Was it really a ping?
 

Hello all,

might be off topic, but I couldn't find a better place, so I might as well post it here (feel free to move me wherever it suits):

The question I have for years now is:

Did the ASDIC/Sonar "Ping" really sounded like the "Ping" we all know?

I stumbled upon Buchheims description many years ago:
"Plötzlich wird eine Handvoll Kieselsteine von außen gegen das Boot geworfen", translation: "Suddenly a handful of small stones is thrown on the boat from outside".
I always wondered how that sound translates to the Ping I heard in the movie and in all subsims I played, but I explained to myself that the Ping-sound is difficult to describe and that was his attempt to achieve it. After all, what do I know how it sounds if stones are thrown against a steel hull, and you are standing inside of it? I'd assume it would sound different, but he was there...

Now I stumbled upon the german Wikipedia explanation of Sonar, and in the discussion section someone asked the same question as above. The answer he got was: No it didn't sound like that, since the frequency used was 12K to 30K and wouldn't result in a sound like that (however, the sonar operator on the destroyer would hear the ping sound through his headphones). The people in the boat would register something like a snap, crack or click (german: "knacken"), which fits much better to Buchheims description.

Can someone confirm/disconfirm this?

If it wasn't a ping sound- how did it sound? I guess an example sound file isn't available.

What confuses me is that every movie and every sim I know of has the "ping"- are they really all wrong?

Best regards, xarel

There are some authentic sonar sounds here http://www.uboataces.com/ref-sonar-sounds.shtml
But these are not recorded inside a submarine that is being pinged.

From what I have read, inside the sub the sonar is sometimes describe as gravel being poured over the top of the sub, or a chain dragging over it.

Steve

The ping sound used in movies and games is the sound a sonar operator hears when he sends the ping. Several mods have tried to match the in-sub sound as described, but I've never heard anything like gravel from any of them.

If someone did match that nobody would believe it anyway.

couldnt someone just submerge a tube with a recorder inside, ping it, then walla authentic sound?

I'd give it a go if I had a sonar set :03:

Sounds like a plan. We'll call it the Phil Spector Experiment. Because of the, you know, "walla sound."



I crack me up. :|\\

It seems that Phil Spector did not have any choice,
 

is he not in jail, :hmmm:

I don't know what it would sound like, but it would be interesting to have it put in game. It would scare the hell out of a lot of people. The combat flight sim Aces High has a sound that sounds like a "bunch of stones thrown against a metal shack with you inside it" to quote one WWII pilot. That sound is one of the scariest sounds you can hear in game and has mad me jump out of my skin more than once.

Here are some samples of "ping" audio,
 

http://www.uboataces.com/sounds/sonar-1.wmv
http://www.uboataces.com/sounds/sonar-2.wmv
http://www.uboataces.com/sounds/sonar-3.wmv
http://www.uboataces.com/sounds/sonar-4.wmv
http://www.uboataces.com/sounds/sonar-5.wmv
http://www.uboataces.com/sounds/sonar-ping.wmv

Good luck! :up:

Nice sound effects. I can't seem to find how to save the sound file from the Media Player in Windows 7. On my XP systems there was a hidden file options menu in the lower left corner of the player, but I can't find the file menu in the new media player. Anybody know how to accomplish this?

Never mind. I think the links are such that you cannot save the file using Windows Media Player. Aside from those links, my file menu is active, so it must be something specific to those links.

IIRC there are a few files out there giving the correct 'gravel' sound effect but strangely, non have ever been put into the game :hmmm:

so I have some fun to look forward to when I install my copy of 7 :)

I used one that I found in some naval archive that was much like what is being described but the problem is you barely notice your being pinged, it does not sound menacing enough. So I found another which is louder but still sounds like something hit the hull, I'll see if I can dig it up