Improving Audio, Storage, and Performance

Fanburst shutting down is both good news and bad news. Bad news because, well, Fanburst is shutting down. I had some good times with this soundcloud-with-serial-numbers-filed-off music provider. It was easy to use and it had some nice tunes on it that really enhanced my gaming sessions. Good news because thanks to the MyAudio function, I can now play stuff from my own music library. It will be mixed news for my players because I have a really eclectic taste in music. ;-) I'm certainly looking forward to their reactions. Which brings me to this question: does anybody know a good online archive for freely available sound effects? I used the stuff on Fanburst a lot and I'd love to continue using similar sound effects in the future through MyAudio. BTW, I was happy with the 2GB I got when I chose the Pro Subscription back in 2015. Those 4 GB extra are a nice bonus. As a paying user I feel rewarded for the trust I placed in Roll20 when I started giving them money to access all their features to their optimum level. So, keep being awesome like that, Roll20. And I'll remain a paying member.

azareon29 said: Which brings me to this question: does anybody know a good online archive for freely available sound effects? I used the stuff on Fanburst a lot and I'd love to continue using similar sound effects in the future through MyAudio. Check out this for a starter:&nbsp;<a href="https://freesound.org/" rel="nofollow">https://freesound.org/</a>

gui8312 said: Thanks roll20 team! amazing update, much appreciated :D EDIT: one question though... how will roll20 protect themselves from copyright infringements in uploaded files? Usually the uploader is at fault, not the site, so they will probably either give warnings/bans to people that upload copyright protected musics whenever some company request. Pretty much like how it happens in YouTube.&nbsp; Now how a company would find out that their music is being used in a Roll20 game, I'm not sure. So it would probably be something very rare to happen.

Ravenknight said: azareon29 said: Which brings me to this question: does anybody know a good online archive for freely available sound effects? I used the stuff on Fanburst a lot and I'd love to continue using similar sound effects in the future through MyAudio. Check out this for a starter:&nbsp; <a href="https://freesound.org/" rel="nofollow">https://freesound.org/</a> Nice one, thanks! Those seem to be .wav-files, but I should be able to convert them to mp3.

azareon29 said: Ravenknight said: azareon29 said: Which brings me to this question: does anybody know a good online archive for freely available sound effects? I used the stuff on Fanburst a lot and I'd love to continue using similar sound effects in the future through MyAudio. Check out this for a starter:&nbsp; <a href="https://freesound.org/" rel="nofollow">https://freesound.org/</a> Nice one, thanks! Those seem to be .wav-files, but I should be able to convert them to mp3. Yea, sorry forgot to add that. :) I'm in the process myself.

The Dungeon Master said: gui8312 said: Thanks roll20 team! amazing update, much appreciated :D EDIT: one question though... how will roll20 protect themselves from copyright infringements in uploaded files? Usually the uploader is at fault, not the site, so they will probably either give warnings/bans to people that upload copyright protected musics whenever some company request. Pretty much like how it happens in YouTube.&nbsp; Now how a company would find out that their music is being used in a Roll20 game, I'm not sure. So it would probably be something very rare to happen. Unless people streaming their games uses copyrighted music I don't think it will be a big problem.&nbsp;

Ravenknight said: The Dungeon Master said: gui8312 said: Thanks roll20 team! amazing update, much appreciated :D EDIT: one question though... how will roll20 protect themselves from copyright infringements in uploaded files? Usually the uploader is at fault, not the site, so they will probably either give warnings/bans to people that upload copyright protected musics whenever some company request. Pretty much like how it happens in YouTube.&nbsp; Now how a company would find out that their music is being used in a Roll20 game, I'm not sure. So it would probably be something very rare to happen. Unless people streaming their games uses copyrighted music I don't think it will be a big problem.&nbsp; Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't we using Roll20 via MyAudio as nothing more than a jukebox (heh)? The only people who can listen to the music are the ones invited to the campaign, right?

azareon29 said: Ravenknight said: The Dungeon Master said: gui8312 said: Thanks roll20 team! amazing update, much appreciated :D EDIT: one question though... how will roll20 protect themselves from copyright infringements in uploaded files? Usually the uploader is at fault, not the site, so they will probably either give warnings/bans to people that upload copyright protected musics whenever some company request. Pretty much like how it happens in YouTube.&nbsp; Now how a company would find out that their music is being used in a Roll20 game, I'm not sure. So it would probably be something very rare to happen. Unless people streaming their games uses copyrighted music I don't think it will be a big problem.&nbsp; Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't we using Roll20 via MyAudio as nothing more than a jukebox (heh)? The only people who can listen to the music are the ones invited to the campaign, right? Yup, unless you stream using Twitch or Youtube.&nbsp;

Ravenknight said: Yup, unless you stream using Twitch or Youtube.&nbsp; Which I don't plan on doing since I only want to enhance my own gaming campaigns for my players with some sweet music and sound effects.

First...I'm a free user. Second...why should free users be entitled to anything?

Jake M. said: Havoc said: Can't wait for a Roll20 Music Marketplace. Not sure if this is sarcasm, but it could be a good idea if it doesnt impact storage space like the art marketplace.&nbsp; If recording artists could generate decent packages of sounds, it could work.&nbsp; 80 SCI FI SOUNDS AND EXPLOSIONS or CAVE AMBIANCE AND CREATURES etc.&nbsp; Not sure the price point of it though. Battle Bards sells their tracks for $1.00 to $1.50

Funny; since we've been informed the site has been hacked (and the class war has become so toxic), anyone notice the phishing posts start to show up? *points to post just above.&nbsp; Re; Pimpa T.*

Dylan L. said: Funny; since we've been informed the site has been hacked (and the class war has become so toxic), anyone notice the phishing posts start to show up? *points to post just above.&nbsp; Re; Pimpa T.* No I've not:&nbsp; but if you look at the profile for that junk&nbsp; looks like a BOT created account. Member since 02/08/19 /&nbsp; G &nbsp;GM of 0 games / 0 Hours Played / 4 Forum Posts Time for two factor and integration with Troy Hunts&nbsp; ';--have i been pwned?

Greg T. said: Pro Subscriber here. I'm not happy about losing Fanburst. I don't need music, but I did like having the ability to quickly look up a random sound effect, creaking doors, sounds of crying etc. Stuff I may or may not use again, and am NOT going to spend time looking up and uploading on my own. I am certain roll20 would like to have kept Fanburst too.&nbsp; It isn't their company and it isn't their choice.&nbsp; Fanburst is closing and they rolled out an in-house solution earlier than expected to help users out.&nbsp; Ideal?&nbsp; No.&nbsp; But best possible alternative?&nbsp; Yes.

Fawzy S. said: First...I'm a free user. Second...why should free users be entitled to anything? This is kind of what I think.&nbsp; To me as a DM, I pay for the subscription so my players can be f2p.&nbsp; They get all the perks they need, and on occasion they throw me some money to help with subscription costs or art costs or whatever.&nbsp; Works pretty well.

azareon29 said: Fanburst shutting down is both good news and bad news. Bad news because, well, Fanburst is shutting down. I had some good times with this soundcloud-with-serial-numbers-filed-off music provider. It was easy to use and it had some nice tunes on it that really enhanced my gaming sessions. Good news because thanks to the MyAudio function, I can now play stuff from my own music library. It will be mixed news for my players because I have a really eclectic taste in music. ;-) I'm certainly looking forward to their reactions. Which brings me to this question: does anybody know a good online archive for freely available sound effects? I used the stuff on Fanburst a lot and I'd love to continue using similar sound effects in the future through MyAudio. BTW, I was happy with the 2GB I got when I chose the Pro Subscription back in 2015. Those 4 GB extra are a nice bonus. As a paying user I feel rewarded for the trust I placed in Roll20 when I started giving them money to access all their features to their optimum level. So, keep being awesome like that, Roll20. And I'll remain a paying member. THIS 100%.&nbsp; The free &nbsp;upgrade to 6 GB of space is fantastic, and I'm enjoying finally being able to upload and manage my playlists directly in roll20.&nbsp; Playback has been smooth as silk so far for me, as have upload speeds and general management.&nbsp; I know there are people here who are not satisfied (and that is valid), but for me as a user, this is the perfect replacement.&nbsp; It actually saved me money because previously I was using Syrinscape, which is a separate subscription and ate up bandwidth.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Hi guys, I'm having a little trouble with ''MyAudio''. I'm trying to upload mp3 audios that are 5-7 mega sized, but when it hits around 4-4,5 mega the upload just stops. Is there a specific reason for this? I did not found a size limit for mp3 files other than 20 MEGA. I would appreciate some help :D

Narrador said: Hi guys, I'm having a little trouble with ''MyAudio''. I'm trying to upload mp3 audios that are 5-7 mega sized, but when it hits around 4-4,5 mega the upload just stops. Is there a specific reason for this? I did not found a size limit for mp3 files other than 20 MEGA. I would appreciate some help :D I think you should post this in the audio feedback thread .

IS there a way to quickly import my existing playlists to MyAudio?

Pat S. said: Narrador said: Hi guys, I'm having a little trouble with ''MyAudio''. I'm trying to upload mp3 audios that are 5-7 mega sized, but when it hits around 4-4,5 mega the upload just stops. Is there a specific reason for this? I did not found a size limit for mp3 files other than 20 MEGA. I would appreciate some help :D I think you should post this in the audio feedback thread . Done that! Thanks man :3

If all of the players in the campaign are willing to chip in with the GM then that's like 5 bucks a person for a year of plus. Assuming you're all playing in one campaign (and with people you know). Not too much of an investment if you consider other hobbies and their prices.

Thank you Roll20 for constantly seeking to improve the experience here. Because of Roll 20, I get to game with the friends I grew up playing with. Every added feature and fix is just another bonus in my opinion. Cheers!

Is a Roll20 Sound and Music marketplace on the cards?&nbsp; i.e. on the development planning?

Is the roll20 song uploading super slow for anyone else? I try to upload a 3 megabyte file and sit there for an hour.

In this thread <a href="https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/7206828/my-audio-feedback-thread" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/7206828/my-audio-feedback-thread</a> Stephanie B. &nbsp;said: Known Issues (Updated Feb 14, 2019) Audio files take a long time to upload and convert, much longer than images and animations. As a result, the progress indicator may appear to get "stuck" for a period of time.&nbsp; If the spinner is still moving, it is still uploading.&nbsp; If your browser runs out of memory, the upload will fail, but your browser will probably crash pretty obviously at that point.&nbsp;

What spinner? The circle that spins when it first starts uploading? What happens for me is it gets past that point and just starts showing the grey bar of progress, but eventually it never makes it past a certain point and just sits there forever. The browser doesn't crash though.

Sorry, but beeing limited to 20 MB files is a problem. As a paying customer I don´t want to invest even more time (because your fiddly interface makes it very time consuming to create anything already) in compressing soundfiles just to use them on Roll20! So please explain, why your paying customers are not allowed to use their payed storage like they want? If I want to upload big als hell pictures I am allowed to, but not using a soundfile the size of 30MB..? Really? Maybe you should think about what you are offering your paying customers in difference of those not giving you any money..!

Just to point out, images are capped at 10 MB.

Hmm, similar to connecting split pictures, maybe you could split tracks and put them in a playlist to connect them. Of course, the question becomes, do they play seamlessly?

Huh, that's a smart idea.

The Dungeon Master said: gui8312 said: Thanks roll20 team! amazing update, much appreciated :D EDIT: one question though... how will roll20 protect themselves from copyright infringements in uploaded files? Usually the uploader is at fault, not the site, so they will probably either give warnings/bans to people that upload copyright protected musics whenever some company request. Pretty much like how it happens in YouTube.&nbsp; Now how a company would find out that their music is being used in a Roll20 game, I'm not sure. So it would probably be something very rare to happen. Yeah but if i wanna use say, listen to Puella Magica music, why am i suddenly not allowed to do so when it comes to games?&nbsp; As long as im not making money off of their product i should be allowed to do this.&nbsp;&nbsp; Just for instance, I showed my friends a movie, no i dont have rights to the movie to stream it online, but i did anyway, i own the dvd and used the dvd... is it illegal or not?&nbsp; what if i dont have the dvd?&nbsp; or i rented it online?&nbsp;&nbsp; The legal system is a mess around this as technically if i recall, even something as benign as fanart is considered illegal use of their copyrighted characters... but if im an artist and I drew the characters, am i not allowed to sell the piece?&nbsp; or use it in my resume or other self promotion? There's also the fact that companies go out of business, for instance, i want to use the thief 1 and 2 ost from the old 90s game, well the company doesnt exist anymore... and they dont have CDs for sale... so whats the issue with taking their music and using it?&nbsp; again without me making money off of it?&nbsp; About the only things ive seen that i feel should require a copyright agreement would be people hosting and making money off of it like Critical Role who are sponsored and wanted to use Witcher's music tracks

Devily said: Pro and Plus users in this site can be just about the most entitled and hostile people on earth, it's baffling. You're telling me that your 5$ and your 10$ can pay off 3g and 6g respectively without needing to raise price... but bumping up free users from 100 to 200 or 300 is going to make the system collapse? I don't get it, I really don't, this "higher than thou" behavior. You want to talk about money? Let's talk about money. Who do you think join your campaigns? Who do you think buy the subscriptions? That's right, free users. Some, like me, even make campaigns. So you're telling me that we are a "burden" on this site when our presence is the single one reason as to why this site is working as it should? That isn't even considering ads. Here is the fact of the matter: Roll20 can do this because there is no competition. There are alternatives, like Rpol... but other sites that do what Roll20 does do not exist. Yet. This is a Skype situation, with a Discord waiting around the corner to listen to the complains of the users and snatch them away. I am not accusing of "Roll20 attacking their free users", no, they just made a bad business mistake, I feel. Backed up by Pro and Plus users actually attacking free users. Twitter seems to work fine without needing their users to pay for services. Facebook, for the most part, is also free. Tumbrl, even though it is basically dead now, also works without needing cash. Newgrounds, Armorgames, Kongregate... those sites even have games and cartoons, you can give donations but otherwise their services are free. But no, a site where most of its "service" revolves around writing surely cannot handle 10%/20% of their non paying userbase (aka, the DMs) utilizing 300mb, this being the argument that many Pro and Plus users bring. The free user base is the flesh of the site, because there is just so many of us joining games, creating campaigns, talking about the site and attracting more and more users to the place. If you alienate us then it's just a matter of waiting on someone else to do what Roll20 does, but better. So, if you truly have interest in Roll20 business you should not be trying to destroy their reputation by acting like hostile children that oh no cannot bear to see the unwashed plebeians get a bump in their storage space. We are not freeloaders and let me tell you that if this site only allowed to Pro and Plus accounts to play it wouldn't last a week. As for any staff member of Roll20, please please please find a compromise for us. We only want 200mb more, hell put down restrictions on how to get them, a time limit like "Every year you've been a user you'll get 100mb more" or something. Hell, as I asked before put a single payment option to bump our space to 500mb, call it the "DM option" or whatever else but give us something to work with. We are not unwilling to support the site even further but we lack the means to do so. Throw us a bone. There are alternatives... Just need to look around.

I don't think comparing roll20 to Amazon is a useful comparison. One is a tiny business, the other is an international company. There's a lot more than just the actual storage that goes into running a data outfit. If it was that cheap and easy, don't you think roll20 would have done what you said?

Dragonzeanse said: Free customers eventually become paying customers, so I don't consider them to be leeching off Roll20 here. Not to just snip that one line. But its that the heart of the debate here. They become paying customers, why? Most of them, because of features and perks that free doesn't give or free isn't up to their needs and expectations. If free easily covers all their needs, and free keeps getting 'upped' to reach the new demands, why would they become paying...if free comfortably covers all they need. Trust me if free gave me all I needed, no matter my love for tabletop, or admiration for the Roll20 team would make me pay 'out of the goodness of my heart' I would have been a free user for the last 5 years. Free is an ' unlimited free sample' a place to do what you need, if its only basic bare bones gaming. An extended hand of "Here have a place to play a basic game, for free, on us since we love tabletop and want others to too", and a taste of whats available to test drive if you sign up. Good example: What home user bought winrar out of love for it back in the day? Hardly anyone, because the unlimited trail always did what we needed. Free users didn't keep them afloat, requiring business to license it did. This reminds of the threads on reddit about the D&amp;D Basic rules for 5e that was given for free. A few threads popup up asking why more monsters, and world settings wasn't later released for starting DM's so they can run a full campaign and the basic free rules was lacking on content for them to run it in. Its there to give you a foot in the door to the world of tabletop, and entice you to want to join and delve into it. Not to be an end all be all solution for no cost. Also think about the logistics of it , Virtually all of people paying are GM's. They can predict space needed on people that upload will exclusively be GMs 99% of the time. How do they reliably know who is a GM and will need and use the space? Best gauge is paying members, as only GM's have a reason to pay, make no sense for a player to. Lets say for every free GM, there is 10 free players on the site. &nbsp;(And Id wager the free player to free GM ratio is&nbsp; much &nbsp;higher than 10, Im going 'best case' here). They are buying 10x the space to give that one GM extra space (as those 10 players accounts get it too, never to be needed). So they need to marginalize and at least balance what they offer with what 'could' be used, that probably wont be. So on demand live storage DOES get expensive when you are paying by a factor of at least &nbsp;10 for what you realistically need. They are literally throwing away 9/10s of their storage money out the window to make 1 in 10 people happy. (in the 1 to 10 example). And your S3 example isnt taking into account the 'request limit', get/put or transfer limits, in your pricing it at the price of only 5300 requests per month. You are basing it on 'cold storage/archive' rates. So yes, archival cold STORAGE is cheap, content delivery storage with high traffic is not. Realistic pricing:&nbsp; High $39.63 1TB 100GB 5,030,000 S3 pricing is based on three factors: Storage Amount: &nbsp;This is the total amount of data (in GB) you’ve stored. Amount of&nbsp; Outbound &nbsp;Data Transferred: &nbsp;Each time a file is downloaded, you are charged. Number of Requests : &nbsp; Amazon charges you a (small) fee for each request you make. 200TB as your example is from amazon S3 calculator:&nbsp; Estimate of your Monthly Bill ($ 5012.35) I'm sure its not that high for them as they dont need 200TB, but surely not as cheap as the rates you quoted.&nbsp; And NO business that relies on online, on demand storage content for its entire user base and its livelihood would ever use off the shelf home PC consumer grade hardware. So quoting how cheap consumer PC hard drives are is&nbsp;irrelevant. (not to mention Roll20 isnt looking to get in the content server management business..They would need to hire someone if they physically&nbsp;in-housed&nbsp;storage it, as well as the data backbone cost to distribute it from inhouse)

Dragonzeanse said: Instead of having a cogent argument for anyone affected by this change, I just see the word "entitlement" and comparisons to coffee keep coming up.&nbsp; ...What has happened is the loss of a feature that free users have not been compensated for. ...I have to feel like I'm being nickel and dimed. You can complain all you want about that being an entitled opinion, but that doesn't change the fact we've lost a feature that hasn't been compensated. I've chopped up your post to highlight the parts that were really striking to me. You're expecting to be "compensated" by a company who's services you use for free.&nbsp; You further describe this lack of "compensation" as a feeling that you're being "nickel(ed) and dimed." Do you truly not see a level of entitlement in your expectations?&nbsp; How can you be "nickel(ed) and dimed" when you've not parted with any nickels or dimes? -Adam

To those free users who are losing the expanded selection of audio tracks due to the Fanburst shutdown, I really do sympathize and offer you a solution. Music really does make the game that next level of fun, and being able to make flexible and interactive soundtracks to suit the mood and tone of your game is undoubtedly one of the most rewarding parts of being a GM. I pay for Roll20 because I like the expanded features; it's a service that has served me very well, and I am financially able to pay for it. I understand that this is not the case for everyone. It's for that reason why I've made a posting in the Solutions forum for free users to gain some of their soundtrack flexibility back. It utilizes free software which requires no payment whatsoever (it is donationware). While it does take some time to set up, just think of it as game prep time. It solves a few of the issues with Fanburst shutting down: because you use your own audio repository, you have ultimate control over it. It is a downloaded piece of software using stored media tracks, meaning that your music is not going to go away unless you uninstall it. Of course, you can always use YouTube or another streaming media service (such as Spotify) if you do not have your tracks saved to your computer. I understand that it can feel tedious to set up a third-party application, but it's a picture walkthrough on the exact settings you'll need to make so set-up shouldn't be more than a few minutes (though "dialing in" can take a bit of time/trial-and-error). And in all honesty, setting up your Roll20 game is pretty much the same time investment as setting up this solution. I estimate that initial setup after downloading will take about 10 minutes, and customizing to your settings can take anywhere between 2 minutes to 60 minutes, depending on how much of a perfectionist you are (equalizers are a helluva thing!). For those who are interested, you can find my walkthrough&nbsp; here .

Dragonzeanse said: I can't describe the level of contempt that the people saying "lol you can afford coffee, you can afford this" are demonstrating for anyone who doesn't pay. First off, being able to play music in my games without another tab, was one of many reasons I like Roll20. Having that feature essentially taken from me because of lame excuses like "storage is expensive" is preposterous. I'm going to say the same thing I've said before.&nbsp; Prove it.&nbsp; You're claiming that Roll20 can afford it.&nbsp; Show me the costs of extra bandwidth for up to 2 million free users uploading music.&nbsp; Show me the costs for extra servers to host the music for 2 million users.&nbsp; Plus there's backup and recovery, fail over servers in the event of server failures and extra networking requirements.&nbsp; You think that preposterous.&nbsp; Show me the money.&nbsp; Disk drive space is the most minor of costs.&nbsp; What you don't realize is everything else required.&nbsp; So if you know, come up with the expenses.&nbsp; Prove to us all that Roll20 can afford this.&nbsp;&nbsp;

VP said: Dylan L. said: Okay so free users are screwed then? If you're a free user you can also utilize other options such as creating playlists on YouTube. Not ideal but a functional alternative. I have bee using discord as the primary roleplaying app in my campaign, and only ever using roll20 for combat, for primarily this reason. Praise be unto rythembot and RP bot

I don't know if it's just me, but til yesterday (GMT-3) I was playing audio by MyAudio normally. Today, I just woke up and my campaign doesn't play anything! Sorry for my bad english.

After several refreshes and API sandbox restarts, it suddenly worked. Yes, I'm using Roll20 Audio Master on my campaign. I think you gus need to improve the stability of the Roll20 Audio Master because I always face these play anything issue before starting my sessions (even before MyAudio feature).

Daniel C. said: After several refreshes and API sandbox restarts, it suddenly worked. Yes, I'm using Roll20 Audio Master on my campaign. I think you gus need to improve the stability of the Roll20 Audio Master because I always face these play anything issue before starting my sessions (even before MyAudio feature). Just so you know, I'm pretty sure the Audio Master API script is not an official Roll20 product/service, but a community contributed API script. &nbsp;You'd really need to speak with the authors of that script if improvements are needed.

Finderski said: Daniel C. said: After several refreshes and API sandbox restarts, it suddenly worked. Yes, I'm using Roll20 Audio Master on my campaign. I think you gus need to improve the stability of the Roll20 Audio Master because I always face these play anything issue before starting my sessions (even before MyAudio feature). Just so you know, I'm pretty sure the Audio Master API script is not an official Roll20 product/service, but a community contributed API script. &nbsp;You'd really need to speak with the authors of that script if improvements are needed. Here is the thread to report Roll20AM bugs in so that they can be seen by the current author, Victor. Be sure to include reproduction steps so that he can find the issue.