Rain Sound Machine

[wraub]

Hey all. I need your help in a gift giving quest. I am looking for a device for my father in law (holiday gift), along the lines of those rain/wave/noise generators. It could even be a CD, but a machine would be better for his needs.

 

The only issue- He has apparently tried other cds and devices, and, he says, most have a good setting ruined by extra stuff, i.e. lots of relaxing wave sounds punctuated by the occasional foghorn or gull's cry, or a good downpour interrupted by peals of thunder.

 

What he wants would be an uninterrupted rainfall sound, w/o thunder or streetnoise say, or simple back and forth wave sounds without the rest of nature rudely intruding. Just a wash of simple noise, without distraction.

Loops have reportedly been tried, but I did not make them, it was my brother in law, and I guess they sounded like crap (amateur!)

 

Oh, and, the usual pink/white noise offerings apparently don't work for the guy.

And, of course, I'm on a tight budget.

 

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

Peace,

 

wraub

[PBBPaul]

Try a Radio Shack Sleep Machine?

[Hendmik]

I tend to think the all-in-one generators have poor sound quality. But http://www.serenity-studio.com/ makes some great CDs...

[boosh]

Now here's what to do.

Get an audio editor or sequencer on your PC(I'm sure you have one).

Download my rainfile here : rain mp3

Convert that mp3 to wav.

 

Open 2 audio channels in your editor.

Insert the wav on track 1.

 

Now insert the wav on track 2 but make sure it starts on the half of the first track,...they have to overlap.

 

Best is if you make 4 tracks and let each audiofile fade in and out. That way you won't here clicks and looppoints.

 

Happy cutting and pasting man.

 

If it is not the right sound just give me a full discription of what you need and I probably have it. I got 80 gigs of samples here.

 

Boosh

[wraub]

My thanks to you boosh (recover soon!) for your interesting reply. That's likely what I'd do if it were for me, but as it's for my older (mostly Korean speaking) low-tech father in law, simpler is best.

 

PBBPaul , my thanks to you. I looked at the Radio Shack model you suggested, and after a quick in-store audition, I bought it. It's perfect for my requirements. Thanks again.

 

And the sound quality is actually pretty good.

 

Peace,

 

wraub

[boosh]

Originally posted by wraub:

My thanks to you boosh (recover soon!) for your interesting reply. That's likely what I'd do if it were for me, but as it's for my older (mostly Korean speaking) low-tech father in law, simpler is best.

 

PBBPaul , my thanks to you. I looked at the Radio Shack model you suggested, and after a quick in-store audition, I bought it. It's perfect for my requirements. Thanks again.

 

And the sound quality is actually pretty good.

 

Peace,

 

wraub

Lol,....I didn't suggest your father in law had to do it. You had to do it for him and burn him a 78 minutes rain CD

[wraub]

Yup, I got that. By low tech, I mean he's the kind of guy who'd rather not have to be hassled with another CD player.

The machine I got is small, light, and has no moving parts. He's a no-nonsense guy, I'm trying to keep it simple.

OTOH, he is a certified Master Mechanic...

Thanks again.

 

Peace,

 

wraub

[teh dri]

maybe im an idiot but why not buy a couple of those "Rain Sticks" from your local hippy/exotic furniture store (you have those in USA? heaps in aus) and record some

 

also, and this is off track a little bit, i recorded a small pedestal fan the other day at 24/192 and pitched it down (recorded off axis of course) and it was like waves rolling! i was surprised, very interesting "whitenoise-ish" texture.

 

anyway... how do these rain machines work? merging segments of rom data (recordings) in ranging ways or just generating/synthesising?? very curious...