All the low battery alerts, button clacks, error messages and more to make your UI fully engaging.
The sounds of your user interface are just as important to your brand as the look.
Microsoft understood this when they hired Brian Eno to design their startup sound for Windows 95. They needed something new and fresh. As Eno put it in his interview with SF Gate: “The thing from the agency said, ‘We want a piece of music that is inspiring, universal, blah- blah, da-da-da, optimistic, futuristic, sentimental, emotional,’ this whole list of adjectives, and then at the bottom it said ‘and it must be 3 1/4 seconds long.’”
Microsoft understood how important that sound was. And though they couldn’t encapsulate what it should mean in a few words, Eno managed to get it down in a few seconds.
This was just one aspect of the user interface. All those little beeps, bloops, blips, DONKS! had to be designed by someone. With this latest upload, we’ve done the hard part for you. Now you just have to choose the ones that fit your GUI the best.
About the sounds
In this latest update, there are 500 bloops, bleeps, clicks and clacks that can perfectly suit a variety of styles of user interfaces. Our team recorded sounds from a xylophone, glass, and typing – but mostly from a xylophone. We did a real exploration of the instrument, coaxing out all sorts of interesting sounds that would be perfect for the digital realms.
The previous upload was all about musical instruments. And here we bring you mostly another musical instrument, for a whole different purpose. It’s a collection of mostly xylophone experiments, from various sounds in a high register and low register, to ascending notes, soft notes and hard notes. From the collection of things-not-xylophone, the sounds range from metallic buttons to things powering down.
What can you use these sounds for?
These sounds are perfect for anyone designing apps, computer games, or any other computer interface that requires an audible response. This also includes scenes of shows where user interface sounds are needed, like when there’s a video of someone using a console or phone or other interface.
The main elements and sounds are all here for your use. Tag us in your creations and let us know how you used the sounds, we’re eager to listen!
We release new sound effects for Smartsound Cloud every two weeks. Sign up for our newsletter to keep up to date with each new release.
