Re: System event sounds / audio feedback

[Stéphan Kochen <stephan kochen nl>]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Lennart Poettering wrote:
> This is more or less what I plan to do with "libcanberra" (which is
> still vaporware right now, though). As described in huge email about
> PA which I wrote on d-d-l:
> 
> http://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2007-October/msg00136.html
> 
> (Look for the part "So, where do we go from here?")

Ah, I followed that thread. I guess it didn't stick. Thanks. :)

With the libcanberra API you propose, I think it should be possible to
expand on the types of arguments the function takes without breaking
ABI, right? So a very simple libcanberra could already be implemented
before all the theming and localization details have been worked out.

The PulseAudio API isn't hard, but hiding even that behind a single
function would help introduce sounds to other desktop applications.

One thing I strongly disagree with is having a human voice for certain
event sounds. I personally really like the "dings", "blings", "pops",
etc. I realize it might be useful for accessibility, but I wouldn't want
any of it myself. :)

> The problem with themeing and adding more sound events is that there
> are no better sounds available then what we have right now. I have
> never seen any free samples that are even remotely as useful as the
> current gnome-audio samples, and I am not even speaking of the quality
> the the MacOSX sounds have. And quite frankly, the gnome-audio samples
> are still annoying.

They're hard to find. But it looks like there are already several
mentioned in this thread. :)

I don't find the gnome-audio samples annoying, personally.

> Adjusting the volume or the devices event sounds are played on is
> currently not possible in PA without making your hands dirty by editing
> configuration files. In one of the next versions I will add a flexible
> meta information and matching system to PA, which will allow writing volume
> controls that allow you to change volumes of certain subsets of audio
> streams at a whole. I.e. think of the current pavucontrol but with an
> extra track for "Event Sounds". (Similar to what Vista does)

Perfect. :)

Thanks,
- -- Stéphan

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQFHTZ92cFUq0gzqDwQRAsGNAJ9LswztmvET0YbajCcFx4PufbE5awCg4Y4P
4e2ZI4GJdmsNwxw0EHAlJvc=
=o2iW
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----