[Mod] Immersive Sounds [.36] [ambience]

[Neuromancer]

I made a nearly complete code overhaul: https://github.com/PilzAdam/MinetestAmbience/commit/2d63317bce4b9f08a4585ce682c42ced567eb3db
Changes:

• Every ambience list have a own frequency (in %)
• You can define a gain for every soundfile (see line 50)
• you can add "music = true" to minetest.conf to hear music
• Split the code up into more smaller functions

You rock Pilz! I really like the new arrangement of code and the flexibility it gives. There's was one small issue, when it went from day to night the birds kept chirping. I just changed the or to an and in the is_daytime function and that fixed it.

[PilzAdam]

I made a nearly complete code overhaul: https://github.com/PilzAdam/MinetestAmbience/commit/2d63317bce4b9f08a4585ce682c42ced567eb3db
Changes:

• Every ambience list have a own frequency (in %)
• You can define a gain for every soundfile (see line 50)
• you can add "music = true" to minetest.conf to hear music
• Split the code up into more smaller functions

Thanks much, I really like the new arrangement of code. But before we can release it, there's an issue, when it went from day to night the birds kept chirping. Maybe we need to just change the or to an and in the is_daytime function. Yep that fixed it.

I noticed the bug too. I added support for water. Will push this on githug in a few minutes.
EDIT: Done

[Neuromancer]

Will push this on githug in a few minutes.

After your awesome job coding this mod I think the whole minetest community will want to give you a big hug, but you don't need to ask for one. :)

[PilzAdam]

General suggestion: We need more short sounds for the ambience. I dont like the files that are longer than 5 sec.
We also need more music.

[Neuromancer]

General suggestion: We need more short sounds for the ambience. I dont like the files that are longer than 5 sec.
We also need more music.

Are you referring to all the environments, or any in particular? Is it the lack of variety, the fact that the download is growing big? I was thinking about shortening some of the files myself, but my only worry would be that there might be a quick sound and then a gap of silence too frequently where it jumps between silence and sound too frequently and ruins the ambience.

For example, the water drops, bat, bluejay, owl, wolves, crow are good to be real short, but the songbirds and crickets need to go on a little longer because that's the way you naturally hear them. Any particular files you think should be trimmed? Should I chop them up into many small files or add new sounds?

[PilzAdam]

General suggestion: We need more short sounds for the ambience. I dont like the files that are longer than 5 sec.
We also need more music.

Are you referring to all the environments, or any in particular? Is it the lack of variety, the fact that the download is growing big? I was thinking about shortening some of the files myself, but my only worry would be that there might be a quick sound and then a gap of silence too frequently where it jumps between silence and sound too frequently and ruins the ambience.

For example, the water drops, bat, bluejay, owl, wolves, crow are good to be real short, but the songbirds and crickets need to go on a little longer because that's the way you naturally hear them. Any particular files you think should be trimmed? Should I chop them up into many small files or add new sounds?

I dont like long sounds like when a bird is singing for 18 sec. I think the ambience is also good when there are just some short bird sounds (like craw or best cardinal bird).
And we realy need more music. But other can them provide if you dont want to do it.
I also added support for sounds that are played when a sound is stopped (see water).

[Jordach]

Talk to me about music.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?21sgoy11ew2cnb3 Some 'light' ambiance.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?uoowoc58jysaoo0 Some 'dark' ambiance.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?dt6q3q6vqr4cx4w Some Japanese style music.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?o96iy9b9ld9bqtf My first song for Minetest

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?2vjkc458rea8qyt A second version of the one above.

Hope these help.

[Neuromancer]

I dont like long sounds like when a bird is singing for 18 sec. I think the ambience is also good when there are just some short bird sounds (like craw or best cardinal bird).
And we realy need more music. But other can them provide if you dont want to do it.
I also added support for sounds that are played when a sound is stopped (see water).

I'll trim down the longer bird songs. The music will be a little bit tougher, and I definitely welcome music contributions (with licensing info) from the community. The danger you run into is that peoples taste's in music greatly vary. What kind of theme do we want to go for, middle ages, current. I think some light ambient stuff would be the best, but it may almost detract from the nature sounds, especially if not done right, and it will be really hard to do right.

[Neuromancer]

I have to eat craw.ogg on this one. Jordach, your music is AWESOME! Uploaded the new version, greatly trimmed down bird songs. @Pilz: I added all Jordach's songs to the .zip file and will uploaded them to github. See if you can find a good spot for the rest of Jordach's music.
@Jordach: did you write all of these? What's the lic?

[RealBadAngel]

simply awsome, good work

[Neuromancer]

Things I'm mulling over:

-bats seem way too frequent now?
-when playing multiplayer seems to increase frequency of music & normal sounds to the point where they are obnoxious
-which songs should go with which environments? Dark songs in caves or night, light sounds during day.
-the sounds may need to be quieted down a little because they may be drowning out some of the normal sound effects like walking on stone.

[Jordach]

I have to eat craw.ogg on this one. Jordach, your music is AWESOME! Uploaded the new version, greatly trimmed down bird songs. @Pilz: I added all Jordach's songs to the .zip file and will uploaded them to github. See if you can find a good spot for the rest of Jordach's music.
@Jordach: did you write all of these? What's the lic?

I generally don't bother with licenses; if you ask me, they are just another platform for innovations to get fucked. So I choose the licence that fits, or in this mods case; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
My method is to run procedure generated chords; run 'em through a VSTi/Synth, prune and slow down, then we have a decent recording.

Also; I make use of a propitary software, not LMMS. FL Studio 10 MAX. bundle. (I earn 600 (GBP) pounds in UK money per month.)

BTW; http://soundcloud.com/jordach if you want more 8-bit and UK Hardcore.

Update: Some my chords derived from pink noise is coming together.

I have 7 tracks at around < 40 BPM with 4 bars and under.

Update 2: How about conditional sounds; if you are in the plains, play one certain sound.

Update 3: Credit everyone in the first post.

[Jordach]

I have 8 bits of music for you to try out!

Please DO read the readme.

Download: ZIP

http://ompldr.org/vZjY4cQ/Pack%20of%20Music.zip

[Neuromancer]

I dont like long sounds like when a bird is singing for 18 sec. I think the ambience is also good when there are just some short bird sounds (like craw or best cardinal bird).
I also added support for sounds that are played when a sound is stopped (see water).

I went outside and listened to see what it was like. You are right, the constant loud singing is annoying. What I heard outside and what I think we need is a much quieter set of all the birds singing and cawing almost like background noise for the frequent (playing constantly), and then have 10 sec normal volume blue jays, crows, and singing randomly, but not frequently. Do you agree? If so, can you make it so we can adjust the volume down for the frequent day sounds? (make the frequent gain a parameter we can tweak) This is because there are lots of birds you can hear faintly from far away, but there are fewer birds you can hear loudly in your immediate area.

In fact, I wonder if this makes sense for many of the environments. (more quiet wolves & owls & drops in the distance, and fewer less frequent loud ones close up)

[PilzAdam]

I dont like long sounds like when a bird is singing for 18 sec. I think the ambience is also good when there are just some short bird sounds (like craw or best cardinal bird).
I also added support for sounds that are played when a sound is stopped (see water).

I went outside and listened to see what it was like. You are right, the constant loud singing is annoying. What I heard outside and what I think we need is a much quieter set of all the birds singing and cawing almost like background noise for the frequent (playing constantly), and then have 10 sec normal volume blue jays, crows, and singing randomly, but not frequently. Do you agree? If so, can you make it so we can adjust the volume down for the frequent day sounds? (make the frequent gain a parameter we can tweak) This is because there are lots of birds you can hear faintly from far away, but there are fewer birds you can hear loudly in your immediate area.

In fact, I wonder if this makes sense for many of the environments. (more quiet wolves & owls & drops in the distance, and fewer less frequent loud ones close up)

You can already change the gain. See music for an example. Just add the gain parameter to the day tables.

[Neuromancer]

I'm starting a new job and won't be able to be as involved with this project as much as I would like, but I will keep checking in and helping out where I can.

@PilzAdam: you have been the heart and soul of this Mod project, feel free to make decisions and post new releases, or whatever you deem appropriate if I'm not responding quickly enough.

@Jordach: Your music is a great contribution to this Mod feel free to help us in any way you like taking on new roles if you want.

@Everyone else: Feel free to offer your help to PilzAdam & Jordach. I'm going to give everyone a way to easily set frequency and volume/gain parameters that can be shared in this forum, and then just pasted into the top of the init.lua. That way we can share options on how to set the best ambiance for this Mod.

I'm not going away, I just don't want to slow things down if I'm not around enough.

[Neuromancer]

You can already change the gain. See music for an example. Just add the gain parameter to the day tables.

Awesome. This sounds so much more realistic and less annoying by keeping the singing quiet. See version .08.

[Neuromancer]

I have 8 bits of music for you to try out!

Please DO read the readme.

Download: ZIP

http://ompldr.org/vZjY4cQ/Pack%20of%20Music.zip

Thanks a million Jordach. PilzAdam, do you think you can add some of these and make it so they only play in the environment that they fit? Alone in the Dark, Somethings There, and Space Ambiance are my favorites of this pack. And Eastern Feeling, Dark Ambiance, and Ambiance already on github are all awesome.

[Jordach]

BTW, Minetest DOES NOT SUPPORT spaces in files names, nor does it enjoy CaPiTaL LeTtErS.

[Neuromancer]

One thing I've been trying to do is to reuse sounds in multiple environments/tables. For example I have a wind in the trees sound that I wanted to use both day & night normal, and I wanted to reuse the loud normal bluejay, crow, & cardinal in the frequent quiet as well so it sounds like they are in the distance as well. But I'm getting an error when I try to do the following (the commented out lines cause the error):

Your phone or window isn't wide enough to display the code box. If it's a phone, try rotating it to landscape mode.

Code: Select all

local day = {
    handler = {},
    frequency = day_frequency,
    {name="Best Cardinal Bird", length=4, gain=day_volume},
    {name="craw", length=3, gain=day_volume},
    {name="bluejay", length=18, gain=day_volume}
}

local day_frequent = {
    handler = {},
    frequency = day_frequent_frequency,
    {name="robin2", length=16, gain=day_frequent_volume},
    {name="birdsongnl", length=13, gain=day_frequent_volume},
    {name="bird", length=30, gain=day_frequent_volume}--,
--    {name="Best Cardinal Bird", length=4, gain=day_frequent_volume},
--    {name="craw", length=3, gain=day_frequent_volume},
--    {name="bluejay", length=18, gain=day_frequent_volume}
}


I'm thinking that lua is complaining about having the same index, but they are for different tables, so I don't see why lua would complain about that.

[Neuromancer]

@Pilz: adding the gasp of air when the user comes to the surface after being under the water was sheer brilliance. Really makes it seem so much more real.

[Jordach]

No clue, but un-comment the lines.

LUA has VERY strange syntax, C++ is far simpler; it gives away the problem....most of the time.

[Temperest]

One thing I've been trying to do is to reuse sounds in multiple environments/tables. For example I have a wind in the trees sound that I wanted to use both day & night normal, and I wanted to reuse the loud normal bluejay, crow, & cardinal in the frequent quiet as well so it sounds like they are in the distance as well. But I'm getting an error when I try to do the following (the commented out lines cause the error):

Your phone or window isn't wide enough to display the code box. If it's a phone, try rotating it to landscape mode.

Code: Select all

local day = {
    handler = {},
    frequency = day_frequency,
    {name="Best Cardinal Bird", length=4, gain=day_volume},
    {name="craw", length=3, gain=day_volume},
    {name="bluejay", length=18, gain=day_volume}
}

local day_frequent = {
    handler = {},
    frequency = day_frequent_frequency,
    {name="robin2", length=16, gain=day_frequent_volume},
    {name="birdsongnl", length=13, gain=day_frequent_volume},
    {name="bird", length=30, gain=day_frequent_volume}--,
--    {name="Best Cardinal Bird", length=4, gain=day_frequent_volume},
--    {name="craw", length=3, gain=day_frequent_volume},
--    {name="bluejay", length=18, gain=day_frequent_volume}
}


I'm thinking that lua is complaining about having the same index, but they are for different tables, so I don't see why lua would complain about that.

The comma is commented out immediately before the three commented lines.

Edit: I highly recommend using an editor that supports syntax highlighting, it makes errors like these much easier to catch.

[Neuromancer]

The comma is commented out immediately before the three commented lines.
Edit: I highly recommend using an editor that supports syntax highlighting, it makes errors like these much easier to catch.

Heh, no, I had the comma uncommented there, and was using LuaEdit. The funny thing is that though it gave me a std error 5 times last night, it worked just fine today when I uncommented it. Must have just been a temporary glitch in minetest or the world, and the Lua was just fine. Wierd.

[Neuromancer]

The music frequency might have been bumped up too much in version .10. Try lowering it from an 8 to a 6 or whatever suits you. Also the 4 new songs make the dowload take a while. I'm wondering if I should break these out into a separate module that you can download as needed. Also, 2 of the new songs are by Jordach, and 2 of them are by someone else. Does anyone know who that might be (before looking at the soundLicences file?

[Jordach]

The music frequency might have been bumped up too much in version .10. Try lowering it from an 8 to a 6 or whatever suits you. Also the 4 new songs make the dowload take a while. I'm wondering if I should break these out into a separate module that you can download as needed. Also, 2 of the new songs are by Jordach, and 2 of them are by someone else. Does anyone know who that might be (before looking at the soundLicences file?

313Hummer was the other artist, Pilz's commit log should say so.

[Neuromancer]

313Hummer was the other artist, Pilz's commit log should say so.

I decided to add 313Hummer's stuff as a tip of the hat to him. I miss his Minetest YouTube videos. He really understood what Minetest was capable of, and conveyed that. His videos were top notch, entertaining and educational. None of the other stuff on youtube comes even close. But mostly his music is just plain good and fits the game.

[Jordach]

313Hummer was the other artist, Pilz's commit log should say so.

I decided to add 313Hummer's stuff as a tip of the hat to him. I miss his Minetest YouTube videos. He really understood what Minetest was capable of, and conveyed that. His videos were top notch, entertaining and educational. None of the other stuff on youtube comes even close. But mostly his music is just plain good and fits the game.

Yeah; he shouted "I QUIT" in #minetest @ freenode

[Neuromancer]

Yeah; he shouted "I QUIT" in #minetest @ freenode

So is there some bad blood? I sent him a message yesterday asking him if we could use his music, but I haven't heard back from him yet. I thought he loved Minetest but just moved on to writing music. Are you saying he might not like it that we used his songs, or someone else might not like it?

[Neuromancer]

I actually broke down and wrote some lua and added a splash when the player enters water. I challenge the community to out do me. Anyone want to try writing code to add swimming sounds when at the surface and moving through water? Or how about the sound of waves gently sloshing when treading water (holding space bar to be at the surface) but not moving. Alright, I admit, this other stuff is a little bit beyond me right now. I just didn't want to bother Pilz again.

Wait, I've got part of this figured out. Create a new environment/ambiance of treading water. If the top half of my body is in air (pos+1.5=air) and my lower body is in water (pos+.5=water) , and below me (pos-.5) is water, then I am in a new environment treading water and I should play sloshing sound. The only thing I don't know is how to check if I am in this environment and moving. Does anyone know how to check to see if I'm moving or w,a,s, d is being pressed? Then we would play swimming sound.