5 ms·

Freesound: Repository of more than 500k CC licensed sounds and effects samples

151 points by marcodiego 5y ago

afandian 5y ago
I'm not sure if I'll find it here, but something I was looking for, and never found, is a selection of free instrument samples (i.e one for each note), enough to make a toy keyboard. Anyone got any recommendations? (edit - the tag seems to be 'multisample' https://freesound.org/browse/tags/multisample/ https://freesound.org/browse/tags/multisample/ ) I found some good sets: https://freesound.org/people/Carlos_Vaquero/packs/9528/ https://freesound.org/people/Carlos_Vaquero/packs/9528/ https://freesound.org/people/tim.kahn/packs/2680/ https://freesound.org/people/tim.kahn/packs/2680/
- tekstar 5y ago
  You can also look for "sound fonts".
  - IndySun 5y ago
    "You can also look for "sound fonts"" Good suggestion. Though, searching soundfont, would be more efficient perhaps?
- moritonal 5y ago
  Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't WebMidi[1] be a solution to your problem? Here is a piano example [2] 1. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_MIDI_API https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_MIDI_AP... 2. https://abbernie.github.io/tune/ https://abbernie.github.io/tune/
  - validuser 5y ago
    There's no audio in MIDI - midi is like a machine readable sheet of notes.
  - afandian 5y ago
    Thanks! By toy I meant a physical thing, on an ESP32, for example.
- rb2e 5y ago
  Try https://www.pianobook.co.uk/ https://www.pianobook.co.uk/ Tons of free sample libraries
- ronyeh 5y ago
  What kind of toy keyboard are you making? You can also consider Tone.js which is a synthesizer. Also, I like the sound of https://github.com/PencilCode/musical.js https://github.com/PencilCode/musical.js Those two above will allow you to make a simple website toy piano. If you are making a command line app, you can record the samples from GarageBand if you have a Mac. There are other cool command line options. If you're interested, let me know.
  - afandian 5y ago
    Thanks! I did something with a raspberry pi and PyGame a few years back and I wanted to make something with an ESP32.
- _qbjt 5y ago
  This collection of free SoundFonts might be of interest :) https://www.pistonsoft.com/soundfonts.html https://www.pistonsoft.com/soundfonts.html
  - gardaani 5y ago
    Thanks, that's a very nice list! Although, their license texts aren't easy to find..
- pcardoso 5y ago
  You can also use a single note sample (eg, C4) and tweak the playback frequency. This is how some keyboards do it. Also tracked music does it, simple and cheap.
  - afandian 5y ago
    Thanks! I played with trackers a lot in my youth! I mostly want different samples beecause I'm lazy, I'm trying to build something with an ESP32 and didn't want to put the effort into downsampling.
  - munificent 5y ago
    You can definitely do this, but at a very large cost in sound quality. Most instruments that you're trying to emulate have timbre that varies widely across their frequency range. A piano key on the left side of the keyboard sounds very different from a piano key on the right side recorded and pitched down. This is why sample-based instruments are generally multisampled. It's not to avoid resampling, which is generally efficient and sounds good. It's to accommodate timbre changes.
- MrLeap 5y ago
  I made this toy piano using a single sound effect, middle C. I pitch shift to get the others. https://mobile.twitter.com/leapjosh/status/1423052486760411136?lang=bg https://mobile.twitter.com/leapjosh/status/14230524867604111...
- fijix 5y ago
  Check outhe FreePats Project https://freepats.zenvoid.org/index.html https://freepats.zenvoid.org/index.html https://github.com/freepats/documentation/wiki https://github.com/freepats/documentation/wiki
beebeepka 5y ago
Thanks for this. Picking the right sounds for your chat application or game is important and not easy at all For me, it was one of those things that I was clearly taking for granted until I had to do it myself. My first thought? "We need a sound guy"
- dylan604 5y ago
  "sound guy" is always the most underrated role, yet they can be more specialized than doctors. there's a group that specializes in recording cars. they'll place mics all over a car to get the perfect recordings. ask those guys to mic up a person for a quick interview, and they'll become so offended at your request and refuse. some people speicialize in music instruments and within intstruments you get people that specialize in drums, horns, etc. dialog people are all over in their skills too (booth, on-set, wireless, boom, etc). Now, getting into SFX, folley, and other stuff gets just as crazy too. Some people record actual sounds, some bang out noises on synths (meant in a polite term of endearment), etc. of course, just like in any industry, some just show up long enough to collect a pay check and and fiddle with knobs while baked.
monetus 5y ago
I used this site quite a lot just yesterday, and plan on donating sometime soon. It is hard to overstate how much value I put on this website.
dsclough 5y ago
My freesound account is 12 years old! And the website is exactly the same as it was when I registered (or so I recall). Incredible resource for bedroom producers and programmers alike.
dang 5y ago
Past related threads: Freesound: Collaborative database of creative-commons licensed sounds - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27260780 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27260780 - May 2021 (1 comment) Freesound just reached 500K Creative Commons sounds - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27232297 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27232297 - May 2021 (67 comments) Freesound: A collaborative database of Creative Commons-licensed sounds - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8858076 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8858076 - Jan 2015 (6 comments)

151 points by marcodiego 5y ago

I'm not sure if I'll find it here, but something I was looking for, and never found, is a selection of free instrument samples (i.e one for each note), enough to make a toy keyboard. Anyone got any recommendations? (edit - the tag seems to be 'multisample' https://freesound.org/browse/tags/multisample/ https://freesound.org/browse/tags/multisample/ ) I found some good sets: https://freesound.org/people/Carlos_Vaquero/packs/9528/ https://freesound.org/people/Carlos_Vaquero/packs/9528/ https://freesound.org/people/tim.kahn/packs/2680/ https://freesound.org/people/tim.kahn/packs/2680/

tekstar 5y ago
You can also look for "sound fonts".
- IndySun 5y ago
  "You can also look for "sound fonts"" Good suggestion. Though, searching soundfont, would be more efficient perhaps?
moritonal 5y ago
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't WebMidi[1] be a solution to your problem? Here is a piano example [2] 1. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_MIDI_API https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_MIDI_AP... 2. https://abbernie.github.io/tune/ https://abbernie.github.io/tune/
- validuser 5y ago
  There's no audio in MIDI - midi is like a machine readable sheet of notes.
- afandian 5y ago
  Thanks! By toy I meant a physical thing, on an ESP32, for example.
rb2e 5y ago
Try https://www.pianobook.co.uk/ https://www.pianobook.co.uk/ Tons of free sample libraries
ronyeh 5y ago
What kind of toy keyboard are you making? You can also consider Tone.js which is a synthesizer. Also, I like the sound of https://github.com/PencilCode/musical.js https://github.com/PencilCode/musical.js Those two above will allow you to make a simple website toy piano. If you are making a command line app, you can record the samples from GarageBand if you have a Mac. There are other cool command line options. If you're interested, let me know.
- afandian 5y ago
  Thanks! I did something with a raspberry pi and PyGame a few years back and I wanted to make something with an ESP32.
_qbjt 5y ago
This collection of free SoundFonts might be of interest :) https://www.pistonsoft.com/soundfonts.html https://www.pistonsoft.com/soundfonts.html
- gardaani 5y ago
  Thanks, that's a very nice list! Although, their license texts aren't easy to find..
pcardoso 5y ago
You can also use a single note sample (eg, C4) and tweak the playback frequency. This is how some keyboards do it. Also tracked music does it, simple and cheap.
- afandian 5y ago
  Thanks! I played with trackers a lot in my youth! I mostly want different samples beecause I'm lazy, I'm trying to build something with an ESP32 and didn't want to put the effort into downsampling.
- munificent 5y ago
  You can definitely do this, but at a very large cost in sound quality. Most instruments that you're trying to emulate have timbre that varies widely across their frequency range. A piano key on the left side of the keyboard sounds very different from a piano key on the right side recorded and pitched down. This is why sample-based instruments are generally multisampled. It's not to avoid resampling, which is generally efficient and sounds good. It's to accommodate timbre changes.
MrLeap 5y ago
I made this toy piano using a single sound effect, middle C. I pitch shift to get the others. https://mobile.twitter.com/leapjosh/status/1423052486760411136?lang=bg https://mobile.twitter.com/leapjosh/status/14230524867604111...
fijix 5y ago
Check outhe FreePats Project https://freepats.zenvoid.org/index.html https://freepats.zenvoid.org/index.html https://github.com/freepats/documentation/wiki https://github.com/freepats/documentation/wiki

beebeepka 5y ago

Thanks for this. Picking the right sounds for your chat application or game is important and not easy at all For me, it was one of those things that I was clearly taking for granted until I had to do it myself. My first thought? "We need a sound guy"

dylan604 5y ago
"sound guy" is always the most underrated role, yet they can be more specialized than doctors. there's a group that specializes in recording cars. they'll place mics all over a car to get the perfect recordings. ask those guys to mic up a person for a quick interview, and they'll become so offended at your request and refuse. some people speicialize in music instruments and within intstruments you get people that specialize in drums, horns, etc. dialog people are all over in their skills too (booth, on-set, wireless, boom, etc). Now, getting into SFX, folley, and other stuff gets just as crazy too. Some people record actual sounds, some bang out noises on synths (meant in a polite term of endearment), etc. of course, just like in any industry, some just show up long enough to collect a pay check and and fiddle with knobs while baked.

monetus 5y ago

I used this site quite a lot just yesterday, and plan on donating sometime soon. It is hard to overstate how much value I put on this website.

dsclough 5y ago

My freesound account is 12 years old! And the website is exactly the same as it was when I registered (or so I recall). Incredible resource for bedroom producers and programmers alike.

dang 5y ago

Past related threads: Freesound: Collaborative database of creative-commons licensed sounds - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27260780 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27260780 - May 2021 (1 comment) Freesound just reached 500K Creative Commons sounds - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27232297 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27232297 - May 2021 (67 comments) Freesound: A collaborative database of Creative Commons-licensed sounds - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8858076 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8858076 - Jan 2015 (6 comments)