Your unit creates four types of sound: obligatory ambient sounds caused by its operation (magneto-optical disc seeking, fan activity, battery hatch operation, etc.), chimes caused by the interface, tones (either beeps or vocalizations) generated when communicating, and preset voice notifications generated when certain events occur. These are entirely separate from the unit's normal communicative and locomotive vocalizations, although voice notifications will normally be routed through speaker systems built into the unit's chassis rather than its main controller.

Of the four types of sounds, the latter three (voice notifications, tones, and chimes) can be attenuated, as they are produced through speakers on the unit. Affectations such as giggling or sighing produced when the unit speaks are considered tones.

The primary commands for manipulating sound output are volume and scheme; these have no direct menu equivalents (apart from volume cycle, which handles the volume adjustments in the subsystem menu.)

For more detailed explanation beyond what is offered here, see scheme and volume in the Command Reference.

Voice notifications


In Companion, there are 48 different voice messages which the unit can produce. These are specified in configuration files prefixed with v_ which can be found in the audio processor module. (See Installing data files for information on managing documents of this type.) Instructions for creating new voice notification packs can be found in the Companion SDK.

To see a list of the available voices, execute scheme voice on the unit. To select a voice, execute scheme voice <name>, where <name> is the desired voice pack.

Chimes


To control the volume of the chimes independently from voice notifications, type the following remote console command: volume toggle chime

This will silence (or unsilence) audio cues from the system other than fan, drive access, and voice.

Boot chimes


Boot schemes affect startup and shutdown sounds. They are built into the unit directly, and can be selected using the following command: scheme boot<number>

As of Companion 8.6.3, the following boot schemes are included:

NumberName
0Generator
1SGI Octane
2SGI Indy
3Microsoft Calligraphy
4Power Macintosh (Card)
5Macintosh Quadra
6Power Macintosh
7Microsoft Whistler
8Sega Genesis
9SGI O2
10Sony PlayStation Portable
11Bakobone
12Synaulia (Lyre)
13Nightfall
14Electroswing
15Salt, Asbestos, Curtain
16Generator—overridden by custom sounds

To apply custom sounds, use the command scheme boot custom <boot sound UUID> <shutdown sound UUID> and then switch to scheme boot 16 to enable them.

Menu sounds


Similarly, to control the volume of the menu independently from voice notifications, type the following remote console command: volume toggle menu

Menu schemes affect access granted and access denied sounds. They are built into the unit directly, and can be selected using the following command: scheme menu <number>

As of Companion 8.6.3, the following menu schemes are included:

NumberName
0SXD System 8.0
1SXD System 8.1 (Swapper)
2SXD System 8.2
3Nightfall
4Aperture
5Library
6Chozo
7Tallon
8Phendrana
9Magmoor
10SXD System 8.0—overridden by custom sounds
11Deadzone
12Boots Dance

To apply custom sounds, use the command scheme menu custom <accept sound UUID> <deny sound UUID> and then switch to scheme menu 10 to enable them.

Tones


To control sounds produced in response to speech, execute: volume toggle tone

The actual sounds used for tones are specified within personas, and vary on a per-gender basis. See chapters on Identity options and Personas for more information.

Fan control


The fan speed can be set with the cortex command !fan <level> by the unit itself. <level> can be any number from 0 to 100, with lower values yielding a lower fan speed. The unit is barely audible at levels below 5%. There are also several text level shortcuts: off, idle, low, med, high, and max, corresponding to 0%, 14%, 28%, 43%, 70%, and 100%, respectively. On systems that use internal liquid cooling, such as the DAX/2 mini and NS-476 Aegis, the !fan command instead controls pump rate, although it may have no obvious effect as these systems are frequently silent. Cooling rate control is automatic when ATOS/E security enhancements are installed.

Warning: Lowering the unit’s fan speed during power-intensive operations may cause overheating.