Projects/Oxygen/Sound Theme Technical Specification
Context
The idea behind these sound specifications is to empower anyone with the will to make sounds in accordance to the Oxygen sound theme to be able to do so with these guidelines. The Oxygen sound theme covers the defaults UI sounds of KDE, few applications developed with the KDE enviornment in mind were developed, sound wise, respecting Oxygen's sound style, thus this reference will be of value if anyone wishes to create custom sounds that don't clash with Oxygen's and KDE's default sounds.
Technical Sound Specifications
All sounds recorded and saved at 48.000kHz, in accordance to KDE's multimedia specifications by Joseph Gaffney, in ogg lossless format.
Sound Samples Used
User Interface sounds
The sound used is a 50/50 unison mix of a "bright" acoustic piano and an electric piano. No specific scale was used in the creation of the sounds.
Logon and Logoff sounds
Instruments used are the "bright" acoustic piano and electric piano (not in unison) and a string ensemble of violas. The scale used is the Major F# sus2.
Volumetrics
The main sounds are recorded at 0 db's, however all sounds that tend to be repetitive and distracting/disrupting should be down somewhere between 20 to 25% the normal volume of the theme. (i.e. IM sounds as "user logs in" "message received" or "new email".)
Effects
Every sound has a reverb effect with the following settings:
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| predelay | 20ms |
| threshold | -18db |
| highpass | 70hz |
| attack | 3ms |
| hold | 20ms |
| release | 416ms |
| dry-wet | ratio: 1/5 (aprox.) |
If you have a reverb device that has some "visual" shortcuts it should be set for a reverb "hall" with 26m2, and it will likely be close to the above values with the obvious exception of the dry-wet ratio.
A stereo enhancer was used on the logon sound for the rotating "hard-panning" at the end of that specific sound.
Sound Style Guide Lines
Audio Patterns
In order to produce a consistent sound experience throughout the entire time a user using is KDE, a pattern of sound styles was developed, in a way that within a few hours of use the user is able to recognize, for example when a sound is a warning that requires attention or a message that can be disregarded, all this without looking at the screen. It's of the utmost importance to adhere to the following guide lines, as the consistency of the entire sound set depends solely on it.
| Type of Message | Pattern |
|---|---|
| Informational Message | Single Note |
| Error Message | Single note + Chord |
| Question Posed | Single Note + Arpeggio (ascending or descending arpeggio) |
| User Attention Required | Fast Arpeggio (ascending arpeggio) |
For dramatic freedom no scale was imposed on the user interface
sounds, one should feel free to improvise and use the entire spectrum
of feelings associated with all the scales and even disonances (not to
abuse it's use, though).