| name | sound-design-and-audio |
| description | UI sound design + audio engineering for apps, with a worked maritime/agent-fleet sonic identity and the Rust audio stack to ship it. Use for: deciding whether an event should make a sound, designing earcons/auditory-icons, building a coherent sound palette, synthesizing cues, and wiring playback in a native (gpui/Rust) app. Trigger on: UI sound, earcon, auditory icon, sound design, audio engineering, sonification, notification sound, rodio/cpal/kira/fundsp/oddio, synthesis (subtractive/FM/granular), foley, mastering, LUFS, "make it make sound", sonic identity, audio cue. NOT for: music composition for film/games, speech/TTS, or DSP/codec implementation. |
Sound Design & Audio
Sound is the channel that reaches an eye that's looking elsewhere — and the first thing users mute when it's abused. Design for restraint: silent by default, every cue earns its place, a tiny coherent palette, off the UI thread, always respectful of mute/DND. The worked identity here is the Harbor (a maritime operator console for an AI agent fleet), but the principles are general.
When to Use
- Deciding whether a given event should make a sound at all (most shouldn't).
- Designing a coherent set of UI cues (confirm/error/notify/transition/arrival/departure) as earcons or auditory icons.
- Giving a product a sonic identity (a motif family, not random samples).
- Synthesizing the actual sounds (which method for which cue) and mastering them for short-cue UI.
- Wiring playback/mixing in a native app, especially Rust/gpui.
NOT for
- Music composition / scoring for media (different craft).
- Speech synthesis / TTS / voice UX.
- Implementing DSP primitives or audio codecs from scratch.
Decision Points
flowchart TD
A[An event happened] --> B{Async — happening while the user is NOT looking at the app?}
B -->|No| Z[Stay silent — let the visual + motion carry it]
B -->|Yes| C{Consequential + would missing it be a real problem?}
C -->|No| Z
C -->|Yes| D{Does it resemble a real-world sound?}
D -->|Yes, has a referent| E[Auditory icon]
D -->|No, abstract| F[Earcon — a motive, composable into families]
E --> G{Synth or sample?}
F --> G
G -->|Procedural, parametric, tiny| H[Synthesize in-app: fundsp]
G -->|Rich/foley/one-off| I[Sampled asset → rodio/kira]
H --> J[Play OFF the UI thread; respect mute/DND/volume]
I --> J
