Anyone using Syrinscape?

[MNBlockHead]

In today's monthly e-mail newsletter, RW announced they have a partnership with Syrinscape and will release an update after Gen Can that will allow you to play Syrinscape sounds from RW if you have Syrinscape installed on your computer:

In the Realm Works update following our return from Gen Con, you’ll be able to add and play Syrinscape SoundSets from Realm Works, if you have Syrinscape installed on your computer.

While I'm not a fan adding more tech complexity to the table, I could see how GMs who already use soundscapes in their would find this handy. I a bought a canned adventure from the CM that used Syrinscape soundscapes, I could see giving it a whirl.

Listening to some of the Syrinscape samples, I have to say I could see using the musical background, but as high-quality as the sound effects are, I'm don't think that I would use the battle effects.

Anyone using Syrinscape right now at the table?

 

[Shadowy_one]

I've just started using Syrinscape. My Players aren't convinced yet, but I kinda like the ambient sounds...

Looking Forward to being able to add it to Realm Works. That will Speed up My GMing.

 

[Parody]

Not a fan of Syrinscape or really any sort of "ambient sound" stuff.

In our home games we sometimes play music, but quietly. For things like Syrinscape to work you have to turn the sound up much louder than I find comfortable in order for everyone to hear it. This will vary greatly between groups, locations, music/sfx choice, and sound hardware, but that's my experience.

Similarly, though, Syrinscape was used at one of the PFS Specials at last year's Gen Con and they had to turn it up so loud that it made it hard for people in the room to hear their GMs. (I asked around the next day and then back home about how the Special went and it was something that came up multiple times.)

So my advice is pretty simple: make sure it fits with your group before you commit too much time or money to it.

 

[Farling]

I don't think the volume should be turned up loud enough "to hear it". Keeping the volume low adds the sounds as a general background feeling to the room to subtly influence the players, rather than expecting them to actively listen to the sounds.

 

[Bobifle]

I've tried syrinscape, I'm not convinced.
While it's doing its job, I find the sound packages to be quite expensive.

Especially regarding free alternatives like tabletopaudio.

Maybe the full integration of synrinscape in RW will make it worth.

 

[AEIOU]

I like that LWD is moving forward with integrating outside applications with RW. I'm hoping this is their proof of concept and that they start to extend to VTT's and other much more useful applications soon.

On topic, at $6.50/month or $5-$20/pack Syrinscape is IMNSHO a ridiculously pricey add-on.... The interface looks strong. And their pending SoundSet creator appears to allow use of external sound files which may make this more appealing depending on what the pricing will be. I wish them luck but I think they are pricing themselves out of existence.

 

[MNBlockHead]

I'm confident that if I made the investment into quality speakers, properly located around the game room, I could get a good, audible sound that isn't distracting. I would never try to use it in a convention, large open room, etc. But in my gaming area, it wouldn't be too hard to rig something up that works. I just need to determine if spending the money is worth it.

I don't think that the cost is that terrible. I'm impressed with the quality and it isn't cheap to create near-theatrical quality soundscapes. If I gamed enough, and if the variety of soundscapes are large enough, and if the quality is consistent, I don't think that $6.50/mo. is terrible.

But I am still skeptical for two reasons:

1. It is another thing to manage. I have to remember to trigger the sounds at the right time. It is another application that has to be open on my computer during the game. I fear it would inject too much fiddling with technology at the table and become more of a distraction than a mood builder. For it to work for me, there would need to be an ability to automatcially trigger the sounds. E.g. I open an adventure area or scene topic in RW and a sound scape automatically starts playing. That would be pretty cool. It'll be interesting to see how the integration with RW works.

2. My biggest concern is that it is trying to turn table-top RPG into an IRL video game. I would rather use my imagination. For example, I was listing to Syrinscape's free Bugbear Battle. It was good quality, but it isn't really how I heard bugbears in my head. There is nothing wrong with Syrinscape's interpretation. It was well done...but it took away my freedom to imagine the sounds for myself.

That said, music can powerfully influence our moods and I do think that well-selected background music could really add to the game. But I would probably pass on the battle sounds and vocalizations. I certainly would not use the spell sounds. I have enough work to do managing battles in a game to not want to worry about hitting the fireball spell sound every time one is cast. Even if I could assign that duty to a player to act as the game DJ, I think—for me—it would detract more than add to the game.

Still, I'm interested in seeing how RW includes designs this functionality. I never planned to share maps and use Fog of World at the game table when I bought realm works, but now I use it at every game.

 

[Parody]

The integration (looking at the current version of Syrinscape) lets you create a link that is like clicking a button in the Syrinscape application. So while it works a little quirky behind the scenes (described below), at a minimum all LWD has to do is allow the Syrinscape URI schemes and it would work. (If I were using it, though, I'd hope for something with a button.)


The way Syrinscape implemented it is based on a custom URI scheme and a watched folder. Here's a sample link:

syrinscape-fantasy:moods/d2l0Y2h3b29kOjpSYWluaW5nIGFnYWlu/play/

If you have Syrinscape Fantasy Player installed and you pasted that into Internet Explorer, IE would (after a bunch of warning dialogs) fire up an application that removes the scheme, writes the rest to a temp file in a watched folder, and starts Syrinscape Fantasy. The Syrinscape app then reads that file, starts the linked asset, and deletes the temp file.

You could sidestep it if you wanted, but since you can't identify anything by name anyway (you can't say 'play "set=Witchwood" item="Raining Again"' or "syrinscape-fantasy:play//Witchwood/Raining%20Again/") you might as well let their app write the file for you.

 

[Kendall-DM]

Since my players are all loud enough on their own to drown out a horde of crying babies on an airplane, I'm pretty sure that I won't be using it either. Neat idea though, but it's just not for me.

 

[MaxSupernova]

Okay, I'll be perfectly honest and say that my first reaction to that sentence in the email was:

They're talking about limited coding resources, and too much to do, and they spend time adding hooks for an uber-expensive soundboard thingy that I'd be amazed if 1% of their users will use?

There are so many major features that are incomplete and they are announcing this.

Sorry, I felt that this was totally tone-deaf to the community and a bit of a kick in the ass.

I've resigned myself to sitting and waiting for this program to be more useful, but that caused my expectations to take a step backwards, not forwards.

 

[rob]

Okay, I'll be perfectly honest and say that my first reaction to that sentence in the email was:

They're talking about limited coding resources, and too much to do, and they spend time adding hooks for an uber-expensive soundboard thingy that I'd be amazed if 1% of their users will use?

There are so many major features that are incomplete and they are announcing this.

Sorry, I felt that this was totally tone-deaf to the community and a bit of a kick in the ass.

I've resigned myself to sitting and waiting for this program to be more useful, but that caused my expectations to take a step backwards, not forwards.

That's quite an assumption!

This is something we designed in from the early days as a mechanism through which we'd provide integration with lots of apps, including VTTs. It's the same mechanism we've outlined to the d20Pro folks and other VTTs in our discussions with them.

Because it was already baked into how things work, we spent more time coordinating with the Syrinscape folks to get them clear on how to make it happen from their end than we did in the code on our end. Since Syrinscape happened to be the first folks ready to test out integration, they got the joint press. I expect one or more of the VTTs to have similar integration capabilities later this year, and we think we can leverage the same basic mechanism under the covers for something else tied to the Content Market.

Overall, we spent a few hours on this, including testing and verification.

As I have asked many times before, please do NOT make assumptions. Ask for clarification, and we'll do our best to provide it. There are lots of things in software (RW in particular) that appear easy and are actually extremely complex. There are similarly lots of things that appear complex and are actually quite easy. This happened to be one of the easy ones, mostly because we'd already laid the foundation for it early on, so we added it quickly and painlessly.

 

[AEIOU]

@Rob: Perception trumps reality. Please keep in mind that calendars and a few other items are festering subjects for many. So any (seemingly) brand new activity outside of the prescribed to-do's is going to raise eyebrows if it just magically appears on the done list.

It really is fantastic that the groundwork was built-in long ago and that this was the first product to really take advantage of it. Your planning is paying off! To me, this means the content market is close enough that other companies are investing serious effort into RW integration.

 

[DMG]

A quick bit of background info before my question...

After subscribing to Syrinscape last month, I started to write my own app to control iTunes playlists in a similar manner to what Syrinscape does. Ie select a playlist & have iTunes fade the current playlist out, fade the new playlist in etc. It also inserts random length pauses between tracks for when you want just the occasional track to play.

I was going to ask Ben (Syrinscape) if there was even a chance of an external API so I could also control Syrinscape with a single click. But he beat me to it & released the API before I could post!

So on to my question: Rob, will there be a chance we could leverage the external API calls from Realm Works ourselves? So instead of controlling Syrinscape from RW & also having to control iTunes separately, I can make a similar API call to my own app that then controls both apps itself.

 

[MNBlockHead]

If developers could work out the licensing, it would be pretty cool if you could buy an adventure in the content market that would have the soundscapes, graphics, and VTT stuff all built in.

 

[MaxSupernova]

I'll stop making assumptions when I feel have enough information that I don't need them.

 

[Farling]

I'll stop making assumptions when I feel have enough information that I don't need them.

In which case, is it possible for you to keep your assumptions to yourself, rather than posting them where Rob will have to spend time refuting it just to avoid the rest of our community from thinking that you are posting anything near the truth?

 

[Bobifle]

Come on guys let's not start a war !

Max concerns were legitimate.
Rob answered those concerns and we're all happy to know that synriscape integration did not interfer with major and highly expected features.

Cookie for everyone !

 

[rob]

I'll stop making assumptions when I feel have enough information that I don't need them.

Unfortunately, I don't have the time to stop and explain every little thing we're doing just in case somebody might not understand the rationale behind it all. If that's your expectation, as you imply above, then a few words from Princess Bride accurately sum up the situation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZIlAExvneo

If you feel the need to stir up drama instead of simply asking questions and seeking understanding, please find somewhere else to do it. It's not constructive and it doesn't help anyone else here on the forums.

As we've demonstrated repeatedly, we're happy to provide answers and insights into what we're doing and why. All you have to do is ask politely, just like would be expected in an in-person social setting.

Thank you in advance for taking this request seriously.

 

[rob]

Come on guys let's not start a war !

Max concerns were legitimate.
Rob answered those concerns and we're all happy to know that synriscape integration did not interfer with major and highly expected features.

Cookie for everyone !

I don't have a problem with anyone expressing their concerns. What I don't appreciate is they way those concerns were portrayed, and it seems I'm not the only one. A gross assumption was translated into certainty that we're "tone-deaf" and not to be trusted.

What I have repeatedly requested is for folks to ask questions and give us the chance to answer them before leaping to assumptions, and @MaxSupernova has seen that request on multiple occasions. Based on his response, it seems @MaxSupernova may prefer the drama and negativity that he can stir up by presenting gross assumptions and their implications as fact. I don't respect that, as I don't feel it serves anyone's CONSTRUCTIVE interests here on the forums. It's just drama for the sake of drama. I have enough of that at home with a 2-year-old, not to mention everything involved in keeping RW on track.

Questions are great, and we'll do our best to answer them. Negative views based on fact are perfectly acceptable. Just get the facts first. If someone can't be bothered to do that, I consider it rude to everyone else here on the forums. It's no different from an in-person social setting in that regard.

Now I need to get back to last-minute preparations for GenCon. We leave for the airport in about 30 hours....

 

[Dark Lord Galen]

I like that LWD is moving forward with integrating outside applications with RW.................On topic, at $6.50/month or $5-$20/pack Syrinscape is IMNSHO a ridiculously pricey add-on.... .................. I wish them luck but I think they are pricing themselves out of existence.

Agreed on both points, LWD resources are certainly better spent with such an approach. Your appraisal on Syrinscape is just what came to mind for me as well. Looks promising, but not for $78 annually for something I can do for free externally. I just can't justify the $$ for the "convenience" of having it integrate within RW.

Since my players are all loud enough on their own to drown out a horde of crying babies on an airplane, I'm pretty sure that I won't be using it either. Neat idea though, but it's just not for me.

That's FUNNY.. I think my players might be moonlighting to your table... hehe though at times I'm certain they could be perceived as the screaming babies in this scenario.

@Rob: Perception trumps reality. Please keep in mind that calendars and a few other items are festering subjects for many. So any (seemingly) brand new activity outside of the prescribed to-do's is going to raise eyebrows if it just magically appears on the done list.

It really is fantastic that the groundwork was built-in long ago and that this was the first product to really take advantage of it. Your planning is paying off! To me, this means the content market is close enough that other companies are investing serious effort into RW integration.

Sorry Rob have to agree with AEIOU on this, for over a year the "ground work" presumably exists for custom calendars, and we see no movement forward on that.... I agree with AEIOU its good that the planning is coming to fruition, but "soon" hardly fills the "answers and explanations" box.


Respectfully
DLG