Frequency-shaped background noise generators

by ivank • 13 years ago

344 109 13 years ago

hobs• 13 years ago

Interesting idea and cool presentation, I like the sliders and that I can play around with it.

I will probably use this at work.

edit: This is really good, I just accidentally left it on and had completely forgotten I was listening to the same thing. Very much works as advertised.

bengotow• 13 years ago

Agreed - not only is this cool, but the audio samples are pretty high quality. Great example of HTML5, too. A few years ago, this would have required Flash ;-)

mistercow• 13 years ago

I think you could have hacked it together with bgsound before HTML5, but it would be less reliable.

filereaper• 13 years ago

I really like this.

I use simplynoise's noise generators to drown out noise at work (oscillating brown noise usually)

But I like having an equalizer.

I've opened up multiple tabs and superimposed the noises, it downs everything out. Hope you can spare the traffic.

rcthompson• 13 years ago

Does it actually generate the sound server-side and send it over the network, or does it generate it client-side? (i.e. does it actually use much bandwidth?)

lost-theory• 13 years ago

It loads 20 or so ogg audio files like this: http://mynoise.net/Data/OSMOSIS/7a.ogg

Then I'm guessing the EQ controls the volume. So no it doesn't generate / stream anything to you server-side.

gabemart2• 13 years ago

I've opened up multiple tabs and superimposed the noises, it downs everything out. Hope you can spare the traffic.

I built a noise generator around the concept of superimposing noises over each other [1]. I've consistently struggled with performance - at the moment it takes far too long to load properly. I'm planning to implement just-in-time loading when I get some free time

[1] http://asoftmurmur.com

hcarvalhoalves• 13 years ago

Oh this is beautiful. Those textures are better than music at times. Loved playing around with the ocean waves [1], I was able to get close to the sound that used to make me fall asleep as a kid.

[1] http://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/oceanNoiseGenerator.php

rsync• 13 years ago

Any chance you can make this a sonos-accessible station ?

technojunkie• 13 years ago

Oh, this is wonderful! I love Simplynoise but this is even more fun. I hope they can decrease load times and make this a webapp rather than taking 2 steps to load the various noises.

hawkharris• 13 years ago

This is a very useful, well designed app. I think I'll use it to help myself go to sleep and stop procrastinating with HN. :)

defen• 13 years ago

Wow, really cool app. It really reminded me of how much I miss the sound of rain and wind.

crazygringo• 13 years ago

First of all -- awesome concept and execution, and great sound samples. Well-done.

Mobile Safari iOS 6 on iPad 2+, iPhone 4GS+

But... not working on my 4S/iOS6. :(

Anyone got it working to play in the background, even when your phone's screen is off? I also wonder about battery life as HTML5 audio, vs if it were an app.

The creators clearly want to support HTML-only, according to the FAQ, but this calls for an app if anything ever did -- you want it to run, providing sound in the background, while you do other stuff (whether on or off your phone).

gren• 13 years ago

Very interesting Web Audio API experiment,

To reply to you, forgetting that the interface is not really touch friendly, I was totally able to make it run in the background on a Nexus 4 with Chrome (the Web Audio API works in the background with Chrome), however I got some clicks (interruptions) in the sound probably due to the bad performance the Web Audio API gets in Android Chrome today.

I wish there was a way to contribute (Github?) to improve this app.

robmcm• 13 years ago

I have been using an iPhone app called Ambiance for a long time, it even allows you to record your own sounds, works in the background, has a sleep and alarm modes etc.

The only down side is it tries to do too much, they have like a sound store and stuff, which is a cool feature but affects the simplicity.

http://ambianceapp.com/

gabemart2• 13 years ago

I don't really understand how it runs on iOS devices at all - to the best of my knowledge, it simply isn't possible to control device audio volume from javascript on iOS [1]. Or at least, that seemed to be the consensus last time I attempted to.

[1] https://developer.apple.com/library/safari/documentation/Aud... - "On iOS devices, the audio level is always under the user’s physical control. The volume property is not settable in JavaScript."

mcpherrinm• 13 years ago

You can always reduce the volume in software before sending it to whatever API plays your sounds. This is especially easy if you're synthesizing the sound with the desired output volume known.

dmd• 13 years ago

Agreed. And I would pay quite a bit of money (in the context of what apps cost ... i.e., $10 or so) for an app that did this with this level of quality.

droidist2• 13 years ago

Definitely! Unfortunate that the Web Audio API doesn't work with PhoneGap on Android due Android's built-in browser not supporting it.

shmerl6• 13 years ago

Great idea and implementation.

sparkman55• 13 years ago

These types of sounds are absolutely wonderful for soothing angry babies!

p1mrx• 13 years ago

I wrote an Android app based on a similar concept, although it uses a PRNG and Fourier transform, with no recorded samples:

https://chromadoze.googlecode.com/

backprojection2• 13 years ago

Someone posted ambient warp-core sound from Star Trek on Reddit earlier today, maybe you could add this.

http://www.reddit.com/r/startrek/comments/1nwzd6/ambient_war...

sspiff• 13 years ago

An old Linux command line trick to generate the engine sound:

play -n -c1 synth whitenoise band -n 100 20 band -n 50 20 gain +25 fade h 1 864000 1

I used this as a background noise muting sound when I was a kid.

backprojection2• 13 years ago

This is great, thanks!

shmerl6• 13 years ago

Here is a softer variant:

    play -c2 -n synth whitenoise band -n 100 24 band -n 300 100 gain +20

kaoD7• 13 years ago

Choose white noise and play with the sliders. Not exact, but close.

FYI• 13 years ago

Yeah, very cool. Saves people money as well (up to $200): http://www.sharperimage.com/si/view/product/Sound-Soother-Wh...

You could stream example outputs 24/7 as net radio channels so they are also available on other devices / STBs (Roku) / Consoles / Smart TVs etc..

matude• 13 years ago

Heh, thought it was CSS-based website background noise texture generator…

glassdoor3• 13 years ago

It is working for a highly Hackernews Distracted person, except I have to write this comment!

glassdoor3• 13 years ago

Attention Deficiet Hackernews Disorder

glassdoor3• 13 years ago

ADHD

groundCode2• 13 years ago

Great resource thanks! I love the Tibetan chanting. Would love something that subtley changes the sliders over time.

audiosampling16• 13 years ago

Hey, this is what the "Motion" buttons does, although the slider do not move in a visible way.

ikurei• 13 years ago

That's an amazin feature!

I didn't notice it at first either. May be its explanation could be more visible, or it could be made more obvious...

groundCode2• 13 years ago

Thanks - did not notice that! awesome!

kaoD7• 13 years ago

IMHO the slider should move, both to provide visual feedback and to make the effect less subtle.

gadders• 13 years ago

Needs Birdsong: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22298779

Everything feels better when listening to the Dawn Chorus.

audiosampling16• 13 years ago

There is something like this currently under development. There is a problem though: my noise generators are supposedly active across the whole hearing range, from 20Hz to 20kHz. And birds are only producing frequencies above 1000Hz. So, I need to fill up the bottom sliders with other sounds, or find... really big birds! ;-)

rpwverheij2• 13 years ago

perhaps a combination of birds and ocean waves, or frogs, or yes, big birds :) ... It'll be a little puzzle, but +1 for more nature sounds! .. and perhaps one of my favourites: tibetan gongs!

slavak• 13 years ago

Pterodactyl song? :)

(And yes, I know Pterodactyls aren't actually birds.)

troels• 13 years ago

Bird sounds played at slow speed sounds incredible. Couldn't you just layer the natural bird sounds with some down-shifted ones?

pneumatics• 13 years ago

Birds + running water + rustling trees? That should cover a wide band.

NatW• 13 years ago

Nice!! A request: Can you add Pink Noise?: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_noise One (of various youtube examples) here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXtimhT-ff4

lhaussknecht• 13 years ago

Go to White Noise and pick Pink Noise as a preset.

audiosampling16• 13 years ago

Pink noise can be found under White Noise (because all myNoise noise generators are spectrally-tunable, there is no reason to have different color noise generators: the white noise generator can be shaped to any imaginable color, and a pink noise preset is already provided for you).

dhimes• 13 years ago

This is really great. I listen to sounds like this alot as I find they help me focus. I've used environmental recordings of rain, storms, and ocean waves for years (decades, actually) and I usually loop them in Banshee while I work. I've seen a few of these noise generators in the past but never really came back to them because they weren't superior to my recordings.

Your generator, however, is exceptional.

One request: when we make a selection, say a preset, would it be possible to have an indicator that shows what we had set? I find myself selecting something, then working a while, then coming back and being a bit forgetful!

ewoodrich2• 13 years ago

Fantastic. I tend to not like rain sound simulators, but the sliders let me pick one that seemed believable and familiar. I loved how the darker end of the spectrum let me simulate a visit to the Oregon coast.

(After which, I wished there was actually a storm right now, until I walked out onto my balcony and realized it was raining.)

"Too much internet for me" as they say.

audiosampling16• 13 years ago

Hi Guys! I am the developer of the myNoise website and just want to say that all your comments are a great source of inspiration today: many suggestions for further improvements will be taken into account! Although I did entirely code the website by my own using a simple text editor, I am not a programmer, in the sense that I never learned how to program efficiently and beautifully. Multiplatform issues, and mobile browsers in particular, are driving me crazy ;-) And yes... I feel a bit "naked" now as some of you are digging into my website code with much expertise. Please be indulgent! ;-) Cheers, Stephane

calibwam• 13 years ago

Thanks for doing this, I'm going to use this page a lot, I think. But have you thought about open sourcing some, if not all of the code? With the source code out on for instance github, a lot of people could help you out wherever you feel your own skills come to short.

audiosampling16• 13 years ago

Let me think about it... Not sure about all the implications of releasing this as open source, in particular the investment in... time. I wish I had 48 hours in a day.

kintamanimatt6• 13 years ago

If it were me, I'd not open source this. Common tools that are used to build other things generally are, such as a compiler or VCS, but an actual finished product, not so much. Open sourcing this would be like Github open sourcing github.com, rather than just a handful of common tools they built to create github that might be useful to others.

Open source has a time and a place, but some things, like finished websites, are best left proprietary. There's a lot of thinking that's gone into this site. I think the #1 thing that would happen as a result of open sourcing it is that other people would just take the her work and creating clones, eroding her ability to make money from it (if she so chooses).

Choosing to open source something should be done only with a compelling rationale, and the downsides should always be carefully considered.

kintamanimatt6• 13 years ago

This is truly one of the best noise websites I've come across, especially for cabin noise with that deep rumble that helps me focus. Seriously, thank you for creating this! This has had way more thought put in to it than anything I've come across to date.

ssafejava• 13 years ago

Great job, I've been listening to the soundscapes for a while. Just wanted to point out that the title tag at http://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/tripOfMindNoiseGenerator.ph... is misspelled - 'od' for 'of'.

Thanks for making this!

samstave2• 13 years ago

Truly impressive and wonderful, thank you. I have one request - please add more thunder! Or the ability to create more rumbling low rolling thunder noises.

The site is fantastic - and the aesthetics of the background pics you chose are very well done.

Groxx• 13 years ago

Amazing work! I'll definitely visit more often, these are great.

Minor quibble: the "Binaural Beat Machine" does not produce binaural beats. It plays two notes at the same time, to both ears, which produces an actual beat in each ear (pull off one headphone - you can still hear it). A nice example of how it should sound: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binaural_beats

audiosampling16• 13 years ago

It does combine both, as to work without headphones, but if you wear the headphones, you will have the binaural thing on top of the modulation. Two for the price of one ;-)

shmerl6• 13 years ago

Great site, but the generators are pretty CPU intensive. Is it the nature of Web audio API, or just heavy computation in your particular case? kmix is really overloaded in KDE when the generator is running (using PulseAudio).

lifeformed• 13 years ago

Quick suggestion:

A "mute all" button. I like having multiple layers of sounds open at once. Sometimes I need to mute them to watch a video or something, and it's a hassle to go through muting each one.

rpwverheij2• 13 years ago

wow, thank you! I think I'll be visiting this site often when in need for precise brain tuning support

JonnieCache4• 13 years ago

Also fun: loads of real field recordings on http://freesound.org

Use the geotag browser and listen to the wilderness of your choice! http://freesound.org/browse/geotags/

JonnieCache4• 13 years ago

Just realised: these are all under various CC licenses, so OP you could easily integrate them into mynoise.net

shmerl6• 13 years ago

Great find! You can make a good sleep mix from those :)

newsmaster• 13 years ago

Don't know why but I find the babble noise really creepy. http://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/babbleNoiseGenerator.php

ewoodrich2• 13 years ago

Wow, I agree.

At least for me, the fact that I can't pick out any real words/phrases makes what could be believable background/nice sound feel like it could be from a horror movie.

obitoo• 13 years ago

It is rather spooky at first, but once I got over that its excellent for blocking background office noise.

Now what would amuse me NO END would be if once, (and just once) after a few hours, it was coded to fade out and play a distinct voice along the lines of "You're going to die today". I'd love to do that to someone!

grn• 13 years ago

I use http://simplynoise.com to put my daughter to sleep. It's much easier when the noise is playing. I also use http://rainymood.com to isolate myself from the environment when I'm working.

tinyzor• 13 years ago

Thank you (I have tinnitus).

Shtirlic• 13 years ago

Tonal Drones are great, iPad application needed.

kintamanimatt6• 13 years ago

One strange thing I noticed about this is with the cabin sound, listening to it for a prolonged period tends to cause ringing in my ears like I've been listening to loud music, except I'm listening to this at low volumes. This isn't something I've experienced for low-volume stuff before.

audiosampling16• 13 years ago

First time this is reported to me. Please check the last slider. It produces sonic content above 16 kHz. You may have pushed that slider to the max because of a possible hearing loss. Although the sound you hear is quiet, the acoustic pressure may be higher. This is the only reason I can think of...

kintamanimatt6• 13 years ago

Actually I did -- well, to about 80% max. My calibrated profile looked a little like an inverted bell curve.

LeChuck• 13 years ago

This is great. I especially like the cabin noise. I work on ships and for the first week or so after I get home I need some background noise to help me sleep. This one sounds quite close to what one might hear on a ship.

tama• 13 years ago

This is really nice. Using it at work now. Thanks!

j2kun• 13 years ago

How does this work mathematically? Do you take, e.g., a waterfall track and manipulate its frequency spectrum? Or is it completely synthetically generated? If it's the latter, then I'm quite impressed that I can't tell the difference.

audiosampling16• 13 years ago

Both. Let's call it re-synthesis ;-)

galapago• 13 years ago

A (humble) request: Vacuum cleaner sound.

conflagration• 13 years ago

The sounds are great by themselves, but I had the most fun layering different generators by opening several tabs. I played around with the EQ and made something sounding very close to Biosphere with 4 parallel tabs. It really felt like the tracks were synchronized to fit into each other. Great work!

samstave2• 13 years ago

Having a single page where you can add in any filter you wanted would be awesome.

kaoD7• 13 years ago

Nice job! Being able to share custom presets would be cool.

audiosampling16• 13 years ago

It's possible. Just follow the link "Save Your Current Slider Settings" then the URL. I should make it more obvious though, you are right.

kaoD7• 13 years ago

Oh, nice! I'd put it closer to the sliders and make it clear you can share the saved settings.

I'd also let the user edit it without clicking anywhere. Right now clicking edit resets the sliders too :(

shmerl6• 13 years ago

Interesting, on Linux, PulseAudio shows many channels in the mixer (for ALSA plugin in Firefox), when the noise page is opened.

By the way the site mentions using OGG (I guess Vorbis) playback. How does it work in crippled browsers like mobile Safari, which don't support Vorbis?

agladlad• 13 years ago

This is fantastic! Love the throat singing and the ability to play with different presets. I was using the TNG engine noise on youtube before the 24-hour version was taken down, but this is my new jam.

matrix• 13 years ago

This site is awesome! A feature request, if I may: on the calibration page, it would be helpful to have the ability to mute all the sliders except the one you are calibrating. Or perhaps, like slider in a color tool, have a text box with a number representing that volume that slider is set to.

audiosampling16• 13 years ago

It does! As soon as you move one slider, it mutes all others ;-)

msluyter• 13 years ago

Great, now I have to keep another dozen Chrome tabs open... ;) Seriously, this is pretty nice. I currently have rain, fan, ocean, Indian Drone, Tibetan meditation, and Bamboo running concurrently.

A way to combine sounds without opening a new tab would be be an obvious improvement. Adding a feature that randomly (very slowly) raises and lowers volume of a sound from set of subcomponents could be interesting -- it'd give the sense that the sounds are changing slowly over time and relieve some of the stasis.

Edit: just noticed the babble generator. This is genius, and exactly what I need to mask background conversations.

onurgu• 13 years ago

This reminds me of Aporee Maps:

http://aporee.org/maps/

You can just listen to high quality sounds recorded by sound artists around the world.

It feels like you are in that place. I don't know if it's only me but I recall hours of me listening to this site.

guscost• 13 years ago

For mobile devices I've been using the WhiteNoise app:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/white-noise/id289894882?mt=8

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tmsoft.whi...

Frequency-shaped background noise generators

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