A first look at Stardock's SoundPackager tool for Windows
Stardock launched SoundPackager, a new commercial program for Microsoft Windows devices designed to change the default sound scheme of the operating system.
Windows comes with its own set of sounds that are enabled by default when it is installed. Some users prefer to mute the operating system as they find sounds distracting, others like sounds as they provide feedback on certain actions or inform the user about certain activities.
Stardock SoundPackager is available as a free 30-day trial, as a standalone program for €5.99, and as part of Stardock's Object Desktop suite of applications. Users interested in the trial need to supply a valid email address and verify it before they may use the application.
SoundPackager first list
SoundPackager displays the active and available sound packs on start. Most Windows users will see the "default sounds" package enabled by default. Good news is that it takes a few clicks to activate one of the local sound packs the program comes with.
You may hover over a sound pack to get a short description; a click displays options to play a sound of the package and to make it the new sound pack on Windows. Once you have found the perfect package you may make it the new default on Windows or use the edit sound pack option to customize it.
Sounds are divided by application which you need to expand to see all available options. If you select Windows, you get a lot of options ranging from "default beep" to sounds for closing programs, selecting, maximizing, or when devices connect.
SoundPackager uses icon to highlight if a sound is mapped to a certain activity. A click on any of the actions plays the currently assigned sound if available.
You may play it at any time or use the "pick sound file" browser to assign a different sound to the activity. SoundPackager accepts WAV files and comes with a wide range of them by default. Nothing is preventing you from selecting custom WAV files from the local system though.
New sounds may be saved as new sound packs; there is also a reset option to reset all sounds to the default and an option to share sound packs with others.
Apart from selecting local sound packs, functionality to download sound packs from the Internet is also available. Switch to the online tab and select one of the available options, e.g. search or "featured".
A core difference between local and online sound packs is that you don't get to preview online sound packs. You need to download them first to add them to the local list. There it is then possible to preview the sound pack, edit it, or make it the default.
Hundreds of sound packs are available online including Windows XP and 7, Portal, Fallout, The Simpsons, Nintendo Wii, or Team Fortress 2 packs.
Closing Words
Stardock SoundPackager offers two advantages over the built-in Windows Control Panel applet. First, that it makes edits a lot easier, and second, that it comes with a huge selection of sound packs that you can install directly.
Only some users will find the application interesting but those who do, may want to take it for a test drive to see if it is useful enough to warrant a purchase.
The program complements Stardock's other standalone programs for Windows: Groupy, which adds tabs to windows, Multiplicity, to control multiple computers with a single mouse/keyboard, Start10, a start menu replacement for Windows 10, and Fences, a program to create folders on the desktop for better manageability.
Now You: Sounds on or off? What is your position?
Khai,
What is key in what you said here is that Microsoft did indeed fundamentally change something in Windows 10 that caused DeskScapes 8 to have problems in one circumstance – with multiple monitors – DeskScapess 8 still functioned well with just one.
That said, DeskSkapes 8 was updated multiple times over the many years of its life:
DeskScapes chagelog:
https://www.stardock.com/products/deskscapes/history
At the point Microsoft introduced the issue, work on DeskScapes 10 was well underway and the update lifecycle for DeskScapes 8 was closed.
That said, we did also reduce the price for DeskScapes from $10 to $5 making any update much more accessible to any and all.
If you still wanted to discuss the issue, please feel free to create a thread in our forums and Ill work with you directly.
Thanks for the feedback, Khai.
Smee,
Sorry to read that you see it that way.
As one can see with SoundPackater here – we do update our products. There have also been two recent free updates for both Groupy and Start10 – each with links user-reported issues that we addressed directly:
Start10:
https://forums.stardock.com/498845/start10-19-beta-released
Groupy:
https://forums.stardock.com/498859/groupy-132-beta-released
If you have threads on our forums that remain unresolved, please update them, I’ll see them, and I’ll look at them personally.
Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager
Personally I dislike anything Stardock, they charge you money for buggy software and by the time they fix the bugs, 3 or 4 version later maybe never, you would have had pay for several upgrades.
Anything Stardock is cash cow only, they dont care about the users.
oh it gets better.
a windows update broke a function on Deskscapes 8.
they promised a fix in the forums…
…which turned out to be buying Deskscapes 10. they claimed they had to recode the app to fix the function. funny. I found a FREE app that does the same thing (Random wallpapers on dual or more monitors. DS 8 was broken by the update – no wallpaper would show) that predated the update by several years and oh. still works…
I’ll be avoiding the company from now on. I don’t like a promise – we’ll fix it and have an update for you – that turns out to be buying new software.
I bought Stardock products—Groupy, Windows FX, and Object Dock a year ago, and not a single problem with any of them. Work great, wouldn’t be without them. I may try SoundPackager.
@smee: They never cared.
Help to cancelled everything that was install on computer.internet explorer
The sound functionally most important to me is the free 15 year old keyboard sound generator ClicKey from https://www.grc.com/freeware/clickey.htm .
I prefer sound N but there are many other ‘click’ sounds available. As an uncoordinated hunt & peck typist, the audible feedback when I press a key is helpful to me even running the latest Win10.