
Jfxr: A browser tool to create sound effects for games - rinesh
http://jfxr.frozenfractal.com/
======
boomlinde
I've seen SFXR before, and while I can see the point of using these tools for
things like prototypes or quick game jam entries, I am absolutely appalled
when the sounds end up in otherwise high quality titles. Why ruin a good,
otherwise beautiful game with these unimaginative sound effects?

My issue is not as much that the sound effects are cheap or boring as the fact
that I can immediately tell where they come from, and that it could easily
have been avoided by paying a sound designer an almost negligible amount of
money to make sounds that somewhat fit the theme of the game in a more
profound sense.

~~~
TheZenPsycho
The original motivation for SFXR is the number of games produced that were
simply _silent_. SFXR changed that to not silent.

It sounds cheap to say this, I'll admit. But if you want a better world you've
got to make the tools that make that better world really easy to make, which
is what sfxr is or was. Maybe we address this by making a tool that makes
better sounds than sfxr. On the other hand, maybe we address this by making a
tool that makes it really easy for game devs to work with sound designers.

~~~
boomlinde
_> The original motivation for SFXR is the number of games produced that were
simply silent. SFXR changed that to not silent._

Sure, it lowers the barrier of entry when it comes to sound design. I think it
has worked well for a few games, and as I said it makes perfect sense for
something like ludum dare or just prototyping.

But when you want to polish your game and have a vision and/or a budget of any
sort, I don't see how the sfxr sound effects aren't the first thing to go.
Sfxr makes it all a lot simpler, but it sometimes strikes me as arrogant to
use it for an otherwise polished product, since in my mind it means that these
game developers don't recognize that it isn't trivial to create a good set of
sound effects.

+1 on creating a tool that makes collaboration easier. I have a friend who
does this professionally, and the process usually involves manual revisioning
by renaming files or timestamped folder names and moving them to dropbox. The
last project I saw him work on actually had an in-house tool to manage volume
levels and delay times, though.

~~~
TheZenPsycho
sometimes the barrier to entry is simply _not knowing_ anyone you can ask. I'd
almost suggest something _like_ 99 designs but, the problem with that site is
it significantly devalues the work of artists. I would hope that any tool that
surfaces for this niche is more respectful to the craft than that.

------
thisjepisje
I remember another tool like this, for 8-bit/lofi sound fx.

[http://www.superflashbros.net/as3sfxr/](http://www.superflashbros.net/as3sfxr/)

Given the title they might be related?

~~~
TheZenPsycho
it started out with sfxr [1]

then the clones started

the mac clone cfxr [2]

the flash clone, you linked to.

the fork of that, called bfxr [3]

the ios port [4]

the (much better, in my opinion than OP), js port [5]

sfxr.js [6]

sfmaker [7]

and I'm sure there's a handful of others. I think I'm missing one js clone-
along with a number of game engine libraries designed to accept the source
parameters for a sfxr sound or bfxr sound and generate them in real time in
the game as opposed to storing a wav.

The opportunities for this genre of program are opening up now that the
webaudio api is just starting to mature (though it has a fair way to go).

SFXR gives you a very very basic array of synthesis techniques. There's a lot
more that is possible here- Plus the whole field of FM synthesis techniques
(think genesis/megadrive era sound effects), game engine libraries are yet to
be addressed in the browser, as the tech making that possible is still just
around the corner in the next browser releases.

[1]:
[http://www.drpetter.se/project_sfxr.html](http://www.drpetter.se/project_sfxr.html)

[2]: [http://thirdcog.eu/apps/cfxr](http://thirdcog.eu/apps/cfxr)

[3]: [http://www.bfxr.net](http://www.bfxr.net)

[4]:
[https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/sfxr/id349840825?mt=8](https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/sfxr/id349840825?mt=8)

[5]: [http://github.grumdrig.com/jsfxr/](http://github.grumdrig.com/jsfxr/)

[6]: [http://humphd.github.io/sfxr.js/](http://humphd.github.io/sfxr.js/)

[7]: [http://www.html5gamedevs.com/topic/757-sfmaker-
html5-sound-e...](http://www.html5gamedevs.com/topic/757-sfmaker-html5-sound-
effect-generator/)

------
dm2
How would I make a bell sound? (I know nothing about audio)

Can audio / sounds be copyrighted?

~~~
DanBC
The closest I got, and it's terrible.

    
    
        http://jfxr.frozenfractal.com/#{"_version":1,"_name":"Powerup 16","_locked":[],"sampleRate":44100,"attack":0,"sustain":0.29,"sustainPunch":0,"decay":0.95,"tremoloDepth":0,"tremoloFrequency":1,"frequency":1600,"frequencySweep":0,"frequencyDeltaSweep":100,"repeatFrequency":9.4,"frequencyJump1Onset":40,"frequencyJump1Amount":0,"frequencyJump2Onset":66,"frequencyJump2Amount":0,"harmonics":3,"harmonicsFalloff":0.5,"waveform":"sine","interpolateNoise":true,"vibratoDepth":0,"vibratoFrequency":427,"squareDuty":100,"squareDutySweep":0,"flangerOffset":33,"flangerOffsetSweep":-2,"bitCrush":16,"bitCrushSweep":0,"lowPassCutoff":22050,"lowPassCutoffSweep":0,"highPassCutoff":0,"highPassCutoffSweep":0,"compression":1,"normalization":true,"amplification":100}
    

(Yes, that is one huge URL)

EDIT: I put the URL in a CODE tag. That fixes the broken page, but breaks the
URLification.

~~~
nvader
Just played around with it a little more, came up with this:

    
    
      http://jfxr.frozenfractal.com/#{"_version":1,"_name":"Powerup 16","_locked":[],"sampleRate":44100,"attack":0,"sustain":0.29,"sustainPunch":0,"decay":0.95,"tremoloDepth":0,"tremoloFrequency":1,"frequency":510,"frequencySweep":0,"frequencyDeltaSweep":100,"repeatFrequency":8.7,"frequencyJump1Onset":40,"frequencyJump1Amount":0,"frequencyJump2Onset":66,"frequencyJump2Amount":0,"harmonics":5,"harmonicsFalloff":0.06,"waveform":"sine","interpolateNoise":true,"vibratoDepth":140,"vibratoFrequency":427,"squareDuty":100,"squareDutySweep":0,"flangerOffset":33,"flangerOffsetSweep":-2,"bitCrush":16,"bitCrushSweep":0,"lowPassCutoff":10100,"lowPassCutoffSweep":0,"highPassCutoff":0,"highPassCutoffSweep":0,"compression":1,"normalization":true,"amplification":100}
    

I was going for a tolling kind of bell.

