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Making the Sounds of Vista

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the bong! dept.

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."

6 of 375 comments (clear)

  1. Ball said by rolfwind · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "Oh and by the way, we need people to love it the tenth, or the hundredth, or the thousandth time they hear it."

    I'll settle for "just not annoy me." If I'm supposed to love it, that sounds like too much distraction already.

    1. Re:Ball said by Meagermanx · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I think I love some sounds just because of what they imply. Like one of Pavlov's dogs, I get a little happier when I hear the "Your Friend Just Logged Into IM!" sound.

  2. cellular automata based composition by toby · · Score: 3, Interesting
    By Wolfram Research, makers of Mathematica. Surprisingly addictive.

    (Some compositions I made.)

    --
    you had me at #!
  3. About that Windows 95 sound... by sammy+baby · · Score: 4, Interesting
    This link has popped up a few places today, but just in case you missed it: the SF Chronicle did an interview with Fripp back in 1996, in which he talked about developing the startup sound to Windows 95.

    I'm kind of a Fripp fan, so I got a kick out of reading this:

    Q: How did you come to compose ``The Microsoft Sound''?

    A: The idea came up at the time when I was completely bereft of ideas. I'd been working on my own music for a while and was quite lost, actually. And I really appreciated someone coming along and saying, ``Here's a specific problem -- solve it.''

    The thing from the agency said, ``We want a piece of music that is inspiring, universal, blah- blah, da-da-da, optimistic, futuristic, sentimental, emotional,'' this whole list of adjectives, and then at the bottom it said ``and it must be 3 1/4 seconds long.''

    I thought this was so funny and an amazing thought to actually try to make a little piece of music. It's like making a tiny little jewel.
  4. Preview of Vista sounds by springbox · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Comparison with Windows XP. I do actually find applications making various sounds useful, because it means I don't have to keep checking or stare at them to check for significant events. There are a lot of sounds in Vista that, by comparison, seem like they're trying to "hide" from the user. Some of them are much less noticeable. In particular, I noticed that the "battery low" and "battery critical" sounds were pretty generic and surprisingly upbeat.

  5. Re:Can Frippertronics save Vista? by CrankyOldBastard · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You left out his work with David Bowie on the Heroes album, which is undoubtedly Fripps most listened-to work. There was an issue of Guitar Player magazine back in the mid 1980s which had details on exactly how he got that delay thing working, and had a floppy record of some astounding solo work. Listen to the David Bowie track "Moss Garden" to hear Frippertronics at full steam.