RE: Electricity killed the radio star

RE: Electricity killed the radio star

Author
Discussion

Yipper

5,964 posts

89 months

Wednesday 22nd November 2017
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Good article.

Electric carmakers will get around this by piping in fake noise through interior and exterior speakers. Tinny 4pots, like the Golf or Clio, already do this to some extent.

kambites

67,461 posts

220 months

Wednesday 22nd November 2017
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Yipper said:
Tinny 4pots, like the Golf or Clio, already do this to some extent.
So do many sixes and eights. Modern engines mostly just sound rubbish, regardless of the number of cylinders they have.

skyrover

12,668 posts

203 months

Wednesday 22nd November 2017
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kambites said:
So do many sixes and eights. Modern engines mostly just sound rubbish, regardless of the number of cylinders they have.
No they dont

https://youtu.be/rK6usuQdgos

kambites

67,461 posts

220 months

Wednesday 22nd November 2017
quotequote all
Do you not understand what the word "mostly" means?

I'm not sure I'd consider that a "modern" engine either, new is not the same as modern! Not that that's a bad thing, quite the contrary.

skyrover

12,668 posts

203 months

Wednesday 22nd November 2017
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There isn't a V8, V10 or V12 on the market that does not sound excellent with the correct exhaust

kambites

67,461 posts

220 months

Wednesday 22nd November 2017
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skyrover said:
There isn't a V8, V10 or V12 on the market that does not sound excellent with the correct exhaust
Once you start modifying things, you're probably right (excluding diesels, at least). Many of them sound pretty crap as standard though and almost all sixes do these days.

havoc

29,927 posts

234 months

Wednesday 22nd November 2017
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kambites said:
Many of them sound pretty crap as standard though and almost all sixes do these days.
I wonder if it's JUST down to turbos (and DI to a degree), or if it's partly down to mapping required to meet emissions, or if it's collectively all because engineers are now solely focused / tasked on quantifiable data and not the qualitative measures such as "do the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when I redline this thing?"

kambites

67,461 posts

220 months

Wednesday 22nd November 2017
quotequote all
I think both economy and emissions regs have played a direct part (as well as the indirect part in pushing manufacturers towards turbocharging). Modern engines have incredibly precisely controlled combustion processes which will inevitably produce a more consistent (anodyne) noise. Most of the reason that older engines make interesting noises seem to relate to the fact that they were a bit rubbish at turning fuel into motive force.

Craikeybaby

10,369 posts

224 months

Wednesday 22nd November 2017
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Yipper said:
Good article.

Electric carmakers will get around this by piping in fake noise through interior and exterior speakers. Tinny 4pots, like the Golf or Clio, already do this to some extent.
I hope they don't! I want my electric car to be silent! It won't drive like a petrol engined car, so why would it need to sound like one? I'm saying that as someone who is a fan of petrol engined cars and the sound that they make.

Terminator X

14,921 posts

203 months

Wednesday 22nd November 2017
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"The fact that F1's new stars-and-stripes-top-hat-wearing overlords are trying to spice up the sound by implanting new microphones in the cars might not seem that inspiring".

Wrong just wrong in F1 and on the road imho.

TX.

Hoofy

76,253 posts

281 months

Wednesday 22nd November 2017
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Sorted_ said:
Companies like Kufatec already have this covered.

Tesla V8 emulation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpX4rNtVP-g

Setting up - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2JPi3vcqtI
Well, it's not as bad as the sounds from a Playstation game from the 1990s but it's still pretty unsatisfying. I'm listening through a loud 2.1 system.

Hoofy

76,253 posts

281 months

Wednesday 22nd November 2017
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Ozone said:
Dynamic Space Wizard said:
It's a very disappointing article. I saw the headline and I hoped a DJ had electrocuted itself. laugh
hehe

NDNDNDND said:
Sorted_ said:
Companies like Kufatec already have this covered.

Tesla V8 emulation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpX4rNtVP-g

Setting up - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2JPi3vcqtI
What kind of pathetic, desperate cretin would actually want this?
I was thinking that the sound of horses hooves clippety clopping for the engine sound, and a bit of neighing when braking scratchchin
hehe

Given how rubbish that emulated V8 sounded, I would opt for the horse sounds instead. But then you might say that I would say that.

GTEYE

2,092 posts

209 months

Wednesday 22nd November 2017
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mwstewart said:
GTEYE said:
kambites said:
I can't help but feel that we only like the noise internal combustion engines make because we're familiar with it and associate it with speed. Had cars been electric since inception and someone had suddenly come up with a noisy V8, I suspect we'd all think it sounded awful.

Frankly even having grown up loving the noise some engines make, I'd rather have an EV than most modern engines, even multi-cylinder "performance" ones sound either sterile or contrived. I'm certainly not going to miss the sound of the four-pot turbo in our family car. I'm not sure I'll ever go EV for my "fun" car but our white-goods motoring I really don't see a down-side.
+1 I can see a time in the not too distant future where the electric motor and associated sound becomes the norm for the masses, and someone reading this thread in 10-20 years time will wonder what all the fuss was about.

Do we miss Sony tape or CD Walkmans? Not really....
Completely disagree. As humans we are programmed to find certain sounds pleasing.

There are various synthesised sounds in music we may also like, which actually bare no resemblance to anything natural at all. It's just how we are - though some people are more interested in sound than others, of course.

I personally leave the car door open when I start my daily, as I love the sound - because it sounds nice. I also turn off the stereo a lot of the time for the same reason. Sound is incredibly important, and I can't see how electric will ever deliver on that particular aspect.
But how many motorists worldwide do you suppose would feel the same way?

The petrolheads for sure, but for the vast majority of people they regard the car as a means of transport from A to B. They will pick the car that suits their lifestyle and if it the market moves towards electric, it will soon be accepted.

I'd agree it will be different for this generation of petrolheads....but what of the next generation (electroheads??) - electric power might be the norm for them...

mwstewart

7,554 posts

187 months

Wednesday 22nd November 2017
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GTEYE said:
But how many motorists worldwide do you suppose would feel the same way?

The petrolheads for sure, but for the vast majority of people they regard the car as a means of transport from A to B. They will pick the car that suits their lifestyle and if it the market moves towards electric, it will soon be accepted.

I'd agree it will be different for this generation of petrolheads....but what of the next generation (electroheads??) - electric power might be the norm for them...
Not many, but I'm not on PH to talk about economical cars or general motorists...

To me EVs signal the end of motoring as a form of enjoyment: they are the ultimate vehicular appliance, but they also coincide with a set of other external factors that mean the end of enjoyment was already a certainty.

I have no doubt that cars are essentially defunct for the next generation, in fact I kind of feel that way mself, but problem is I enjoy the nice 'legacy' types too much!

cybersimon

199 posts

168 months

Wednesday 22nd November 2017
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Put a bit of card against the spokes like we did on our bicycles when we were eight.

Too Drunk to Funk

804 posts

76 months

Wednesday 22nd November 2017
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RDMcG said:
Globally we are living in an increasingly urban world. People are flocking to cities at a huge rate which means that the car will become less of an essential.
Sound like you're posting from 10,000 years in the future. I live in a City and also need a car. As anyone who uses public transport regularly in London would know.

jcl

227 posts

242 months

Wednesday 22nd November 2017
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skyrover said:
I'm going to buck the trend and state that the internal combustion is going nowhere anytime soon. You can quote me on that.

We are at least 50 years away from electric only... Probably longer.
Why are those idiots at Toyota, Renault and Honda putting almost all their R&D money into EV then?

What do you know that they don't?

wst

3,494 posts

160 months

Wednesday 22nd November 2017
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> The only smell you're likely to get from an EV - other than the whiff of disappointment arising from the lack of fuel-burning - is the rather worrying hot-wire stench that will be all-too familiar to anyone who's ever owned a Scalextric set.

Huh... didn't realise the EV we're building in uni used a wiper sliding along a resistor to control speed. I'll send that motor controller back to Germany and get a refund.

Haggleburyfinius

6,593 posts

185 months

Wednesday 22nd November 2017
quotequote all
I drove my brother's 320d a week or so ago; I've never driven a 4-pot diesel before and was absolutely horrified by the rough noise and vibration. I couldn't quite believe how intrusive and bad it was.

I hadn't really thought about it much before but then I started noticing how horrible the BMW 3.0d in my own car sounded also!

I think I'd prefer the silence of an EV over either of them.

anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 22nd November 2017
quotequote all
NDNDNDND said:
Sorted_ said:
Companies like Kufatec already have this covered.

Tesla V8 emulation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpX4rNtVP-g

Setting up - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2JPi3vcqtI
What kind of pathetic, desperate cretin would actually want this?
The majority of current Tesla owners perhaps? tongue out