The rise of fake engine noise • Hacker News Board

Re: The rise of fake engine noise

#121

Post by tlrobinson » Thu, Jan 22, 2015, 8:54 AM UTC

mikepalmer wrote: post #79

Recently drove a Tesla Model S P85D... best thing about it is that the torque is immediate and silent. Not only can you blow other cars away at lights, you can do it casually, with no noise or fuss. Car is here; put car over there. It's like piloting a UFO.

My car has "cutout valves" on the exhaust which can bypass the muffler (making it louder), and I've noticed an interesting phenomenon: the car actually seems faster (to it's occupants) when it's in the quieter mode. I've dynoed it in both modes, the torque and horsepower curves are nearly identical, so it's not actually faster.

Re: The rise of fake engine noise

#122

Post by smileysteve » Thu, Jan 22, 2015, 8:55 AM UTC

ferrari8608 wrote: post #94

aidenn0 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article makes it sound like that is going to have to go away, if laws are passed to make electrics play fake engine noise.

I just wonder, why does it have to be engine noise in particular? If I saw a Tesla, Leaf, Volt, etc. I wouldn't expect any engine or exhaust noise. Beeping, maybe.

Classical music would be pretty awesome.

Re: The rise of fake engine noise

#123

Post by eCa » Thu, Jan 22, 2015, 8:55 AM UTC

na85 wrote: post #101

yaeger wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't you see any problem with the silence in terms of safety? There is a reason bicycles need to have a bell. Because these you also cannot hear when they approach you. Although, it would be funny seeing a Tesla with a nice little bell and the tacked on law that you have to use it to alarm others in front of you that you are approaching. That'll be a sight to behold.

Cars come equipped with horns for that exact purpose (alerting pedestrians, etc.), though they are often used as displeasure-signalling devices.

As a cyclist, it is much preferred to hear engine noice rather than honking horns.

Re: The rise of fake engine noise

#124

Post by exDM69 » Thu, Jan 22, 2015, 8:55 AM UTC

na85 wrote: post #106

ars wrote: post #48

Am I the only one that associates loud noise with a weak engine? To me a powerful car just has an acceleration whine, and that's all. It's like a rocket exhaust: the "wilder" it is the weaker it is. A powerful, well tuned, rocket has a very sharp, and clean (i.e. not noisy) flame. Same with a car - if it's making a lot of noise, it's poorly tuned or designed.

>Same with a car - if it's making a lot of noise, it's poorly tuned or designed. Easily disproved. F1 cars produce about 600 horsepower, are extremely performant, and are loud as fuck.

Since 2014, F1 cars have a turbo charger and a single exhaust pipe in a very clever hybrid drive system with two electric motor-generator units. In case you didn't follow F1 last year, there was a lot of complaints about the lack of noise.

The noise coming out of the exhaust pipe is wasted energy. In previous years, this wasted energy was utilized by putting the exhaust pipes to blow the diffuser, creating more aerodynamic downforce.

The 2014 F1 cars consume a lot less fuel (fuel tank is 100 liters vs. 190 liters in 2013), with very little loss in actual performance.

Re: The rise of fake engine noise

#125

Post by robin_reala » Thu, Jan 22, 2015, 8:58 AM UTC

ferrari8608 wrote: post #94

aidenn0 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article makes it sound like that is going to have to go away, if laws are passed to make electrics play fake engine noise.

I just wonder, why does it have to be engine noise in particular? If I saw a Tesla, Leaf, Volt, etc. I wouldn't expect any engine or exhaust noise. Beeping, maybe.

Benny Hill theme, played at a speed that matches the car’s speed.

Re: The rise of fake engine noise

#126

Post by brazzy » Thu, Jan 22, 2015, 8:58 AM UTC

ferrari8608 wrote: post #94

aidenn0 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article makes it sound like that is going to have to go away, if laws are passed to make electrics play fake engine noise.

I just wonder, why does it have to be engine noise in particular? If I saw a Tesla, Leaf, Volt, etc. I wouldn't expect any engine or exhaust noise. Beeping, maybe.

You see a car, you expect engine noise, that's all.

Re: The rise of fake engine noise

#127

Post by exDM69 » Thu, Jan 22, 2015, 8:59 AM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #96

ars wrote: post #48

Am I the only one that associates loud noise with a weak engine? To me a powerful car just has an acceleration whine, and that's all. It's like a rocket exhaust: the "wilder" it is the weaker it is. A powerful, well tuned, rocket has a very sharp, and clean (i.e. not noisy) flame. Same with a car - if it's making a lot of noise, it's poorly tuned or designed.

> Am I the only one that associates loud noise with a weak engine? Evidently you haven't been to a top fuel drag race! Most definitely, the more power, the more noise. Top fuel is so loud it is like being punched in the chest.

A top fuel racer is very loud because they have short, per-cylinder exhaust pipes and are powered by nitromethanol ("top fuel"), which burns so slowly that the fuel is still exploding when exiting the exhaust pipes.

They are also ridiculously inefficient.

Re: The rise of fake engine noise

#128

Post by na85 » Thu, Jan 22, 2015, 9:00 AM UTC

mootothemax wrote: post #118

na85 wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Same with a car - if it's making a lot of noise, it's poorly tuned or designed. Easily disproved. F1 cars produce about 600 horsepower, are extremely performant, and are loud as fuck.

F1 cars... are loud as fuck. Formula one's new V6 engines are so quiet that they caused a lot of controversy when first introduced: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2014/06/17/f1-spectators-say-new-...

Oh really? That's hilarious.

The only race I've been to was in the early 2000's so it was a different engine back then.

Re: The rise of fake engine noise

#129

Post by m-i-l » Thu, Jan 22, 2015, 9:03 AM UTC

tacon wrote: post #68

yummyfajitas wrote: post #33

This is hardly new. In college, we had a guest lecture from a mechanical engineer at $POPULAR_MOTORCYCLE_MANUFACTURER. He described how his team cooked up a new engine design that achieved some significant performance increase over the old design. Only problem? It didn't sound like a $POPULAR_MOTORCYCLE. The new engine was delayed for a year while they cooked up a mechanical noisemaker to adjust the sound.

Harley Davidson filed for a sonic trademark on their engine sound back in 1994[0]. (I think it failed, not sure.) But it's pretty easy to reproduce the sound to remind people: Potato, potato, potato, potato, potato, ... [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_trademark

According to http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-06/20/harley-davids... they are working on a new sound for the electric Harley-Davidson.

Re: The rise of fake engine noise

#130

Post by gojomo » Thu, Jan 22, 2015, 9:06 AM UTC

My initial thought was: I wouldn't want any 'fake' noise, potentially hiding information in the (softer) real noise.

But what if the noise is dynamically synthesized based on lots of info from the vehicle – perhaps not just its real noise/RPMs, but other qualities usually not usually sensed. Temperature and vibrations across multiple sampling-locations? Computed fuel-economy? Others?

Maybe it's a good aural channel for real info!