Ann: SFXEngine v1.09 Released

[Mark Sheeky]

Our sound effects software SFXEngine has been updated to version 1.09. A minor update, the new version fixes a rare and very difficult to reproduce memory infringement bug that could cause a program failure.

SFXEngine is a unique sound creation and processing tool. Sound is manipulated using a chain of custom audio plug-ins called Engines to make it easy to create and edit complex layered sound effects. Any parameter of any Engine can be modulated, and the modulator graphs are simply wav files making it easy to create or edit complex parameter changes. All of the Cornutopia Software games since 2003 have used SFXEngine for sound effects.

Features:

* Custom designed audio plug-ins including four types of reverb.
* High Pass, Low Pass (x2), Band Pass, Band Exclude, High Shelf, Low Shelf and Peaking filters.
* Graphical envelopes for every parameter.
* 32-Bit internal processing, with up to 8x oversampling and anti-alias filters.
* Twelve sequential audio Engines per sound.
* Render stereo or mono 16-bit wav files in 11025, 22050 or 44100 Hz.
* Automatic trimming of the output.
* SFXEngine is small, fast, loads quickly and is reliable.

Web page:
http://www.cornutopia.net/sfxengine.html

Demo (5Mb):
http://www.cornutopia.co.uk/software/sfxenginedemosetup.exe

Screenshots:
http://www.cornutopia.net/sfxshot1.jpg
http://www.cornutopia.net/sfxshot2.jpg

Mark Sheeky
Cornutopia Software
http://www.cornutopia.net

[lennard]

Looks cool, although some of the buttons hang under menu bars. How do I play a sound once I render it?

$100 seems a bit pricey seeing as how cheap SFX are out in the world.

[Mark Sheeky]

Looks cool, although some of the buttons hang under menu bars.

I forgot that. It was developed under Win98 and I've always set my display prefs for Win98 thickness titlebars. I should be able to fix that.

How do I play a sound once I render it?

If rendered it's a wav file, so an external player. For playing in the program though use a lettered key, like Q or M. Space to stop (but keep playing environment effects like reverb). Enter to stop completely.

$100 seems a bit pricey seeing as how cheap SFX are out in the world.

Good effects made to order are not cheap. Perhaps it depends on how many games you're planning to make. SFXEngine is much better and faster than something like the Sound Forge for creating sound effects and processing (granted, SF would be better for chopping up audio, but SFXEngine wasn't designed as a sampler).

Mark

[2dnoob]

How many demo/sample sounds do you include with the purchase?

[Mark Sheeky]

31 programs with 10 samples, although the point of the program is that it's easy to make new sounds. Perhaps the 47 modulators are most useful (and those can be created externally too because they're just wav files).

Mark

[lennard]

A play button would be nice - I went hunting for one.

I bring up price for two reasons. A) It is beyond what I would pay - I'm a cheap SOB but I have met plenty of cheap SOB's in game dev. so I think it's valid input and B) I'm going to release a tool myself (Font Fiend) soon and I've been drifting the price up to $24.95 and wondering if that is a good idea.

I do see indie tools for sale for $100 but I'm really curious if they actually convert.

[2dnoob]

As a small indie developer, price for tools is very important to me. For instance, Blitzmax was $80.00 but your sound tool is $100.00. The amount of sounds included with the purchase would be the deciding factor for me personally, since at the beginning at least I probably won't have alot of time to make original sounds, but the programmer in all of us could probably take one of the demo sounds, tweak a bit, and render the wav and we would be happy with that. So put in a few dozen demo sounds and your chances of getting my $100.00 just got alot higher. ;)

I would also consider putting together and selling sound packs made with your tool. Like the above scenario, alot of coders may not want to spend $100.00 but we may spend $19.95 for 50-100 sound fx. ;)

[electronicStar]

Seems interesting but I don't like the interface at all. And maybe a time and save limit on the demo would have made more sense than limiting the creation possibilities as you have done. It's not really easy to tell if the program will be useful to me or not with all those limits.
To me the price seems okay for what the program does, but at I this price I would expect a better interface and more possibilities of playing with the demo before purchase.

[mooktown]

Guys, there is a lite version for only $20, I'm sure that would be a good one to try out, plus you can upgrade later if you want to go pro.