Bardic Tools Update - June 2026
Lend me your ear, and I'll make you chuckle.
I turned 31 last weekend. Not only that, it makes around a year that I decided to go out on my own as a freelancer. As with any milestones in any person's life, this is a time of reflection. Of looking back and being proud of what you've accomplished. Of looking forward and dream about the future.
I didn't do that.
Instead, I remembered a song that was very popular for a very short time when I was a teenager.
I put it on, and sure enough. It still slaps:
I've been listening to it on repeat for the last couple of days, and I hope you do too. Also, listen to the lyrics! They're relevant for later in the update.
Anyway, there's so much to cover. Let's go!
In This Post
- New Features, big and small!! (hint: 📱⁉️🫢) (link)
- 100 New Sounds! (hints: 💀, 🤠, 🦠) (link)
- Cool New Stuff From RPGAudioVault (link)
- Personal Update: A Back To Freelancing, and Future Plans (link)
New Features
Last time, I spent too long writing about the new features in the blog. This time, I've set myself a challenge: There are more features to talk about, but I have to talk about them in fewer words.
And just by saying that I'm already wasting words.
Crap.
So without further ado... No! Stop! Stop beating around the bush and just get to the features!
First, Presets
Last month I released presets, and boy-oh-boy did you like them. I'm glad! I love them too. However, you also had many really cool ideas on how to make them better!
I love that as well, but it meant that I couldn't resist the temptation to add the coolest ones. So, in order of coolness:
- You can now add custom icons to the presets. These need to be SVG icons.
- If you don't have an icon available, you can add custom text to the presets!
- Presets now start playing the scene if you load them while the scene is not playing (which saves you one click).
- Presets now stop all ambiences outside the preset (before, they didn't touch them).
- A bunch of visual fixes for consistency and readability (e.g. presets are white now, not light blue).
That's it! Thank you everyone who submitted feedback. It's thanks to you that Bardic Tools gets more awesome every day.
Now, a Couple of Smaller Ones:
You Can Delete Sounds From The Library
There's a small X button to the right of the name:
You Can Only Play One Scene At A Time
So, if you click "Play Scene" on scene "Forest", and then click "Play Scene" on scene "Mountain", "Forest" will stop
And yes, loading a preset also stops any other scenes.
That's it. These were both long-standing asks, and I got annoyed at myself for putting them off, so I just fixed them.
Moving on to the big one!
The Big One: Mobile UI!
Yes, that's right! The number-one requested feature is here. You can now run your games with Bardic Tools straight from your phone.
I've designed a new experience from the ground up to allow you easy access to the things you need, and hide the things you don't. No more accidentally dragging a scene when you wanted to scroll. No more dragging cards when you just wanted to adjust the damn volume. Just a nice panel, with big, human-finger-sized buttons.
Now, there are some caveats:
- You cannot edit scenes in this mode[1].
- You can only load one scene at a time. Otherwise, the interface would be far too crowded!
- This is not an app, but it you can install it to make it look like one! Please see the video for instructions.
To try it out, please enable "Play UI" in your Bardic Tools Profile (or watch the video above, it explains everything).
This mode is experimental, so we'd welcome any feedback you have at support@bardic.tools! It's my first foray into mobile anything, so I'm sure I've gotten something wrong.
Phew! Many features, few words!
Okay, but...
100 New Sounds!
Remember the song at the top? No? Here it is again:
In the words of the great poet Ylvis:
Dog goes "woof", cat goes "meow",
Bird goes "tweet" and mouse goes "squeak"
Cow goes "moo", frog goes "croak"
And the elephant goes "toot".
Ducks say "quack" and fish go "blub"
And the seal goes "ow ow ow"
But there's one sound that no one knows...
What does the Ooze say?
Apparently, they say this:
And this
Okay, okay, context: So our dear community member @Kris has been cooking with a new Starter Kit, this time for Pathfinder 2e's new Beginner Box, Secrets of the Unlit Star [2]. It's... probably going to be the best scenes in Bardic Tools to date. But as part of that, we needed some ooze sounds. Problem is, neither Kris nor I knew how to describe what an ooze sound sound like (other than "wet").
But fear not! The trusty Mark from Lineout Studios was on the ball for this, and produced the oozy masterpieces you hear above! Available now in BT, just search for "Ooze" as plain text.
However, an ooze was not the only sound we needed! We also needed ominous, clockity-clock sounds for the end of the adventure. Once again, Mark delivered:
And what about this, but magic?
"But that's not 100 new sounds!" I hear you say. "What else do you have?"
Fallen World by Hideous Hiss
This sound was not requested by a user. This one I just did for myself.
In case you didn't know already, I'm a massive fan of the mood of Blade Runner, and the more civilian parts of Warhammer 40.000 (anything Eisenhorn, for those in the know). And it turns out, Hideous Hiss creates ambiances that match the mood perfectly. So, months ago, I got in touch to see if they were open to commissions, and it turns out they were!
After a long back and forth process (we're both busy folks), I'm so happy to introduce you to this fantastic piece:
This was the brief I gave them:
I want to build a soundscape that players can use to play in the spires of a [Warhammer 40k] hive city. Imagine standing at the very top levels of a massive city where billions live. Your footsteps echo as you walk along large corridors of stone, way too big to be human-sized. You are thinking about how to defeat your political rivals, without worrying too much about the billions and billions of people that live in the levels below you. Occasionally, you cross one or two servants that are crossing your path and going about their way, but the large vaulted rooms are empty otherwise.
The only light is artificial, from a drone following you. The sun was covered decades ago by the smog. You stop at a window, and look below. Lights, a sea of red and amber and blue and green lights move about below, kilometers below, where normal people live their normal lives. They have no idea what decisions are being made today, and how much it will change their lives. Maybe it's better that way.
I think they nailed it.
"But Borja! That's still not 100 sounds!"
Okay, rude. But you're right!
The last pack is the most massive:
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-haw, partner!
Continuing the trend of fantastic Discord users requesting interesting sounds, this time it was Western! Two newcomers to our community are in the middle of a Red Dead Redemption-inspired campaign, and were wondering if we could add more horse sounds. To which the answer is, of course, "much obliged!"
But it's not only horses! This western pack has about three-dozen new sounds, like this super-immersive loop inside a train:
And, of course, this pack includes the one, the only, the much-awaited "dropping a steak on a sizzling fire":
Look, when I say we'll do our best to source the specific sounds you want, I mean it.
Cool Stuff From RPG Audio Vault!
Our great friend and audio-mage Justin from RPG Audio Vault has just released his biggest sound pack yet: Advanced Loot!
It's 312 audio files, with the fantastic artisanal, hand-crafted quality you can expect from him. Read that again. Three hundred and twelve files!
Oh, and also, he's given us a special discount for his entire store. Code BARDIC20 will get you 20% off anything in the store. So, if you apply it to the "Advanced Loot" set, you can almost get the whole "Elemental Magic" set with the savings :D. This code doesn't have an expiry date.
As always, this is not a sponsor. I don't get anything from Justin for the shout out. I just think he does excellent work, and his sounds do go really well with Bardic Tools, so I'm glad he's giving us the sweet sweet discount code.
Personal Update And Future Plans
Damn it! A long email again.
Oh well. Hope you don't mind a little more rambling as I get into more personal stuff.
Some bad news: After about three months of non-stop development, this was the last week of full-time work for Bardic Tools for the foreseeable future. I'm very proud of how far it's gotten over the last two months, but it's not even close to replacing any kind of income for me. If you're new here, you should probably read this post for context.
So, starting Monday, I'll have to go back to a freelance project. During that time, I'll focus on (1) making The Library more useful by adding content and improving the search, and (2) experimenting with ways to make Bardic Tools better-known, to see if it can grow a little bit faster. I really want Starter Kits to be a good part of that, I love the idea of building free scenes as marketing.
This will continue until October, at which point I'll take some time off to get married to the best woman in the world and spend some quality time with her. Barring Bardic Tools being offline, I don't expect to do any progress in October and November.
After that, I'm not sure honestly.
I hope to carve another couple of months for a big push late December or early next year, but it will depend on which projects I'm able to get. It's far too soon to predict anything.
Honestly, that prospect makes me a little sad. I've really enjoyed these months building cool stuff with your help, and seeing it be useful to you. I wish I could do it forever, and not knowing when I'll be able to do it again sucks.
But hey, I will be able to do it again, as long as I continue to land projects, I can save up little by little. The future looks bright, even if further away than I wish.
As always, thank you so much for reading. Your encouragement and attention 100% keeps Bardic Tools going.
Borja
- When I talked to our community, most people wanted a mobile version to play games, and are happy prepping games on a desktop. If that's not you, let me know! Designing a prep experience on mobile is something I want to do in the future, but I need tons of input to make sure it's good.↩︎
- Not sponsored. I wish 😅↩︎