Thinking about using Syrinscape for my Group

#1

Hi Users, Hi Devs,

i´m thinking about going all in with Syrinscape, but i have a few questions and i hope that someone here can help me with that. My Group is playing pathfinder 2e online with Fantasy Grounds and Discord and i´m using Winamp to stream music.

  • streaming with winamp causes a delay of at least 30 seconds, before my players can hear the next music track. Is there a noticeable delay with syrinscape too?
  • i like to use my own music library (with copyrighted titles). Can i use this music with syrinscape as easy as playing a winamp playlist?
  • i need about 1 hour additional prep-time to find the right music and create a playlist ever two sessions. How much more do you think ill need to prep with syrinscape?
  • We are playing Age of Ashes at the moment (3rd book). Are there Age of Ashes soundssets available?
#2

@Meckerdrache Welcome to the community and the noisy world of Syrinscape. I will try to give you some answers that i hope make it easier for you to decide.

If you should use Syrinscape Online to deliver the sound to your players, everyone needs to install the Online Player app. You, as the GM, control the sounds with the Online player web interface. When you trigger an element, mood or oneshot, the needed sfx are temporarily cached at all your players devices. On the first playback there may be a slight delay, depending on the speed of the connection (we are talking about a second or less), as the needed files are downloaded to the device. After that, when you trigger the same thing again, it is instantly playing on all devices simultaneously. Another upside of this technique is that it doesn’t need to have a constant stream of data clotting the connection, as it plays locally on each players’ device.

You can use your own music library as you wish, as long as you use it in your private games (in this example you are using Syrinscape as a music player). As soon as you go public (streaming or other form of broadcasting) you mustn’t use it unless you have the permission from the copyright holder. But - as stated before - if you are using it for friends in private: not a problem.

A difference in prep time is hard to estimate. When you are new to a piece of software it might take some time to adjust, learn the possibilities and make good use of them. The good thing about Syrinscape Online is that you can adjust it while playing - just search for a thing you need and add it to your soundset. You should familiarise yourself with the terminology used. Once you know your way around, prep time will drop significantly. Even more so when using officially released content.

Lastly: Age of Ashes is only supported as community content atm, meaning: some of our awesome community members have created various soundsets for the Age of Ashes AP. Unfortunately there isn’t something past book three, but i might be mistaken there, so don’t take my word for granted.

And finally: your nickname suggests that you might be a German speaking community member? If that’s true, sprich mich direkt an, wenn du Fragen haben solltest. :slightly_smiling_face:

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#3

Continuing what @new_vision said, welcome! If you need suggestions for chapter 3 of Age of Ashes, just let me know the moods, monsters, locations, and whatnot you need and I can help find them for you!

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#4

Wow, thanks for your help and the warm welcome. I think ill try this out.
@new_vision Ja, i´m german :slight_smile:

@HECook We are about to go into the mine, the last part of the 3rd book. It´s filled with stone-throwing giants, a lich guarded by undead cave bears and a rakshasa. The final fight is against powerful gnoll, while the room is slowly flooded with water.

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#5

Stone Giant Battle and/or Stones over Sandpoint are your two best bets - Stones over Sandpoint has both a hurling stone element and a hurling stone one-shot!

For the lich, Zombie Battle has a “mausoleum” mood, and several battle sounds that include skeleton/bones sounds for a dry, desiccated lich. The Wrymwraith set has a number of spell effects that are commonly used by liches (energy drain, finger of death, desecrate), or you could use Spellcaster: Sorcerer, Wizard Spells (Ezran) or 5e Wizard Spells, or Cleric Spells (Kyra)/5e Cleric Spells.

The Zombie Battle and Undead Battle also have some “undead flesh” sounds - add to that some roars/claw attacks from The Spider’s Web (which has owlbear sounds that sound like an eerie bear howl) or Tiger Battle (bites and claws) should suit your undead dire bears. You could also use some polar bear sounds from Good Mead as well.

Arkona Palace has a mood called “marai rakshasa battle”, from which you can cull some rakshasa roars/hisses/etc for that foe.

For your gnoll there is the Gnoll Battle, though you’ll want to turn off the extra gnolls in the fight (unless your lead gnoll has minions!). For the flooding cavern, I’d use Down Comes Rain. That has a pair of moods, “they’re breaking the dam” and “broken dam”, both of which have some gushing flood waters (though you’ll likely want to turn off some of the creaking/rain, etc.). To place it more accurately in a cavern, you may want to co-opt some elements from Flooded Cavern. While Flooded Cavern is a calm, peaceful set, it does have some drips and echoes that could be useful, along with a “wading in ankle-deep water” element that may suit. There’s also a waterfall one-shot that could be of use.

Also, the Goblin Arrows set from Lost Mines of Phandelver has a mood called “twin pools cave” which has a continuous waterfall sound in a cave, so could certainly suit for a filling cavern.

I hope that helps!

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#6

Welcome! I would definitely try the suggestions @new_vision gave. If you find yourself looking for other options to stream audio to your players I have many videos on youtube on what options are available for FG, Syrinscape, other sound programs, etc… Keep us posted!

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