With all the hype that surrounds the upcoming Microsoft FlightSimulator, we couldn't stop wondering; will it sound as good as it looks? All information released to FS Insiders prior to the 29th of september did not provide any indication, nor did any of the in-game footage. The vast majority of videos released were muted.
All of this changed with the occurance of the press event held yesterday in Seattle. Microsoft/Asobo shared lots of details and they didn't skip the sounds this time! Following the event many editors decided to condense all the info and footage into manageable chunks, which is nice for the general public but not so much for those who want to analyse everything themselves. The good folks at FSElite provided what we were interested in; an (almost) raw and uncut version of the footage as shared by the developers.
The video contains shots of three propellor driven aircraft; a Robin DR400, Cessna 172 and a Daher-Socata TBM930. Meaning two fixed pitch propellers and one turboprop.
On first impression, both interior and exterior engine sounds are very well done for all aircraft and a definite improvement in comparison to the sounds implemented on the default FSX fleet.
Furthermore, it also demonstrates advanced features such as dynamic reverb where sound is "reflected" from nearby surroundings.
Sadly no engine startup footage was included nor did we have the chance to hear the infamous beta range effects when viewing the TBM930 landings. No doubt this will all be added in later.
So, how does it work? Well, a further article on FSElite mentions the sound engine implemented is based on Audiokinetic Wwise. A brief investigation of the sound engine's specifications shows that Wwise offers a lot of the capabilities found in FMOD (used in X-Plane 11). From a sound engineering perspective this looks very promising since FMOD allows a high level of detail to be implemented in a sound package. We can only hope the same will be possible with Wwise.