Hey all,

 

I recently discovered Sky Blue Radio and the Wee Tune Beastie software.  I'd seen it around for the last 10 years or so in the hobby but never felt compelled to try it.

 

So 2 days in from trying it, I would make that far to often quoted statement :-    "I couldn't fly without it".

 

To keep things semi-realistic, I don't fly it with airlines, but in nice high end GA (remember that the G1000 has a whole radio/music suite, integrated), it has massively added to the feel good factor of flying - especially when the sun is shining (in sim) and you're high up, cruising the airways in somethingk like the Flight 1 T182T, King Air, Legacy or any nice craft of your choice.    

 

Wee Tune Beastie is awesome because;  (i) you can control it within the sim, (you turn it on by tuning COM2 to 123.45) so it keeps things semi-real, and you don't need to go out to your desktop, and (ii). it seems (for me) to have absolutely no effect on performance.    I had in the past, tried playing WAV files of music via various media players but always saw a performance hit.     As I am already connected to the internet during all of my flights (Opus Weather), the extra bandwidth of some music coming through just doesn't seem to cause a hit in the sim.

 

The music they play on Sky Blue is just perffffect for a middle aged dawg like me..... 80s, 80s, and more 80s !! ........ there seems to be an alternating trend between US style trends and genres, and very definitely a British sound.... both suit me! .... Of course there is other stuff on there too;  some lovely latin hispanic love song came on yesterday  - just after "Call me" by Spagna  (a huge 1 hit wonder in the UK in the 80s :smile:).

 

I'm sure the GTA generation will enjoy some of the 80s classics too. :cool:

 

The beauty again, is that you can just toggle away from 123.45 on your COM2, when you get your approach vectors and need to concentrate on your landing.

 

Music in the 'pit (however you pipe it in) is the perfect antidote to in-flight cruise boredom!

 

So........ does anyone else have any views or anecdotes about playing music alongside flight sim? ........ do many others play music while flying?

 

Cheers.

.... do many others play music while flying?

Sure. A bit of relaxing 80's nostalgia never hurts when trying to make that perfect landing. Personally I prefer to just keep spotify running in the background, usually with Motörhead, Judas Priest or something like that in the playlist.

I'm sure the GTA generation will enjoy some of the 80s classics too. :cool:

LOL, I still reguarly listen to song from GTA III and San Andreas...Freakin' awesome songs!

usually with Motörhead

 

Bet that get's the adrenalin pumping, ready for the landing! :lol:

Sure. A bit of relaxing 80's nostalgia never hurts when trying to make that perfect landing. Personally I prefer to just keep spotify running in the background, usually with Motörhead, Judas Priest or something like that in the playlist.

 

And you don't feel a sudden urge to faceplant your plane into a mountain?

 

I'm not criticizing your taste in music, but I remember an old story about J.P.  fans killing themselves. To be sure, I wouldn't play their tracks backwards ;-)

I set up music compilations for different regions to fly in:

 

- 'Huey Lewis And The News' for Australia

- country music for the "wild wild west" of the USA

- 'Greatest Arabian pop songs' for flying into and out of Dubai

- 'various artists' to fly across Europe

 

FDC (FlightDeckCompanion) can handle sets of 12 WAV files each to be played automatically according to flight phases. I choose the appropriate music pack and copy it into the folder needed before each flight.

 

Currently I'm considering a larger variety:

 

- ABBA for Sweden

- Maori music for N.Z.

- and the Spice Girls for the UK!!!  

Nice idea! Funny I never thought about this because music is my other hobby...! I will surely give this a try: I like it that you can turn the radio on or off using Com2. I like that more than having something running in the background which you have to switch to in order to turn it of or to change something. For something like this I also prefer radio although it would be the best if I could tune into a station that's broadcasting in the country I fly in...! Come to think of that: aren't there any other addons like this, which you can control from within FSX...? I would LOVE to turn on the Norwegian radio when flying there: it would make the idea of actually being there complete! (In fact, I might even look for some Norwegian online radio stations and run it in the background...  ^_^ ).

 

Anyway, great idea! It will also make some of the more er... boring flights a lot more entertaining. Again: why didn't I think of this before...!

 

EDIT

First link I found:

 

http://www.listenlive.eu/norway.html

 

LOL This is fun!  ^_^

That's cool Olli!

 

But ................ 60 years of amazing British music, and you choose the Spice Girls !!!!!   :lol:

Nice idea. Just wondering if you could pipe in (no internet) songs that you have on your HD?

 

To further clarify, it would be nice to be able to hear the ambient sounds of the cockpit with music of your choice as a background filler.

.....music is my other hobby...!

Me too! ..... I write and record music, using REAPER, REASON, and a ton of VSTi's!

 

I like it that you can turn the radio on or off using Com2. I like that more than having something running in the background which you have to switch to in order to turn it of or to change something.

Definitely. That's what I love about Wee Tune Beastie - it is actually part of your aircraft, so feels much more realistic. I like what Olli is doing with FDC too though. :cool:

 

Just wondering if you could pipe in (no internet) songs that you have on your HD?

 

Not with Wee Tune Beastie you can't (it only connects to Blue Sky Radio), but you could stream music from your HD using something like VLC Media Player (I wouldn't recommend using Windows Media Player, as it's a resource hog).

And you don't feel a sudden urge to faceplant your plane into a mountain?

 

I'm not criticizing your taste in music, but I remember an old story about J.P.  fans killing themselves. To be sure, I wouldn't play their tracks backwards ;-)

Hehehe! In the 80's a lot of politicians and TV talkshow hosts tried very hard indeed to make up nasty stories about hidden messages appearing when playing tunes backwards and stuff, as well as presenting theories on what the band names actually meant. AC/DC was believed to stand for Anti Christ/Devils Church (it actually means Alternating Current and Direct Current) and W.A.S.P (which was just meant to sound cool) became We Are Satan's People. The bands loved the hysteria of course as most kids have an innate urge to do exactly the opposite of what grown-ups tells them to do, and in this case they were told to not buy hard rock albums.

Nice idea. Just wondering if you could pipe in (no internet) songs that you have on your HD?

 

To further clarify, it would be nice to be able to hear the ambient sounds of the cockpit with music of your choice as a background filler.

 

 

I remember smaller addon planes that simulate a MPG music player in the cockpit: Aerosoft Beech and something by Lionheart Creations.

 

 

 

That's cool Olli!

 

But ................ 60 years of amazing British music, and you choose the Spice Girls !!!!!   :lol:

 

 

EDIT: Unfortunately that's not the link to the London PO I was looking for.

 

http://www.lpomusic.com/?q=node/931

 

EDIT II: Here we go - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmir:_Symphonic_Led_Zeppelin  

Edited August 16, 201312 yr by olli4740

I fly Lancasters. The sound of 4 Rolls Royce Merlins is music enough for me. I wouldn't be able to hear anything else anyway :smile:

about 5 yrs ago i asked for a kneeboard inside the VC that would project charts. load sheets etc.

 

then the iPad was released which has now taken over that funtion and i forgot all about it.

 

but this thread is just the other way aroun for me since music could already be playing outside FSX but still be 'inside' my cockpit in my imagination.

I just stick an earbud in my ear (under my headphones), plug in the iPod or the tablet, and go for it. That way, there are independent Volume controls for the music and the Sim.

 

It's nice to have tunes playing in the background; I prefer Jazz myself.

 

 

EDIT: Be careful though, lest someone here might accuse you of exhibiting poor FS airmanship, by listening to music in what's supposed to be a sterile cockpit environment...  :rolleyes: