best add on sound package

[abh_jc_03 0]

Any thoughts on best company for add on sound packages. I heard TSS is a great company but I would like input from others. Who should I look for and who should I look out for?

[Chock 17,769]

Well, if you go to Simmarket and look up sound products, most of them have a preview video so you can actually check for yourself. Here' a direct link:

 

http://secure.simmar...ds-page-1.chtml

 

Personally, I rate TSS.

 

Al

[Ben Cap 89]

TSS by far. The rest of 'em are pretty crumby.

[ajpongress 467]

TSS is best.

[Chock 17,769]

Yup, actually, if you go to that link and listen to he TSS Cub sounds, and then check out the other ones for the Cub, you get an idea of just how good TSS are in comparison to the others.

 

Al

[Ben Cap 89]

I have listened to the promo vids for some other soundpack companies and I was honestly appalled by the fact that they even wanted my money! :LMAO:

[duckbilled 310]

I'm also partial to TSS but Sonic Solutions is also pretty good. I won't buy packs from anyone else.

[TheRedBaron 0]

Don't count out freeware....some freeware packs are decent.

[Racn 0]

I use Sonic Sound Solutions, have good success with their products

[Ben Cap 89]

Sonic Sound Solutions

 

:bad:

[bobbyjoh 11]

I have the TSS HD sound pack for the 767. It is fabulous, the sound cones work so well so if you are in front of the engines you get the whine and if you are in the back you get the roar. I am sold on TSS and BTW no freeware even comes close.

 

Bob

[CoolP 283]

The best I've bought was that TSS one for all the airliners in FSX. Means the default ones and of course the huge number of AI planes in e.g. UT2. Audio Environment.

 

Well, the addon sounds also come with a downside. Not only is it hard to tell the actual quality by some video (which may aim at sounding 'impressive' in the first place), you also may end up with some too loud cockpit sounds or things like the flaps in an airliner. This is very depended on the actual plane and set of course.

 

To give an example, I recall some pretty decent TSS sounds on my Simcheck A300 suffering from that 'you are sitting right next to that engine' problem. The externals are great, don't read that the wrong way. The whole sound environment is superb, it's just too much engine in the cockpit. This may happen too when you buy some stuff for a 737 or 767.

 

On another occasion and more based on GA planes, you can get very nice default sounds on e.g. the Carenado JetProp while some addon packs increase the actual sound quality but establish that prop rpm bug. A bug the default plane doesn't suffer from.

 

Another example actually praises that open structure of FSX since you can alter the character of a plane in some ways, and easily. You can buy sound sets which give you that muffled engine sound impression those noise cancelling headsets establish. This is especially useful (depending on your preferences) in small GA planes where the engine is close to you.

For instance, the default Carenado Bonanza may be loud (still nice sounds though) and the aftermarket set then enables that noise cancelling impression. Nothing to impress people within the first seconds, it's more that it grows on you.

 

So I'd say that it really depends on which plane you want to retrofit with a new set. In general, the sound quality increases, but the mentioned downsides might come to life. It may be wise to buy with some money back guarantee in place, regardless of the actual dev and with your preferences in mind.

[abh_jc_03 0]

I will look into that. I own the PMDG 747-4, 747-8, 737 NGX 600-900, LVD 767, CS 707,Wilco ERJ 134-145, Carenado F33, FLT1 Super 80 pro and Airbus X. I have heard that the PMDG aircraft actually have the best sound package already rather than buy the soundpack from simmarket. Thoughts?

[duckbilled 310]

I have had sound issues (RPM bug and phasing) but I haven't noticed them with any of the FSX specific packs from TSS. If I try to use one from FS9, it is a mess. I think this issue is either system specific or I'm just really sensitive to the issue because I have found few people that have problems with FS9 sound packs in FSX. On my first FSX set up (SP1 rather than Acceleration on a old system), i didn't have issues with FS9 sound packs in FSX.

 

To me, the FSX packs from TSS are very reliable and that's why I'm a TSS fan. Whether the TSS pack is better than the ones that come with the package, it depends on the aircraft. I know a lot of people loved the sounds that came with the QW757 but they never worked well on my system. I tried to address the issue with QW but it was like trying to explain the color blue to a blind person. In the end, the TSS 757 packs were a perfect match. With the recent Carenado stuff, I don't see any reason to replace the sound packs - they are great as they are. With CLS, however, their packs need to be replaced immediately.

[Chock 17,769]

Some payware aircraft do actually use TSS sound packs already. The SimCheck A300 is one of those, although I think it does actually use a chopped down version of the full set, since I did buy the TSS sound set for that engine, and it did make some changes beyond the default, principally, it changes the sounds from the cockpit a little, which I actually liked because from observations of the real A300, the sounds were not too quiet when the engine wound up for take off when on the flight deck. A few Captain Sim airliners use TSS sounds too.

 

I do have a TSS CFM56 sound set, but I bought that to use with the Ariane NG; I've not actually tried it on the PMDG NG, because I was fairly happy with the PMDG CFM sounds. Having said that, the best developers don't always make the most pleasing sounds, even if they might be the most accurate, a good example of that is the A2A P-51 Mustang, which does have very realistic sounds, but the (also excellent) WarbirdSim P-51 actually has more evocative sounds, even if they are less accurate in not being so closely keyed to the RPM of the simulated Merlin engine, which is a plus point of A2A's AccuSim efforts, unless you just want a really cool sounding aeroplane, in which case it is a minus point from a dramatic standpoint. Everyone who has ever witnessed a P-51 or a Spitfire or Hurricane fly past them knows what a cool sound the Merlin makes as the engine noise gets the doppler effect and the wavelength shift drops the engine note in that marvellous way, but of course the pilot never hears that from where he or she is sat!

 

So sometimes it comes down to what you might enjoy rather than what might be completely realistic. There's actually a really interesting interesting 'extras' film about that subject on the extended DVD version of the film Master and Commander, where they went to extraordinary lengths to make the cannons actually sound like real cannons depending on the viewpoint of the camera, evidently when you are located at the side of an old naval cannon, it really doesn't make much of a 'boom' noise at all when it fires, since the vast majority of the sound cone of the supersonic air from the explosion projects forwards. The funny thing about that is, for all that effort at realism, the cannons actually sound more 'fun' in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, where they just put cool noises in there when it needs them.

 

2001: A Space Odyssey is another movie which shoots itself up the arse with that concept too, where it realistically portrays there being no sound in space, which actually makes it a bit crap to watch in the sequences with Gary Lockwood doing space walks compared to something like Star Wars, where all the explosions and stuff are accompanied by cool audio SFX.

 

Al