Asbjoern Andersen


Sound is a major part of what makes robots so cool (oh, and they shoot lasers – not bad either!).
In the past few months, there’ve been some really interesting new libraries released that’ll help you get those robot sound effects just right – from robotic voices and vocalizations, movements and impacts, futuristic weapons and much more.

I’ve picked some highlights below. Grab what you need, and you’re well on your way to building that robot army you’ve always dreamed of:

Update: New Robot SFX Arrivals:

  • Sci-Fi Sound Effects Cyborg Collection Play Track 3000+ sounds included $55

    The Cyborg Collection features a wide assortment of over 3000 Sci-Fi sound effects ranging from small user interfaces to massive robots.

    Everything from simple droids to powerful plasma rifles and futuristic transformations are included in this 3.2GB library. Check out the track listing here to see the variety of robots, interfaces, weaponry, vehicles and spacecraft included in the collection.

  • Exosuit contains a large number of armored sound FX ready to use. Inside this turbocharged bio-suit you will find an arsenal of mechanized pieces of equipment noises and mechanical sequences.

    Also included are sampled organic sounds, metallic impacts, chain sounds, pneumatic and hissing air sounds, whooshes, explosions, electric arcs and surges and diverse ranges of alien weapons (grenade launcher, a variant of the ARC Gun and missiles). All files are named and sorted thematically.

  • Are you looking for robot and transformation sounds?

    You're in luck! This library gets you sounds like complex impacts, hydraulic movements, robotic vocal manipulation, breathtaking atmos, drills, shutdowns, startups, UI sounds and much more.

    Transformation is produced by Oliver Schmitt aka SOUNDS OF REVOLUTION


Hits and impacts:
 
  • Welcome to SoundMorph’s Future Weapons soundpack, one of the most advanced weapon sound effects libraries ever created.

    Inspired by some of the latest modern sci-fi films, Future Weapons takes high tech weaponry to whole other universes.

    Divided into two factions ‘Alliance’ and ‘Resistance’, Future Weapons sound effects create sonic signatures for both good and evil forces.

    Providing excellent designed sounds and source to get you started on crafting your own advanced arsenal, Future Weapons is a must have for the twenty-first century sound designer!

No self-respecting robot comes without weapons – and the Future Weapons SFX collection packs a punch, featuring more than 450 carefully-designed sci-fi weapon sound effects

 

  • The Metal Scrap library was recorded at a scrapyard where they do nothing but shredding, cutting, breaking and moving metal of all sorts, all day long.

    Metal Scrap includes:

    • Large metallic objects and metal debris being drooped by huge cranes, into and onto various surfaces.
    • The end of the Conveyer belt, where the smaller pieces of metal junk fall onto a bigger pile af junk.
    • Lots of metallic destruction and impacts, huge and small.

For the typically-metallic robot bodies, metal scrap offers some good sounds for movement – and for those metallic impacts. For more hard-hitting impact sounds, check out the Just Impacts – Processed library too.
 

Mechanical and buzzing:
 
Servo sounds are perfect for robotic movement sounds – used as-is for smaller, precise movement sounds, or processed for larger, mechanical motor sounds. This library offers up a great selection to work from.

 

Need some sci-fi buzzing sounds? This library features lots of hums, buzzing, startup sounds and much more, captured from fridges, microwaves, boilers, cell phones, TVs and computers.
 

Robotic Voices:
 
  • Creature Sound Effects Robot Voices Play Track 1000+ sounds included $66.33

    “Robot Voices” is a collection of designed vocal expressions of 50 friendly and very talkative robotic creatures. If Wall-E and R2D2 were throwing a cocktail party this is probably what you would hear! A total of 50 robotic creatures are included.

    Robot Voices highlights:

    • 50 Robotic creatures speaking
    • Many expressions per robot (25 – 65 individual words and sentences for each robot character)
    • Descriptive filenames
    • Embedded Soundminer metadata

    33 %
    OFF
Looking for some charming, nonsensical robot voices? This SFX library from Shapingwaves gets you 50 different robotic characters to work with, in the lively, chatty style of R2D2 and Wall-E – and beyond.

 

  • Transmission apparatus is a construction kit designed to create a broad range of communication sounds, from real to “alien” broadcasting signals.

    The library contains more than 2 GB of data, delivered in 373 files of unique sound material. It’s catalogued in five elements: AM (amplitude modulation), FM (frequency modulation), SSB (single side band – aka ham radio), KYMA (synthesised noises) and VOCAL (unintelligible speeches).

    The first three bands were recorded from the output of different radio receivers at 96 kHz via a Crane Song HEDD (Harmonically Enhanced Digital Device) to add warmth and tube/analog sonic color to the recordings. All the samples have been carefully selected from these recording sessions, with the addition of just a little dsp processing to widen the stereo field.

    The Kyma folder also contains unique audio files entirely synthesised in the SSC Kyma+Paca(rana) environment. A group of SFX called Vocal is the result of “destroyed” dialogues and vocal sources via spectral processing.

    Transmission Apparatus is available in two versions:

    96 kHz .WAV version• Audio Format: Broadcast Wave Files (.wav)
    • Bit Depth: 24-bit Size: 2.49 GB
    • Download size is 1.82 GB (compressed .rar archive)

    Native Instruments Kontakt 5 version• Audio Format: NI Instruments File (.nki)
    • Sample Rate: 96 kHz
    • Bit Depth: 24-bit Size: 1.66 GB
    • Download size is 1.64 GB (compressed .rar archive)
    • Full version of NI Kontakt 5 required

For futuristic communication sounds, Transmission Apparatus is a powerhouse. Featuring five different categories of comms sounds, there’s lots of material to create those futuristic communication sounds and volcalizations. Also comes in a Kontak version for further tweakability.
 

Bonus: All-in-one robot libraries:

If you’d rather just grab one pack of robot sounds and be done with it, these two libraries are well worth checking out:

  • Featuring over 2.4GB of designed sound effects, and over 1.6GB of source recordings, Robotic Lifeforms spans a wide range of robot sounds, from small bots to massive automatons.

    Robotic Lifeforms includes:

    • 1,700+ designed sound effects
    • 950+ source recordings
    • 230+ transforming sound layers
    • 160+ morphing sound layers
    • 650+ servo file

Featuring more than 2700 sounds – including transforming, morphing and servo sounds – this gives you a broad selection of sounds to work with.

 

  • Robobiotics is an exciting new sound effects collection from The Library by Empty Sea. It delivers 3600+ original sound effects for scifi and robots. We’re talking about almost 3 hours of material here.

    We spent over a year recording and designing Lasers, Robot Vox, Impacts, Servos, Ratcheting Metal, Ambiances, Transformations, Foley, Vehicle Bys and much much more!

Another all-in-one pack – this one delivers more than 3600 sounds.

Hope you’ve found some useful sounds for your next, awe-inspiring robot.
Good luck with the sci-fi projects!

 

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THE WORLD’S EASIEST WAY TO GET INDEPENDENT SOUND EFFECTS:
 
A Sound Effect gives you easy access to an absolutely huge sound effects catalog
from a myriad of independent sound creators, all covered by one license agreement
- a few highlights:
  • Cinematic & Trailer Sound Effects Abandoned Oil Tank Play Track 327 sounds included $40

    On a recording trip to the smaller Danish port town Struer, I came across an abandoned empty oil tank. Inside I found two giant wires attached to the floor and the ceiling of the tank, almost like a huge 2 stringed double bass. I’m telling you the reverb in there was longer than the Eiffel Tower on a cloudless day !

    On the outside this was just an empty abandoned building, but it turned out it was not empty at all because it was full of sound and a few dead birds. I’m glad I was curious enough to go inside for a closer investigation and not just pass by.

    After several hours of concentrated recording, it was nice to get my ears back out in dry air. I’m happy there are no open sends to Valhalla in real life but experiencing the eternal resonance on the low frequencies from the wires was absolutely amazing.

    Abandoned Oil Tank was recorded with a LOM basic Ucho stereo pair, a Zoom H6 and the LOM Geofon. All files are in 96 kHz/24 bit and contain the original recordings.

    The result is a unique sound effect library including balloon pop impulse responses from a truly unique location that very recently became even more unique since word says that the oil tank is no more and has abandoned this world.

    327 individual sounds – all tagged with Universal Category System (UCS) metadata.

    www.katrineamsler.com

    20 %
    OFF
    Ends 1713131999
  • Electricity Sound Effects Polarity Play Track 975 sounds included $72

    Polarity delivers more than 950 sounds of electricity, science and technology – captured in several locations around the world, from electricity museums to science labs. About 50% of the library is all about electricity, with various types of Jacob’s Ladders, Tesla Coils, Ruhmkorff lamp and all sorts of impactful bursts of energy.

    Then we go through welders, plasma spheres, 3D printers, starting to cover a more broad technology theme – like old phones, telegraphs, dynamo wheels, rotary dials, whirling watchers, alarm, lab centrifuges, something scientists call a roller and a rocker, servo sounds, neon lights, a wimshurst machine and sparklers.

    Many sounds in this section were captured from vintage equipment, from a 1928’s tram to old telephone switchboards, high voltage levers and control surfaces.

    All content was recorded at 192KHz with a Sanken CO100K, a couple of Sennheiser 8040 and a Neumann 81i, translating into final assets that have plenty of ultrasonic content, ready for the most extreme manipulation.

    Bonus: Two extra libraries included for free:
    This library also includes two additional releases from Mattia Cellotto - for free: Crunch Mode delivers 230 crunchy sounds made with a variety of vegetables, fresh bread, pizza crust and a selection of frozen goods. The Borax Experiment gets you 158 squishy, gory, slimy and gooey sounds.
    20 %
    OFF
  • Foley Sound Effects Pickups and Small Item Sounds Play Track 280 sounds included, 7 mins total $4.16

    Great Audio is Essential

    Essential Audio Pickups and Small Item Sounds contains 280 Foley sounds designed specifically for Video Game Sound Designers who need the usual Pick-Up sounds and SFX for common small items, including: Keys, Coins, Access Card, Pills/Health, Latches, Locks, Chains, Bags, and many many more!

    Features:

    •  280 sounds
    • Bags
    • Coins
    • Keys
    • Pill Bottle
    • Cable Ties
    • Camera
    • Lighter
    • Access Card
    • Chains
    • Locks
    • Clips and Clasps
    • Computer Mouse
    • Boxes
    • Papers
    • Clicks and Ticks
    • Tools
    • Scissors
    • Wood Game Pieces
    • Zippers

    Number of Audio Waves: 280

    Sample rate / bit rate: 44,100 Hz / 16 bit

    75 %
    OFF
Explore the full, unique collection here
 
 
   

One thought on “Robot Sound Effects: 6 SFX Packs for Designing Fantastic-Sounding Robots

  1. Thanks for the round-up, I hope this saves time for others seeking to make mechanical beasts come alive. This has been an emerging trend in recent years (if we can make some sort of parallel to a surging sector of the stock market), in part due to movies/trailers like Transformers.

    Another I’d highly recommend which isn’t in your shop (yet, haha) is Twisted Tools’ aptly-titled Transform: http://twistedtools.com/shop/samplepacks/transform/ and some of their other titles too.

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