Alain Capt

SOUND CUSTOMIZATION

Here is the list of all existing sound customizations, relative to default OrbiterSound sounds ambiance. This is what you get on every mission, with the AMSO installation, without sound pack extensions. With sound pack extensions, you may hear more ATC dialogs for more flight phases. The ATC sounds played could also be those of the real mission you are flying. For more details, refer to the chapter "SOUND CUSTOMIZATION PER MISSION".

- Apollo CSM cabin sound (LM use OrbiterSound default one).

- 10 first minutes of Apollo 11 true ATC dialogs from lift off.

- Abort with escape tower.

- Escape tower jettison.

- Ullage rockets sound.

- Stages separation noise.

- Parachute shield separation noise.

- LM legs deployment.

- Master alarm sound.

- Hatch closure.

- ATC dialog during start of space EVA (from Apollo 17).

- Apollo 11 true ATC dialogs for PDI (Moon landing).

- Historical first step phrase said by Neil Armstrong.

- Astronauts breath during EVA.

- Drilling noise when you use the drill.

- Apollo 11 true ATC dialogs for Moon lift off.

- Drogue chute mortar noise when fired.

- Drogue chute separation + main parachutes mortar noises.

- Two sounds when main parachute inflate.

- Two sound loops (wind & parachutes) during descent.

- Splashdown sound.

- Ocean rumble loop sound.

- Helicopter rotors & turbine sound.

- Helicopter landing gears.

- Helicopter door.

- Helicopter winch.

ATC dialogs for the Saturn V flight, for the LM descent plus landing and the LM ascent into Moon orbit are fully accurate. You will hear the dialog at the time (or altitude) it occurred in reality. All sounds are from the Apollo 11 mission.
Before LM descent, you will hear the "Go for PDI" from Houston flight control. For the Moon lift off, you will hear Houston "take off" authorization when you enter in ASCENT preparation phase. Two minutes before lift off, you will hear Neil Armstrong performing the end of the checklist, and then the authentic countdown.
Technically speaking, these ATC dialogs work the following way:
ATC sounds performed during flight phases rely on the autopilots of Saturn V and the LM to be played. In other words, you won't hear these dialogs if you are in manual flight or if you abort the guidance program, because in this case it is obviously quite difficult to guess what you are going to do next.
During all these custom ATC phases, the default OrbiterSound random ATC feature is disabled, except if the delay to play the next custom ATC is over 15 minutes. If you abort the flight or disable the autopilot, the custom ATC phase is immediately disabled and default random ATC is restored.

In both CSM & LM vessels, this is the default OrbiterSound settings, set by AMSO:

PLAYCOUNTDOWNWHENTAKEOFF, no (custom in both vessels).

PLAYWHENATTITUDEMODECHANGE, no.

PLAYGPWS, no.

PLAYMAINTHRUST, yes.

PLAYHOVERTHRUST, yes.

PLAYATTITUDETHRUST, yes.

PLAYDOCKINGSOUND, yes.

PLAYRADARBIP, in CSM disabled during Saturn V flight.

In LM disabled when landed.

PLAYWINDAIRSPEED, yes.

PLAYDOCKLANDCLEARANCE, no.

PLAYLANDINGANDGROUNDSOUND, no (custom splashdown).

PLAYCABINAIRCONDITIONING, yes (custom for CSM vessel).

PLAYCABINRANDOMAMBIANCE, yes.

PLAYWINDAMBIANCEWHENLANDED, yes.

DISPLAYTIMER, no.

SOUND CUSTOMIZATION PER MISSION
AMSO allows customization of all AMSO ATC sounds which are relative to a particular mission. By default, all included sounds are those of the Apollo 11 mission and are located into the root AMSO sound directory "Sound\AMSO". But AMSO will also look to see if inside this root directory, a sub-directory named like the current mission exists. For example, for Apollo 12, the directory must be named "AS-507". If this directory exists, then AMSO assumes that ALL the customizable sound files are to be played from this directory. If the optional sound directory for the mission is not found, then AMSO will use the default Apollo 11 sounds mentioned before. Notice that even for Apollo 11, a custom directory can be made.
You have two categories of customizable sounds:
Fixed events ATC sounds:
These files are played when a precise event occurs or when the user does a specific action. These sounds are:
Apollo vessel: InboardCut.wav cutoff.wav ignition.wav

RingSep.wav TowerSep.wav Separation.wav

pre-countdown.wav (must start exactly 5 minutes before liftoff and have a duration of not more than 4mn 50sec)

countdown.wav (must start exactly 10 seconds before liftoff).

LM vessel: LM-landing-go.wav (feedback sound)

LM-takeoff-go.wav (feedback sound)

LM-takeoff-checklist.wav

LM-takeoff-countdown.wav (must start exactly 10 sec before liftoff)

Separation.wav
Any missing Fixed events ATC sounds will mean no play during the simulation and OrbiterSound will enlist the file in its log file.
Custom events ATC sounds:
These are sounds which will be played by several AMSO "ATC engines" able to step into a list of an undetermined number of ATC sound files, reading from the file name itself, the time (or altitude) information to know when to play the ATC file.
Apollo vessel: Apollo-HHHMMSS.wav

where HHH:MM:SS is the GET time at which the ATC must play.

LM vessel: LM-HHHMMSS.wav

where HHH:MM:SS is the GET time at which the ATC must play.

LM-landing-EET-MMSS.wav

where MM:SS is the elapsed time delay to play the ATC, since PDI burn started.

LM-landing-ALT-IXAAAA.wav

where IX is the rank order of ATC play and AAAA the altitude at which the ATC must be played. AAAA=0000 will correspond automatically to the precise instant where the landing probe touches the ground.

LM-landed-EET-MMSS.wav

where MM:SS is the elapsed time delay to play the ATC, since the LM touched the ground.

LM-ascent-EET-MMSS.wav

where MM:SS is the elapsed time delay to play the ATC, since the liftoff burn started.

All Custom events ATC sounds found will be played according to the rules defined previously. You can have as many Custom events ATC sounds you want in the limit imposed by their specifications. For example, for LM-landing-ALT-IXAAAA.wav, the IX 2 digits ranking index means a maximum of 100 files.
The multiple "ATC engines" architecture for the LM allows you to precisely synchronize ATC on landing and ascent events, no matter at which GET these events occur. Usage of altitude for the final part of the landing also gives more precise results and even allows you to keep ATC when flying the LM with the P66 manual landing program.
LM-landing-ALT-IXAAAA.wav "ATC engine" will stop after landing (AAAA=0000) and force LM-landing-EET-MMSS.wav "ATC engine" to stop, if not already stopped. This will also occur immediately if the PDI sequence of program's is aborted. Notice that even if it is possible to play ATC with both "ATC engines" during all the PDI & landing phase, this is not recommended at all. Use the EET engine until you reach about 3000 ft (914.4 m), and then use the ALT engine.
LM-landed-EET-MMSS.wav "ATC engine" starts running on LM touchdown, but only if the PDI sequence of programs was active until landing. Then it will stop only when the last ATC is played, or if the LM enters in take off preparation phase, or in case of emergency immediate take off.
LM-ascent-EET-MMSS.wav "ATC engine" is stopped in the same time of P12 Moon orbit insertion program (normal end or abort).
For Apollo-HHHMMSS.wav, during the ascent into Earth orbit, if the autopilot is disabled for any reasons (abort flight, autopilot malfunction or user take manual control), the playing of these ATC will be immediately aborted and will remain muted until GET 000:11:40 (end of a normal Earth orbit insertion). After that time, this "ATC engine" will be reactivated automatically only if the Apollo vessel is in a plausible situation (this is altitude over 185km and in 3^rd stage configuration).
LM-HHHMMSS.wav "ATC engine" will never abort playing ATC. It runs as soon as the LM is activated and until the LM ascent stage is definitively undocked from the Apollo vessel. Notice that LM landing and ascent "ATC engines" have the priority over this "ATC engine". Any ATC which would occur during the activity period of these other "ATC engines" will be skipped.
REMARKS: It is better to avoid the two sounds mentioned as a "feedback sound" to be missing, because they are a feedback to an AMSO action. Without them it will work, but the user may wonder if the action he does was really performed.
Don't forget also the timing constraints for all countdown sounds. The best way to build an Apollo pre-countdown/countdown pair of files is to take a sound file starting precisely at minus 5 minutes and ending after the liftoff, before the first Apollo ATC. Then you cut precisely this file in two, at minus 10 seconds time.
Attention ! "ATC engines" DO NOT stack ATC files. So it is your responsibility to insure that consecutive ATC do not overlap, otherwise the overlapped ATC will be skipped.
Finally, for those who are going to build such a sound pack, think about the size of the whole sound package !!! Avoid using high sample rates in stereo or very long samples. Most of the time, a sample rate of 11K in 8 bits mono is enough with these kinds of sounds. In most ATC conversations, you have time where nobody is speaking. Split your ATC in several files on these silences, when they exceed 2-3 seconds.