Description: I appreciate system sounds a lot, I like that 'more alive' feeling they bring to my user experience. Since we usually spend a lot of time on a computer, all that can make that experience more pleasant is always welcome.
So I put together some quality sounds I've been finding these last couple of months to create what is for me the sound theme for an OS that suits me best. Sounds that are smooth and that I enjoy hearing and won't get annoying with time. So I called this compilation of sounds "Smooth".
I liked it so much that I thing it is worthy of sharing with you all. I hope you enjoy it.
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All sounds included are either public domain or under attribution policy. All credits are given to the authors of these wonderful sounds included. Please check the credits and license in the attached file "Smooth sound theme sounds license agreements and Authors.pdf" for each sound included.
The authors of the sounds included in this sound theme are Reitanna, cabled_mess, Your Mom, Sweeper, KP, ViRiX, NenadSimic, LittleRobotSoundFactory, Kenney, sergeeo, eliasheuninck, smokebomb99, kwahmah_02 and myself Pemartins. Check the file "Smooth sound theme sounds license agreements and Authors.pdf" inside the folder "documentation" for all the details and proper credit attribution.
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Changelog
v1.2 - Normalized all sounds
v1.1 - Just moved the documentation folder to the root directory of the package, no other changes were made so do not bother downloading it again if you already did.
v1.0 - Initial release
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Notes
- not all sounds will work on all operating systems, things vary from distro to distro and from desktop environment to desktop environment
- Includes 57 sound events, 3 alternatives for login sound, 2 alternatives for new e-mail message
- usually system sound events do not work out-of-the-box and you'll have to do some things in order for them to work. There's a file attached called "how to install on xfce.txt" that shows how they can be played on a Ubuntu based OS. For other desktop environments please browse and ask at forum supports how it can be done.
- usually system login and logout sounds are not played, you'll have to do some things for them to work. There's a file attached called "how to install on xfce.txt" that shows how them can be played. For other desktop environments please browse and ask at forum supports how it can be done.
- there are voice alerts for the following events: battery-caution, battery-full, battery-low, device-added, device-removed, message-sent-email, message-new-email, network-connectivity-error, network-connectivity-established, network-connectivity-lost, power-plug, power-unplug and power-unplug-battery-low.
- If you want the sound "_window-unminimized.oga" to be played, just remove the underscore (_) at the beginning of the name. I chose not to have it playing as a personal preference, since usually the sound "button-toggle-off.oga" is already played when you click to unminimize.
- "__desktop-login.oga and "_desktop-login.oga" are just alternative login sounds that I also loved. Along with the one "desktop-login.oga", just leave the one you wanna be played with the name "desktop-login.oga" and rename the others.
- if you find annoying the "incoming e-mail" voice alert played each time you have new mail, just replace "message-new-email.oga" with another sound. I already included one for you to change just like I mentioned for the desktop login sound, just rename "_message-new-email.oga" to "message-new-email.oga" so that one can be used instead. I chose that alert because I need to be on the top of the e-mails I get so I really need something that won't make me miss them.
- Sound Naming Specification can be seen at http://0pointer.de/public/sound-naming-spec.html
3I'm sorry. :(
I just didn't like the theme. The robot voices are not my favorite, and the sound-effects, while not jarring, are divorced from established idioms around how we expect certain notifications to sound.
I really appreciate you taking the time to package and ship this for people to use, though! That was really nice of you.
Hello, I've a problem to unify sound effect for "all actions" what I mean is that I'd like to have same sound effect for all actions that take place in different applications (some of them are using differnet graphical user interface or something like that, idk exacly I can not find any useful information about sound effect in desktop environments). This issue affect a lot of differnet action eg. minimize/maximize of window, context menu popup/down etc., that should appear in different apps eg MS Teams, Google Chome, OBS Studio etc.)
Here is a example of problem (it's menu popup/popdown action) https://imgur.com/a/OV8wYpw
I read some docs, posts and wiki about sounds effects but I don't know how to unify sound effects for same actions that took place in applications that are using different graphical user interface (QT, GTK, gnome etc.)
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Libcanberra
https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/363/how-to-integrate-sound-with-desktop-events
https://freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/sound-theme-spec/
https://specifications.freedesktop.org/sound-theme-spec/sound-theme-spec-latest.html
http://0pointer.de/public/sound-naming-spec.html
10Hi buddy, I have some problems with xfce4 on ubuntu 20.04. some sounds work perfectly fine, but some others doesnt like recycle bin...how I could debug this issue?? my email is salva.liebana@gmail.com . I would love if you can help me
pemartins, hi!
There is an issue with link again. I see, that opendesktop provides now a Nextcloud instance. You can open it with "grid" button on top of the page then "Storage" button. Could you please upload the archive to this cloud and share it? Or also you could use any other hosting, but this cloud seems more or less "native".
@pemartins, hi again! I suddenly have got an idea — since any sound in your soundpack is under very permissive licenses, you able to switch license of whole package to, lets say, CC-BY-4.0 or even copyleft CC-BY-SA-4.0 or some other. It will make the package more transparent in copy"right" field and more suitable to include it to GNU/Linux distributions. Someone, please, correct me if I wrong.
9++Very cool. I love the fact that this is on the AUR repository, for Arch Linux and all Arch based distros. Many thanks to both "PEMARTINS", the creator of the theme and to "bergentroll", the guy who put it on AUR.
Could you please make a mirror for this? I am trying to add your sound theme to Archlinux AUR and need a permanent link. The dl.opendesktop.org link seems changing time to time.
Sure I can! If I understand you need me to upload the file in a file hoster, I just uploaded it at Zippyshare and added the link to the download (file) information.
Please let me know if that is all you need or if I need to do something else.
Cheers!
Yeah, thank you, it's working now: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/sound-theme-smooth/. Is Zippyshare hosts files for long term?
Actually it will be nice in my opinion if you decide to give a version number to your sound theme and split the documentation with the sound files. =)
I believe Zippyshare does not delete files from accounts, exception made for violation of terms, so the file should remain up for many years to come.
Version number attributed, named it 1.0.
"Split the documentation with the sound files", can you enlighten me on this one? Do you mean placing the documentation folder in a different place inside the package?
Ratings & Comments
29 Comments
7 Like that distro!
3 I'm sorry. :( I just didn't like the theme. The robot voices are not my favorite, and the sound-effects, while not jarring, are divorced from established idioms around how we expect certain notifications to sound. I really appreciate you taking the time to package and ship this for people to use, though! That was really nice of you.
10 Wow, that's what I call dedication. Thanks!
Hello, I've a problem to unify sound effect for "all actions" what I mean is that I'd like to have same sound effect for all actions that take place in different applications (some of them are using differnet graphical user interface or something like that, idk exacly I can not find any useful information about sound effect in desktop environments). This issue affect a lot of differnet action eg. minimize/maximize of window, context menu popup/down etc., that should appear in different apps eg MS Teams, Google Chome, OBS Studio etc.) Here is a example of problem (it's menu popup/popdown action) https://imgur.com/a/OV8wYpw I read some docs, posts and wiki about sounds effects but I don't know how to unify sound effects for same actions that took place in applications that are using different graphical user interface (QT, GTK, gnome etc.) https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Libcanberra https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/363/how-to-integrate-sound-with-desktop-events https://freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/sound-theme-spec/ https://specifications.freedesktop.org/sound-theme-spec/sound-theme-spec-latest.html http://0pointer.de/public/sound-naming-spec.html
10 feeeels so gooood thanks man
10 Hi buddy, I have some problems with xfce4 on ubuntu 20.04. some sounds work perfectly fine, but some others doesnt like recycle bin...how I could debug this issue?? my email is salva.liebana@gmail.com . I would love if you can help me
10 10 the best
EDIT: Which 2020 Linux Distro can use and understand this Sound Schema by default?
9 9 excellent
Windows-User-Linux-Beginner-FAQ: Which (actual) Linux Distro can use and understand this Sound Schema?
pemartins, hi! There is an issue with link again. I see, that opendesktop provides now a Nextcloud instance. You can open it with "grid" button on top of the page then "Storage" button. Could you please upload the archive to this cloud and share it? Or also you could use any other hosting, but this cloud seems more or less "native".
Just read your message. I think I was able to do it, let me know if it works for you like that. It's the link named "QrcjmXiTpqQsciE".
Great, it seems working. Thank you.
5 5 average
9 9 excellent
nice
8 8 great
9 +working well on 19.04 Ubuntu Budgie Disco Dingo
@pemartins, hi again! I suddenly have got an idea — since any sound in your soundpack is under very permissive licenses, you able to switch license of whole package to, lets say, CC-BY-4.0 or even copyleft CC-BY-SA-4.0 or some other. It will make the package more transparent in copy"right" field and more suitable to include it to GNU/Linux distributions. Someone, please, correct me if I wrong.
9 ++Very cool. I love the fact that this is on the AUR repository, for Arch Linux and all Arch based distros. Many thanks to both "PEMARTINS", the creator of the theme and to "bergentroll", the guy who put it on AUR.
You're welcome! Enjoy!
Could you please make a mirror for this? I am trying to add your sound theme to Archlinux AUR and need a permanent link. The dl.opendesktop.org link seems changing time to time.
Sure I can! If I understand you need me to upload the file in a file hoster, I just uploaded it at Zippyshare and added the link to the download (file) information. Please let me know if that is all you need or if I need to do something else. Cheers!
Yeah, thank you, it's working now: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/sound-theme-smooth/. Is Zippyshare hosts files for long term? Actually it will be nice in my opinion if you decide to give a version number to your sound theme and split the documentation with the sound files. =)
I believe Zippyshare does not delete files from accounts, exception made for violation of terms, so the file should remain up for many years to come. Version number attributed, named it 1.0. "Split the documentation with the sound files", can you enlighten me on this one? Do you mean placing the documentation folder in a different place inside the package?