In this edition of Sunday Sound Effects Roundup, we take a look at new libraries from Glitchedtones, Barney Oram, Articulated Sound Libraries, Mindful Audio and 3MAZE. We also have news of a VR Field Recording Giveaway from Pro Sound Effects.

User Interface Library from Glitchedtones

User Interface has been designed to be a versatile collection of interactive audio elements exploring both the abstract and the traditional side of User Interface sound design. From familiar notification tones and subtle alerts through to future computer processing sequences and manic glitch outbursts, these sonic assets were designed to fit a multitude of scenarios and will add a unique identity to a variety of interface types.

• Size: 200 files - 279MB Including metadata 
• Quality: 24bit/96Khz sample rate
• Price: $20

Barney Oram Releases Granular Library

Barney Oram has just released his first sound library. Granular is made up of distinctive granular textures aimed at sound designers. it contains a combination of designed sounds, a large collection of processed sounds, and some additional raw recordings. Barney says that this library is the culmination of many hours of exploration and experimentation in the area of granular sound processing, using a variety of plugins, audio tools, recording techniques and processes.

• Size: 395 files - 5.73 GB Including metadata 
• Quality: 24bit/96Khz sample rate
• Price: $45

Articulated Sound Libraries Release Universal Emotes Library

Universal Emotes is billed as the largest collection of human voice reactions and emotions spanning across all ages and sexes with 8771 files in total, more than 2850 unique sounds, recorded by 20 actors through more than 40 various actions and emotions with the sounds intended to be as ubiquitous as possible, with no speech or actual wordings (only interjections and grunts).

This library comes with 2 download options...

1. The simple version 96KHz (1 simple file per sound),
2. The full version 192 KHz with 2 mics variations (2 files) per sound.

What’s inside...

• 20 folders, one for each actor
• Women and men from 7 to 77 years old: children, teen, adult, elderly
• Various grunts and efforts sounds: fight, strike, attack, ninja, hurt, pain, jump, lift, push, pull, choke, fall, die, …
• +20 different emotions/reactions categorised: fear, happiness, anger, trust, agreement/disagreement, surprise, joy, disgust, sadness, admiration…
• Miscellaneous actions: sneeze, gargle, eat, shiver, sip, cough, smack, slurp, hail,…
• Metadata with a precise description of each sound's onomatopoeia (written pronunciation)

• Size: 8771 files with more than 2840 sounds
• Quality: 24bit/96Khz or 192KHz sample rate
• Price: $119

African Wild West Library From Mindful Audio

George Viad from Mindful Audio emailed to tell me about his latest library. African Wild West is a collection of lush and immersive ambiences recorded in Senegal over the course of a 3-week trip in 2017. The library consists of 70 recordings totalling more than 6 hours, available both as stereo and surround. 

The library is accompanied by a comprehensive list covering more than 80 species. Mammal highlights include Bushbabies in trees, African Golden Wolves howling at night, Spotted Hyenas moaning and grunting and Guinea Baboons barking, shrieking and growling. Avian highlights include Great White Pelicans recorded at their roost, the melodious whistle of the Yellow-crowned Gonolek, the ever-present cooing of various species of doves, the raspy croaks of herons, egrets and storks, the immense variety of songbirds and many others. To top it off, a variety of insects were calling at all times, occasionally at unbelievably loud levels. All this comes together to form an incredibly varied, detailed and immersive soundscape, as you can hear in the accompanying audio and video demos.

• 70 .wav files
• 82 identified species
• recorded and presented as 24 bit/96 kHz, stereo and surround (5.0) files
• more than 6 hours of content
• 12/47 GB uncompressed size -  10/40 GB zip archive
• Price: $125

You can read all about George's trip to Senegal on the A Sound Effect blog.

3MAZE Release Snacks Sound Library

Snacks is made up of 135 recordings of tasty snacks crunching, biting, chewing and breaking, with sounds of packaging opening, struggling, shaking, dropping and more.

Recorded in 2017 with a stereo shotgun microphone, aimed at a variety of popular snacks, including, crackers, potato chips, popcorn, pretzels, wafers, muesli bars, grissini, biscotti, and nuts. All sounds are arranged into 15 folders, according to snack.

• Size: 135 files - 223.4MB Including metadata
• Quality: 24bit/96Khz sample rate
• Price: $20

Pro Sound Effects Launch VR Field Recording Giveaway

Pro Sound Effects has launched the VR Field Recording Giveaway with a prize bundle totalling over $3,500 in audio tools for recording immersive spatial audio perfect for use in VR projects.

The prize bundle for the VR Field Recording Giveaway includes:

• Sennheiser AMBEO VR Mic ($1,650). If you would like to know more about the Sennheiser Ambeo mic then check out our Overview - Sennheiser Ambeo Ambisonics Microphone And Workflow at BVE 2017. 
• Zoom F8 MultiTrack Field Recorder ($999). Check out our review of the Zoom F8 Field Recorder And F-Control Remote Controller
• BaseHead 4.x Ultra - SFX Database Software ($549). We have reviewed Basehead Sound Effects Management Software and asked if it will It challenge Soundminer?
• Urban Ambisonics Bundle SFX Library ($360). We reviewed the Pro Sound Effects NYC Ambisonics library back in 2015. Since then this bundle has been expanded to include full Ambisonic effects from Chicago, Tokyo and Shanghai as well as New York.

Douglas Price, President of Pro Sound Effects told us...

In the growing landscape of 3D audio, we want our users to have access to the best resources available. That's why we're excited to give away these cutting-edge products to boost your VR audio workflow - from inspiration to capture and retrieval.

The giveaway is open until Thursday, March 8th 2018. Entrants can increase their chances of winning by gaining three extra entries for each referral. Winners will be selected and announced on Monday, March 12th.