Engine Sound Simulator

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWxrK_3LlEr9WsfOL8N41...

I absolutely love the reverse sound my Toyota RAV4 Prime (hybrid) makes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUT94MBt_Ao To me, it sounds like the future. Sort of a hovering UFO. People's heads definitely turn when I back out of my driveway.

Shortly after moving into my current place, I would randomly hear this hum that for the life of me I could not figure out what it was. I had even looked at maps to look for some sort of place nearby that might make sense. It wasn't a constant hum, and there was seemingly no schedule for it. A week ago, I just happened to be in my drive way instead of the fenced backyard when I heard the noise. It was my neighbor's EV <facepalm>

semi-nightmarish

There's one I hear regularly that sounds like a choir of demons.

My main objection to the newer EV sounds is that they are tonal enough to be recognized as a musical chord, but not a pleasant one. It’s either vaguely minor like a horror movie score, or a downright dissonant mash of pure sines.

Having a loud/annoying low-speed sound would be a dealbreaker for any EV purchase.

I did notice this when I had a city apartment with a window facing the street: regulators have not taken noise pollution into consideration. They made it very loud so as to be sure to alert all pedestrians, which is good, but it is also far more noticeable than a quiet ICE in several situations. If I’m in a building, I really do not want to hear a vehicle! Noise pollution is a real problem and the current regulations unfortunately do step backwards in my opinion.

Holy crap, is that modified or do they all sound that loud? And not just in reverse? Not the future we were promised.

Seems like a great choice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WpMlwVwydo

I think I'll petition NHTSA etc. to make this song mandatory for electric vehicles.

I really hope we can get to a point where there are multiple approved sounds to choose from. If the car has to make noise, might as well be able to select from some options.

Probably won't see Hampster Dance approved, however...

On the one hand, yes!

But more realistically, think of the headache of trying to keep your engine's Hampsterdance in sync with the Hampsterdance blaring from your car's stereo, (as it naturally would be).

Not to mention all the other excellent tracks on https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampsterdance:_The_Album

In ICE cars, some people remove the mufflers and modify the exhaust for louder and more deeper sounds.

Oh but they don’t! Lots of German “performance” cars now have speakers under the car to make obnoxiously loud sounds. They can’t produce them naturally because the muffler regulations prohibit unfiltered exhausts - hence speakers.

AMG, Audi RS, M Power - they all do it.

EVs at low speeds need to produce external sounds to warn pedestrians.

Yes, you are missing something. Query for your favorite search engine is "active sound exhaust system". This is how it affects me.

wtf is external noice cancellation

https://www.jdpower.com/cars/shopping-guides/what-is-active-...

They already do have active noise cancelling, but I believe it is to benefit the passengers.

> getting these synthetic noises banned.

Not possible. Db limits are one thing, but a content-based rule would be akin to banning certain types of music.

you know they're the ones that required them, right?

There’s some regulation here to contend with that mandates these EV sounds have to include a 1khz-4khz tone which is probably what you’re noticing since it’s on the higher end of the usual urban audioscape. The Verge did an interesting piece on this recently – https://www.theverge.com/24182348/ev-sounds-low-speed-survey...

I like the hissing sound that some delivery trucks started making about a decade ago.

Experiments show that people can determine the direction of a hiss (a sound composed of many frequencies) better than a beep or a pure tone.

I kinda like the Skeuomorphic Brooke 25/30-HP Swan Car, which has Eerie Glowing Skeuomorphic Swan Eyes, can Rudely Spray Skeuomorphic Steam from its Skeuomorphic Swan Beak to clear a passage in the streets, can Obnoxiously Skeuomorphically Honk with an exhaust-driven, eight-tone Gabriel horn that can be operated by means of a keyboard at the back of the car, and can Disgustingly Dump Skeuomorphic Bird Shit onto the road through a valve at the back of the car.

It even has a baby daughter, Cygnet The Baby Swan Car!

I bet Elon Musk and every CyberTruck owner would love to drive a CyberSwan.

https://www.louwmanmuseum.nl/en/car/brooke-25-30-hp-swan-car...

Brooke 25/30-HP Swan Car

This Brooke Swan Car is truly extraordinary. It was the creation of the eccentric and wealthy Scotsman Robert Nicholl ‘Scotty’ Matthewson, who lived in early 20th century Calcutta, the capital of what was then British India

Matthewson wanted to shock the local elite with his car, and he certainly succeeded in doing so.

The bodywork represents a swan gliding through water. The rear is decorated with a lotus flower design finished in gold leaf, an ancient symbol for divine wisdom. Apart from the normal lights, there are electric bulbs in the swan’s eyes that glow eerily in the dark. The car has an exhaust-driven, eight-tone Gabriel horn that can be operated by means of a keyboard at the back of the car. A ship’s telegraph was used to issue commands to the driver. Brushes were fitted to sweep off the elephant dung collected by the tyres. The swan’s beak is linked to the engine’s cooling system and opens wide to allow the driver to spray steam to clear a passage in the streets. Whitewash could be dumped onto the road through a valve at the back of the car to make the swan appear even more lifelike.

The car caused panic and chaos in the streets on its first outing and the police had to intervene. Matthewson sold the car to the Maharaja of Nabha, whose family owned it for over seventy years.

The car was discovered years later in its original state, albeit in poor condition. The sumptuous Indian silk upholstery had been eaten away by rats.

In 1991 it came into the ownership of the Louwman Museum and was fully restored. New upholstery was commissioned from an Indian weaving mill following the discovery of remnants of the original material under the seats. All the gadgets were made to working order again. In 1993 the Swan won the Montagu Prize at the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d’Élégance in California.

https://www.louwmanmuseum.nl/en/masterpieces-of-mobility/swa...

Designed to shock

The Brooke ‘Swan Car’ is truly extraordinary. It was the creation of the eccentric and wealthy Scotsman Robert Nicholl ‘Scotty’ Matthewson, who lived in early 20th century Calcutta, the capital of what was then British India. Matthewson wanted to shock the local elite with his car, and he certainly succeeded in doing so.

Quite a sight!

The car’s first outing in the streets of Calcutta lead to newspaper headlines: “Women screaming” and “animals in the streets scattered in all directions”. At the time traffic in Calcutta was already very busy and chaotic. The authorities’ response was to be expected: they banned the car from public roads.

A work of art on wheels

The body represented a swan, probably inspired by Swan Park in Calcutta where Matthewson lived. The accessories are just as quirky as the body of this work of art on wheels. In particular the system that allowed hot water to be sprayed from the swan’s beak and the brushes used to keep the tyres clean.

The Maharaja of Nabha

Matthewson decided to sell the car. A buyer was found in the person of the Maharaja of Nabha. After a conflict with the neighbouring principality, the Maharaja was forced to abdicate. His son, at the time 9 years old, succeeded him. The Baby Swan was built specially for him and beautifully complements the Swan Car.

Meet the Swan Car

The cars didn’t see much use and in the 1980s part of the Maharaja of Nabha’s car collection was sold, including the famous Swan Cars. Both cars were acquired by the Louwman Museum and subjected to a thorough restoration.

https://www.louwmanmuseum.nl/en/car/cygnet-the-baby-swan-car...

Cygnet The Baby Swan Car

To accompany the large ‘Swan Car’ The Maharaja of Nabha had this smaller version made for use on his estate in the 1920s.

The body was hand-beaten from steel sheet and fitted with an electric motor. It was called the ‘Baby Swan’ or ‘Cygnet’. Note the cygnets at the front. This is probably the oldest Indian-made automobile.

Both cars are now reunited in the museum, like ‘mother and daughter’.

Try living downtown in South Florida.

if you get to the 0.1.11a release and are annoyed that you have to manually edit some file to change engines, you can use 0.1.14a of the community edition of the software https://github.com/Engine-Simulator/engine-sim-community-edi...

it is almost the same except has some severe qol improvements.

Ange's top patron is BeamNG, arguably the most physically accurate sim racer out there right now (in some areas, it still needs improvement). I predict within five years BeamNG + engine sim will leapfrog what anyone else has done in this area and recreated what we all thought video games were doing when we were little kids.

Way overengineered... Back in my day we were happy with sticking a plastic bottle between the tire and frame :)

Looks like kids still do it today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWRv17qvM0s

This is a scary but incredible idea.

Used to have fun back in my childhood playing Round Sounds from a set of speakers on the roof of the apartment building. People on the street started looking for the airplane.

https://aircraftrecords.com/products/round-sounds-volume-1?v...

Slightly off-topic, but I hate when people modify their engine / exhaust system to do this on purpose, just to be obnoxious. You're not cool, dude. You're just a jerk.

The best/worst of those videos are the ones where you can actually HEAR a bunch of metal bits hit the ground right after the shift :)

Frank? That you?

The sequel to Dragster for Atari 2600!