feat: Tema sonoro Interstellar per KDE Plasma
- index.theme con Directories=stereo, OutputProfile=stereo, Inherits=freedesktop ed Example=theme-demo - 61 cue sintetizzati da zero (Ogg Vorbis 48 kHz stereo) piu' il montaggio di anteprima theme-demo.oga - tools/gen_sounds.py: motore di sintesi riproducibile (voci FM armoniche, pad additivi ampiamente detunati, shimmer lidio, riverbero da 4,2 s) - tools/verify_theme.py: verifica della spec, igiene audio (clipping, DC, click ai bordi) e copertura dei nomi suono richiesti dai notifyrc di KDE - preview/index.html: player nel browser per ogni cue del tema - Makefile, install.sh, LICENSES (audio CC-BY-SA-4.0, codice BSD-2-Clause)
This commit is contained in:
Matteo Benedetto
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# Interstellar — sound theme for KDE Plasma
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*A long look out of the window*
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A complete, [freedesktop Sound Theme
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specification](https://specifications.freedesktop.org/sound-theme-spec/latest/)
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compliant sound theme for **KDE Plasma 6** (and any other desktop that honours
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the spec). 61 cues, all of them synthesised from scratch — no sample
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library, no third-party audio, no attribution burden. The whole theme is
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reproducible from the script in `tools/`.
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```
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kde-sound-theme-interstellar/
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├── Interstellar/
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│ ├── index.theme # [Sound Theme] + [stereo] OutputProfile
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│ └── stereo/ # 61 × Ogg Vorbis 48 kHz stereo
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├── tools/
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│ ├── gen_sounds.py # the synthesis engine (reproducible)
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│ ├── verify_theme.py # spec + audio + KDE coverage checks
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│ ├── make_preview.py # rebuilds preview/index.html
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│ └── preview_template.html
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├── preview/index.html
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├── LICENSES/
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├── Makefile
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└── install.sh
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```
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## Character
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Interstellar is the view, not the console. Harmonic two-operator FM (ratio 2.0) folded into wide detuned additive pads on D3, lydian shimmer an octave and two above, and a 4.2 s hall that lets a login bloom. It is the warmest of the three and the one that benefits most from the differentiated reverb bus: chat and volume cues stay close, session and outcome cues open up.
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| Motif | Used for |
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|---|---|
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| Wide detuned pad swell | login, session, vast space |
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| Lydian shimmer cluster | wonder, arrival, highlight |
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| Perfect fifth arpeggio | affirmation, information |
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| Bell glissando | entering and leaving |
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| Plucked-string arpeggio | organic, gentle completion |
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## Requirements
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* KDE Plasma 6, or any desktop implementing the freedesktop sound theme spec
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* nothing at runtime — the cues are plain Ogg Vorbis files
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* `ffmpeg` (libvorbis), `python3`, `numpy`, `scipy` **only** if you want to
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regenerate the audio
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## Install
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User-local (recommended, no root needed):
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```sh
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git clone https://git.enne2.net/enne2/kde-sound-theme-interstellar.git
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cd kde-sound-theme-interstellar
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./install.sh # copies Interstellar/ into ~/.local/share/sounds/
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```
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System-wide:
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```sh
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sudo make install-system # copies Interstellar/ into /usr/share/sounds/
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```
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## Select the theme
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**System Settings → Colors & Themes → System Sounds → Interstellar**
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Or from the command line:
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```sh
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kwriteconfig6 --file kdeglobals --group Sounds --key Theme Interstellar
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```
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To go back to the Plasma default:
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```sh
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kwriteconfig6 --file kdeglobals --group Sounds --key Theme ocean
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```
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The theme declares `Inherits=freedesktop`, so any event it does not provide
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(e.g. multi-channel test signals) falls back to the stock desktop theme instead
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of going silent.
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## What is inside
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`Interstellar/index.theme` declares the theme, `Directories=stereo`,
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`OutputProfile=stereo` and `Example=theme-demo`. The `Example` key is what the
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Plasma *System Sounds* KCM uses for its preview button, so `theme-demo.oga` is a
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montage of the theme's signatures rather than an arbitrary cue.
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`Name[it]` and `Comment[it]` are also provided, so Plasma in an Italian locale
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lists the theme as **Interstellare**. That is a display name only: the theme id — the
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folder name in `~/.local/share/sounds/` and the value written to
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`kdeglobals` — is always `Interstellar`, exactly like KDE's own Ocean theme shows up
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as *Oceano* in Italian.
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| sound name | duration | size |
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|---|---:|---:|
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| `alarm-clock-elapsed` | 2.66 s | 35.7 KiB |
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| `audio-test-signal` | 1.10 s | 20.2 KiB |
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| `audio-volume-change` | 0.13 s | 6.9 KiB |
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| `battery-caution` | 1.18 s | 19.5 KiB |
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| `battery-full` | 1.05 s | 17.5 KiB |
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| `battery-low` | 1.18 s | 17.8 KiB |
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| `bell-terminal` | 0.15 s | 7.2 KiB |
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| `bell-window-system-attention` | 0.94 s | 15.2 KiB |
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| `bell-window-system` | 0.88 s | 14.6 KiB |
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| `bell` | 1.26 s | 19.5 KiB |
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| `button-pressed-modifier` | 0.12 s | 7.0 KiB |
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| `button-pressed` | 0.11 s | 6.9 KiB |
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| `camera-shutter` | 0.26 s | 9.6 KiB |
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| `complete-media-burn` | 2.26 s | 35.9 KiB |
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| `complete-media-error` | 1.72 s | 36.9 KiB |
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| `complete` | 0.83 s | 14.3 KiB |
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| `completion-fail` | 1.38 s | 19.3 KiB |
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| `completion-partial` | 1.12 s | 17.2 KiB |
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| `completion-rotation` | 1.68 s | 23.0 KiB |
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| `completion-success` | 2.14 s | 35.6 KiB |
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| `desktop-login` | 2.90 s | 38.6 KiB |
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| `desktop-logout` | 2.20 s | 28.8 KiB |
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| `device-added` | 0.64 s | 15.2 KiB |
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| `device-removed` | 0.64 s | 15.2 KiB |
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| `dialog-error-critical` | 2.32 s | 47.8 KiB |
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| `dialog-error-serious` | 1.80 s | 38.3 KiB |
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| `dialog-error-veryserious` | 2.70 s | 34.4 KiB |
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| `dialog-error` | 1.48 s | 32.8 KiB |
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| `dialog-information` | 1.13 s | 17.5 KiB |
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| `dialog-question` | 1.14 s | 18.5 KiB |
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| `dialog-special` | 1.86 s | 34.6 KiB |
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| `dialog-warning-auth` | 1.00 s | 18.8 KiB |
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| `dialog-warning` | 1.27 s | 18.3 KiB |
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| `game-over-loser` | 2.60 s | 52.5 KiB |
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| `game-over-winner` | 3.02 s | 51.1 KiB |
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| `media-insert-request` | 0.87 s | 17.1 KiB |
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| `message-attention` | 1.16 s | 24.6 KiB |
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| `message-contact-in` | 1.05 s | 17.3 KiB |
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| `message-contact-out` | 1.05 s | 17.2 KiB |
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| `message-highlight` | 0.86 s | 16.1 KiB |
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| `message-new-email` | 1.48 s | 23.7 KiB |
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| `message-new-instant` | 0.92 s | 14.7 KiB |
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| `message-sent-instant` | 0.45 s | 10.5 KiB |
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| `message` | 0.80 s | 14.0 KiB |
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| `network-connectivity-established` | 1.66 s | 27.4 KiB |
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| `network-connectivity-lost` | 1.26 s | 18.8 KiB |
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| `outcome-failure` | 1.32 s | 29.7 KiB |
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| `outcome-success` | 1.62 s | 27.5 KiB |
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| `phone-incoming-call` | 2.44 s | 37.5 KiB |
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| `phone-outgoing-busy` | 1.30 s | 23.5 KiB |
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| `phone-outgoing-calling` | 1.16 s | 24.6 KiB |
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| `power-plug` | 0.78 s | 15.2 KiB |
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| `power-unplug` | 0.88 s | 19.6 KiB |
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| `screen-capture` | 0.30 s | 10.6 KiB |
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| `service-login` | 1.34 s | 19.8 KiB |
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| `service-logout` | 1.24 s | 18.6 KiB |
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| `suspend-error` | 1.92 s | 40.4 KiB |
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| `theme-demo` | 11.39 s | 177.0 KiB |
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| `trash-empty` | 0.95 s | 20.5 KiB |
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| `window-attention` | 1.43 s | 20.8 KiB |
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| `window-question` | 1.04 s | 17.2 KiB |
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## Rebuilding from source
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The audio is generated, not sampled, so it is fully reproducible:
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```sh
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make generate # rewrites Interstellar/stereo/*.oga from tools/gen_sounds.py
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make verify # spec + audio + KDE coverage checks
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make preview # rebuild preview/index.html
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make dist # build dist/kde-sound-theme-interstellar-1.0.0.tar.gz
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```
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`make verify` fails loudly on a clipped sample, a DC offset, a click at a file
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edge, a wrong sample rate or channel count, a missing `stereo` directory in
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`Directories=`, a broken `Example`/`Inherits` reference, and it reports how many
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of the sound names actually requested by the installed KDE `*.notifyrc` files
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the theme resolves.
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## Design notes
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### One instrument set, not sixty unrelated beeps
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Every cue is assembled from the same small library of motifs — FM bells, sub
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impacts, band-limited noise sweeps, additive pads, plucked strings, telemetry
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blips — so the theme reads as a single instrument rather than a folder of
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noises. The palette below is what turns that library into *this* theme:
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| Parameter | Interstellar |
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|---|---|
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| Root | D3 — 146.83 Hz |
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| Scale | lydian (0 2 4 6 7 9 11) |
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| FM voice | ratio 2.0, index 1.15, index decay 450 ms |
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| Detune | ±14 cents |
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| Space | 4.2 s synthetic hall, 40–53 % wet on the vast cues |
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### A differentiated reverb bus
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A single reverb setting is wrong for a desktop theme: frequent cues (chat,
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volume, button clicks) would smear into each other during a burst, while rare
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dramatic cues would sound dry and small. Cues here are assigned one of five
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reverb classes — from near-dry clicks through a small room up to a vast hall
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with an extra half-second of tail — by motif, with per-sound overrides. The
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result is that a chat notification stays crisp and a login blooms.
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### Loudness-aware normalisation
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Peak-normalising every file is not enough: a sparse bell and a dense error
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cluster end up at wildly different perceived levels. After peak normalisation
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each cue gets a bounded gain (±6 dB) that pulls the RMS of its *active* portion
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towards −16 dBFS, with the peak ceiling always winning. That keeps the theme
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consistent without introducing clipping.
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### No clicks
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Every cue is high-passed (30–130 Hz depending on the class), given a 1.5 ms
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raised-cosine fade in and a 35 ms fade out before the reverb is applied, so the
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convolution never sees a discontinuity. `make verify` enforces this: it rejects
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any file whose first samples are not at zero.
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## Licence
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* **Audio** (`Interstellar/stereo/*.oga`, `Interstellar/index.theme`) —
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[CC BY-SA 4.0](LICENSES/CC-BY-SA-4.0.txt), the same licence the KDE sound
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themes use.
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* **Code and documentation** (`tools/`, `Makefile`, `install.sh`, `preview/`,
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`README.md`) — [BSD-2-Clause](LICENSES/BSD-2-Clause.txt).
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The sounds are original synthesis; nothing is derived from the KDE Ocean sound
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theme or any other recording. You may therefore use this theme commercially and
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adapt it freely, subject to CC BY-SA 4.0's attribution and share-alike terms.
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## Credits
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Created by **enne2** (2026). Designed for Plasma 6.3 on Debian 13.
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