Active Sound Generators in cars
Discussion
Dynion Araf Uchaf said:
my Hyundai i20N has a sound generator. I pulled the fuse on it to see what it was like without.... and it was s
t. Worse than without the artificial noise. You couldn't hear anything.
I think the overwhelming majority of people don’t realise how much of it is this. By the way in ICE cars it’s not engine or exhaust sound being piped into the car - it’s a WAV file playing through the speakers. Find the system diagrams on aftermarket parts websites - there is not a microphone pickup point, this should be your first clue.t. Worse than without the artificial noise. You couldn't hear anything.Some older cars had symposers or a genuine mechanical link (Porsche used to do this). Nowadays it’s all completely artificial.
Makes me lol when people talk about the great sound their combustion engined car makes and how hateful EVs are for lack of it. It’s all been faked for about 10 years now, the only thing that changes is the ignorance level of the owner
Tye Green said:
it's a bonkers idea, nearly as silly as fitting a loud exhaust or a map to create exhaust cackles on the overrun....
be better if they used the system to play antiphase tyre / road noise into the cabin to cancel out tyre noise.
1) How is a louder exhaust in any way comparable to this?be better if they used the system to play antiphase tyre / road noise into the cabin to cancel out tyre noise.
2) Range Rovers already do use noise cancelling
I remember the last generation Clio R.S. had the capability to pipe in the sound of various cars like a Clio V6, Nissan GTR, I think even an old F1 car. It was a bit of fun. My Polo GTI has something called a "soundaktor" that vibrates just behind the dashboard, and when I bought the car they replaced it as it was making a horrible rattle when in sport mode. It's definitely better but it's still a bit buzzy when it's cold. I did try seeing what it sounded like with it off in 'eco' mode and like the previous poster with the i20N, you can hardly hear the engine at all so in some ways it's worse.
I’m something of a noise geek… vaguely related I enjoy guitar and have been surprised by the march of digital modelling of guitar amps and effects, to the extent I now use one instead of my valve amp and effects board (bear with me here)
I can see absolutely no reason why digital processing could not be used very successfully to augment engine note, using the basic sound emitted by the engine and changing it as wished to simulate a whole range of different engine sounds.
By extension, this could also be applied to EVs, but the complication is convincingly changing the sound in response to different throttle openings, braking, throttle blips, going over bumps etc as there is no reference sound or signal to enhance.
My money is on Lexus nailing it first, in conjunction with a firm like Yamaha, as they did with the LFA.
I can see absolutely no reason why digital processing could not be used very successfully to augment engine note, using the basic sound emitted by the engine and changing it as wished to simulate a whole range of different engine sounds.
By extension, this could also be applied to EVs, but the complication is convincingly changing the sound in response to different throttle openings, braking, throttle blips, going over bumps etc as there is no reference sound or signal to enhance.
My money is on Lexus nailing it first, in conjunction with a firm like Yamaha, as they did with the LFA.
The M2, and the M4 I used to own had sound generators I believe, they didn't sound quite right, especially at high revs, infact, I coded the M4s sound out, it sounded much better, without.
The Giulietta QV I have at the moment seems to piped in induction sound, I I quite like it.
Another one I really enjoyed was the Up GTi, I think it she's a system that used the windscreen to amplify the indication sound, you could be driving flat out, when the car is silent from outside. (Also the GR Yaris) Enjoyable with the 3 cylinders. I'm not sure how the GR Yaris's system worked, at the time I owned it, I bought an Eventuri carbon air box, disabled the active sound, and was very disappointed! As above, you couldn't really hear anything, so I promptly turned it back on again..
The Giulietta QV I have at the moment seems to piped in induction sound, I I quite like it.
Another one I really enjoyed was the Up GTi, I think it she's a system that used the windscreen to amplify the indication sound, you could be driving flat out, when the car is silent from outside. (Also the GR Yaris) Enjoyable with the 3 cylinders. I'm not sure how the GR Yaris's system worked, at the time I owned it, I bought an Eventuri carbon air box, disabled the active sound, and was very disappointed! As above, you couldn't really hear anything, so I promptly turned it back on again..
Edited by jamesbilluk on Friday 15th March 15:29
Olivergt said:
Shonky was my first thought too!Fakeness is just cr*p in general.
Whether it's fake exhaust tips, speakers in exhausts making diesels try and sound like V8s, fake vents, fake pops and bangs.....so many. So making an electric car try and sound like a sporty petrol car is equally pants.
That said, how many cool noises did space ships in sci-fi movies make? To my knowledge they didn't have internal combustion engines in them but they still sounded cool. If I was so inclined to have an EV I want it to sound like a Tie Fighter or a Pod Race!
Whether it's fake exhaust tips, speakers in exhausts making diesels try and sound like V8s, fake vents, fake pops and bangs.....so many. So making an electric car try and sound like a sporty petrol car is equally pants.
That said, how many cool noises did space ships in sci-fi movies make? To my knowledge they didn't have internal combustion engines in them but they still sounded cool. If I was so inclined to have an EV I want it to sound like a Tie Fighter or a Pod Race!
I was firmly in the I don't want fake noise camp until today in a supermarket car park.
An EV was parked next to me and as I went to get into my own car it started to manoeuvre behind me accompanied by a silly noise.
The noise alerted me to it moving just as I about to step back.
It might/would have run over my foot had there been no noise and I had stepped.
So it's probably a necessary evil for low speed work < 5mph as a pedestrian warning.
Apart from the fake noise the EV was totally silent.
An EV was parked next to me and as I went to get into my own car it started to manoeuvre behind me accompanied by a silly noise.
The noise alerted me to it moving just as I about to step back.
It might/would have run over my foot had there been no noise and I had stepped.
So it's probably a necessary evil for low speed work < 5mph as a pedestrian warning.
Apart from the fake noise the EV was totally silent.
Aunty Pasty said:
Biggy Stardust said:
Why would any adult want their car to play fake broom-broom noises through the speakers?
If you ignore the aesthetics aspect of it, it also provides continuous audio feedback to the user for what the car is doing. Eg: If the car is struggling up a hill or is slowing down due to adaptive cruise control you're more aware of what is happening without having to look down at the speedo.
OK- I'll ensure my next car has fake broom-broom noises to fully appreciate what the engine is doing without having to look at either the speedo or the rev counter. Is there an option for fake tyre squeal noises so I can tell when I'm going really fast around bends?
Baldchap said:
Done well they can be ok. The gry noise is fake but quite fun. VAG group insists on using their soundaktor technology that vibrates the windscreen and sounds like, well, someone vibrating a windscreen. 
I guess that's less odd than it sounds. It immediately makes me think of drone that you get from a cheap exhaust but it's probably using the same tech that makes a window act like a speaker. Crap, still.It is pretty amazing what the sound engineers at iRacing have done for computer race simulations. It is all physics based and uses recordings. It seems far superior to the VAG sound actuators for example. I think it could get a lot better. Fake of course but engineers have been tuning cars for the sound they make which is irrelevant to how they function for years so it could be seen as an extension of that.
Hoofy said:
CraigyMc said:
Hoofy said:
clip clop.
Figures.walk on. WALK ON. f
kING WALK. (minor heel squeeze). *GALLOP MODE ENGAGED*. whoa, whoa there. woooa. wo.
Exactly. Gallop mode when doing over 20mph. And a neighing if you brake hard. 
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