Where can I get TV-style sound effects for my computer?

Question

I need to clarify here- because I don't know what you'd call them...

But you know when you're watching CSI or Law & order (or any movie where they show how hi-tech the characters are because they can user a computer)... Well the computer always beeps and blips along... when stuff scrolls on the screen it goes deet-deet-deet-deet-deet... when they zoom in on something it goes blip-blip-blip etc etc. Most of the sounds are very short & high pitched.

What a hoot to have these sounds on your own computer! (Probably get annoying after a while but still fun)

Where can I find these types of sound effects? I'm guessing they'd just be tiny wave files. Is there a windows theme someone's already built like this?

Answer 1

There's Nullsoft's "Beep":

Nullsoft Beep is an application that makes your computer sound like computers sound in the movies. It requires Windows 95 or later with DirectX 3 or later. features

• Excitement-Generation Technology[tm].
• Hyper-Auto-Blips[tm] on screen updates and keyboard input.
• Variable low hum dependent on system CPU load.
• System tray icon.
• Install and uninstall support.
• Source code included!

Answer 2

Ok, I took it a step further and just developed my own sound theme. It's a bunch of WAV files and a reg file... anyone who might delight in their PC sounding "super-high-tech" may help themselves... (for Windows XP/Vista/7)

http://www.shoey.com/apps/csi/CSI.zip

CSI - "Computer Sounds Integration"

I thought it would be fun to create a sound theme that made my machine sound like something from the set of CSI. With some inspiration from Nullsoft Beep and http://www.dewa.com/sound (admittedly, some of the sounds are modified versions of sounds available on dewa.com) I cranked up my audio editor and began synthesizing some sounds.

The result was a sound theme for Windows XP/Vista/7 that provides Hollywood-style sound effects for your computer.

Installation:

1. Download the CSI.zip file
2. Extract the CSI folder as a subfolder in your C:\Windows\Media folder.
3. Double click the "CSI Sound Scheme.reg" registry file and import the CSI registry settings
4. Open Control Panel and go to the Sound applet
5. Choose CSI as your sound scheme
6. Enjoy! (I'm a FF user, but the sounds are better with IE)

If your Windows folder is not C:\Windows, open the reg file in a text editor and do a global replace of "C:\\Windows" with the appropriate path to your Windows folder. Be sure to include the double backslashes.