> *DRAFT*
>
> I'm repurposing this task to become a place where we can track the progress of the SoK proposal that will in turn result in the sound theme. People from within and from outside the KDE community, including any other FLOSS communities, are welcome to discuss the proposal and to become mentors. For any questions, please ask in the comments below and I will answer you.
##What is this about?
The sound theme is what is heard throughout Plasma when receiving alerts, like error messages or plugging in a new device. In this task we will discuss the steps we will take to have a new sound theme ready for Plasma. The idea is to work with SoK participants on [[ https://season.kde.org | Season of KDE ]] to get this done. Check the end of this text where you can find a checklist of all of the steps we will need to take.
##Rationale:
The Oxygen sound theme is being used since Plasma 4 days and while it’s a good sound theme, it was made to go along the Oxygen style and doesn’t really fit the Breeze theme. It's also old and having a new sound theme would be good to keep Plasma feeling fresh.
Since now there’s work being done to evolve Breeze, it’s also a good time to give some thought to the sound theme as well.
Having a new iconic sound theme is an important part of branding. It’s important that people recognize a specific Plasma version not only visually, but when they hear it as well.
It can also help differentiate between new Plasma versions. Having a new sound theme for Plasma 5, even if late, and in the future for Plasma 6 can help with the expectation that new major versions should include changes. Having the sound theme stay the same between major Plasma releases breaks that expectation.
##Information for participants:
- If you're a SoK participant interested in working on this task, you can contact us in the comments below. It's recommended to reply by describing why you think you would be a good fit for this project and what skills you have that will help accomplish the goal of this task. You can also link to any prior works on music/sound design in case you have any.
- The participant must use any FLOSS (Free and Libre Open Source Software) DAW/synths/etc of their liking for making the sounds.
- Experience with non-FLOSS software and a will to learn FLOSS tools for this task also counts.
Here's a list of many FLOSS audio projects you can use:
DAWs:
[[ https://lmms.io | LMMS ]]
[[ https://muse-sequencer.github.io | MUSE Sequencer ]]
[[ http://ardour.org | Ardour ]]
[[ https://www.rosegardenmusic.com | Rosegarden ]]
[[ https://qtractor.org | Qtractor ]]
[[ https://beast.testbit.eu | Beast ]]
Synths, samplers, and other utilities:
[[ https://www.bespokesynth.com | BespokeSynth ]]
[[ https://supercollider.github.io | SuperCollider ]]
[[ http://hydrogen-music.org | Hydrogen ]]
[[ http://guitarix.org | Guitarix ]]
[[ http://www.linuxsampler.org | LinuxSampler ]]
[[ http://www.eca.cx/ecasound/index.php | ECASound ]]
[[ http://amsynth.github.io | AMSynth ]]
[[ https://zynaddsubfx.sourceforge.io | ZynAddSubFX ]]
[[ http://essej.net/sooperlooper/ | SooperLooper]]
Editing:
[[ https://mixxx.org | Mixxx ]]
[[ https://apps.kde.org/kwave/ | KWave ]]
[[ https://www.audacityteam.org | Audacity ]]
Music Notation:
[[ https://musescore.org/ | MuseScore ]]
[[ http://www.tuxguitar.com.ar | TuxGuitar ]]
##Details:
**List of sounds we need:**
- **Plugging device** - device-added
- **Unplugging device** - device-removed
- **Power plug** - power-plug
- **Power unplug** - power-unplug
- **Low battery warning** - battery-low
- **Volume change** - audio-volume-change
- **Emptying trash** - Oxygen-Sys-Trash-Emptied.ogg - trash-empty
- **Error** - Oxygen-Sys-App-Error.ogg - dialog-error
- **Serious error** - Oxygen-Sys-App-Error-Serious
- **Critical error** - Oxygen-Sys-App-Error-Critical.ogg
- **Login** - Oxygen-Sys-Log-In.ogg - desktop-login
- **Log out** - Oxygen-Sys-Log-Out.ogg - desktop-logout
- **Information dialog** - Oxygen-Sys-App-Message.ogg - dialog-information
- **Warning dialog** - Oxygen-Sys-Warning.ogg - dialog-warning
- **Generic sound for "negative" actions (like turning off your touchpad)** - Oxygen-Sys-App-Negative.ogg
- **Generic sound for "positive" actions (like turning on your touchpad)** - Oxygen-Sys-App-Positive.ogg
- **Update notification:** Oxygen-Sys-Special.ogg
- **Pressing normal key in virtual keyboard**
- **Pressing modifier key (like shift) in virtual keyboard**
- **Notification for SMS**
**Specifications:**
The final sound format must follow the [[ http://0pointer.de/public/sound-theme-spec.html | Freedesktop Sound Theme Specification ]] and the [[ http://0pointer.de/public/sound-naming-spec.html | Sound Naming Specification ]], so:
>The sounds files must be one of the types: WAV/PCM 8-48kHz, 8/16 bits or OGG/Vorbis I. The extension must be ".wav", or ".oga" respectively (in lower case). It is not recommended to use ".ogg" extension, but it is also supported for legacy reasons.
##TODO
[x] Define which sounds need to be replaced
[] Define who the mentors will be *In progress*
[] Add proposal to SoK Ideas Page
[] Wait for someone to apply to do this task
[] Mentor SoK participant throughout the duration of SoK
[] Ship sounds with Plasma