System Sounds, Why are only some working?

[beammeup]

Hi, while casually browsing through HD/System/Library/Components/CoreAudio.component/Contents/Resources/SystemSounds/system, the other day I noticed that there appear to be some system sounds that I never hear.

Like Volume 'Unmount.aif' for example. I get the Volume Mount.aif sound but not the other one. Same with 'media keys.aif'. There are other sounds in the SystemSounds/finder too like 'move to trash.aif', that I never hear. Althought the 'empty trash.aif' is also in that folder and I hear normally. There are other oddities too like the familar 'drag to trash.aif' is not in the same folder as ''empty trash.aif' but is instead in the 'dock' folder along with the 'poof item off dock.aif'.

Can anyone give me some insight into why many of these system sounds never play?

 

[mad jew]

Hmm... Those sounds work for me but sometimes OSX forgets to play them if I'm doing heavy (or even mild) multi-tasking. If you stop what you're doing, crank the volume, create a new file, and then drag it to the Trash, are you sure you can't hear the click/tink as it is slammed down the Trash's gullet? Also, are these sounds working if you play them in QuickTime?

 

[beammeup]

Yes, they all work in quicktime. I've been using the computer for years and have never heard the ones that I've just discovered are actually there.

If I can hear the mount sound you'd think I would hear the unmount sound. I've not even heard these sounds on others computers. What about sticky menus and scrolling through them do you also get those sounds?

I've gone through Panther and Tiger and I've never heard them.

PS, I do get the drag to trash sound but I don't get the 'move to trash' sound.

 

[mad jew]

Sticky menus as in the Javascript menus in browsers that are attached to the scroll bar? They don't give me any sound feedback. I also just get the regular Drag To Trash clip, even when I explicitly tell Finder to Move To Trash (COMMAND-DELETE or the File menu). Weird.

 

[beammeup]

I just assumed that 'sticky menus' meant the system menus when you click on them.

I don't even understand what a 'move to trash.aif' is doing in the 'dock' folder along with the 'poof' sound.

There appears to be a whole bunch of sounds in the 'accessibility' folder than I never hear either. I wonder if perhaps they are in the wrong folders or there is a naming bug that is causing them not to play. There are other strangely named files like 'Slow Keys, Key Registered.aif' that I not only never hear but I don't even know what it means.

I started searching this out because suddenly for no reason that I can work out I randomly get a strange sound when using Firefox, which I have worked out is the 'Sticky Keys OFF.aif' but it just plays very occassionally and scares the crap out of me.

 

[mad jew]

A lot of them are for Universal Access which might be why you haven't heard them before. I don't think I get any sound from my menus either. It's pretty weird.

 

[beammeup]

Yeah I really miss that clicky sort of sound you used to get when using the drop down system menus like the old platinum sounds. Turns out they are there but don't work.

Oh right I see the sticky keys refer to the Universal Access.

That explains part of the mystery.

 

[mad jew]

I haven't used it, but you might be able to use an app like MooSB to play those old system sounds on demand.