Specify an audio file for the audible bell

[KalleOlaviNiemitalo]

Description of the new feature/enhancement

Please let me configure the audible bell so that it plays a sound other than "Critical Stop". I'd like to select a sound with a shorter duration and perhaps lower volume.

This request is for Windows Terminal, not the console host.

Proposed technical implementation details (optional)

Ever since #7679, the implementation of the audible bell hardcodes SND_ALIAS_SYSTEMHAND:

terminal/src/cascadia/TerminalApp/Pane.cpp

Lines 373 to 374 in 67dfbd2

	const auto soundAlias = reinterpret_cast<LPCTSTR>(SND_ALIAS_SYSTEMHAND);
	PlaySound(soundAlias, NULL, SND_ALIAS_ID | SND_ASYNC | SND_SENTRY);

I can think of two ways to make this configurable:

• Let me specify the path of a sound file in settings.json. I think this should be configurable per profile, like the bellStyle setting (Feature Request: disable bell #2360) is.

• Alternatively, register Windows Terminal with the "Change system sounds" feature in Control Panel so that I can choose a sound there. According to C++ at Work: Web Version Checking, Adding Sound to an App, this involves the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps Registry key and the SND_APPLICATION flag. I suspect that the MSIX packaging of Windows Terminal won't allow writing to such Registry keys, though.

[zadjii-msft]

I absolutely agree that this is a reasonable feature request. From our team's internal Teams channel:

[electronic-dk]

Which audio file types will the terminal be supporting in this case? Only wav?
P.S. The bruh sound looks like a perfect choice for the bell, but I'd definitely like to set john cena theme as the bell sound.

[zadjii-msft]

It probably shouldn't just be .wav - hopefully XAML/WinRT have some convenient APIs we could use for loading and playing audio files that'll accept a wide gamut of file types

[WSLUser]

Alternatively, register Windows Terminal with the "Change system sounds" feature in Control Panel so that I can choose a sound there.

I would like this to be an option as well if possible or make the sounds available at least.

[KalleOlaviNiemitalo]

If WinRT has spatial audio APIs, I might be able to hear which monitor contains the terminal that is ringing the bell.

[j4james]

If there's not a lot of demand for a per-profile setting, I'd also be on favour of us handling this with a custom sound event that could be configured from the control panel. That way it could (hopefully) be shared with conhost too.

There's no reason why it couldn't also be set from within the Terminal settings GUI, once that's in place. It's just that the underlying config would be stored in the registry rather than the current json file.

See also: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/uxguide/vis-sound

[PhMajerus]

If WinRT has spatial audio APIs, I might be able to hear which monitor contains the terminal that is ringing the bell.

I think this should be global in Windows instead of a Terminal feature.

I've suggested years ago, especially for multi-monitor setups, to have all apps audio be spatially located according to their position. It can be difficult since Windows typically knows which process the sound is coming from but not which window precisely, but anchoring the sound to the top level window of each process would be a great option.
Locating the sound according to the desktop coordinate would require some calibration step to know where the monitors and speakers are and how their coordinates map, so it would be better as a global Windows setting.

Note Windows Mixed Reality actually does this for UWP apps already, as it is even more important when your apps are all around you in the WinMR home 3D environment instead of in a 2D desktop.

[KalleOlaviNiemitalo]

PSReadLine 2.1.0 seems to be using Console.Beep(1221, 50) by default: Cmdlets.cs, Render.cs. Perhaps Windows Terminal could offer a configurable beep as an alternative to an audio file.

• How to specify the parameters in settings,json? Could be "bellFrequency": 1221, "bellDuration": 50. IIRC, some media player supported encoding frequencies and durations in a URI, but I presume that would be more difficult to map to the settings UI, and I can't find it in IANA's list of URI schemes.
• The Beep function waits until the sound ends. That could slow down Windows Terminal. Could be avoided by having Windows Terminal instead generate a waveform in memory and then play it with some other API.

[bbhoss]

It would be nice if the bell were configurable per-profile. That way if you had something that emitted a bell when it was finished executing a long-running process, you could easily distinguish it from the default bell.

[zadjii-msft]

@bbhoss yep, we're definitely planning on making this per-profile. In fact, the "bellSound": "bruh.wav" example from earlier was exactly what convinced the team to make the bell settings per-profile in the first place 😉

[Lexicality]

If possible, I would very much like the ability to set a bunch of bell sounds and have it pick a random one each time. I think it would make situations where you get a bunch of bell tones one after the other nicer if you had a selection.

My particular use case is picking all the Untitled Goose Game harmonica honk noises so I get a harmony when I hit ^c a bunch of times

[zadjii-msft]

set a bunch of bell sounds and have it pick a random one each time ... picking all the Untitled Goose Game harmonica honk noises so I get a harmony when I hit ^c a bunch of times

Okay at first I was like "this is an okay feature request but not one we'd likely get to" but now I'm all "this is a P0 must-ship for v2" 😄

[zadjii-msft]

honk-001.mp4

(obviously, audio on)

[Lexicality]

🎉 Thank you so much for implementing my suggestion! Do you know when the next release is likely to be?

[zadjii-msft]

@Lexicality At this moment, no. We've been on a bit of a slow burn leading up to the holidays. I imagine it won't be for at least a few more weeks.

[ghost]

🎉This issue was addressed in #11511, which has now been successfully released as Windows Terminal Preview v1.13.10336.0.:tada:

Handy links:

• Release Notes
• Store Download