Ecoboost sound is NOT "Recorded/Pre-rendered"

[Rickycardo]

by that logic wouldn't a muffler or resonator be "fake"

This. It can be argued very effectively that mufflers and exhaust do exactly the same things. Does MagnaFlow "fake" engine sounds by designing an exhaust system that cancels some sounds and enhances others by mechanical means? Two different paths that lead to the same end.

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[zackmd1]

I've heard this debate go on loads of times now but I've never actually seen a poster claim the EB outputs pre-recorded sound. Can anyone even point out to an instance of someone claiming its pre-recorded?

Usually debate goes like this one, where a potential EB owner proclaims it's not prerecorded or fake, then its explained noise cancelling is processing so it is fake in many ways. But it still sounds great.

There are a few posts on this site as well as on other sites that I have noticed that say it's pre-recorded. I just wanted to explain the system further and try to clear up some of the confusion surrounding this noise cancelation system.

 

[Tim Hilliard]

I felt like I had to create this thread for the sake of explaining how this active noise cancelation system works.


Ford did NOT create a pre-baked soundtrack for this engine. What we are all hearing IS the actual engine sound. It has just being processed by a noise cancelation module SEPARATE from the radio headunit. (Digging through ford parts for the 15 I found reference to the module in their description for the dash harness of the ecoboost) What this module is doing is creating opposite (180 out of phase) sound waves to cancel out any "unwanted" noises coming from the engine while also playing sound waves AMPLIFYING the "good" engine noises. The sound is not recorded or pre-rendered!!! It is just being filtered and processed.

I don't quite understand why this is a hard concept to grasp. New tech for some I guess?

How many threads are we going to have about this? Who was that guy that has been saying this same thing....what's his name, he's the guy that pisses everyone off, that arrogant prick from Boston that actually uses his real name and a real picture of himself...oh I guess when he said that magazine testers write for a living and possibly, just possibly the fused circuit that powers the radio could possibly power the sound attenuation unit. This is old technology that Toyota was playing with when I was in HS and TTL circuits were state of the art.

How would one power a speaker with two separate sources without them canceling or directly influencing the engine sound or song on the radio?

If it were operated through the sound system how come the engine sound does not stop when you turn off the radio?

As was said in the last two threads about this exact subject, it is simply cancelling the obnoxious harmonics from a 4 cylinder engine. They have weird frequencies that are high in amplitude, it sounds boomy etc. Ford is just trying to make the car less exhausting to ride in....they are not trying to trick anyone, it's not a conspiracy. Yet we complain, again for the third time.

You don't hear these sounds in a V8 because of natural balance, of both audible and harmonic frequencies. As the OP said, this is basic, how do you guys struggle with basic science, I thought you were all engineers and shit?

 

[GNS]

Fake is fake. End of story.

 

[Tim Hilliard]

This. It can be argued very effectively that mufflers and exhaust do exactly the same things. Does MagnaFlow "fake" engine sounds by designing an exhaust system that cancels some sounds and enhances others by mechanical means? Two different paths that lead to the same end.

Toyota was playing with this in the 80's. Theoretically you could have an unmuffled car that made no sound. Basically it was dependent on the amplitude you were willing to power but the idea was the same. Mufflers (mechanical ones) are cheaper in the long run but it's a very simple concept to clip amplitudes of certain frequencies and boost amplitudes of other frequencies, you know like what an equalizer does :frusty:

 

[Brent302]

This. It can be argued very effectively that mufflers and exhaust do exactly the same things. Does MagnaFlow "fake" engine sounds by designing an exhaust system that cancels some sounds and enhances others by mechanical means? Two different paths that lead to the same end.

[emoji55]

 

[abie915]

So can anyone figure out if this is the EB idling at the beginning of the video? If so it sounds like a bad 4 cylinder and not what I've heard in other idle videos.

Pretty sure its the EB. Hear the little ticks in the exhaust? That's the high pressure fuel pump which is found on all direct injected motors.

 

[Tim Hilliard]

Fake is fake. End of story.

By your definition every song you listen to, including an old timey record player, is fake, every sound on your cell phone, background, voice are all fake. Once you convert any frequency into 1's and zero's you have reshaped the sound. All of this technology takes analog (lets call it natural sound, for sake of argument) vibrations, sounds, frequencies and converts it to a digital signal. Think of an analog sound wave as an ocean wave. It's digital equal is best described as a set of stairs (1's and 0's, on-off, high-low, steps) Digital technology has managed to make these steps very small but they are still steps so natural sound is lost, no matter how good the circuits. The average human would never notice this, but my musician friends hear it very well. Musicians are very analog. This is why a tube amp sounds warmer than a solid state amp. Warmer because it's closer to the human-human natural interface.

Call it fake if it makes you feel better but everything is fake, get over it and enjoy your car.

 

[Malikona]

This subject is discussed and debated because it is novel and interesting, and people have different opinions about what they like and don't like. I enjoy that part of the discussion. It is only those who make statements based on inaccurate or incomplete info that are really annoying. The way this system functions is not a secret and has been well described on several threads. If you're thinking of posting something about the EB engine sound and haven't done your homework first, don't be surprised if you get flamed.

And FWIW the resonator/muffler comparison is not reaching at all, they are specifically designed to do EXACTLY what this electronic system is doing, only by mechanical means (because this tech didn't used to exist!).

 

[Bryman]

Fake doesn't necessarily mean bad. Think about all the fake or enhanced things we love? Boobs, special effects in movies, launch control. Heck you could even call thr linelock a fake burnout.

 

[fionic]

Fake Boobs

definitely not everyone's cup of tea.

fx are not ALL bad, but a lot are bad.

 

[Tim Hilliard]

So can anyone figure out if this is the EB idling at the beginning of the video? If so it sounds like a bad 4 cylinder and not what I've heard in other idle videos.

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

Here we are discussing the sound of a car recorded on a digital camera, uploaded to the internet and replayed over my wireless connection to my laptop.


Yup, it sounds fake as hell

Side note: This guy driving, is a perfect example of why America needs to seriously look at it's driver education system. Did you see him twist his body to back out of the spot? How are you in control of an automobile positioned like that? Nice hands on the wheel too Brah. Let's apply a little more throttle before we actually release the clutch during the up shift, I ain't happy until I see green smoke dabnamit! I'm happy I ordered my Mustang with a couple of mirrors so I can back up like a proper driver.

 

[Tim Hilliard]

Pretty sure its the EB. Hear the little ticks in the exhaust? That's the high pressure fuel pump which is found on all direct injected motors.

:shrug: I never heard a turbo at all? I assume it is the Eco which would make sense because DI is just a diesel with spark plugs.

 

[Talisman39]

My first time chiming in here in quite a while, but I thought I'd add an anecdote to this discussion.

I used to work as a designer at a computer company and the engineers brought in a firm from the UK to see if some of their acoustic technology could help cancel out the noise from fans inside the computers. Turns out this company was doing work with Ford on tuning/reducing exhaust sounds for Ford also. Their technology is now pretty commonplace - use a mic to listen to the sound being generated, and then with speakers create a certain amount of "negative" sound frequencies to more or less cancel out (or enhance) the natural sound -- same thing that all the noise canceling headphones etc. do. For car makers this allows them to manage NVH without just having to add a lot of heavy sound deadening material or spend endless hours/$ to eke out the last bit of mechanical refinement from the drivetrain.

What was driving them (no pun intended) nuts with Ford was Ford could not quantify mathematically how it wanted its exhausts to sound. So it was very difficult to model a new sound that they should aim for. Instead, there was a single guy who's ears were the "master" for what Ford exhausts should sound like! He would listen to a prototype and go "nope" or "yep". So they had a purely qualitative and to an extent subjective model to go off of. I thought that was surprising and quite amusing!

Now consider: this was in 1994. So Ford (and I'm sure others) have been working with this noise cancelation/enhancement technology for a long time. What's going on with the EcoBoost Mustang is just the next evolution.

In my mind it counts as fake, especially if its prerecorded (hard to tell if it is at the moment), but if its more about massaging the authentic sound to give a greater sensation of speed, then I'm more OK with it.

 

[OppoLock]

This subject is discussed and debated because it is novel and interesting, and people have different opinions about what they like and don't like. I enjoy that part of the discussion. It is only those who make statements based on inaccurate or incomplete info that are really annoying. The way this system functions is not a secret and has been well described on several threads. If you're thinking of posting something about the EB engine sound and haven't done your homework first, don't be surprised if you get flamed.

And FWIW the resonator/muffler comparison is not reaching at all, they are specifically designed to do EXACTLY what this electronic system is doing, only by mechanical means (because this tech didn't used to exist!).

Engineering the sound through the use of physical mechanics instead of synthesized manipulation are two different things in my opinion.

Everything bolted onto the engine, from the headers to the tips, is limited to making work of the engine's exhaust pulses. When you step into the digital world and your augmentation tool becomes less dependent upon the literal chunk of metal connected to the chassis, things get different.

So maybe fake isn't the best word, but there's no direct comparing of the two methods.

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