Not sure if anyone is actually interested in this topic, but I wanted to share 
Some time ago, I started researching the Soundaktor: the part that sends fake engine sounds to the cockpit, and is also used in some exhaust systems to improve the external sound.
It's a bit of a controversial topic, because why would anyone want to have any fake sounds in their cars? But... instead of turning the device off, like most people do, I got inspired to dive into it, and see if it was possible to flash firmware from other brands/models to the device.
A few years later, me and a friend reverse engineered the entire configuration file for the soundaktors, enabling customization of sounds, unlocking the firmware so they would function on other cars, et cetera. My Leon got the cockpit sounds of an Audi TT-RS whenever I turned on Sport mode, and it was just a lot of fun Some time later, I installed the external soundaktor as well, which made my car sound like it was much sportier than it really was....
So now I am driving a Formentor 1.4 hybrid, and it's a lot of fun..... and it has 2 sound generators from factory: the good old internal one (4K0 907 159 hardware with 5FF 907 159 software), and the AVAS E-soundgenerator (3Q0 035 335 with 3Q0 035 335 E software). And to my surprise, it's turns out the firmware of the sound generator has the same configuration file as the old ones that I already knew
Sooooooo that basically means we can customize the E-sound as well
Here are some of the things that can be found in the firmware:
A table with a VIN mask, that determines if this firmware has settings specific for your car, and wihich sound profile is attached to which driving mode:
The sound profiles (there can be up to 8 to choose from):
Each profile can consist of up to 16 layers, that each have their own sound sample (the "shape" of the sound) effects and speed, RPM and engine power behavior curves.
The behvior curves and samples can be chosen for each layer of each profile:
And then the curves themselves can be viewed... and modified. In the screenshot you see the speed behvior: the sound will become louwder as the speed rises, and beomes completely silent after 50km/h.
This is how it's set up in our cars, but...... in an Audi TT-RS itt's completly different, lowering the noise level a bit when
And things become really funky when looking at RPM graphs for other Audis:
And last but not least: the shape of the sound itself, the sound samples. Each firmware holds a set of samples, which determine the exact sound definition, and whether or not the sound is just a fine rumble, a rattling exhaust, or to act as a masking for road noise:
Formentor firmware has 1 additional sound sample, and it appears to be unused:
I hope I'm not the only one interested in this kind of thing. I'll release the latest version of the tool soon on mqbtools.nl
You should be able to export modified files for free, and use them to flash your hardware with a new sound
Some time ago, I started researching the Soundaktor: the part that sends fake engine sounds to the cockpit, and is also used in some exhaust systems to improve the external sound.
It's a bit of a controversial topic, because why would anyone want to have any fake sounds in their cars? But... instead of turning the device off, like most people do, I got inspired to dive into it, and see if it was possible to flash firmware from other brands/models to the device.
A few years later, me and a friend reverse engineered the entire configuration file for the soundaktors, enabling customization of sounds, unlocking the firmware so they would function on other cars, et cetera. My Leon got the cockpit sounds of an Audi TT-RS whenever I turned on Sport mode, and it was just a lot of fun
Some time later, I installed the external soundaktor as well, which made my car sound like it was much sportier than it really was....So now I am driving a Formentor 1.4 hybrid, and it's a lot of fun..... and it has 2 sound generators from factory: the good old internal one (4K0 907 159 hardware with 5FF 907 159 software), and the AVAS E-soundgenerator (3Q0 035 335 with 3Q0 035 335 E software). And to my surprise, it's turns out the firmware of the sound generator has the same configuration file as the old ones that I already knew
Sooooooo that basically means we can customize the E-sound as well
Here are some of the things that can be found in the firmware:
A table with a VIN mask, that determines if this firmware has settings specific for your car, and wihich sound profile is attached to which driving mode:
The sound profiles (there can be up to 8 to choose from):
Each profile can consist of up to 16 layers, that each have their own sound sample (the "shape" of the sound) effects and speed, RPM and engine power behavior curves.
The behvior curves and samples can be chosen for each layer of each profile:
And then the curves themselves can be viewed... and modified. In the screenshot you see the speed behvior: the sound will become louwder as the speed rises, and beomes completely silent after 50km/h.
This is how it's set up in our cars, but...... in an Audi TT-RS itt's completly different, lowering the noise level a bit when
And things become really funky when looking at RPM graphs for other Audis:
And last but not least: the shape of the sound itself, the sound samples. Each firmware holds a set of samples, which determine the exact sound definition, and whether or not the sound is just a fine rumble, a rattling exhaust, or to act as a masking for road noise:
Formentor firmware has 1 additional sound sample, and it appears to be unused:
I hope I'm not the only one interested in this kind of thing. I'll release the latest version of the tool soon on mqbtools.nl
You should be able to export modified files for free, and use them to flash your hardware with a new sound
