RPG Atmosphere is the most intriguing RPG sound utility I have reviewed to date. The program comes with a large number of preconfigured sound scenarios you can drop into your game without having to spend hours preparing. Once you are ready to create your own scenarios, the  interface is easy to understand. RPG Atmosphere also has a number of features not seen in other RPG sound mixers such as integrated music playlists, changing background images, audio recording, evolving soundscapes and a scenario importer/exporter.

Version Reviewed: Beta
Website: http://www.rpgatmosphere.com/
Price: $28.95

Pros

- Large number of preset sound scenarios
- Includes many high quality sound effects
- Unique features

Cons

- Not enough customization
- Keyboard triggers need work
- Some glitches

The biggest draw of this program is the large number of preconfigured soundscapes. As gamemasters, we already spend hours preparing for a game. We don’t have a great deal of time to spend collecting sound effects and tinkering with loops. RPG Atmosphere removes much of this headache. Without having to fiddle with any controls, you can bring your game to a country farm, a festive medieval fair, a dragon’s lair or even a large cavern complete with dripping sounds reverberating throughout the chamber. Just launch the program and click one of the 32 included scenarios. You will be able to bring amazing sounds to the table even if you have never used sound in your game before.

Once you have grown tired of the preconfigured sounds, you may want to delve into the interface. You create new scenarios starting in the main window. Save one of the existing scenarios with a new name and start experimenting. There are three types of sounds you can configure: background, random and soundboard.

Background sounds are the foundation of your sound scenario. These sounds play in an endless loop. An example of a background sound would be the sound of rain or the murmur of tavern patrons. Two of the background sound panels, Back1 and back2, are preloaded. You can load any sound loops you desire in the ‘Cust B’ panel. Each background sound has a number of configuration options you can control. Independent volume control is a staple of every sound. The volume range can also be set which lets you set a minimum and maximum volume. The ‘Rate of Change’ slider will let you control the speed at which the volume bounces back and forth within the volume range. There is also a left/right stereo balance that allows you to position sounds in stereo. The sounds default to center balanced playback, but I’ve found alternately adjusting your sounds slightly to the left and right of center really adds depth to the sound scenario.

Sounds on the random panel play at — you guessed it — random intervals over your background. This might be the crack and boom of lightning during a rain storm or a lost sheep bleating in a meadow. Random sounds break up the monotony of your background loops and bring the scene to life. The random panel has four preset panels and one customizable panel. The random sound configuration parameters are limited to volume and pitch. Unfortunately, there are no stereo controls here.

The soundboard is for manually triggering individual sounds. Use this panel when you want to trigger sounds that you do not want to loop, like the clang of a sword when one or your players makes an attack or the beating of wings as a dragon takes flight. The soundboard comes with 4 preconfigured banks: Feet and doors, Monsters, Weapons and Atmospherics. There are an additional two empty banks, but you can make changes to any soundboard bank. The included soundboard sounds cover a wide array of roleplaying situations. Overall, the sounds are of very good quality. I got a kick out of the ominous sounds on the Atmospherics panel. You can also map keys to triggers sounds in this panel though the beta version I reviewed had this feature disabled.

RPG Atmosphere also adds a great deal of features I’ve never seen in other RPG sound mixers. While not completely innovative, my favorite feature is the integrated mp3 player with playlist support. You can create playlists of music to match the action in your game. Most importantly, the player features an independent volume control so you can adjust it on the fly.

Another feature I like is being able to use background images. You can attach an image file to a scenario and it will show up in the background when you play it. You can even configure it to display on a second monitor. I use an LCD projector when running my games so this is a really neat feature.

RPG Atmosphere also allows you to create audio recordings of the output. I can see it being very useful if you wanted to prerecord a soundscape and save it to an mp3 player. Then you can play back great sounding audio without having to haul around a laptop.

The evolve feature is completely unique. It allows you to change the scenario based on a timer. Click the evolve button in the main controller window to enable weather conditions and nighttime transitions. You can configure your scenario to morph over time without any input whatsoever ever.

Finally, there are the sharing features. Vectorsoft Media has gone out of their way to create a community around this application. The RPG Atmosphere forums are a great place to share scenarios that you save with the importer/exporter. I look forward to pulling down some user generated scenarios.

Unlike some other gaming sound programs, RPG Atmosphere is supported under Windows 7 and Windows Vista. It even runs on 64bit versions of the OS. No Mac or Linux support, but that’s par for the course.

Overall, I love this program. I’m going to start converting my sounds over and use this as my primary sound application, but there are some shortcomings. I’d like to see more customization. Why can’t there be more customizable banks? Is there a technical reason for not being able to adjust the L/R balance of random sounds? The default keyboard triggers are strangely mapped. In the beta version available on the website right now, I believe that control key is still mapped as the ‘next scenario’ shortcut. If you want to put this program in the background, you may run into some frustration if you need to use your control key. The programmer insisted via email he is changing this behavior so it may be fixed by the time this article is published. Lastly, there is some glitchy behavior in the program. Interface options that don’t work and slow redrawing of some control windows. Since this software is still in beta, it’s to be expected.

You can download the application and use it completely free for 21 days. The program is a commercial application and I hope the kinks are worked out before the trial period expires. The price is a little higher than other commercial RPG sound mixers, but I think this program will be worth it once it’s out of beta. I highly recommend grabbing the trial version and trying to use it in your game – even if you’ve never used sound in your game before.

RPG Atmosphere
OS Support
Supports 32 and 64bit Windows Operating Systems only.
Programability
Offers a large number of sliders and options to control your soundscapes.
Usability
Overall, the program is very easy to use. The interface still has a few inconsistencies. The developer is very active so I expect this will change in the near future.
Overall
RPG Atmosphere is on the verge of becoming the top dog in the arena of RPG sound mixers. If you are in the market for an easy to use sound mixer with hidden depth, check this one out.