Audio Tweaking (dev branch)

[CaptainAzimuth 714]

Impressed! Placed down my char, placed 4 squads 2 opposing, and pressed play. The result was very pleasing. It reminds me of how close you guys are aiming to get to that Ambient battle sound on the Tanoa Home page. Well, you're half way there. Sounds good.

 

EDIT: Ok, further testing... what ever it is you've done with the Sniper rifles, or DMR's (honestly, i don't know what gun it is because all i know is i was on the receiving end), good. Veryy good. I just did a little defense scenario, and having the enemies close in from the other hill while firing is a thrill now, it sounds much better than it did before. However, some sounds still need a tweak, some of them sound out of place. I think it's some weapon tails don't sound fitting. Some like the ranged weapons sound on point though. It's really getting good now.

 

(sound for the 82mm Mortar is nearly non-existent... seriously needs a fix. Also, the impact sound is still far separate from the incoming sound. The incoming sound needs to be changed too, as is sounds far too... comical)

[Maxzy 12]

when strafing left and right and firing single shots the sound changes ear from left to right....

It's not only works left-right but also front-back (on 5.1 setup). Basically the shot sound is not travelling with you as before, but stays at the spot where it was started, so if you're moving you can hear a "tail" emanating from a spot where the actual shot was done.

[teabagginpeople 398]

Taking into consideration the wip. Gotta say its nice seeing the sound guys hard work behind the scenes getting whats gonna be a big round of applause when these changes drop.

My only major gripe is when having to switch back to stable right now. :'''( Waaaaaa

[KoalaDSK 122]

@teabagginpeople

Why not using both? At least the main branch for the multiplayer parts and the development branch for testing purposes (and multiplayer parts). The good thing is that you don't have to load a huge amount of data everytime you want to switch ;)

[altis 12]

Weve come a long way from the sad old AK in Arma 2... its sounding really nice, im enjoying the updates and feel happy i may not need to rely on mods for this important aspect of the game, nice work 

[St. Jimmy 272]

Btw is there any chance you could fix the weird "other ear feels goofy and other one hears the helicopter" issue? It's very weird noise and many people are wondering that. It kind of makes you want to take off the earcup that doesn't have the noise off the ears. It happens (if I'm right) when sound is perfectly located center of the right or left ear. You can notice it the best with helicopters.

 

I guess adding something in the other ear would solve it because it feels like my other ear is suddenly deaf and other one hears clearly.

[x3kj 1247]

Very nice improvements, very much looking forward to the final version

• Fixed: The firing sound of some high-RoF weapons could stop playing

I tried it after patching, Zafir MG still cut out sound occasionally. Haven't tried other weapons yet.

[CaptainAzimuth 714]

Btw is there any chance you could fix the weird "other ear feels goofy and other one hears the helicopter" issue? It's very weird noise and many people are wondering that. It kind of makes you want to take off the earcup that doesn't have the noise off the ears. It happens (if I'm right) when sound is perfectly located center of the right or left ear. You can notice it the best with helicopters.

 

I guess adding something in the other ear would solve it because it feels like my other ear is suddenly deaf and other one hears clearly.

I agree. Right now, sound is simply coming directly from vehicles, instead of emulating from them, and into the environment around them. Though, i don't know if BI will ever be able to add something like this to the sound engine.

[Brisse 78]

Btw is there any chance you could fix the weird "other ear feels goofy and other one hears the helicopter" issue? It's very weird noise and many people are wondering that. It kind of makes you want to take off the earcup that doesn't have the noise off the ears. It happens (if I'm right) when sound is perfectly located center of the right or left ear. You can notice it the best with helicopters.

 

I guess adding something in the other ear would solve it because it feels like my other ear is suddenly deaf and other one hears clearly.

 

I agree. Right now, sound is simply coming directly from vehicles, instead of emulating from them, and into the environment around them. Though, i don't know if BI will ever be able to add something like this to the sound engine.

 

If you use headphones, then I strongly recommend using some kind of virtual surround which will somewhat (but not entirely) alleviate the problem you are describing. Most soundcards have this built into their drivers. Asus and Realtek have Dolby Headphone. Creative and their derivatives have CMSS 3D or SBX Pro. If your soundcard doesn't have any of these then you can use third party software such as Razer Surround, although I gotta say the free version sucks. The Pro version is pretty good after you mess around with the settings. I got Pro for "free" just by registering my Razer Deathadder mouse so if you have any Razer peripheral, try registering it and you might receive a key for the full version in your mail!

 

Asking the devs to change the sound mix to suit headphone users generally won't do much good. One of the rules of sound mixing is: Never mix on headphones (unless you have a special headphone setting like for example the Battlefield series).

 

 

Very nice improvements, very much looking forward to the final version

I tried it after patching, Zafir MG still cut out sound occasionally. Haven't tried other weapons yet.

 

Had the same problem with the Mk200.

[CaptainAzimuth 714]

Asking the devs to change the sound mix to suit headphone users generally won't do much good. One of the rules of sound mixing is: Never mix on headphones (unless you have a special headphone setting like for example the Battlefield series).

 

Not sure about that. It is a problem with headphones, yes. However, it's also a problem with lack of environmental soundscape.

[Brisse 78]

Not sure about that. It is a problem with headphones, yes. However, it's also a problem with lack of environmental soundscape.

 

I agree. That why I wrote:

 

somewhat (but not entirely) alleviate the problem

 

Still, virtual surround helps. When you use virtual surround, certain frequency ranges will cross feed over to the opposite channel with a proper time and phase delay, so you will hear the sound through both ears and your brain can calculate the approximate position of the sound source.

 

Most here probably already know how it works, but here's a simple explanation with some demos:

https://youtu.be/xRGYg1tGF-8

[St. Jimmy 272]

Virtual surround isn't my thing. I've Logitech G920 and I have Xonar Essence ST audio center for my Custom One Pro's that can also make some kind of virtual surround and it's just confusing. The sound is too much everywhere and I've hard time to locate anything. the one ear alienation is a problem in the game sounds because it isn't right to put 100% volume in the other ear and 0% in the other. It should be more like 95+5 if you get what I mean.

 

This is a good example place where  you can hear the issue with stereo headphones in 10 seconds https://youtu.be/3wIHX7OxBkI?t=151(the whole video is a good example for this but I just took an example) Listen first with both ears, then change to listen only with left and then only with right. There are certain parts where there's no sound coming from the helicopter to your left ear. IRL there should be some sound from the helicopter even in your left ear unless you're deaf. That's what's very confusing and makes me feel that my left ear really is deaf for the sound. It really gives a weird feeling for me at least  where I want to take my headphones off on my ears. I believe it's a natural reaction that my brain thinks the other ear is dying because it can't hear the sound so natural reaction is to turn off the sound (take off the headphones on my ears).

[Brisse 78]

Virtual surround isn't my thing. I've Logitech G920 and I have Xonar Essence ST audio center for my Custom One Pro's that can also make some kind of virtual surround and it's just confusing. The sound is too much everywhere and I've hard time to locate anything. the one ear alienation is a problem in the game sounds because it isn't right to put 100% volume in the other ear and 0% in the other. It should be more like 95+5 if you get what I mean

 

The problem with simply panning the sound so you get L95%-R5% or similar is that panning doesn't add any time delay or phase shift, and usually it doesn't change the frequency response. The sound that reaches the ear on the far side of the source is occluded by the head of the listener, so the frequency response should be different. Virtual surround does all of these things with zero work effort for the developers since it relies on third party software installed on the listeners computer. Panning works good on speakers, but not so good on headphones (especially bad for virtual surround users, since it's basically fighting what the virtual surround is doing). The thing is that many people have listened to headphones all their life with normal stereo content (not binaural) so they have gotten used to hearing it the "wrong way". Virtual surround might need some getting used too, but once you find a software that is the right one for you and you got the settings right, there's no turning back to stereo :)

 

I guess your G920 and Xonar Essence both use Dolby Headphone for virtual surround? The thing with Dolby Headphone is that it doesn't just add HRTF, but also simulates a room with it's own ambience (reverb, reflections etc.). I guess that could be the reason why you describe it as "busy". A lot of people doesn't like it actually, and prefer more transparent sound, with only HRTF added. I quite like Dolby Headphone for some stuff though, such as movies, because it almost sounds like sitting in a movie theater. Games are different though. Some games have a lot of ambience in their own mix so having Dolby Headphone add another layer of ambience becomes a bit too much. Works good for games with a dry mix though.

[Brisse 78]

Todays devbranch adds major sound changes again! Fired up combined arms showcase and it sounds awesome. OMG the explosions! I like where this is heading.

[R3vo 2652]

Yep, sounds much better already. Still needs alot of work though. The main thing you currently hear, are bullet cracks. And it sounds more like fireworks

[CaptainAzimuth 714]

Yep, sounds much better already. Still needs alot of work though. The main thing you currently hear, are bullet cracks. And it sounds more like

Those are traditional Firecrackers, not fireworks. =P

Also, idk, I have mixed feelings about the bullet crack. It sounds balanced to me, still harsh enough to make me not want to get hit by what ever is flying past me.

[Fushko 60]

Moving on the right direction on weapon tails. Not quite there yet (understandable as it's WIP) but raising the volume has gone a long way of making the soundscape feel more believable. A zafir shooting down a valley from a distance sounds a lot better now.

 

On sonic cracks - they still don't sound believable yet. Not gonna provide suggestions, because I don't know how they're supposed to sound like, but I'm sure you have something good in the works.

The fact that they are affected by the speed of sound now has already made the soundscape much less weird.

[-LUGER- 14]

Sound for firing the UGL is missing, on all weapons.                  

[twisted 127]

Just tried out the latest sounds. pretty neat.

 

but one thing that really needs to be captured is the really loud, sharp noise a rifle makes when fired. its not a gentle thing. right now the sounds are too gentle and soft. its not just the loudness, but its hard to describe the rapport of the guns. that crack in the air. but none of the weapons right now would require earmuffs to be worn. they are too muffled and polite almost.

 

and to capture the firing sound over distances which is quite unique to say the least. but really adds a ton of feeling like you're going into a place which a real fight is on. don't get that feel now.

[Brisse 78]

Sounds like they fixed the randomization of sound samples. No changelog yet, but I noticed today that the 1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3 behaviour was gone.

[makkuranin 19]

Sound for firing the UGL is missing, on all weapons.

Yes, i have this issue too.

[R3vo 2652]

Just noticed that the weapon tails are incedible quiet. Are you still trying to hide those awesome sounds from us? Make them louder!

[Brisse 78]

Just noticed that the weapon tails are incedible quiet. Are you still trying to hide those awesome sounds from us? Make them louder!

 

What? They just made them A LOT louder a few days ago. They used to be quiet but now they are far from it. Try a different environment or weapon! Maybe they haven't changed all of them yet?

[Jona33 51]

Yep, sound related crashes are fixed for me. Great work BI!

 

The sound improvements are great, the explosions definitely stand out for me though, sound awesome.

[teabagginpeople 398]

Missing slammer cannon sound probably already noted. and confirm missing ugl shot sound.