The Quest To Find Raxxla

[CMDR Davanix]

Easy for me to test this one.

Spoiler: Spectrograms of Supercruise

View attachment 381328
View attachment 381329
View attachment 381330

I'm seeing no differences between any heading (currently in the Prieluia XD-Q C6-13 system). I've also recorded the sound of supercruise before a while back when I was testing to see if you could hear the Landscape Signal in it, these all match the ones I was doing back then too.

The sound does change a bit, it's linked to your speed and whether you're accelerating or decelerating, but the changes are relatively minor.

For anyone who's interested here's the Sound of Supercruise, recorded in freecam at max range, in Deep Space (not in a planetary system).

@CMDR Davanix if you're hearing anything other that a sort of distorted mechanical churning noise and deep bassy thumbing, then you're hearing something new. I'll get my friend in the bubble to record in Asuhail too and update later.

Where these recordings made in camera view far away from your ship to cancel out ship noise? If not can you try this, im hearing it all over this area of space not just this system. move a good bit away from any planets, stars etc, go into camera view and cycle out to the max 3000m then point away with the volume up high

EDIT: Location has shifted from Andromeda after many jumps! I am uploading now to post it here however please raise your volume its very subtle its like a mix of radio frequency changing to robotic type chatter, and yes i chose the Raxxla logo for the video image as to keep with this thread lol

Source: https://youtu.be/IcCsVWOu_UA

 

[Louis Calvert]

Where these recordings made in camera view far away from your ship to cancel out ship noise? If not can you try this, im hearing it all over this area of space not just this system. move a good bit away from any planets, stars etc, go into camera view and cycle out to the max 3000m then point away with the volume up high

Yes, that's exactly what I always do in recordings

EDIT: Location has shifted from Andromeda after many jumps! I am uploading now to post it here however please raise your volume its very subtle its like a mix of radio frequency changing to robotic type chatter, and yes i chose the Raxxla logo for the video image as to keep with this thread lol

Source: https://youtu.be/IcCsVWOu_UA

Ok, so I think I know what's happening here. Firstly when you move the camera, there is always a sort of "warbling" noise and other sounds caused by the camera moving, this sound persists for a little while (few seconds) after you stop moving the camera.

Judging by your video, you rarely settle in one location for more than a few seconds at a time.

Secondly, I think the sound is different if you're looking laterally from the super cruise "tunnel" (e.g. not in the direction of travel).

I think these features are to simulate sort of doppler effects coming in as you're whipping through superluminal real-space.

Could you test your idea again, but do this:

1) Repeat as your video, but allow the camera to settle for at least 30 seconds before moving it again.
2) Repeat your video, but always keep the camera faced in the travel direction of the ship (directly forward) for at least 30 seconds. Obviously you need to face the ship in different direction in order to record different parts of the sky.

If you still hear the noises when doing these two steps (and thereby eliminating the variability in super cruise), you may well have found something new

 

[CMDR Davanix]

Yes, that's exactly what I always do in recordings

Ok, so I think I know what's happening here. Firstly when you move the camera, there is always a sort of "warbling" noise and other sounds caused by the camera moving, this sound persists for a little while (few seconds) after you stop moving the camera.

Judging by your video, you rarely settle in one location for more than a few seconds at a time.

Secondly, I think the sound is different if you're looking laterally from the super cruise "tunnel" (e.g. not in the direction of travel).

I think these features are to simulate sort of doppler effects coming in as you're whipping through superluminal real-space.

Could you test your idea again, but do this:

1) Repeat as your video, but allow the camera to settle for at least 30 seconds before moving it again.
2) Repeat your video, but always keep the camera faced in the travel direction of the ship (directly forward) for at least 30 seconds. Obviously you need to face the ship in different direction in order to record different parts of the sky.

If you still hear the noises when doing these two steps (and thereby eliminating the variability in super cruise), you may well have found something new

Thanks for this, the video was jus a quick one due to time constraints (Parenthood is killing my game time) although i can say there is definitely a constant sound when not moving the camera the reason i was whirling the camera is to show confirmation that certain area Now seeming to be near LMC instead of andromeda due to a good few jumps since last night (Past Regor sector towards galaxy centerish)was the sound source, il try get time to make a longer video but urge others to check it out also so its not missed if it is infact new

 

[Louis Calvert]

Thanks for this, the video was jus a quick one due to time constraints (Parenthood is killing my game time) although i can say there is definitely a constant sound when not moving the camera the reason i was whirling the camera is to show confirmation that certain area Now seeming to be near LMC instead of andromeda due to a good few jumps since last night (Past Regor sector towards galaxy centerish)was the sound source, il try get time to make a longer video but urge others to check it out also so its not missed if it is infact new

Here we go, my friend in the bubble helped with some recordings. We couldn't find the system "Asuhail", but since you were able to detect the sounds from elsewhere we did it in Lave, so this supplements my previous recordings from outside the bubble.

In the Spectrograms below: the top one is flying directly towards Andromeda, recording in supercruise, with the cam at max range in front of the ship.
The next one is exactly the same, but pointing the free cam 90degrees to one side (laterally to the direction of travel).

You can see the spectrograms are different. The second is very similar to the sound you recorded. The first one matches "default supercruise" sounds.

To test this theory I recorded your Youtube video (top), and then did my best to copy your cam movements in a second recording (bottom). I've aligned them so you can see:

The differences are mostly because yours is a recording of Youtube, and mine is direct from the game - but you can see the lines (which are the extra 'alien warbling' type sounds, are basically identical.

Most of your vid was recorded with the camera pointing in directions other than the direction of travel, therefore you were picking up this "dopplering effect" of the sound, that sounds like warbling and tweeting and odd sounds like alien signals. As you move the cam around it changes the sound.

Unfortunately, I'm not able to detect anything that seems out of the ordinary and I was able to replicate something extremely similar to your video from another location looking in different directions - which suggest you're not detecting a signal coming from a particular source.

However, it's entirely possible I'm missing something, so I'd suggest you keep testing until you're happy

 

[Quaero]

OK, I'm done lurking. Tinfoil hat on...
o7 cmdrs I'm back in a new body

 

[selbie]

Here we go, my friend in the bubble helped with some recordings. We couldn't find the system "Asuhail", but since you were able to detect the sounds from elsewhere we did it in Lave, so this supplements my previous recordings from outside the bubble.

In the Spectrograms below: the top one is flying directly towards Andromeda, recording in supercruise, with the cam at max range in front of the ship.
The next one is exactly the same, but pointing the free cam 90degrees to one side (laterally to the direction of travel).
View attachment 381366
You can see the spectrograms are different. The second is very similar to the sound you recorded. The first one matches "default supercruise" sounds.

To test this theory I recorded your Youtube video (top), and then did my best to copy your cam movements in a second recording (bottom). I've aligned them so you can see:

View attachment 381368
The differences are mostly because yours is a recording of Youtube, and mine is direct from the game - but you can see the lines (which are the extra 'alien warbling' type sounds, are basically identical.

Most of your vid was recorded with the camera pointing in directions other than the direction of travel, therefore you were picking up this "dopplering effect" of the sound, that sounds like warbling and tweeting and odd sounds like alien signals. As you move the cam around it changes the sound.

Unfortunately, I'm not able to detect anything that seems out of the ordinary and I was able to replicate something extremely similar to your video from another location looking in different directions - which suggest you're not detecting a signal coming from a particular source.

However, it's entirely possible I'm missing something, so I'd suggest you keep testing until you're happy

Hmm, it's very subtle but I do see something there in the 2-8kHz range that matches the Lave one at 90 degrees lateral. Also for some reason it is stronger in the left (?) channel in that instance.

 

[Louis Calvert]

OK, I'm done lurking. Tinfoil hat on...
o7 cmdrs I'm back in a new body

Hmm, it's very subtle but I do see something there in the 2-8kHz range that matches the Lave one at 90 degrees lateral. Also for some reason it is stronger in the left (?) channel in that instance.

Interesting!

I'm not sure why there's such a difference, I assumed that it was because Ava was looking "left" when she did the recording. I didn't get such a left/right bias in mine when I was testing it. However... I don't know. There's also a consistently left channel bias in the Landscape Signal too, for no reason that I can see.

@CMDR Davanix was right in that the sounds of Supercruise are very strange and almost entirely unheard by most people (it's a lot of work to implement those sounds when so few folks will hear it). I could well imagine there is meaning in there somewhere, I just wasn't able to find anything.

Speaking entirely hypothetically and personally - IMO the sound design in Elite is extraordinary and consistently blows me away. There are sounds everywhere and for everything, and most of them are really complex and impressive and mysterious. I wouldn't find it hard to imagine additional mysteries hidden in audio! I also think it's a relatively untapped area of exploration since you need a certain amount of setup to investigate.

 

[Rochester]

.Speaking entirely hypothetically and personally - IMO the sound design in Elite is extraordinary and consistently blows me away. There are sounds everywhere and for everything, and most of them are really complex and impressive and mysterious. I wouldn't find it hard to imagine additional mysteries hidden in audio! I also think it's a relatively untapped area of exploration since you need a certain amount of setup to investigate.

Totally agree the sound design in ED is phenomenal and it is an untouched dimension to the game.

In space there is no noise, it’s an intentional element of the game that our ships specifically augment data in space into audio, so as to give us spacial awareness.

The fact that most players might not be aware of this I find frankly criminal, for instance, within the system scanner, the audio for planets etc is ‘based’ upon real space audio.

In early development it’s evident that FD had to navigate significant technical limitations, so ‘sound’ was a key towards enabling much of this.

For instance when flying around the surface of bodies we use incredibly basic navigational systems, this was intended. Sound was used in this instance too to potentially alert us to things… however this is also a significant hindrance.

Some players may have hearing problems or have limitations.

Either way it’s an untapped area of the game I agree.

Source: https://youtu.be/GiAcsrmyePs?si=pfRvtq7hxGfqwyZN

 

[Louis Calvert]

Some players may have hearing problems or have limitation.

This is a good point.

What's interesting is that in all cases where there's important audio cues there are also visual cues. For various reasons I frequently play with no or very low game sounds and I've had no problem playing the game fully for years in this way, specifically because everything is visually represented.

To me this is why I consider the Landscape Signal an important unsolved mystery, whereas other mysterious or questionable audio isn't something I personally consider part of the puzzle.

The Landscape Signal has a visual component in the spectrogram. This means the Landscape Signal is accessible to everyone in the exact same way as the (chronologically implemented) later Thargoid map - which to me suggests that it's a mystery to solve on the same level.

 

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

Totally agree the sound design in ED is phenomenal and it is an untouched dimension to the game.

In space there is no noise, it’s an intentional element of the game that our ships specifically augment data in space into audio, so as to give us spacial awareness.

The fact that most players might it be aware of this I find frankly criminal, for instance, within the system scanner, the audio for planets etc is ‘based’ upon real space audio.

In early development it’s evident that FD had to navigate significant technical limitations, so ‘sound’ was a key towards enabling much of this.

For instance when flying around the surface of bodies we use incredibly basic navigational systems, this was intended. Sound was used in this instance too to potentially alert us to things… however this is also a significant hindrance,

Some players may have hearing problems or have limitation.

Either way it’s an untapped area of the game I agree.

I love the sound in the game (sorry for a slight derail) and I do wonder what a Thargoid would sound like, in the flesh, so to speak.

What would be really excellent is, if Raxxla is ever found, a whole new soundscape would be encountered.

 

[Edelgard von Rhein]

Engine sounds have always been a crucial part of learning how to make fast approaches in supercruise - to the extent that they are more important than the visual display when attempting to hold a spiral approach to a body. There have not been any changes to this since launch - and there are people who have been racing since before launch (the Buckyball Racing Club was formed in July 3301 iirc but CMDR ElectricZ was the one who kicked it all off with the first Buckyball Runs in Beta).
I think FD included the 'Night time' audio mode to help bring out the finer details for those who might not otherwise pick up on them. That shows how important it is.

 

[D7]

View attachment 381482

Interesting!

I'm not sure why there's such a difference, I assumed that it was because Ava was looking "left" when she did the recording. I didn't get such a left/right bias in mine when I was testing it. However... I don't know. There's also a consistently left channel bias in the Landscape Signal too, for no reason that I can see.

@CMDR Davanix was right in that the sounds of Supercruise are very strange and almost entirely unheard by most people (it's a lot of work to implement those sounds when so few folks will hear it). I could well imagine there is meaning in there somewhere, I just wasn't able to find anything.

Speaking entirely hypothetically and personally - IMO the sound design in Elite is extraordinary and consistently blows me away. There are sounds everywhere and for everything, and most of them are really complex and impressive and mysterious. I wouldn't find it hard to imagine additional mysteries hidden in audio! I also think it's a relatively untapped area of exploration since you need a certain amount of setup to investigate.

I generally stay in a 3 earth system near Freetio FC-B D14-3. It is a long way from the Sag A. I recently noted two things:

1) When I pointed toward the Sag A from my [pit (Krait Phantom - dead stop / not in SC, 2.6 Million LS from nearest star) I heard the periodic onset of a musical sound stream which would come and go on about a 1 minute period. There also are wildlife sounds like the jungle... like ancient strange birds, reptiles, chimpanzies and prehistoric background sound. There are a couple other sounds as well such as a faint AM band distortion frequency.... But there is also two or three distinct types of robotic, almost voice-like sounds, and a consistent thumping of a big gong or base drum. When I the used my camera far away from my ship and pointed toward Sag A I heard the same sounds except the robotic sounds were not there at all. Also, the consistent bang of the drum was completely gone as well.
Conclusion 1: The cockpit is picking up ship sounds that are electronic and metallic in nature as well as heart beat-like banging sounds. None of these sounds likely come from the galaxy but simply are an artifacts of the ship
Conclusion 2: You have to be very careful to use good and bad controls to analyze ED sounds.


2) When I pointed the camera normal to the galactic plane, and again, I was very far from the the core and any solar system, I heard (and recorded) only the control background sound. It is a basic background hum of the universe and it is on a 45 second period. All other sounds are complete gone.

Conclusion: This background pulse would need to be subtracted from any unique galaxy sounds I want to fully explore.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

The idea of trying to jump through its coordinates might be the right one.

Well, I had a go at this, with a slight refinement:
- I'm trying to get to a coordinate in interstellar space
- In the previous Elite games, the only way to get to non-system space was a misjump
- In Elite 1, a misjump would put you half way between start and destination systems, and could be deliberately triggered by holding max pitch up when entering hyperspace

So, I narrowed down the list of jumps which go (almost) through the boxel corner to those where source and destination systems are (almost) equidistant, and the total jump distance is within the ~40 LY available in 1.0.

Then I tried the best six, with various ways of holding maximum pitch while the jump completed (supercruise, normal space, FA-off or on, etc).
Juenae VC-E c1-218 / Stuemeae UY-S b3-174 (26.52)
Juenae ZI-C c2-404 / Stuemeae GG-Y c6966 (31.45)
Juenae VT-J a8-16 / Stuemeae GG-Y c4450 (23.94)
Stuemeae TY-S b3-40 / BC-B d1-2221 (36.10)
Stuemeae JM-W c1-8730 / Juenae WC-E c1-2744 (19.54)
Juenae TY-J a8-26 / Stuemeae GG-Y c5668 (11.45)

Naturally (or I'd have led with that bit), nothing unusual happened at all.

Still, it seemed worth a try. Might give a few of the other less-good pairings a go while I'm out here.

 

[Louis Calvert]

I generally stay in a 3 earth system near Freetio FC-B D14-3. It is a long way from the Sag A. I recently noted two things:

1) When I pointed toward the Sag A from my [pit (Krait Phantom - dead stop / not in SC, 2.6 Million LS from nearest star) I heard the periodic onset of a musical sound stream which would come and go on about a 1 minute period.

Look at the spectrogram of that recording What do you see?

There also are wildlife sounds like the jungle... like ancient strange birds, reptiles, chimpanzies and prehistoric background sound. There are a couple other sounds as well such as a faint AM band distortion frequency.... But there is also two or three distinct types of robotic, almost voice-like sounds, and a consistent thumping of a big gong or base drum. When I the used my camera far away from my ship and pointed toward Sag A I heard the same sounds except the robotic sounds were not there at all. Also, the consistent bang of the drum was completely gone as well.

Conclusion 1: The cockpit is picking up ship sounds that are electronic and metallic in nature as well as heart beat-like banging sounds. None of these sounds likely come from the galaxy but simply are an artifacts of the ship
Conclusion 2: You have to be very careful to use good and bad controls to analyze ED sounds.

Absolutely!

2) When I pointed the camera normal to the galactic plane, and again, I was very far from the the core and any solar system, I heard (and recorded) only the control background sound. It is a basic background hum of the universe and it is on a 45 second period. All other sounds are complete gone.

Conclusion: This background pulse would need to be subtracted from any unique galaxy sounds I want to fully explore.

100% agreed.

Excited to see what you find Keep us posted!

 

[Mecrutio]

I've narrowed down the location of the Landscape signal.
I took the Neutron Highway to the Galactic Center and joined up the Canonn Research team for a list of 10 systems. I made it thru 3 when I noticed that I was jumping everywhere with no real path, just the next system in the list provided. So I scrapped that and just pointed Beef (Asp Exp.) to where I thought the sound was originating. Next, I went thu the list of closest systems that lined up the closest to where Beef was pointing. Jumped, rinse and repeat. FINALLY, the sound origin flipped 180. I bookmarked the two systems and chose the best matching pair of stars that made a travel line perpendicular to the orignal 2. This line was not perfect as it is closer to one star than the other and the travel line does not intersect the original line, but it is close enough.
FSS, DSS all 4 systems which have been discovered before me. No need to map planets as they have been mapped before and no outstanding hits. ( at least none that I found in my research. ) In each system I again pointed beef to the signal origin and found that the signal does favor one of the 4. It's from here that I launched into the unknown vastness of subspace. (I select the main star as a distance marker)
Currently .80ly from system origin. I stop every .05ly to listen and adjust course according to sound origin. I do feel that this "jumping off point" is correct as my course is going further away from the other 3 marked systems. At .20, .50 and .70ly minor course corrections were made. Hopefully sooner rather than later, the signal origin will again, 180. As a side note, shipboard sensors are next to useless at the speed being traveled. I did think I heard 2 hits on the info panel, but I was distracted both times.
I ask for forgiveness for not being precise about what 4 systems I am using. Hopefully if one is inclined they can follow the above description and match my results.

 

[Louis Calvert]

I've narrowed down the location of the Landscape signal.
I took the Neutron Highway to the Galactic Center and joined up the Canonn Research team for a list of 10 systems. I made it thru 3 when I noticed that I was jumping everywhere with no real path, just the next system in the list provided. So I scrapped that and just pointed Beef (Asp Exp.) to where I thought the sound was originating. Next, I went thu the list of closest systems that lined up the closest to where Beef was pointing. Jumped, rinse and repeat. FINALLY, the sound origin flipped 180. I bookmarked the two systems and chose the best matching pair of stars that made a travel line perpendicular to the orignal 2. This line was not perfect as it is closer to one star than the other and the travel line does not intersect the original line, but it is close enough.
FSS, DSS all 4 systems which have been discovered before me. No need to map planets as they have been mapped before and no outstanding hits. ( at least none that I found in my research. ) In each system I again pointed beef to the signal origin and found that the signal does favor one of the 4. It's from here that I launched into the unknown vastness of subspace. (I select the main star as a distance marker)
Currently .80ly from system origin. I stop every .05ly to listen and adjust course according to sound origin. I do feel that this "jumping off point" is correct as my course is going further away from the other 3 marked systems. At .20, .50 and .70ly minor course corrections were made. Hopefully sooner rather than later, the signal origin will again, 180. As a side note, shipboard sensors are next to useless at the speed being traveled. I did think I heard 2 hits on the info panel, but I was distracted both times.
I ask for forgiveness for not being precise about what 4 systems I am using. Hopefully if one is inclined they can follow the above description and match my results.

Exciting times What system(s) did your investigation reveal?

 

[D7]

Look at the spectrogram of that recording What do you see?


Absolutely!


100% agreed.

Excited to see what you find Keep us posted!

I get stuff like this - doesn't mean a whole lot to me....,but I would need to subtract the control part of the galaxy to resolve. I guest I could try.

 

[CMDRCorrMorningstarFelian]

Remember how I said tourism stations were important...

I figured this should be shared. Feel free to copy images and discuss. It is possible interpretations may need fine tuning. Anyway, the more eyes the better.

Maps in Tourist stations – Google Drive

drive.google.com

 

[Mecrutio]

1.35ly and nothing. It's hard to continue...feels like I'm gonna get another free Anaconda. Maybe find an asteroid and a sign that says "Walldrug only 2000ly!"
Here is Beef at .80ly.

 

[Louis Calvert]

Remember how I said tourism stations were important...

I figured this should be shared. Feel free to copy images and discuss. It is possible interpretations may need fine tuning. Anyway, the more eyes the better.

Maps in Tourist stations – Google Drive

drive.google.com

Interesting indeed, thanks for supplying all the images.

Here's my initial thoughts: I feel like this venn diagram sums up what we're seeing:

The images you provided are interesting, and I'd like to know more, but right now I'm struggling to understand how to tell what's of signficance in the Raxxla hunt, and what's just a shape that people like to use in things. Could you elaborate on which bits you see as being important?

Because yes, I fully agree the interiors could show things like the milky way, where Colonia and the bubble are, Magellanic clouds, etc. that would actually be cool for 'Tourist stations' to have baked into the decoration.

Could you supply a little more info on your interpretations to help make sense of these:

• I'm struggling to see the "Guardian towers" as opposed to just a tower or monument.
• I'm also unsure how to correctly see the "map of guardian region" with capital and nebulas? Could you maybe show some comparison maps to help out?
• I'm not quite seeing "three civilisations linked" as opposed to "an entry hall to a main building, paths to a greenspace plaza and a monument plaza, and another side building or hall."
• I'm not really seeing "omphalos rift with starship beam" I'm seeing "a path through greenspace to a monument showing male and female human representations around a monument"

I want to believe!