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You know, one thing I have wondered about when taking a virtual tour around a airport, why oh why are the ambient sounds more realistic? So much effort has gone into the, well almost every other part except the sound of ground vehicles and A1 traffic.
Well the above caught my eye, and the product info 'sounds like, just the ticket', if you excuse the pun.
I must say while I am aware of the developers, and some previous products, I have not installed any so, this will be an interesting venture for me.
Virtually a completely new revised sound set has been developed for this product, as opposed to its predecessor the Ultimate and the Extreme edition, the original Extreme is featured in the new Just Flight Traffic X.
The Extreme Edition 2009 now features Microsoft's FSX new cone technology (whatever that means, but sounds like it should have a positive effect.) rendering full 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound, if you have the hardware to support it of course!
Also included are a further ten more sound sets: the new Airbus 380, the new B787, the Cessna 208, the World War II Spitfire, Lancaster, Wellington bombers, the Apache Longbow helicopter, Shuttle Discovery (not seem many of these landing at Heathrow!), the P-51 and G21. All other sounds are completely different than that of both the Ultimate and Extreme edition. All sounds have been increased on take-off so they do not cut off so quickly, and all sounds can now be heard in all views.
A total now of 36 different sounds are included for all your AI aircraft. An optional feature in this edition is start-up sounds giving you a more realistic airport environment. While you will have to manually install these yourself, there is only a single entry you will have to make in your aircraft.cfg. Full instructions are included. Please read the instructions, playing around with the .cfg files could raise some issues if you do not follow the instruction to the letter. But, it is truly worth doing, as the author says it will improve the airport environment, it does!
Not all of us are happy or competent enough to play around with .cfg files...sounds risky to me! So please be careful. Actually the effort is worth while, and works!
Total capacities of all 36 Traffic Sounds now 44.5 MB - this is more or less the equivalent of one default sound set. You no longer require the AI default sounds which amount to 45 MB. The overall demand on your system and performance will not be altered, but could be slightly improved. The Extreme 2009 has been thoroughly beta tested with favorable results by using both Windows XP and all Vista versions. Please note Traffic Sounds is not suitable for older computers. Not quite sure what constitutes as an older computer? Perhaps worth doing some investigation, before the purchase.
It must also be noted that these sounds are not for flyable aircraft! They have been specifically designed for AI aircraft!
The official description:
For more in depth product info check out the Pilot Shop. Right, that is the official bit over and done with, lets get on with the, 'how does it sound' bit.
Well, this was a download, so just follow the clear instructions, hit yes, and watch your file downloading, I was impressed at the speed of the download, actually I would guess more to do with the ISP, but that being said, it arrived. I will not dwell on installation, but suffice to say no prob's at all.
I fired up FSX, and I don't know about your FSX, but I could go and cut the lawn or decorate a room, while the program is 'firing' up. Well at last loaded, I decided to select a busy airport to give the Extreme Sounds package a chance to shine. So, I selected Scotflight's RAF Collection RAF Lossemouth and RAF Kinloss and RAF Leuchers.
A fantastic collection of scenery depicting active the three RAF stations in Scotland. Some of the screen shots are from these stations; they are pretty obvious, due the military hardware on show.
Now for some of the new sound effects. I heard the sound of an aircraft starting up, a jet then taxied past me making its way the active runway, turned onto the active, spooled up, and off, a lovely military sound, it went past me and started to climb. The sound continued for some time, and then stopped, a little sudden for my liking, I would have liked a nice gentle fading. But a lot better than the stock effect, that was very aggressive in its loss of sound, and when, i.e., almost at the end of the runway!
I decided to pay a visit to busy civil airports, Manchester and Heathrow. I selected the Marshall Car at Manchester, and have a 'scoot' around to get the sound effects on offer from other aircraft. At Heathrow I decided on a lovely Airbus A310 at a 'medium' gate, and selected an external view, cranked up the traffic to 100%, and waited, not for long as you would imagine. I could soon hear engines spooling up, taking off and landing, and over shooting.
The sound effects, well, looking towards the threshold of one of Heathrow's many runways, I could see the customary line of aircraft on final. As each aircraft landed sound was evident. I have to say not immediately, each aircraft had to land, travel along the runway before the sound became obvious.
As the aircraft took off, the sound kicked in, again after the aircraft was well down the runway. The aircraft lifted off, and some way into the climb before the sound disappeared again, rather abruptly, as mentioned previously.
I spent ages observing the sound ensemble, from various positions, and locations, I have no doubt this package did enhance the overall effect, a far more realistic environment, but do not expect it totally change the flight sim experience. I also noticed a Boeing 737 having the engine note of a jet fighter or some other military jet...that was odd.
I was a little surprised at the rather sudden intro and exit of sounds for the aircraft landing and taking off. I feel sure this could have been presented in a way that the sounds 'faded' in and out, certainly more realistic.
To be fair, I was very impressed with the AI aircraft taxiing past your vantage point, and in the air. The effects were in stereo and impressive.
You do have to remember the sound set is for AI aircraft only, so don't grumble that your R22 does not sound any different!
Has it made a noticeable difference? Well yes it has. Perhaps not to the extent that I was expecting, that is down to me I guess, i.e., inflated expectations, but the difference was obvious. For those like me, wanting to try anything that will further enhance the flight experience then my friends you have to give this a try. If I was really pushed, I may say for the money more sound effects would have been appreciated, but don't forget you can add a simple line in the .cfg file of you favorite aircraft to get start-up sounds, adding value to the product.
Did the program effect the frame rates?I don't think so, except I have to say, the Scottish RAF Stations, did effect the frame refresh rate, so, while I LOVE this scenery add-ons, be a little careful, if you are not running with a decent processor, it may be a tad frustrating. This was the effect on my computer, and may not act the same on yours. Worth checking out with the developer if the frame rate is of concern.
It always comes down to price, and rightly so, this Traffic Sounds FSX Extreme Sound offering hits the market at:
$15.95 (Extra $5.95 for CD Rom)
£11.35 (Extra £4.23 for CD Rom)
Check the product out in Pilot Shop, you will see a YouTube clip of the sounds--worth a look and listen!
Tested for some 4 hours.
System:
AMD Phenom 9950 Quad Core
2.60 GHz
2GB Ram
Windows XP Professional
Microsoft Flight Simulator FSX
G-Force 9500GT
Onwards and Upwards...
Nigel C. Martin
n.c.martin@btinternet.com
Learn More Here
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