Fenix A320 sounds are very faint

[DMullert]

Hello Gang.

Has anybody noticed that the Fenix A320 sounds are super faint?  Can barely hear the engines on both, the IAE and CFM variants.  I've set my sound setting as per their recommendations to no avail.  Any ideas?  I've reported it to Fenix.  Thanks

 

[Krakin]

I'm tired of these audio posts tbh. I'm only going to trust people who actually work with and around these machines.

[Orlaam]

You don't really hear much in the way of engine sound in the 320.  It is muted.  I do feel like some users post videos with louder sounds, but perhaps they have their settings a little different.  The 319 will be louder.  The 321 will be more quiet and they say the NEOs are almost non-existent in cockpit volume.  That's just how it is.

[Fielder]

Back in FSX it was easy to modify the sound files. I also modified the cockpit layouts (added and removed gauges. And especially made the compass dials larger and easier to read).

[Fielder]

We also had hangar apps in FSX. You could have a hangar that only held small modern 2 engine GA aircraft, for instance. And then only planes in that hangar were in the game.

[Peter Z KCLE_EDDN]

2 hours ago, Krakin said:

I'm tired of these audio posts tbh. I'm only going to trust people who actually work with and around these machines.

This is a support forum and sim community, and someone asked a friendly question. If you're tired of posts like this then don't read or respond to them.

[Lord Farringdon]

10 hours ago, DMullert said:

Hello Gang.

Has anybody noticed that the Fenix A320 sounds are super faint?  Can barely hear the engines on both, the IAE and CFM variants.  I've set my sound setting as per their recommendations to no avail.  Any ideas?  I've reported it to Fenix.  Thanks

 

Hi Dennis.

I cant specifically comment on the Fenix or any Airbus since I don't really fly them in MSFS. But the sim has had a number of new releases recently with the B777, MD-11F and tomorrow hopefully the much vaunted B727. The sounds on all these aircraft solicit questions regarding their volume which users variously complain are either too loud or too quiet.

Sounds are important of course. We enjoy the sounds of powerful engines that is why the throaty sounds of a P-51 Mustang or a Spitfire in real life is just so much better than the sound of a lawnmower. That's why we also loved the sound of the old B747 P&W's and RR's or even the B727 JT8D's as they spooled up before brakes release. And so that's why we have come to expect more sound because we want to hear the power of these engines.  But the reality is that airliners today must meet stringent noise abatement requirements and other environmental and fuel efficiency targets and as such are generally much quieter that one might have been used to in the past.  It follows that if they are quieter on the outside then they will also be quieter on the inside. Passengers seated near the engines are likely to hear them the loudest but those in Business and First Class much less so. That's why these premium seats are always in the front to the airplane.  If you are sitting 0L (ie the Captains seat) then you are in the quietest place available. 

So if you are happy all your sound settings are optimal, and you are sitting in 0L then what you are hearing is what the Developer programmed and it may indeed be realistically quiet depending on your phase of flight.

I'm sure an Airbus guy will chime in with more specific help regarding Fenix cockpit sounds.  

Cheers

Terry    

[thepilot]

15 hours ago, DMullert said:

Hello Gang.

Has anybody noticed that the Fenix A320 sounds are super faint?  Can barely hear the engines on both, the IAE and CFM variants.  I've set my sound setting as per their recommendations to no avail.  Any ideas?  I've reported it to Fenix.  Thanks

 

The latest update did that. Before that, the sounds were much louder, but that's apparently not what you would hear in real life. This is one of the few cases where I'd gladly trade in realism for more auditory enjoyment... 

[Pilot53]

21 hours ago, DMullert said:

Hello Gang.

Has anybody noticed that the Fenix A320 sounds are super faint?  Can barely hear the engines on both, the IAE and CFM variants.  I've set my sound setting as per their recommendations to no avail.  Any ideas?  I've reported it to Fenix.  Thanks

 

You can hear them on takeoff, on the ground, and on final.  Thats exactly how it should be.  The fenix soundset is the most realistic soundset out there so it sounds different than what simmers are used to.

[avsimjohn]

98% or more of us have never heard airliner sounds sitting in the cockpit, only from the passenger sections.

We're used to the thrill of the loud/Louder/LOUDEST growl, whine, sonic buzz, and ROAR of the engines while we're getting shoved hard back in our seats like we're in a sports car we can't afford.

We live for that moment!

It's just a neural letdown to shove the throttle forward and have our aural senses being served the sound of a Corolla backing out of a driveway.

Realistic for pilots, yes.

Realistic for the rest of us, nah.

Make our ears bleed, please !!

[Bobsk8]

35 minutes ago, avsimjohn said:

98% or more of us have never heard airliner sounds sitting in the cockpit, only from the passenger sections.

We're used to the thrill of the loud/Louder/LOUDEST growl, whine, sonic buzz, and ROAR of the engines while we're getting shoved hard back in our seats like we're in a sports car we can't afford.

We live for that moment!

It's just a neural letdown to shove the throttle forward and have our aural senses being served the sound of a Corolla backing out of a driveway.

Realistic for pilots, yes.

Realistic for the rest of us, nah.

Make our ears bleed, please !!

You could always get a high power food blender, and when ready to roll, turn the blender on. 

[Pilot53]

1 hour ago, avsimjohn said:

98% or more of us have never heard airliner sounds sitting in the cockpit, only from the passenger sections.

We're used to the thrill of the loud/Louder/LOUDEST growl, whine, sonic buzz, and ROAR of the engines while we're getting shoved hard back in our seats like we're in a sports car we can't afford.

We live for that moment!

It's just a neural letdown to shove the throttle forward and have our aural senses being served the sound of a Corolla backing out of a driveway.

Realistic for pilots, yes.

Realistic for the rest of us, nah.

Make our ears bleed, please !!

Set up a camera quickview to row 3 and switch to that on takeoff, you will get the sound you are asking for.  No need for them to make the cockpit sound unrealistic.  The great thing about the fenix is the sound is realistic from wherever you are sitting.  

[Nathan3219]

Sounds just like the real bird inside to me. And the engines sound very pronounced on takeoff in the Fenix even from the cockpit. As speed increases the sound disappears due to wind noise. 
 

if this is not the case for you maybe something is wrong with your audio setup?

[738]

I have noticed the CFM's sound quieter, IAE's seem ok from my end.

I'm no expert so I'm guessing they tuned it in to what we would hear from the flightdeck?

[FNX_Dave]

Appreciate the feedback. Ultimately I'm in a bit of a no-win situation with sounds: everyone has their own taste for what they want leaving me between a rock and hard place when it comes to mixing the audio. If I mix for one persons' preference, it'll upset someone else, and vice versa. My approach to mixing is maximum realism; to match real world recordings in every position, both in tonality and volume - after all, we've spent the last 5+ years working on making the most accurate digital representation of the real A320 that we can muster, why should sounds be any different?

I do find the notion of "certain sounds should be unrealistically louder/over the top because none of us ever fly in the cockpit in real life" a bit of a confusing one, because it totally goes against the whole goal of (most) virtual pilots: simulating real world flying. It would be unthinkable to ask for more thrust so it can cruise faster than reality, or more lift from the flaps so it can be landed on a shorter runway.

Regardless, if there is critical feedback from a realism perspective, I'd genuinely appreciate it, and recommend sending a ticket our way so we can improve our soundset. Sadly, we can't act on individual requests for certain sounds to be louder or others to be quieter, purely based on personal preference. We've looked at linking the various sounds to the in-game sliders, but there's a rather annoying bug with the audio bus routing that means certain sounds can be too loud or too quiet even with all the sliders at max, or in the same position. We reported it to Asobo/MS in 2022, so hopefully it'll be improved in FS2024. We've explored linking sounds to sliders on the EFB like other aircraft creators, but it's not a quick job as the soundscape is physically simulated at the moment and this work would obviously be a lower priority in the development process over fixing bugs or a realism improvement.

Hope that helps people understand that I'm not just changing things for fun - there's a brain (albeit a very small one) behind anything that changes on the sounds, and it is always aimed around getting the soundscape closer to reality, be it when sitting in the cockpit, the galley, 5A, 27F or by the left main landing gear after a particularly spicy RTO.