Bfxr: make sound effects

December 13, 2011 1:59 PM

Bfxr is a web app for creating sound effects for your game or own amusement. Use the Randomize button to get started.
posted by Foci for Analysis (23 comments total)

I need this like I need in a hole in my head. And if you want to know what making that hole sounds like in the Atari 2600, I'll probably be able to let you know later on today.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:03 PM on December 13, 2011 [3 favorites]

bxfr is based on sfxr, a non-web C program that does the same thing (as it says on the bxfr web page) but it's worth mentioning as there's some other stuff on that drpetter site worth exploring. Stuff like Basic sound theory and synthesis.
posted by smcameron at 2:13 PM on December 13, 2011

Btw, I totally stole this post from Hacker News so I might as well share this pick pocketed link: The Ultimate Indie Game Developer Resource List

(This is a pretty lazy fpp, I know.)
posted by Foci for Analysis at 2:13 PM on December 13, 2011 [5 favorites]

I also saw this on reddit/r/programming today as well, so it's going around today for whatever reason, despite being pretty old (it's been on the sidebar of reddit/r/gamedev for as long as I can remember.)
posted by smcameron at 2:16 PM on December 13, 2011

So, how in the hell does this thing work? I click on the buttons, but get nothing. No waveforms, no controls, no nothing.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:23 PM on December 13, 2011

Do you got Adobe Air installed, Thorzdad? Might be it.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 2:27 PM on December 13, 2011

This is going to be really helpful to go with the "Build your own levels" of RunJumpBuild.
posted by yeloson at 2:28 PM on December 13, 2011

So, how in the hell does this thing work? I click on the buttons, but get nothing. No waveforms, no controls, no nothing.

Same thing happen to me. Then I realized I had my headphones muted. See aforementioned reference to 'hole in head'; realize it may be too late.

That said, now that it is working, a fun game is to hit buttons randomly and convince yourself that you've just re-created the growling of the tanks for "Combat"/the roar of the dragons in "Adventure"/etc.

(YMMV on the definition of "fun" -- but I enjoyed it.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:38 PM on December 13, 2011

Do you got Adobe Air installed, Thorzdad? Might be it.

I see that the standalone app for download requires Air. Does the web app require Air, too? Ew.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:41 PM on December 13, 2011

Does the web app require Air, too? Ew.

It shouldn't—it looks like it's just Flash.
posted by JiBB at 2:47 PM on December 13, 2011

Well, I have the latest, bestest version of Flash installed, and I still get nothing but the buttons in both Firefox and Safari.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:49 PM on December 13, 2011

Kinda cool, but I'm not sure I gain anything by using this instead of sfxr for my games. I am definitely sure I don't gain anything by downloading bfxr standalone, though.
posted by mysterpigg at 2:53 PM on December 13, 2011

Well, I have the latest, bestest version of Flash installed, and I still get nothing but the buttons in both Firefox and Safari.

I had the same problem until I allowed the site to store Flash cookies (Local storage preference for Flash player).
posted by dhalgren at 2:53 PM on December 13, 2011

I had the same problem until I allowed the site to store Flash cookies
Ah. Good catch. Thanks!
posted by Thorzdad at 2:56 PM on December 13, 2011

Actually, on second thought, a fleshed out sfxr API is kinda a cool idea. Still not sure the standalone version buys me anything, though.
posted by mysterpigg at 2:58 PM on December 13, 2011

FUCK YES.
I use sfxr daily. Not for "push button to make jump sfx" stuff, I use it as a very fast and basic synthesizer for creating small components of more elaborate sounds, or sweeteners. There are many tasks for which I'd normally use a conventional subtractive synth in a DAW, but sfxr's instant previewing shaves minutes off of my workflow (and when you're doing 1,000 SFX for a game, minutes add up fast). All kinds of whirs and clicks and filtered whooshes can be additively combined like legos into, say, a TRIPLE A NEXTGEN LASER RIFLE, which ends up sounding nothing like the "8 bit" stuff you start with.

Tempted to post a YouTube video showing how this is done, there aren't enough sound design technique videos out there, and I may be biased but I think it's one of the most fascinating things around. Anyway, thanks for posting this, pretty much all of the new features are things I'd wished for in the original!
posted by jake at 3:17 PM on December 13, 2011 [9 favorites]

Good lord, this is great. It actually works as an instrument for noisy improv type stuff, too. If you hit randomize several times, it builds up a collection of sounds on the lower left. You can then use the arrow keys to scroll through these, triggering them. Almost like a vertical keyboard.
posted by O Blitiri at 3:24 PM on December 13, 2011

I want there to be a radio station which plays people's submissions of their favorite sounds. I would keep this on at low volume in the background for long stretches.
posted by benito.strauss at 5:22 PM on December 13, 2011

jake: do it! I'd love to watch that video!
posted by scose at 5:58 PM on December 13, 2011

Me too, jake.
posted by Songdog at 6:01 PM on December 13, 2011

Tom Francis listens to sounds people created with bfxr and submitted for use in his stealth defenestration game, Gunpoint.
posted by straight at 7:08 PM on December 13, 2011

Jake, I would watch that video SO HARD.
posted by straight at 7:09 PM on December 13, 2011

All right, I'll do it. Might not be until after the new year, though, Magfest approaches!

In the meantime, check out the Vibrato sliders, that's FM synthesis right there, and you can produce some INSANE WICKED timbres and unpredictably complex tones by turning it way up. That's the basis of a lot of "ray gun" type sounds. Takes a boring old "blooooooop" and turns it into a "RAREERAERAERAOOWOWOWOOWRROWRORORrrrrr"!
posted by jake at 7:26 PM on December 13, 2011 [1 favorite]