Method and system for generating a sound effect in a piece of game software

Abstract

Disclosed is a method and system for generating a sound effect in a piece of game software. In response to a request for emission of a sound effect from the game software, transmission of audio data is performed, where the transmission represents a sound effect to a sound reproduction device. Further, audio data, referred to as ambient music, representing music in the course of reproduction is analyzed in order to determine at least one characteristic (BEAT, GENRE, KEY) of the ambient music. At least one characteristic of the transmission is defined from the at least one characteristic (BEAT, GENRE, KEY) of the ambient music.

1 . A method comprising:
 in response to a request for emission of a sound effect from game software, accessing, via a sound reproduction device, audio data representing the sound effect;   analyzing, via the sound reproduction device, ambient music from the game software in order to determine at least one characteristic of the ambient music, said ambient music comprising audio data representing music in a course of reproduction of the game software;   defining, via the sound reproduction device, at least one characteristic of the sound effect based on the at least one characteristic of the ambient music.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 analyzing the audio data of said ambient music for determining instants at which the ambient music has a rhythmic beat;   determining the at least one characteristic of the ambient music based on the instants of the rhythmic beat; and   defining an instant from the instants at which the ambient music has the rhythmic beat in order to determine the at least one characteristic of the sound effect in accordance with the at least one characteristic of the ambient music.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 defining the instant as an instant that follows a last instant at which the music has a rhythmic beat, said defining comprises identifying the instant by an integer number of times equal to an average time interval separating the instants at which the music has a rhythmic beat, said defining facilitates determining the instant from the instants at which the music has the rhythmic beat.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 analyzing the audio data representing the ambient music in order to determine a musical genre for the ambient music, said determination comprises determining the at least one characteristic of the ambient music; and   selecting, from the audio data associated with different musical genres of ambient music, audio data associated with at least one of said different genres of the ambient music in order to define the at least one characteristic of the sound effect in accordance with the at least one characteristic of the ambient music, wherein the selected audio data corresponds to the selected audio data.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 analyzing the audio data representing the ambient music for determining a key for the ambient music in order to analyze the audio data representing the ambient music, said analyzing comprises determining the at least one characteristic of the ambient music; and   determining a desired pitch from the determined key in order to determine the at least one characteristic of the sound effect in accordance with the at least one characteristic of the ambient music.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising:
 analyzing the audio data representing the ambient music to determine a bass line and a melody line for the ambient music in order to analyze the audio data representing the ambient music and for determining the key for the ambient music; and   determining the key of the ambient music from the bass line and the melody line.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 recovering audio data representing a sound effect having a certain pitch; and   modifying the recovered audio data so that the sound effect has the certain pitch, wherein the modified audio data corresponds to the selected audio data.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 determining parameters of a software synthesizer from the at least one characteristic of the ambient music and defined relationships between the ambient music and the sound effect; and   implementing the software synthesizer with the determined parameters so that it synthesizes sound effect audio data, wherein the accessed audio data corresponds to the synthesized audio data.   
     
     
         9 . A computer-readable storage medium tangibly encoded with computer-executable instructions, that when executed by a computing device, perform a method comprising:
 in response to a request for emission of a sound effect from game software, accessing, via a sound reproduction device, audio data representing the sound effect;   analyzing, via the sound reproduction device, ambient music from the game software in order to determine at least one characteristic of the ambient music, said ambient music comprising audio data representing music in a course of reproduction of the game software;   defining, via the sound reproduction device, at least one characteristic of the sound effect based on the at least one characteristic of the ambient music.   
     
     
         10 . A data processing system comprising:
 a sound reproduction devices;   a storage device on which a computer program comprising computer-executable instructions are stored;   a central processing unit for executing the computer-executable instructions stored at the storage device, where upon execution, the central processing unit performs a method comprising:   in response to a request for emission of a sound effect from game software, accessing, via a sound reproduction device, audio data representing the sound effect;   analyzing, via the sound reproduction device, ambient music from the game software in order to determine at least one characteristic of the ambient music, said ambient music comprising audio data representing music in a course of reproduction of the game software;   defining, via the sound reproduction device, at least one characteristic of the sound effect based on the at least one characteristic of the ambient music.