Hello Sector3, hello Anthony, hello community. At first, I want to make really clear that I have the biggest respect of Anthony and I appreciate what he did and what he'll do in the future with R3E's sound. Especially the WTCC 2014 is remarkable, because it seems to be as realistic as possible and I think Sector3 used their latest build of recording setup. I was very, VERY exited when I noticed that a new R8 cockpit sound is on it's way to R3E. I thought when Anthony is forced to edit the sound of a car, it has to be an improvement in any meaning. So I updated the game, selected the R8 and some test track and was still very excited what it'll sound like. But then, I was very disappointed, almost shocked. Why replacing the before almost perfect, authentic and powerful R8 engine sound with an synthetic sound that sounds nothing like the R8 anymore? Really, it was THE R8 before, maybe with some need of fine tuning here and there, but it sounded accurate and like the YouTube onboard footage you can find plenty of. Sorry, but I can't understand why it was necessary to do this change. Was hoping that Anthony will add the noise that the R8 does when the driver is downshifting, that this will be the kind of tweaks he's doing. This is the most characteristic thing of the R8 and I miss it so much since the beginning of my R3E journey. You can hear it about the whole video. But feel free to wind to 1:09. This is a good example of how it sounds onboard. I mean that deep badass vromm vromm while downshifting. I think since the new transmission model, many of the downshift vromm, vromms (sorry, I hope you know what I mean) are gone, completely. For example: I can remember that the Mustang did this very good and it sounded awesome. Cam behind the car, kicking some gears down and vromm, vromm. Also the Z4 and the MP4-12C had some very beasty, loud badass downshift screams when setting cam behind car and downshifting (older YouTube footage with it should still be online). Found some. Anthony, is it possible to add additional to the engine sound such sounds that appear every time with every downshift command? I don't know the correct word for that, is it auto blip? I call it vromm, vromm. Best regards Robert
Thanks for your comments r-r-public The reason why I changed the sound of the Audi R8 is because we got some recordings from Kevin Van Der Linde, ADAC GT Masters driver on a Audi R8 https://www.facebook.com/KelvinvdLinde Kelvin wasn't satisfied by the previous R8 LMS sound and hoped we could improve it with the audio material he provided to us. And I sincerely thought that this sound should be improved too. I cannot share his files here but I think the new sound is matching his own car's sound very well. And he's driving a real Audi R8 GT3, so if you think it's not an Audi R8 anymore, then I don't know what I need to do, especially when I read some over enthousiastics comments about the new sound on this very forum here Of course, I understand what you're trying to say, so I'll review the sound and I'll try to add what you think is missing
I have to thank you for your response, Anthony. I also read all these comments, and they made me even more exited. But they don't match what I hear. Is it possible that my R8 sound is broken or something? There can't be a better source than material from a real R8 driver ... strange. And of course I do understand that YouTube footage is never comparable with the real thing because every recording hardware and situation has it's own interpretation of what is hearable at this moment. It's quite the same with the cockpit sound of the SLK Judd. It sounds very tinny and muffled and it's a bit uncomfortable. Nothing comparable with the outstanding sound this beast makes in replays or with other cams used.
I wanted to share with you this interesting feedback from Kelvin Van Der Linde, which matches perfectly with what you guys described in this thread about the downshifts sounds : <<Downshifts: -Sound is a big improvement in my opinion! Just one change here: The downshifts sound very slow (Almost same sound like an automatic car would make in real life). I would like the sound/Physics of the downshifts to be more agressive and faster, with an actual "Blip" of the throttle on the downshift.>> So, I'll try to improve this part as much as I can, I'm not sure what is possible yet but I'm on it and I'll keep you updated about the progress
Thank you, Anthony. It's a pleasure to read that. NOW I'm excited of what will come. And please don't limit the downshift topic only to the R8, I think it concerns all race cars that normally do it in real life. And don't hold back, make it LOUD, aggressive and just BADASS. This will push the already superior sound of R3E to the next level. I'm still not familiarized with the new R8 sound. Don't know if it's just me or if my opinion of the real R8 LMS Ultra onboard sound gone in the wrong direction. It still sounds too synthetic to me, muffled and tinny, almost like the recording is the limited factor here. The lower revs are cool, the start sound also, but in the higher revs it turns too much to the synthetic side. I'm missing the power. YouTube footage communicates another impression of the onboard sound. EDIT: These are the cleanest samples I could find:
I added some blip sounds to the downshifts for the Audi R8, for both internal and external. This should come to you in a next update. I think it's much better but still not perfect as there is too much inertia in the way the engine is coasting, which I can't do much about myself as it's physics related. My collegues working on the physics might have a look at it to see if we can make those downshifts more brutal, not only for the Audi. About making the sounds loud and agressive, it doesn't always guarantee a great audio experience. Some games are doing that already (I think you know whose I'm talking about) and I don't like it at all. Everything sounds so compressed, distorted and screamy in these titles, there's nothing natural there. It reminds me these FM radios who are over-processing the sound of their broadcast, with deep basses, just to impress the auditors. It's only destroying the artist's music and it breaks my ears I agree that the car sounds should be intense and powerful because it's the way they are in real life but there's a limit we shouldn't cross imo. I prefer to crank up the volume after the game output than before On the "synthetic" subject, well, we can't forget that it's a game software and it will never sound as natural as a real engine, especially without some big money to push the sound engine further or make some proper recordings. I personally like the way the R8 LMS sounds now, because it's as close as I can do it to the recording Kelvin provided, minus the perfectible downshifts/coasting. The fact that it sounds muffled and tiny is just because it's based on a compressed audio material. Not much I can do about it I'm afraid. Next year, when I'm installed in France, I'll try to record an Audi R8 LMS (and some other GT3 cars) and then I can replace the sound in R3E with some clean and uncompressed samples. I'm doing my best to give this game the best sounds possible but removing the synthetic effect common to every softwares will take much more than some simple tweaks. It's about research and technology but as long as the racing game industry will use some audio samples and play them in the classic crossfade way, we can't expect many changes in this area. This technology proved its benefits though, but there are a lot of others ways to explore, some have been already , mostly by some car manufacturers to give a bit of life to their electric models, but with disappointing results so far. I'm convinced that the pure synthesis systems are still not good enough to generate the "organic" sound we're looking for. I think it will need to go through some kind of "hybrid" tech first, just to make the sound more random and lively. That's pretty much the way Turn10 took with their granular system for their Forza games, and it sure sounds great. No doubt that it's drawing the way for the future of racing games sounds too.
I know what you mean, Anthony, and i fully agree with that. There are a lot of mods out there with overly distorted engine sounds, just for making it sound more brutal. And then it also sounds more similar to some (bad) YT videos, and which most people are familar with. Nevertheless this is not how you would hear it in the real car. The better way is to have clean engine sounds (like the approach of Anthony) ............... and then just turn up your speakers/headphones at home until they almost give up and scream & roar like the real thing.
Anthony, I really appreciate your detailed and exhaustive answer and the fact, that you invest so much time in doing that. Please let me tell you I don't think or feel that the sound engine of R3E is limited in any way – it's great and mind-blowing. Let's take the Porsc.. sorry, the RUF for example. I can't get enough of this car or driving it because it's onboard sound IS SOO GOOD! There are no annoying/buggy parts in it, no issues, no distortion, no anything. Just a powerful, clean, voluminous and plausible engine sound rooooaaarrr from idling mixture (Is this correct english? I don't know!) to the limiter – a very great sound curve. This creates an immersion that is beyond perfection in video game benchmarks. And the cockpit of the RUF is very pretty, too. So this car is my "I have to drive it every time I play R3E" thing. What I try to say: You are doing an outstanding job, the sound engine is (must be) very good and this mixture created an immersion king named R3E. The onboard footage posted above has not the badest quality and should give an good imagination of what the R8 LMS Ultra sounds onboard. Characteristic is the "sawing" sound that was pretty well done in the old R8 onboard sound IN MY OPINION. And by the way, I never took bad quality YouTube footage as reference. Of course I know that this is never the way how the real thing sounds. But this sample: should be one of the really good recordings. Like I said, the best one I could find on YouTube. Best regards Robert
Following on the downshifts thing, I added some specific external downshifts sounds for all the GT3 cars (sampled from real GT3 cars). This goes along with some physics modifications that increase the engine volume and dynamic on downshifts. Also, the Alpina B6 GT3 got a brand new sound, to accompany the GTR3 physics review currently in process. The car is now powered by the current specs normally aspirated engine vs the old supercharged version from 2009-2010, and it's revving much higher All this should come in a next update.
Back to the topic... I personally love the sound of the R8. But what was mentioned concerning the downshifts... I think the best example is the GT2 Ruf. This car has got brutal upshifts. But the downshifts are simply too soft. The sound of the Ruf is nearly perfect. I love it like the sound of the R8. But I think that the downshifts have to be more brutal, so that you can literally hear the power But, Anthony, in my mind the sounds you create for this game are the best sounds I've ever heard in any racing game on the planet. They are just fantastic. Keep on doing this exellent work
hm, yesterday i've noticed something strange in the new R8 Onboard-Sounds. While down-revving I've noticed a sound like a someone in the distance has pressed a signalhorn twice?! Has someone noticed it, too or is it just my soundsystem?
Thanks Anthony. This sounds awesome. Have seen the short preview of the new Alpina sound from twitter, it was linked here in the forum. Holy moly. Please, devs, don't hide something wonderful from us, this is pure gold to my ears.