-
Thanks Phil, that is extremely generous of you! Far more than I'd ever have expected! MERCI.
I completely understand about the OT sound and PT ideas... no offense is taken!!
In fact, the point of getting everyone's thinking is to figure out what the folks out there want.
For those reading, if you know of other boards (such as the fx-sabers.com, etc.) and post there regularly, tell them to stop in at this link and throw in their thinking or opinions.
If they don't want to login to TCSS, have them message me via e-mail or TF.N (where I am greytalenovastar1138).
So... that makes sense, people want:
* OT -- Good guy saber sound font
* OT -- Bad guy saber sound font
* PT -- Good guy saber sound font
* PT -- Bad guy saber sound font
Again, makes sense! It's hard to believe... we... don't have those out there somewhere yet??? Yikes! I'd best get ON it...
-
Not a problem. I have been so impressed with your saber fonts thus far, and understanding how difficult it is to make them...well...I'm sure that I'm not the only one who appreciates these fonts. I mean that Darkstar soundfont by itself is easily worth....alot.
I'm sure that I'll eventually take a crack at a soundfont myself....just so I can say I tried, and who knows, maybe it'll turn out halfway decent?
*edit* I dropped a link over at FX-Sabers.
-
You should. As with anything--there is always a learning curve. Letting that daunt you goes against everything that life is about.
For those reading... you think I *KNEW* exactly how BOP I was going to turn out? Or that I knew anything at all about electronics when it was December of 2005 and I was just getting the ball rolling on design with Corbin??! HAH. Ask Corbin if you like. I knew jack. Nothing. I mean NOTHING.
Same for working on Erv's sound setups. Granted, I knew how to work with sound, and a little bit about the idea of the "zero crossing" point... but mixing for his SD card & driver was a new ballpark to play in.
Still, his mixer utility is MAAAAAHVELOUS, I highly recommend it... it is "so choice" as Bueller might have said...
Once you get the idea of the order of operations on how to proceed without having to backtrack, making a font becomes pretty fun, just time consuming and requires precision to get it right.
MAKING A SOUND FONT FOR CF...
1. Pick a concept. Whether Luke ESB or Vader ROTJ... whatever you want.
2. Create a loopable hum sound that is not overly erratic, and also not too short. I recommend at least a 5 second loop.
3. Set the volume range of the hum sound to about 0.5/0.6dB or effectively a bit more than "half" of the volume you're going to make your other sounds at.
4. AVOID distortion by not pushing the limits of any sound past 1dB, which will cause distortion--especially on an inferior speaker later on. You should physically SEE a waveform... not a solid block of graphics!!!
5. Get to work on your clashes, swings, etc. I recommend making each swing or clash progressively more... complex/aggressive/neato. By the time you get to #s 6,7,8 you should have sounds that are a bit longer and/or robust.
6. Have a look to make sure the waveforms on these sounds are "maximized", yet they do NOT go wildly over 1dB. Again--avoid distortion, it will ruin the entire thing!
After that is where it can get tricky, since you must now mix the hum sound OVER (or is that under) most all of your effects. The reason it becomes tricky is... well... when you cause a clash or swing and then the driver "returns" to the "empty" hum sound... if you don't align everything fairly well, your ears/mind will detect the inorganic skip or hard cut back to a sound that doesn't match.
To avoid this--do your best to add your hum sound into a clash or swing or whatever... and have it be AT THE END OF ITS LOOP just as it is finishing playback of the clash/swing itself.
This way, as the clash/swing "ends"... the empty hum sound is called upon, and is naturally started at the beginning of the sound. If you've done things correctly--you'll hardly be able to tell that any "skipping" occurred.
Not all of my fonts have this perfection in them, as sometimes--if you're sneaky... :) ... it won't matter. But if you want to get it right, that's the work for you!
There are other things to look for, as Erv's board allows for that cool pitch shift thing. Well... you have to make sure your sounds are pretty "midrange" pitch-wise, otherwise using pitch change might sound pretty lousy. BUT... what happens when you are making a "Yoda"-ish font (like Nova font) or a Vader-ish font (like Blackstar)... and the sounds inherently begin higher or lower pitched?
Ah. Creative thinking will always come into play in making a font for CF... or sound design in general!
Cheers!
-
i was thinking monty python black knight font, have the music looped in the background, standard sword swoops and clashes , "your arms off... no it isn't "for blaster, a barrage of taunts for the lockup, "the black knight always triumphs!" for force push" and for power down "running away are you, you yellow b----!"
I think that would be crazy!
-
I love it Rav!
I think it was Maul that was going to do the chicken set. Has anyone got round to that one yet?
I just picture the one from Hot Shots part Deux everytime I think on it!
Maybe even put a MHS inside a rubber chicken for the full effect!
-
The font Erv has in his inbox is another "standard" lightsaber font, but it has some neat new sounds to it and should be pleasing to the ear. When Erv gets the time to put it up on the website, give it a listen.
I am still working on my "Zen" font. I am sampling throat signing and electric guitar feedback for the hum, squelch and whatnot for the power on and power off sounds. It's a lot of work to make it nice, but I think it will be nice when done.
-
Sweet, Jon... looking forward to it!
-
Ok, a new sound font is on its way to Erv...
SW Episode II sounds!
I realize this may or may not be a sound set everyone is looking for, but I felt that the EP II sounds did have some fairly distinguishable tones/pops/smacks/whatever. I'll create an Episode IV font later on, and possibly a Luke ESB one, depending on what people are looking for.
Most of these new Ep II sounds are direct copies of Ben Burtt's sounds, although a few have been altered in small ways.
However, ONE new thing I gave a shot to was making the "force.raw" sound a lightning effect that actually lasts for a long time. I personally love how that one turned out, in addition to the new blaster deflection sound I made for this font.
Hope everyone enjoys this one and can provide some feedback... I don't know how any of my fonts sound in v2.x because I do not own one! :)
As it is, I was a bit concerned with the Kung Fu Fightin' font since the "music" may have had too much bass sound for our implementation (usually without bass ability).
Anyhow... happy weekend.
-
OOO!!! Lightning! I was having a heck of a time finding a decent one. I hope it sounds good.
-
I would like to have a wide selection of saber fonts from both the PT and OT.
I really want a true Luke ROTJ sound font...I pretty much have the iginition and retraction on the "Special" sound font on Erv's board, I just wish it had the actual idle hum to go with it.
I think it would be great to have the character specific sounds for those who are making a "Luke", "Vader", etc... saber.
Although I really like the "Steel Sword" sound font... :P
-Kyp