Orchestrion Feedback

[Gyson]

I guess the goal here was to make the music sound like it was coming from a low(er) quality radio or jukebox, in which case you've succeeded. Also, the directional audio is distracting as a headset wearer, especially when you find yourself standing above or below the orchestrion and the music keeps switching ears depending on the position of the camera.

I would really prefer the songs to have the same clarity they have when I hear them elsewhere in the game, as well as being omnidirectional (like zone music is). At the very least can you make this an option in the interface so people can go with their preferred choice? Adding "speakers" as an additional housing item is not an acceptable solution either, not when we're already starved for item slots.

To summarize, the big problems are:

1) The sound quality is inferior to the normal background zone music I'm accustomed to hearing. The efforts to make it sound like it's coming from a small radio speaker have not gone unnoticed, but are not appreciated or desired.

2) The audio volume of music coming from the Orchestrion is *much* lower than the volume level of normal background zone music. This is a big problem - I set my BGM volume in the options setting expecting a standardized audio level.. I do not want to bounce between two settings - one for background zone music and one for Orchestrion music.

3) The directional audio is highly annoying (and extremely exaggerated) with headphone use. To a headphone user it gives the sense that either the left or right channel is dying/has a short in it. Please do away with this effect.

[ToniRomo]

Agreed. I kept replugging in my headset thinking one side of it died.

[AstralKaos]

Said it when they announced it and will say it again. Make it an option if you want the silly proximity sound thing, via a slider from proximity volume all the way up to actual in-house BGM.

That way those who wanted a jukebox to be a way of selecting the BGM indoors for visits, tenants, themes etc etc don't have to suffer this unwanted feature which defies the very thing people actually were looking forward to and/requested previously. Meanwhile, those who want it have the option.

And agreed, OP, throwing more furniture in so you can have it louder is NOT wanted either, it'll add more to the item limit problem and still not have the DESIRED effect of being actual BGM... why add complicated things to a simple idea, you can and should have from the start made it one item that does the above thing of being a jukebox with an option or two... making impractical things to apply real world solutions to things that shouldn't be a problem had you not overthought and overdesigned and thus complicated unnecessarily isn't cool.

The "keep it simple (so and so)" saying applies here, heavily.

[Gyson]

I just don't understand why they would actually spend development effort on delivering an inferior audio experience when they already have the ability to deliver music at a superior quality (no additional effort required). Someone actually took the time to take the current soundtracks and make them sound worse (so it would sound like it's coming out of an antique radio). Not better, but worse. Why? I don't ever remember the players requesting the ability to play a lower quality rendition of the in-game musical tracks in their rooms/houses.

Sometimes the ideas that come their way just need to be taken "as is", without always trying to put an unneeded SE spin on everything.

[MomomiMomi]

Directional audio needs to go.

Nvm, option in audio settings.

Nvm, still needs to go.

[GrandmastrGrant]

Please make the directional thing only an option. I want to change the BGM in my house, not have a gimmicky little thing that'll mess with my headphones and won't be heard evenly throughout the house.

[Keewee]

Agreed on all points. This should at least be an option, the directionality is the main problem for me, and there is no current setting that allows changing that (for instance the "audio distance to the character"). Lower quality is a bit annoying though...

[Kerrigen]

Yeah, this is an interesting idea but I agree we at least need an option to turn the directional aspect off. It makes me slightly dizzy when I'm running around with a headset on.

Perhaps add an "immersion mode" box that works the same way it does now when it's checked. If you uncheck it the game just replaces your estate music with the normal, high-quality BGM you've selected.

[Mjollnir]

Patch 3.3 for the Hi-Fidelity Gobchestrion (with optional 13.1 Savage Surround Sound speakers).

[Austherus]

I like it to be honest, it's fun to know where the orchestrion is just by listening to it; but I'm rarely wearing headphones, so there's that (might just do that as a test). Maybe they should tune it down a bit instead of removing it? Directional audio doesn't have anything to do with low quality audio.