08/27/98

Have you had it with the Windows Chord and Ding?  Are you getting tired of the Mac Wild Eep and Sosumi?  Want a nice "arrrrrrgh!" or "cuckoo" or cymbal crash?  Here are some tips for changing your stock alert sounds on your computer and making them suit your own tastes and mood.

WAV Files

Your computer system came with a few basic .wav files that it uses to indicate errors, bootup, log off, etc.  They are typically in a System/Media directory (search your hard drive for .wav files).  In Windows 95 you can open the Start | Settings | Control Panel | Sounds to see the sounds on your system and change the default sounds for various activities of your computer.  Click on "Preview" to test them.

Where to Get New Sounds

To change system sounds, first you need to save new sound files that you want to use onto your hard disk.  There are quite a few sources for sound files.  One handy source is games.  If  there is a great crash or bounce or ripple or riff sound in any computer games you play, it's probably in a directory on the game CD (or a directory on your hard drive, if you have installed the program there).  Just search the CD drive for .wav files, and copy the one you want to the system folder where your other sound files are located.  There are good resources on the Internet, too. Here are a few you can visit and download from (plan to spend a fun few hours).  Remember that these sounds are for personal (non-commercial) use.

• Sassy Beth (http://www.sassybeth.com/) 
  G-rated, Naughty, TV clips--a good collection
• Thumper's World of Wavs (http://www.twow.com/thumper/) 
  Slow loading but a large collection, including Star Trek. Use the icon at the top of each page to turn off his music!
• Rare Seinfeld Wavs (http://www.berrysmediahut.com/seinfeld/seinfeld.htm) 
  Nice site
• Dr. Mushrm's Cave of Sound (http://www.drmushrm.com/cave/index.html)  Zipped collections

Custom Sounds

Mac users will find it easy to create their own unique sound files by recording snippets directly from audio CDs.  Go to the Monitors and Sound control panel, change the Sound Input setting to Internal CD, and start playing the CD you want to record from.  Then open the SimpleSound utility (used to add and delete alert sounds), set the Sound menu to CD Quality, click "Add" and then click "Record" when you get to the part that you want to capture.  Name the captured sound, save it to your hard drive, and you'll have a brand new sound to use.

Finally, while PC users can turn the volume down if they don't want to hear the log on sounds, Mac users can't quiet the startup sound.  Try plugging an old headphone set into the sound output jack. You don't need to wear them.

Got any sound tips or good music sites to share?  Drop me a note and I'll post another article here.

Copyright 1998 by Kaye Vivian (kvivian@cloud9.net).  All rights reserved. 
Permission to reprint is granted, providing this copyright notice remains attached and the article is not altered.

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