Sound setup

[AiRdAncE]

Hi guys,

I might be re-opening some topic here, but I searched and found nothing interesting about this subject though.

I personally find that sound is nearly as important as visuals and the submerged experience of a sim pit.

How do you guys have your sound setup ? Can you do surround sound ? Do you split channels for engine sounds on one speaker set, comms on a headset etc ? And if so, how ?

Fill me in, pleazzzzze !

 

[KK]

..Can you do surround sound ? Do you split channels for engine...

Man you surprise me! Have you ever seen a ViperPilot bringing all his stereo blasters with him for a flight?
The helmets cut the noise as good as possible and all we need to hear is
the (...) lady from the tower whispering nice things in our ears.
And with a helmet the quality is in MONO.

Klaus

[Marvin]

KK,

I think what he means is this...  Some members on this site have talked about having all external sounds such as wind noise, engine, explosions etc. playing on external speakers, while cockpit sounds, and ATC play on headphones..

This can be done, and has been done sort off...  Rich is using a USB headset that sort of acts as is own sound card and somehow plays mostly ATC and cockpit noises..

My personal opinion is, I don't bother with the external sounds..  I have played Falcon for almost 9 years now, and always used a headset for everything, and I still feel like I am flying in a plane..  It all matters on how you setup your sounds.  I have mine setup pretty realistic from what I read and have talked to the real pilots, so I mostly only here ATC and cockpit audibles, with slight wind, explosions etc for the emmersion.  I also use a transducer in my seat that works very well when I drop bombs, and roll on the runway as it vibrates nicely.

But then again, too each his own!

Jody

[AiRdAncE]

..Can you do surround sound ? Do you split channels for engine...

Man you surprise me! Have you ever seen a ViperPilot bringing all his stereo blasters with him for a flight?
The helmets cut the noise as good as possible and all we need to hear is
the (...) lady from the tower whispering nice things in our ears.
And with a helmet the quality is in MONO.

Klaus

I Looooove to surprise

What purpose would looking for a helmet on Ebay have, If the helmet is not going to be cutting any noise ? I need speakers - BIG ones  

[AiRdAncE]

KK,

I think what he means is this...  Some members on this site have talked about having all external sounds such as wind noise, engine, explosions etc. playing on external speakers, while cockpit sounds, and ATC play on headphones..

This can be done, and has been done sort off...  Rich is using a USB headset that sort of acts as is own sound card and somehow plays mostly ATC and cockpit noises..

My personal opinion is, I don't bother with the external sounds..  I have played Falcon for almost 9 years now, and always used a headset for everything, and I still feel like I am flying in a plane..  It all matters on how you setup your sounds.  I have mine setup pretty realistic from what I read and have talked to the real pilots, so I mostly only here ATC and cockpit audibles, with slight wind, explosions etc for the emmersion.  I also use a transducer in my seat that works very well when I drop bombs, and roll on the runway as it vibrates nicely.

But then again, too each his own!

Jody

Thanks Jody,

That's pretty constructive... I guess there's more sense in investing in transducers than in speakers. Great tip, thanks again

[KK]

Jody,

Roger on that. I'm using a headset too and that's about it.
I fly when wifie and my little tiger are in bed snoozing deeply.
Mind you if I would amplify Explosions with my stereo system
they would cruzify me on the spot.

...as it vibrates nicely...

!!!???ooooohhhh

[Hack]

Jody,

What sort of transducer do you use? Does it only work off low frrequencies, or does it vibrate from comms and stuff as well?  I was thinking about getting one of those Buttkicker deals and trying that out. Not sure how effective they are though, but they are only like 60 bucks..


Justin

[Flareless]

I've been using a Logitech sound system for years now.  I have a SoundBlaster audigy and 4 surround speakers.  There's also a nice big subwoofer under my seat.  As Jody mentioned though, the external sounds are not tremendously imporatant.  For several flights before taking my pit apart I was wearing a helmet.  This was actually really cool.  I'd crank up the external volume a bit more than normal as the helmet would dampen the sounds.  This, I believe, is more like what a pilot actually hears.

For voice comms I use a Logitech USB headset.  This acts as a second sound card.  Falcon allows you to redirect voice comms through this second card.  The trouble is that in-sim comms still come through the main speakers.  There is still no way around this issue.  In a perfect world, voice comms and in-sim comms (tower, awacs, etc...) would all be redirectable through this second sound card.  BTW, you don't need a USB headset to pull this off.  A second sound card would work just as well with a regular analog headset.

As for external sounds like explosions, I have them turned down mostly.  By the time my bombs hit the target I'm well out of earshot.  I mainly concern myself with being able to hear my Pratt & Whitney's various levels so I can get a feel for how fast I'm going.  The subwoofer comes in handy there.

[Marvin]

Jody,

What sort of transducer do you use? Does it only work off low frrequencies, or does it vibrate from comms and stuff as well?  I was thinking about getting one of those Buttkicker deals and trying that out. Not sure how effective they are though, but they are only like 60 bucks..


Justin

Justin,

I got mine of Ebay the next day Chris posted he bought his two..  Got it for 20 bucks, and they can shake down my whole house!  (See the first few pages of Chris' progress thead)

Now there are ways to amplify the sound so it draws more low tones, however transducers are already designed as such, and I found you don't really need anything fancy.  It just plane works fine!

Jody

[Ka-Bar03]

simple crossovers will direct most of the bass to the transducers.

[Zandor]

ya the cross over will work like a charm.  just cross over at about 750 hz  Humanvoices start at a nominal range of about 1k hz.  I still have all my sound gear from the band days.   What do ya think......  8000 watts into 6 18", 12 15", 8 10", 6 horns.  who needs a transducer!  JK on the transducer part anyway!

later
Z

[Crease-Guard]

ya the cross over will work like a charm.  just cross over at about 750 hz  Humanvoices start at a nominal range of about 1k hz.  I still have all my sound gear from the band days.   What do ya think......  8000 watts into 6 18", 12 15", 8 10", 6 horns.  who needs a transducer!  JK on the transducer part anyway!

later
Z

This is EXACTLY what I planned on doing was taking the ext sound and splitting into two signals at the line level.  Send one to the ext speakers with the voices crossed out.  Send the other signal to a cross over removing everything BUT the voices, then running the voices through a small little amp and then pipeing that into the headset along with the output from the second sound card.

If you really wanted to get fancy, you could rig a switch in the pit that would switch between Tower/AWACS and In-sim comms or have both come over at the same time.  That way if a squad mate is talking at the same time the tower is giving you a vector, you could simply switch to tower only input into the headset, then switch back and vise-versa.

Jay

[AiRdAncE]

ya the cross over will work like a charm.  just cross over at about 750 hz  Humanvoices start at a nominal range of about 1k hz.  I still have all my sound gear from the band days.   What do ya think......  8000 watts into 6 18", 12 15", 8 10", 6 horns.  who needs a transducer!  JK on the transducer part anyway!

later
Z

This is EXACTLY what I planned on doing was taking the ext sound and splitting into two signals at the line level.  Send one to the ext speakers with the voices crossed out.  Send the other signal to a cross over removing everything BUT the voices, then running the voices through a small little amp and then pipeing that into the headset along with the output from the second sound card.

If you really wanted to get fancy, you could rig a switch in the pit that would switch between Tower/AWACS and In-sim comms or have both come over at the same time.  That way if a squad mate is talking at the same time the tower is giving you a vector, you could simply switch to tower only input into the headset, then switch back and vise-versa.

Jay

Hi Jay,

Sounds awesome ! If you even come around to doing this, would you mind posting the schematics for us ?

Thanks !

[Marvin]

ya the cross over will work like a charm.  just cross over at about 750 hz  Humanvoices start at a nominal range of about 1k hz.  I still have all my sound gear from the band days.   What do ya think......  8000 watts into 6 18", 12 15", 8 10", 6 horns.  who needs a transducer!  JK on the transducer part anyway!

later
Z

This is EXACTLY what I planned on doing was taking the ext sound and splitting into two signals at the line level.  Send one to the ext speakers with the voices crossed out.  Send the other signal to a cross over removing everything BUT the voices, then running the voices through a small little amp and then pipeing that into the headset along with the output from the second sound card.

If you really wanted to get fancy, you could rig a switch in the pit that would switch between Tower/AWACS and In-sim comms or have both come over at the same time.  That way if a squad mate is talking at the same time the tower is giving you a vector, you could simply switch to tower only input into the headset, then switch back and vise-versa.

Jay

Jay,

What about cockpit audibles?  You still need to have the Betty, RWR, heaters, and any other audibles from the cockpit?  So really, the only thing you need external is outside explosions, engine, and wind noises.  In reality many pilots have said they don't hear anything other then what comes through the headphones.  I for one keep the external sounds in the headphones turned down just to help the emmersion.

Jody

[Jallie]

Two sort of audio systems to fly Flacon

On the Game computer
Creativ sound (and Bass under the ACE-II )  with a 5.1 for Falcon sounds

and on the Net computer (F4Glass & FalconGauges)
TeamSpeak with a Wireless HeadPhone.

Like that..is seems to be like when I was a Pilot  --> Comms are clear and fine 5/5 and a lot of sound sensations too