      I truly think that the next "Big Blur" as I call it in video games will come at the addition of Real Time sounds, and lower level physics added to the game.

      Imagine pneumatics acting like pneumatics, with a bit of natural give in their travel... gears and pulleys acting like themselves... levers of all classes acting like real levers.

      They have to code that all in now, or do some hacks with scripted events to make it look like its supposed to... but then the game will always be the same in those parts. Guys will always run out from around that corner... Your gun will always fire the bullets in the same grouping formation... the car will always have a maximum speed... etc. etc. Oh well--were getting waaaay OT here.

      Oh, and one final thing: You'll note that I never mentioned anything close to what kind of system would be required to play this. I simply said that it would be very cool to see it done.

      You can at least agree with me that it might be possible to simulate one waterfall on Titan with realistic sound based on physics of sound with the current hardware of today, right? Much like raytracing, this 'soundtracing' would take some time, but it'd be possible.