(edit: I tried to put this in an SS1 related forum but the system automatically threw it in Recreation Deck, don't hate the player!!)
(double edit: oh, and thank you system for completely fucking up the formatting on my links!)
Hello everyone!
After some time casually skimming through sound libraries and watching movies here and there, I came up with a bunch of interesting findings for sound effects used in System Shock 1. Keep in mind I haven't found every single sound effect nor do I think I will (see context per sound file), but there's enough here that I think some kind of HD/uncompressed System Shock 1 SFX mod could be feasible in the future without sounding terrible. Example sounds have been provided, but keep in mind that these are only marginally accurate to the original SFX for example purposes (you will inevitably run into phasing issues putting an original and 'source' sound side by side), so if you want to use anything I provided to recreate original sounds 1:1, you're probably going to get cleaner results recreating the sounds yourself using the documented sources and edits.
Libraries used (by prevalence):
Sound Ideas - Universal Studios Sound Effects
Sound Ideas - General Series 6000
Best Service - Clockwork
Best Service - Science Fiction
Rarefaction - A Poke in The Ear With A Sharp Stick Volumes 1-3 (I think only 1 and 3 for SS1, 2 was used in later games)
Valentino Productions Sound Effects
(To people who aren't particularly interested in SS1, this also applies to SS2 and Terra Nova SFC, and Thief 1/2 to a lesser extent)
Movies sampled:
Alien
RoboCop 2
Hardware
Sound effects in game (by filename and guessed descriptions):
0c9/Implant activated: Best Service - Clockwork, Track 22
0ca/MFD invoke: Unknown
0cb/Radiation static: Unknown, but a possible source from 'A Poke in The Ear Volume 1' has been provided
0cc/Heavy blast door: Sampled sound from Hardware (timestamp 0:18:26)
0cd/Lead pipe hit organic: Sound Ideas - Universal Studios Sound Effects, US03, Single Kick Into Stomach
0ce/Hydraulic blast door: Sampled sound from Hardware (timestamp 1:23:41), followed by sampled sound from Alien (timestamp 1:18:48), both sampled from stereo. Less noisy (but technically game-inaccurate) versions of both samples exist in their respective surround sound mixes.
0cf/Iris door: Unknown
0d0/Grenade primed: Unknown, appears to have the switch click sound mixed in though?
0d1/Security camera destroyed: Sound Ideas - Universal Studios Sound Effects, US03, Large Transformer Arcs
0d2/Rapid firing gun: Unknown
0d3/Robot destroyed: Unknown sound at start, mixed into a fairly common electricity sound from 'Series 6000'
0d4/Exec-bot destroyed: Unknown
very very noisy/compressed
0d5/Hopper firing: Sampled sound from Hardware (beginning of the movie)
0d6/Keypad access granted: Unknown
0d7/Power drain mine: Unknown
0d8/Environment transforming: Unknown, edited to loop, either recorded in-house OR it could be from The Works (early 90s and later used in SS2)
0d9/Cyborg firing: Sampled from Hardware (timestamp 1:13:39), indirectly sampling some oldschool stock ricochet sounds
0da/Gun firing: Sound Ideas - US04 - Hand Gun Single Shot
0db/Sparq beam firing: Found,
https://discmaster.textfiles.com/view/21848/Power%20Tools%20for%20Macintosh%20(SoftBit)(1992).iso/Stacks/*A-E/Entertainment/HyperTrek/HyperTrek%200.9/HyperTrek%200.9.rsrc/snd_7855_Disruptor.wav Played back at 2x speed
0dc/Shield hit 1: Unknown
0dd/Shield hit 2: Unknown, extreme time-stretching tells me it'll probably never be known
0de/Lead pipe hit hard: Unknown
0df/Weapon reload 1: Unknown
0e0/Weapon reload 2: Unknown
0e1/Lead pipe miss: Unknown source, but it is definitely a stock sound that's been slowed down. Relatively uncompressed version from '3D Movie Maker' is provided
0e2/Cyborg warrior idle: Unknown background noise, but the TTS voices for cyborgs were confirmed at some point to have been generated with the 80s TTS software SAM
/ (the phrase used here is 'Why lose us any bad business')
0e3/Power fully drained: Unknown
0e4/Cyberspace interface: Best Service - Clockwork, Track 99
0e5/Medkit usage: Best Service - Science Fiction, Track 71/'Explosive'
0e6/Railgun firing: Sound Ideas - Universal Studios Sound Effects, US04, Bazooka Fire Shell
0e7/Cyborg mutant idle: Completely unknown. Speeding up and reversing reveals what I think is a sample of a French man speaking, mostly unedited except for the end where it sounds like both the background and the voice have been chopped up
0e8/Laser rapier hit: Really too lazy to provide a sample for this, I think it's Sound Ideas - Universal Studios Sound Effects, US03, Large Transformer Arcs
0e9/Shield hit 3: Unknown
0ea/Implant deactivated: Sampled from RoboCop 2 (timestamp 0:57:17)
0eb/Laser rapier miss: Unknown, but a possible source is provided (timestretching is involved?)
0ec/MFD use: Best Service - Clockwork, Track 39
0ed/Switch click: Sound Ideas - Universal Studios Sound Effects, US02, Door Release Click
0ef/Object destroyed: Unknown, could be sampled from a movie, but could just as easily be a vintage stock sound
0ef/Flechette firing(?): Unknown
0f0/Pistol firing: Valentino Productions Sound Effects - CD05, 38 Caliber 4 Shots Exterior (right channel only + pre/post distortion filtering), might be mixed with another sound?
0f1/Magnum firing: Unknown
0f2/Some gun firing?: Unknown
0f3/Shield down: Unknown, extreme time-stretching tells me it'll probably never be known
0f4/Grove frog ambience: Sound Ideas - Universal Studios Sound Effects - US02, Frog Single Croak (chopped up and re-arranged)
0f5/Explosion: Sampled from Hardware (timestamp 1:05:31), trail-off of the sound also indirectly samples this stock sound (
https://soundideas.sourceaudio.com/track/55153488) from the scene
0f6/Magpulse firing: Best Service - Science Fiction, Track 71/'Lasershot 1' and Sound Ideas - Universal Studios Sound Effects, US03, Laser Beam Fire
0f7/Gorilla tiger 1: Unknown
0f8/Gorilla tiger 2: Unknown
0f9/Avian mutant active: Unknown
0fa/Avian mutant dying: Unknown
0fb/Gorilla tiger 3: Unknown
0fc/Humanoid mutant dying: Unknown
Sampled?
0fd/Humanoid mutant attacking: Unknown
Sampled?
0fe/Robot dying 1: Unknown, but I believe the sparking at the end is from 'Universal Studios Sound Effects'
0ff/Robot dying 2: Unknown
but at least the sparking is definitely from 'Series 6000'
10a/Some rapid firing gun: Unknown
10b/Unused bulk door shutting?: Unknown
10c/Bulk door moving: Unknown, but I can't shake the feeling that I've heard it elsewhere in higher quality (Deus Ex pops to mind), maybe even as a stock sound
10d/Cyborg dying 1: Unknown
but at least the sparking is definitely from 'Series 6000'
10e/Cyborg dying 2: Unknown
but at least the sparking is definitely from 'Series 6000'
10f/Self-destruct klaxon: Unknown, but two edited/cut down versions appear in System Shock 2 and are provided as examples
11a/Item pickup: Unknown
11b/Implant pickup: Unknown
11c/Patch used: Unknown
11d/MFD open: Unknown
Really bizarre sound, I think its a sound of either a drain being emptied or something ringing around (see 'Poke in The Ear' for this kind of stuff) that's been heavily flangered, with a distinct low frequency hum added after the fact
11e/Implant MFD thing?: Same source as 0c9, Best Service - Clockwork, Track 22
11f/Dartgun firing: Sound Ideas - Series 6000, 6039, Knife Throw and Hit
12a/Unknown firing?: Either Sound Ideas - Universal Studios Sound Effects, US04, Release Depth Charge Into Water, OR, Sound Ideas - Universal Studios Sound Effects, US03, Laser Beam Fire
12b/Power station use: Unknown, probably sampled
12c/Unused weapon hitting ground?: Unknown
12d/Virus mutant attacking: Sound Ideas - Universal Studios, US02, Monster Roar
13a/'Wing 0' voice ("They're attacking us sir!"): I can't find it anymore, but I believe on TCRF there was a specific mention of this sound coming from a Star Trek game? (EDIT: I thought it was unused, it's very much not)
13b/Empty: ...
100/Robot servo: It's a slowed down camera sound, but the source is unknown and doesn't appear to be stock. An earlier dated version of the sound (01-17-1993) in lower quality can be found here
https://discmaster.textfiles.com/view/12771/10000.zip/AOLDLs/Chat%20Room%20Collections/WAV_%20LaPub%20Foxy%20Sounds%20for%20PC/PUBFOXY.zip/CAMERA.WAV with the txt file in the zip mentioning that it was converted from an Apple file, meaning the original probably came from either a shareware disc or (more likely) an old piece of Mac software (similar situation to the sparq beam sound?) EDIT: Found, with three variations available in stereo, but definitely needs some editing to match with the original, as well as slight de-noising, EQing, and 'upscaling' from 22053 to 44100
https://discmaster.textfiles.com/view/9344/Shareware%20Overload%20Trio%20Volume%202%20(Chestnut%20CD-ROM).ISO/dir31/btn36b.zip/CAMERA.VOC101/Zero-G mutant idle: Best Service - Clockwork, Track 64
102/Screen destroyed: Unknown
103/Cyborg sight target: Unknown, extremely chopped up so reversing + slowing down doesn't make it much more comprehensible
104/Cyborg idle: Unknown, that noise at the end also shows up in a couple of other places (CD intro music, grenade priming)
105/Unused bulk door?: Unknown
106/Switch pulled: Unknown
107/Lever thrown: Unknown
108/Robot electrical arc: Unknown, probably stock (Universal Studios is my guess, maybe Warner Bros?)
109/Hacker hurt: I don't think this is stock, but I do believe its part of a larger set of sounds recorded at LGS that was used in Terra Nova SFC and SS2. A higher quality version of this exists in SS2, though sadly its awkwardly cut off at the end
110/Button press: Unknown click sound, button beep is same as 0ec: Best Service - Clockwork, Track 39 (with EQing and/or distortion?)
111/Force bridge transform: Unknown
112/Cyborg idle: Unknown background noise, but the TTS voices for cyborgs were confirmed at some point to have been generated with the 80s TTS software SAM
https://discordier.github.io/sam (the phrase used here is 'Your memos are never good')
113/Robot sight target: Unknown clicking sample (Hardware has a geiger counter, Alien has weird clicking noises in the computer room), the beeping is nearly identical to a sound in Hardware but I couldn't find a perfect match without music/noise (its probably in there somewhere)
114/Hopper alert: Unknown, It's either sampled, or an office appliance sound (scanner or photocopier) that's been put through a ring modulator and distorted to hell and back
115/Keypad beep: Unknown
116/Keypad access denied: Heavily distorted version of the self-destruct klaxon sped up 2x, unknown
117/Keypad access granted: Unknown, identical to 0d6
118/Invoke inventory tab: Best Service - Clockwork, Track 09 (distorted?)
119/Weapon equipped: Unknown, when slowed down it sounds like a computer/telemetry sound effect that's been processed weirdly (almost sounds like its been partially pitch-shifted and mixed 50-50?)
120/Sparking: Unknown, I imagine it's stock, but I couldn't find it
121/Zero-G and inviso mutant dying: Valentino Productions Sound Effects- CD33, Horror Effect #4
122/'Wing 0' Ricochet: Composite of two sounds from Sound Ideas - Universal Studios Sound Effects, US04, Single Ricochet
123/Force door: Unknown, and this one really has me baffled; there's a common stock sound (
https://soundideas.sourceaudio.com/track/11474374) that sounds stupidly similar when reversed, except that LGS never (I'm fairly certain) used this library, there's no low frequency hum (though that could've easily been edited in), and it doesn't match up perfectly (timestretch-spedup towards the end?). Considering that this specific library was more common in films than games at the time, there's a possibility they sampled this sound from a film using this library (EDIT: I am completely wrong, I just remembered that LGS very specifically DID use this library, at least once for SS2:
https://soundideas.sourceaudio.com/track/11473643 )
124/Another rapid firing gun: Unknown
125/Trioptium v-mail: Made in-house (probably with the SC-88 or whatever synths they had on hand + stock sounds), but its worth noting that a higher quality version can be found in the prototype (
https://tcrf.net/Proto:System_Shock_(1994)#Audio_Differences)
126/Plant mutant dying: Unknown
127/Shield hit: Unknown
128/Plasma rifle firing?: Though this sound existed in at least three places (
https://www.sound-ideas.com/Product/409/Hanna-Barbera-Sound-Effects-Library,
https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/1602216,
https://youtu.be/U9EMqdKIVhw), the most likely place they got it from is Best Service - Science Fiction, Track 72/'Lasershot'
129/Shield up: Unknown, extreme time-stretching tells me it'll probably never be known
130/Teleport: Unknown
131/Big robot dying: Unknown, except maybe the sparking noises are stock?
132/Virus mutant dying: Unknown, sounds like it starts with some livestock grunt?
133/Station rumbling: Unknown
134/Incoming mail: Unknown, has zero artifacting or noise so probably not recorded
135/Robot dying 3: Unknown
136/Unused bang?: Unknown
137/Plant mutant attack: Unknown, I don't think the flanger effect is part of the source sound
138/Cortex reaver idle: Rarefaction - Poke in The Ear Volume 3, Alien Worlds, Landscapes, Pandemonium.aif
139/Cyborg enforcer dying: Unknown
Cutscene/log sound effects (by appearance):
Cortex reaver servo: Sound Ideas - The Works, CD04, Track 63 (first sound)
Synth hit in 'SHODAN's Virus': Rarefaction - Poke in The Ear Volume 1, Track 43
Hacking noise in ending: Rarefaction - Poke in The Ear Volume 3, R2D2 Type #1
Robot servo in the "Mac OS"/Tribes Reactor mix: Sampled from Hardware, this sound shows up all over the movie so the exact sample is indeterminate, examples are provided
There was a dev stream I tuned into years ago where someone mentioned that the station's TTS voice ('Cyborg conversion cancelled') was generated with a DECtalk. Maybe it was a DTC-01?
https://archive.org/details/dectalkAnyways, here's everything I have so far:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gHr4LBxsvae-8yraYJ3Ek6CZm3XU9hzc/view?usp=sharingIf you recognize anything that I didn't (movie stuff specifically), please let me know! You can listen to SS1's in-game sounds effects here:
https://www.sounds-resource.com/ms_dos/systemshock/sound/12430/EDIT 1: 03-13-2025: Fixed some names and added Sparq beam sound source.
EDIT 2: 03-13-2025: Added Cortex reaver servo, the first confirmed sound from Sound Ideas The Works.
EDIT 3: 03-25-2025: Found the current best possible source of 100/Robot Servo
). Expect some cleaner sounding versions in the future; the .zip I added was mostly for demonstration, and there's some sounds I think could definitely use some more work like the pistol sound. There's potential to make some of the ripped sounds less noisy using surround sound channels from their respective films (this is definitely case for the door sounds). I've also been experimenting with 'upscaling' some of the lower quality sounds that haven't been found using careful de-noising and pitch filtering, I've gotten good results sometimes but its a bit of a crapshoot.
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