DIY fake exhaust tone

[Cmar]

One question: does yours have a DPF? If not, then it’s a different tone than I am speaking about. With a cat and dpf and a muffler, which is the stock configuration there is no exhaust tone only engine and that sounds uncultivated to say, at least.

No, DPF for commercial vehicles didn't become compulsory here until 2016. I deliberately bought second hand the latest model I could, with the lowest mileage I could, that still didn't have a DPF. So mine's a late May 2015 PX1, (almost end of run) with a cat, but no DPF or add blue. DPF's began to appear in mid 2015 when the PX2 facelift was released. Apparently however some early ones missed out and a few lucky people got early PX2's without a DPF due to a supply issue. They were supposed to take them back to dealers to have them fitted retrospectively but I doubt if any have.

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[onobeka]

Thanks Cmar! Then I agree a 2.2 can sound ok/good. Maybe we can talk more about our trucks separately.

 

[onobeka]

Meanwhile I am busy with the project. For now I have a mockup, very simple, with a microcontroller that replicates some exhaust sound on a piezo speaker. It's just a test.

If you want to see how Audis do the v8 sound in stock configuration, this is in german but you will get a lot of details out of the images alone:

 

[Jason B]

Why do they do that? To get a V6 to sound like a V8? Ingenius to inject the sound directly into the exhaust.

 

[onobeka]

Why do they do that? To get a V6 to sound like a V8? Ingenius to inject the sound directly into the exhaust.

Indeed. The fact they inject the sound in the exhaust is their choice, poor choice if you ask me as it damages the speaker as it also pulls (and pushes) hot exhaust gases against the cone as it moves. Just look what happened to that guy and there are many complaining and replacing their speakers. If you look closely the cone is fine, but the membrane is unglued and melted. Unreliable design Audi yet awesome solution otherwise.

Other manufacturers just have the active sound dumping somewhere underneath the car as it is just a pure sound device, no aid in performance and absolutely nothing to do with the exhaust flow.

As every OEM almost will slash down the big engines (v8-v12) they want still maintain a nice sound, so why not synthesize it? Is it better to leave a bad thing in place than to try to fix? Haters can hate, I think it's smart.

 

[onobeka]

Work in progress …

First sound sample. The enhancement sound comes only at 0:23. I can rev it from a pot now, the video is meant to let you guys hear the tiny diesel in the beginning. Lots of background noises, nature too .

 

[JACKSMYDOG]

Work in progress …

First sound sample. The enhancement sound comes only at 0:23. I can rev it from a pot now, the video is meant to let you guys hear the tiny diesel in the beginning. Lots of background noises, nature too .

It's an interesting project, but I don't have a problem with the factory noise.

 

[onobeka]

It's an interesting project, but I don't have a problem with the factory noise.

The factory noise is ok once warm like in the video. It is raising hell when cold. If you were talking about the sound in the video … not the USDM petrol one …

 

[JACKSMYDOG]

The factory noise is ok once warm like in the video. It is raising hell when cold. If you were talking about the sound in the video … not the USDM petrol one …

Ya, I meant in the video. Even cold and 'raising hell' I can't see it sounding like anything I'd try to drown out with louder fake exhaust.

The 2.3l petrol sounds terrible. It rattles and clicks like a broken sewing machine. Worst sounding motor I've ever owned.

 

[onobeka]

Thank you! I should post a recording from inside the cab winter time. However, your reply gives confidence in case I will not succeed. Idle sound is easy … revving is also easy, making it sound ok on throttle deload is tough! Anyway, I am engaged in this project regardless of the outcome. As said in the beginning, for me it’s always the path.

 

[Rapid Roy]

I am looking to start a project to add a fake exhaust tone to my truck. I know … I can’t believe I am actually doing this as a purist gearhead myself, yet audis and maserattis have it too.

There is nothing I can do to my small diesel as it has a cat and a DPF with an aftermarket exhaust that would still be compliant in Europe.

I can buy off the shelf systems like Maxhaust that connect to the OBD port to read the RPM, yet I want to build one myself with an arduino, an amplifier and a ported box speaker enclosure.

I need a simple way to read RPM without CAN decoding or … to read the throttle, and I am looking for ideas.

The pedal is a potentiometer, I guess I can read the voltage or resistance, either would work. Any thoughts in this?

The fake noise will be outside, not inside.

Do everyone a favor and put the noise inside win win

 

[onobeka]

Do everyone a favor and put the noise inside win win

Thank you for your support! I am not even half way through, everything is sitting on my workbench, the speaker is not even ordered and you already know it will turn out like crap! Maybe you have a crystal ball.

 

[Cmar]

Meanwhile I am busy with the project. For now I have a mockup, very simple, with a microcontroller that replicates some exhaust sound on a piezo speaker. It's just a test.

If you want to see how Audis do the v8 sound in stock configuration, this is in german but you will get a lot of details out of the images alone:

I did 5 years of German at high school, actually liked it, was a long time ago and pretty rusty now, but got most of it. Yeah that guy not impressed with the design! although it sounds good. but really a good V6 doesn't sound all that bad itself.

Typical Audi, clever engineering, but leaves you feeling there must have been a simpler, less expensive, way to do it, or even did it actually need doing in the first place.

 

[onobeka]

Well, simpler, less expensive is my quest, that’s why I am even struggling here. The aftermarket industry is selling such a device for 1k+ EUR, and for good reason. OEMs are slashing down v8s, soon they will v6s too. Ford claims 2035 will be EVs only. Manufacturers have already added these devices for years now. The biggest selling point of the Maserati is the noise, otherwise the price is already close to a Ferrari.
The noise you hear in the above video I’ve made is the very same from a hellcat, idle. I am not yet close to the revving sound of the hellcat, yet I hope I can achieve it. Anyway, my goal is not to make a 4c diesel sound like a v8 hemi, not to make it loud and annoying, rather to color the sound to something of a dying breed. I know it is sad, yet the v8 noise is already singing the swan song . I try to grab on the moment we still have, for some reason in this forum I get a lot of rant.

 

[Radioman]

for some reason in this forum I get a lot of rant.

My thought is that it is your truck and you can do anything you wish that pleases you (within reason of course). Don't be concerned what others may say. Personally, I don't want to hear my truck's motor at all.

At least you aren't installing railroad horns...

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