It's not that the stock sounds are the "best ever"... it's that they are acoustically done in a proper way. They may sound aweful but they are done right. Whereas many sound mods sound great but they don't sound right from all angles or when a plane is flying in a specific situation.

Recently I've heard some better ones...but I haven't really checked them all out yet.

The other problem is that some sound samples are copyrighted (the recording, not the sound) and while it's ok for a mod team to take and modify... it's much harder for TD to authorize that officially. Not to mention that being allowed to modify sounds in the stock game could lead to cheating in competitive (or even non competitive) circles. The lengths that people will go to cheat is often incredible.

Being a dedicated offline campaigner, with practically no online flying experience, I don't quite understand how one can cheat by using a different sound engine. Anyway, it's tragic that such people through their behavior impose limitations on the game development.

I'd first just disable own engine sound, so I cannot be surprised anymore.
I agree, that this wouldn't be as intense as a pink default skin for enemy planes and I don't say, that anyone would be doing it at all... but we do care, not to leave such ways open.

Thank you Caspar very much for the explanation. It still beats me how anyone can enjoy flying with no sound and shooting at pink planes :)
Let me modify my original question then - is there any chance that the Team improve the hardcoded engine/gun sounds, or is it outside your scope?

Its mainly, what IceFire said. We have technical and - even more - legal restrictions. If we could handle these problems, I'd be very happy, but currently its out of our possibility.
What we need is a WW2-airwar-enthousiast, who is at the same time sound expert (means who can provide and work with legal samples - preferably recorded by himself).

EDIT: I recently bought a Medusa NX headset to work with my simple 5.1 onboard sound device, instead of my old stereo desktop speaker.
I was astonished, how nice the in game sounds are with this now! They are not only more intense on treble and bass, but I can also hear more different sounds.

I know, it is still not sounding like a true airplane, but you can do a lot already with such a low budged setup.

Maybe David Gilmour of Pink Floyd? He used to own a P-51 Mustang :)

Bear in mind that it's not only the problem of copyright that makes this difficult; getting good quality sound recordings themselves. I'm a reasonably experienced amateur sound engineer, though only with music, but even that can be tough. Here's my particular thoughts on the problems I'd think about before I ran out the door with a mic in hand:

1) Is there a prototype flying? Ok for P-40s, Mustangs, Spitfires and Hurricanes and even Bf109s but what about original flying Klimovs? Or Napier Sabre? Or nearly any of the Japanese a/c for that matter?

2) Getting to said aircraft - whilst I have a nice selection here in the UK I'd need a sizeable travel budget to get out to some of the rarer birds.

3) Most do not operate at anywhere near wartime rated boost/pressure settings - you might extrapolate and synthesise but difficult to get right the true full power symphony from these motors.

4) Recording. In cockpit provides challenges - damping the vibration from the airframe being one - but we still run into problem 3). Also how do you get good external? From ground for fly-bys might be ok but for true non-dopplar recording? Ever tried shoving a mic into a 200mph+ gale? Lol! Guess what you're gonna hear and in won't be much engine noise!

Not trying to be defeatist, but just illuminate some of the issues TD has regards getting good, authentic and legal sound for an overhaul.

^^ This ^^

Most of the mod sounds are good if you're watching YouTube videos, but just doesn't sound right in the game.

Moreover, the default sounds are decent with an aftermarket sound card and adjustments. As it is I prefer the default sounds to modded sounds for now, but that may change in the future if some real quality stuff is made, either by mod or by TD.

I agree with the above. Listening through good quality headphones also helps a lot.

Hello,

The sound scheme in IL-2 has been discussed before. The community is clearly divided between the two camps of "modded sounds or bust" or "there is no subsitiute for stock sounds". My lengthy participation in these discussions has led me to believe that these two camps cannot be reconciled. I know the stock sounds are still one of the biggest reasons many people turn to the mods. The solution for the problem is to make the sound scheme selectable by the user. I understand the concerns about cheating and I think the way forward is for DT to come up with a sound scheme format that the makers of the various sound mods could conform to. These sound makers could then submit their new sounds in said format to DT for inclusion in the next patch. Then, in the sound setup menu, you could have a drop-down menu where the user could select the sound scheme that best suits their preference (stock, Jafa, Tiger33, etc). This way, sound schemes can be selected by the user (satisfying everyone's beef with the stock sounds one way or another) and game integrity is not compromised because the various sound schemes are locked up in the closed architecture of the game.

Just a thought,

Fafnir_6