Sound

1st Official Post

    My flight sim life began with AFS2 about 2 years ago and I've never had a proper look at the alternatives but I tried X-Plane in VR this evening out of curiosity. Of course the graphics were comparatively awful and jerky but there was also an immersive quality I couldn't put my finger on at first. I'm pretty sure it wasn't the moving vehicles. :) My best guess is that it was the sound. Am I right in thinking X-Plane has stereo sound and FS2 only mono at the moment? There was a bit more of a sense of being in something rather than just hearing engine noises. Does anyone else agree or am I talking nonsense?

    Would it be that difficult to upgrade FS2 to stereo? Maybe IPACS don't have the sound files for all aircraft but start with the C172 and improve over time?

    • Official Post

    I agree with you that our sound engine is something to be desired, and yes, we don't have stereo sound in Aerofly at the moment.

    The sound around you can make a difference in immersion factor, especially in VR, but although our sounds can be greatly improved, the current sounds shouldn't break immersion either.

    IPACS Development Team Member

    I'm just a cook, I don't own the restaurant.
    On behalf of Torsten, Marc, and the rest of the IPACS team, we would all like to thank you for your continued support.

    Regards,

    Jeff

    • Official Post

    Theoretically any sound is just mono, the stereo effect is created because two ears are simulated. In aerofly you do get some stereo effects in some outside cameras, so technically speaking Aerofly can do stereo sounds but the majority of sounds, especially those in the cockpit are placed all from a single position, so there is no stereo effect as such yet.

    Changing over to stereo sound is doable I think (since it's already happening accidentally on some outside cameras) but when we do touch the sound engine we might as well build our own custom sound engine that allows us to simulate all sorts of effects from wind distoring distant sounds to high or low pass filters to attenuate some sounds over greater distances, to doppler effect and sonic effects (e.g. sonic boom) to 3D positional sound, echos and possibly even sound blocking, etc. Just to list some of our ideas. But as you guess this takes quite a bit of time and isn't done in a month or two.

    • Official Post
    Quote from Spit40

    I suspected you'd have aspirations for an amazing gold plated sound system. Still, one day at a time.

    Eventually

    IPACS Development Team Member

    I'm just a cook, I don't own the restaurant.
    On behalf of Torsten, Marc, and the rest of the IPACS team, we would all like to thank you for your continued support.

    Regards,

    Jeff

    Quote from Jet-Pack

    we might as well build our own custom sound engine that allows us to simulate all sorts of effects from wind distoring distant sounds to high or low pass filters to attenuate some sounds over greater distances, to doppler effect and sonic effects (e.g. sonic boom) to 3D positional sound, echos and possibly even sound blocking, etc. Just to list some of our ideas. But as you guess this takes quite a bit of time and isn't done in a month or two.

    Sounds good. (Pun intended.) But er...

    Quote from Spit40

    Still, one day at a time.

    ...I am afraid 'one year at a time' would be more fitting here. It's nice to know everything will be dealt with 'eventually' but I'd rather see it in my lifetime. In other words: I doubt if we will hear (pun intended again) about this again before 2023 or so.

    Hi Phil

    X Plane 11 needs some setting up but when done is very good

    Ortho4XP of UK

    World traffic 3

    Pilot2ATC

    Zibo mod for 737-800

    Equals Happy Bunny

    Ok, VR is a little Jerky but considering I have live weather, full aircraft systems, photo scenery, atc, other aircraft in the sky, autogen and fairly accurate airports I can live with that

    I spent some time correcting the default UK airports to look better, gate numbers, gate docking systems etc

    Steve

    Quote from Jet-Pack

    Theoretically any sound is just mono, the stereo effect is created because two ears are simulated. In aerofly you do get some stereo effects in some outside cameras, so technically speaking Aerofly can do stereo sounds but the majority of sounds, especially those in the cockpit are placed all from a single position, so there is no stereo effect as such yet.

    Changing over to stereo sound is doable I think (since it's already happening accidentally on some outside cameras) but when we do touch the sound engine we might as well build our own custom sound engine that allows us to simulate all sorts of effects from wind distoring distant sounds to high or low pass filters to attenuate some sounds over greater distances, to doppler effect and sonic effects (e.g. sonic boom) to 3D positional sound, echos and possibly even sound blocking, etc. Just to list some of our ideas. But as you guess this takes quite a bit of time and isn't done in a month or two.

    Jan,

    Much as I love the quality of what you guys do and the standards you aim for... is there room here for a quick win? For modest effort create some extra 3D immersion by faking a stereo sound that gives us a (an extra I mean) sense we're inside a cockpit with stuff going on around us. It need only apply when in the cockpit and we're not going to complain that a certain element of the sound appears to come from the front left side instead of the right or underneath.

    https://www.soundonsound.com/sound-advice/q…x-mono-material


    I know you want to do the best possible whenever you do anything but there might be room for "interim solutions" - you can label them as such. Obviously they take time away from real solutions so its a case by case judgement call whether its worth it. Try it out on sound?

    Phil