Cingular cell phone service - A restrained ringtone, created from scratch

Author

A restrained ringtone, created from scratch

xx-google@telefog.com

2007-03-21, 4:33 am

Click here to hear an MP3 of a ringtone that
I made from scratch:

http://telefog.com/ringtone

It's 30 seconds long, which matches the
length of the ring cycle for most phones.

In chronological order, it consists of:

- 4 tones of 0.1 seconds each, separated
by 3 silences of 0.1 seconds each

- a 9.5-second silence

- 3 tones of the type in the first burst

- a 9.5-second silence

- 2 tones of the type in the first burst

- a 9.5-second silence

- 1 tone of the type in the first burst

(All durations are approximate.)

I think that the virtues of this ringtone are:

- It's distinctive: in a roomful
of phones, you'd recognize this
ring because no one else would have
it.

- It's button-downed: the tones are
identical and don't suggest any
song.

- It's restrained: the ringtone consists
mainly of silence, so even if you couldn't
answer a phone that was using this ringtone,
it would not annoy the hell out of most
people within earshot.

- The 4-3-2-1 pattern tells you
about how long you have to answer the
phone before it reverts to voicemail.
For example, when you hear the 2-tone
burst, you'd know that you have about
10 seconds left before the call goes
to voicemail.

I composed the ringtone using Motorola's
iMelody utility, which used to come installed
on Motorola's Verizon and Cingular models.
Verizon phased out iMelody a couple of years
ago, and it looks like Cingular is phasing
right now. I used a Cingular Motorola V557,
and nearly all Cingular RAZRs have iMelody,
too. Your phone might have iMelody without
you realizing it; poke around your Motorola's
menus. The iMelody tone sequence for the
ringtone that I created is:

*5g5r4*5g5r4*5g5r4*5
g5r4r2r1r1r1r1r1r1r1
r1r1*5g5r4*5g5r4*5g5
r4r2r1r1r1r1r1r=
=AD
1r1r1r1*5g5r4*5g5r4r
2r1r1r1r1r1r1r1r1r1*
5g5r1r1

That would look like gibberish until you
use iMelody to compose; you'd understand
it eventually. "*5g5" means a tone of
octave 5, note g, duration 1/5 of a second.
"r" means rest of duration 1 second ("1"),
1/2 second ("2"), or 1/4 second ("4").

(However, those durations don't all match
the durations in the finished product, and
I don't know why. But the ringtone works as
I want it to.)

The terminating "r1r1" is a buffer to prevent
the ringtone from starting over at the beginning
in the event that the ring cycle runs over
30 seconds.

Please note that the various versions
of iMelody over the years have had differing
syntax, so you might have to experiment
to determine the syntax on your phone.

I don't fully understand iMelody's syntax,
so feel free to flesh things out. IMelody
is discussed in Motorola's user manuals
either incompletely or not at all.

What do you think of this ringtone?

**********
1366294709

David2007

2007-03-21, 4:33 am

On Mar 21, 11:26 am, xx-goo...@telefog.com wrote:
> Click here to hear an MP3 of aringtonethat
> I made from scratch:
>
> http://telefog.com/ringtone
>
> It's 30 seconds long, which matches the
> length of the ring cycle for most phones.
>
> In chronological order, it consists of:
>
> - 4 tones of 0.1 seconds each, separated
> by 3 silences of 0.1 seconds each
>
> - a 9.5-second silence
>
> - 3 tones of the type in the first burst
>
> - a 9.5-second silence
>
> - 2 tones of the type in the first burst
>
> - a 9.5-second silence
>
> - 1 tone of the type in the first burst
>
> (All durations are approximate.)
>
> I think that the virtues of thisringtoneare:
>
> - It's distinctive: in a roomful
> of phones, you'd recognize this
> ring because no one else would have
> it.
>
> - It's button-downed: the tones are
> identical and don't suggest any
> song.
>
> - It's restrained: theringtoneconsists
> mainly of silence, so even if you couldn't
> answer a phone that was using thisringtone,
> it would not annoy the hell out of most
> people within earshot.
>
> - The 4-3-2-1 pattern tells you
> about how long you have to answer the
> phone before it reverts to voicemail.
> For example, when you hear the 2-tone
> burst, you'd know that you have about
> 10 seconds left before the call goes
> to voicemail.
>
> I composed theringtoneusing Motorola's
> iMelody utility, which used to come installed
> on Motorola's Verizon and Cingular models.
> Verizon phased out iMelody a couple of years
> ago, and it looks like Cingular is phasing
> right now. I used a Cingular Motorola V557,
> and nearly all Cingular RAZRs have iMelody,
> too. Your phone might have iMelody without
> you realizing it; poke around your Motorola's
> menus. The iMelody tone sequence for theringtonethat I created is:
>
> *5g5r4*5g5r4*5g5r4*5
g5r4r2r1r1r1r1r1r1r1
r1r1*5g5r4*5g5r4*5g5
r4r2r1r1r1r1r=
1r=AD=AD
> 1r1r1r1*5g5r4*5g5r4r
2r1r1r1r1r1r1r1r1r1*
5g5r1r1
>
> That would look like gibberish until you
> use iMelody to compose; you'd understand
> it eventually. "*5g5" means a tone of
> octave 5, note g, duration 1/5 of a second.
> "r" means rest of duration 1 second ("1"),
> 1/2 second ("2"), or 1/4 second ("4").
>
> (However, those durations don't all match
> the durations in the finished product, and
> I don't know why. But theringtoneworks as
> I want it to.)
>
> The terminating "r1r1" is a buffer to prevent
> theringtonefrom starting over at the beginning
> in the event that the ring cycle runs over
> 30 seconds.
>
> Please note that the various versions
> of iMelody over the years have had differing
> syntax, so you might have to experiment
> to determine the syntax on your phone.
>
> I don't fully understand iMelody's syntax,
> so feel free to flesh things out. IMelody
> is discussed in Motorola's user manuals
> either incompletely or not at all.
>
> What do you think of thisringtone?
>
> **********
> 1366294709

Why not to make your ringtones ?
It is easy , just download mp3 to ringtone gold to help you at
http://www.oursdownload.com

John Navas

2007-03-23, 4:33 am

On 20 Mar 2007 20:26:15 -0700, xx-google@telefog.com wrote in
<1174447575.771333.214470@y80g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>:

>Click here to hear an MP3 of a ringtone that
>I made from scratch:
....
>I think that the virtues of this ringtone are:
>
> - It's distinctive: in a roomful
> of phones, you'd recognize this
> ring because no one else would have
> it.
....
> - It's restrained: the ringtone consists
> mainly of silence, so even if you couldn't
> answer a phone that was using this ringtone,
> it would not annoy the hell out of most
> people within earshot.
....

I'm afraid it's way too restrained for my taste.

I personally use the ringtone from the movie "Our Man Flint", which is
quite distinctive and effective. In case you haven't heard it:
<http://mark.cdmaforums.com/V710_Ringer/FlintPhone.mp3>

--
Best regards, SEE THE FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS AT
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/ Cingu...less_FA
Q>

rjdriver

2007-03-24, 12:33 pm

<xx-google@telefog.com> wrote in message
news:1174447575.771333.214470@y80g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
Click here to hear an MP3 of a ringtone that
I made from scratch:

Yes - It's distinctive, and restrained, but in a room full of ring tones
you might also have a room full of background and foreground noise. That
one was little too restrained for me. I would be afraid that by the time I
realized it was mine, or ringing at all, it would have gone to voice mail.

Another alternative is to make a ring tone from part of a song. Millions
are downloading such tones and paying for them, but you don't have to pay.
You can convert your own. Most of us have piles of audio CDs hanging around
the house. There are hundreds of free ring tones there for the picking.

See the tutorial here:
http://www.cd2ringtone.com

Bob

tmoran@acm.org

2007-03-24, 12:33 pm

I just recorded the sound of my home (landline) phone. Nobody else's
ringtone sounds the same and I immediately recognize it.

John Navas

2007-03-24, 3:33 pm

On Sat, 24 Mar 2007 11:50:01 -0500, tmoran@acm.org wrote in
< HeqdnYUofKYky5jbnZ2d
nUVZ_tWhnZ2d@comcast
.com>:

>I just recorded the sound of my home (landline) phone. Nobody else's
>ringtone sounds the same and I immediately recognize it.

Neat idea.

--
Best regards, SEE THE FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS AT
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/ Cingu...less_FA
Q>

Broher Zachary

2007-03-28, 10:33 pm

On Mar 24, 7:50 am, "rjdriver" <rjdriversNOS...@cox.net> wrote:
> <xx-goo...@telefog.com> wrote in message
>
> news:1174447575.771333.214470@y80g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
> Click here to hear an MP3 of a ringtone that
> I made from scratch:
>
> Yes - It's distinctive, and restrained, but in a room full of ring tones
> you might also have a room full of background and foreground noise. That
> one was little too restrained for me. I would be afraid that by the time I
> realized it was mine, or ringing at all, it would have gone to voice mail.
>
> Another alternative is to make a ring tone from part of a song. Millions
> are downloading such tones and paying for them, but you don't have to pay.
> You can convert your own. Most of us have piles of audio CDs hanging around
> the house. There are hundreds of free ring tones there for the picking.
>
> See the tutorial here:http://www.cd2ringtone.com

Indeed. I used Audacity to clip parts of songs from my CD collection
to use for ringtones. I don't consider my musical taste to be _that_
eclectic, but it is enough that my tones are really unique. I did a
dozen songs, maybe 1/3 of which actualy sound cool and pleasant when I
finally played them on my phone. And with my 8125, I saved some clips
as .wav files to use for alert tones, since the ones that come with
the phone are pathetic. Paying for ringtones? *Bah*

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