How to create sound effects quick and dirty?

Hey, I'm quite new myself to this craft. When I first got to this forum I read Nathan Madsen's thread "Creating SFX", you should check it out :) http://www.gamedev.net/topic/523411-creating-sfx/

Also, you could check out Flashkit if you want free SFX, though Nathan might have thing or two to say about free stuff :)

Good luck and have fun!

1. Buy some sound libs (!), here's a posting of a guy who provides sound effects for really low prices.

2. Get a sound tool like the free audacity and modify/mix the sound samples to your liking.

To sum it up: $25 + 3 hours of your time and you have your first sound effects in your game.

For some quick sound effects, you can also use a tool like this: http://www.bfxr.net/

For dirty scifi audio effects there are lots of vst synthesizers, best of them i think is sugar bytes cyclop vst ...

its unusual sound dessigning algorithms makes great effects. All job can be done with its demo version...

Ofcouse must be host application for vst instrument...

Going back to my roots and figuring out simple sound design, I used basic recordings or synthesizer to generate sounds and then manipulated them with a sound editing software.

You can replicate this without needing to record a sound by visiting public source sound libraries from the community such as :

http://www.freesound.org/

http://www.pdsounds.org/

The synthesis route on a computer you'll need

• a sequencer that can host vst plugins (software instruments)
• vst instruments
• vst effects

A nice shareware sequencer vst host which you can pay for if you use it commercially:

http://www.reaper.fm/

VST Plugins

http://www.kvraudio.com/q.php?search=1&x=-1094&y=-273&q=free+vst&sw=0&type=0&os=0&format=0

Audacity or Reaper could be used to manipulate the sounds - pitch bending them, or changing the volume, or cutting and pasting.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Your mouth is actually a fantastic sound creation tool, you can use it as the basis for sounds and mangle / manipulate the recording using vst plugins and basic editing.

Synthesizer sounds could be generated by messing with instrument settings to create something then save out the sound and edit it - grabbing the parts of it you want. Alternatively, using an 8bit plugin, you could using the sequencer play a sequence of notes and use that as the sound effect too. It really depends on the direction of the sound you want to take.

Anyway, the best way to start is with a sound source of some sort and then use a sound editing tool to mess with it.

Sony Sound Forge has a free 30day trial. i can start very easily in that and use the internal tone generator to create a sinewave and then create all sorts of electronic sfx just with the internal editing tool set.

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/download/trials/soundforge

Just buy a Modcan modular synthesizer. Only about $10,000 for an entry level system.

If you don't have all that money sitting around, you can use the free synthesizers in the chrome plugin Audio tool. The main purpose of the program is for making techno music, but you can make some pretty radical sound FX using the synths and export as MP3s. It also has lots of effects like echo, delay, phase shifter, and distortion to process your recorded audio through.

Here's a quick demo of what I was talking about..

VocalPickup_01.mp3

- My voice doing a slurp with some click at the end - processed with some flange, pitch bend, and 2 sets of ring modulation.

- Time taken 4 minutes.

SinePing_PickupSeq.mp3

- original ping is just a sine wav generated, added a volume envelope (fade out) is the first sound.

- sequenced in a sequencer with various effects thrown on quickly. Made a few variations with 2 sequences of sounds blended together

- last version is the 3rd one reversed, with a new pitch envelope.

- time taken - 5 minutes

VocalPickup_01_SineRev.mp3

- combination of the VocalPickup_01, the reversed version of SinePing_PickupSeq blended in, and the the end of the 1st sequenced effect of the sine ping mixed into the end of it.

- time taken 1 minute.

All up these took under 10 minutes to pop out all 3 versions.

I used sound forge to record and just butcher the sounds. Played with different settings of the effects until something sounded interesting and then went from there. Experimentation is the mother of invention.

Hey, I'm quite new myself to this craft. When I first got to this forum I read Nathan Madsen's thread "Creating SFX", you should check it out http://www.gamedev.net/topic/523411-creating-sfx/

Also, you could check out Flashkit if you want free SFX, though Nathan might have thing or two to say about free stuff

Good luck and have fun!

:P I have no problem with using free tools. Just be aware that sometimes free stuff is amazing and dependable but other times it can leave you out to dry. Basically my main criteria for any tool I put in my studio is: does it make my workflow easier/faster? If it does - get it. If it doesn't, skip it.

alright, thanks for all your suggestions. especially groovyone, those kind of sounds are pretty much what i am looking for. I'll start experimenting.

offtopic: obviously, i don't have the luxury as a student to buy expensive soft/hardware.

Also check out:

www.sounddogs.com

www.soundrangers.com

www.pond5.com

These sites offer a la carte style purchasing as well as bundles. You can get some great foundational sounds here to expand upon. If you don't want to use Audacity, which is open source, then you could use Reaper which is $60 for a license if you're making less than $20,000 a year doing this stuff. It's a solid program.

Thanks,

Nate