Dive in a Pond of Surreal Sounds

excellent
key review info
application features
  • ChatterBlocker does not use noise-cancellation. With a soothing blend of nature sounds, music and background chatter.
  • (3 more, see all...)

Some months ago I reviewed a software with which I really fell in love and I really intended to buy it; many things have I bought since then and I completely forgot about it until today, when a softpedia.com Windows Editor presented me with another similar program. What do these softwares do, I guess you'd ask. Well, I won't keep you waiting too much and say that all they do is play preset sounds such as to create atmosphere: rains or fires on the shores of a lake, at night, birds quietly and calmly trilling you to sleep, people chattering in low remote voices, strange reverberations covering everything and really thrusting your mind in fantasy worlds...this is what these softwares do.

They have been built to help you truly relax whether taking an aromatic bath in the quiet solitude of your home, or just laying your head on the pillow after a hectic and tiresome day, while hugging your loved partner and - why not - even built for creating a more special atmosphere for making love. Whatever situation you could consider, I am sure that programs like Chatter Blocker will provide you with hours of calm and inner joy.

The Looks. The Works. The Pleasure.

Unfortunately, there is so little to speak about this kind of softwares as they are more into making you feel the result of what they stand for, rather than making you look at them. Chatter Blocker, like the rest of such programs, sports a very simple interface, with absolutely no graphic style, no skins or color themes, no menus and other things you might expect to meet.

It consists of a fixed-size window with few elements: the most important are the three scrolling lists of audio items, containing the human voice patterns, the music phrases and the generic sound effects. Below each of these there is a volume slider bar, with very Spartan looks; under the human voices list there is another additional slider bar regulating the reverberation. Together with the master volume bar and the Play/Pause button atop of this window, this is about everything regarding the control that the Chatter Blocker can offer.

The presets are easy to select by means of a dropdown menu and - as soon as you have clicked one - the sounds change. And, if I got to the way Chatter Blocker works, I must say I would have added fading in and out for every effect even if one is supposed not to be tweaking the software while listening; once you start the playing and cycle through the sounds, an abrupt intervention could undermine the soothing effect of the music...

As I told you just before, since as you are listening to the sounds the Chatter Blocker plays it's supposed you are not staring at the monitor, the Spartan and simple design of the GUI seems more than justified. The Chatter Blocker sports no shortcuts and, unfortunately, no system tray icon: this minimized mode could come in very handy, especially as you really have to use the PC AND listen to the calm sounds.

About what the audio produced by Chatter Blocker sounds like, I can't tell you very much, because this kind of software induces a very subjective perception strongly related to each individual's moods and mind. I can only recommend that you at least try this software; for the almost 20 dollars it sells for this is a "must" for those who like these programs.

The Good

The best thing is that there still are people preoccupied with writing such code; the fact that the software works well comes in second and these two are surpassed by the nice out-of-this-world atmosphere the Chatter Blocker creates.

The Bad

Nothing bad this time, just minor recommendations, such as the tray icon, the faded in and out of various effects and maybe some randomization settings.

The Truth

I just know that - when I decide to buy one of these programs - I will not be able to withhold myself from buying them all.

Rather then spending much time with the scarce screenshots below, hurry up, download the software and profit from the freeware playtime:

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user interface 4
features 4
ease of use 5
pricing / value 5


final rating 5
Editor's review
excellent
 
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