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Making the Sounds of Vista
Bengt writes "The sounds of Vista took 18 months to get right for Microsoft. Artist Robert Fripp recorded hours of sound, and assisted Steven Ball in choosing between several different options. A clapping rhythm was rejected for 'sounding too human', and a techno beat was removed from considering because it was just the opposite." From the article: "If it seems like overkill to go to all that trouble for a few seconds of sound, consider this: Microsoft estimates that the clips such as the e-mail alert will be played trillions of times in years to come. That's a lot of opportunity to annoy, offend -- or, if the job is done right -- please or appease computer users the world over. One major concern was that the startup sound not grow grating after a time. You want a sound that people will love the first time they hear it, but it's a paradox to also say, 'Oh and by the way, we need people to love it the tenth, or the hundredth, or the thousandth time they hear it,' Ball said."
Go to it, boys and girls! http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?story Id=6466901
See subject.
I see you're trying to perform Frippitronics! Would you like to:
Well, you've been modded up, so someone out there gets the joke.
For everyone else, here's some Who The Heck is Robert Fripp information.
... why not let me use my own sound clips?
Why am I stuck with the musty-sounding Vista start-up sound clip that Microsoft thinks I will like?
That's been a function since at least Win95, maybe before.
Are they still trying to make the start up sound mandatory?
C'mon guys we spent 18 months perfecting it! Why you would you want to turn it off?
I remember changing sounds in Win 3.1
"reality has a well-known liberal bias" - Steven Colbert
I know that the current startup sounds make me want to puke, and im sure that i am not alone.
Dont want your customers throwing up everytime they use your product.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Brain Eno not Fripp designed the Windows 95 sound...