Help me pick a new not-too-nerdy ringtone.

December 14, 2018 6:25 AM

I'd like a new ringtone for my phone, something distinctive and easy to hear, as I often fail to hear softer, subtle ringtones when my phone is in my pocket in a noisy environment. I'd like it to be slightly nerdy, but not too nerdy.

I used to use a medley of R2D2 beeps but:

a) It's too obvious, (like something you'd hear on The Big Bang Theory).
b) I'm not comfortable with current Star Wars fanboy-culture and don't like being associated with them.
c) It sounds really annoying.

So I'd like something easy to distinguish from background noise, and inside nerd-joke-ish but not too obvious.

It should also sound like a ringtone, not a song, dialog, etc.

Current media I enjoy: X-Men, Giant Days, ATLAB, TLOK, Steven Universe, She-Ra, The Gifted, Legion, DuckTales, Adventure Time, the MCU, Bravest Warriors, Voltron, etc.

posted by signal to Media & Arts (35 answers total)

How about Steven's ringtone from the Steven Universe episode Full Disclosure? https://www.reddit.com/r/stevenuniverse/comments/2z9uvx/stevens_ringtone/
posted by miratime at 6:38 AM on December 14, 2018 [2 favorites]

You could try the worst mashup on YouTube.
posted by flabdablet at 6:54 AM on December 14, 2018

Star Trek communicator sound! Not obtrusive, only a few people have ever recognized it while I use it, makes me happy.
posted by hepta at 6:59 AM on December 14, 2018 [2 favorites]

I've used the Mario Coin, the Metal Gear Solid CODEC, and currently the Kim Possible.

I've also used the Hunger Games whistle, but I suspect it's too subtle for you.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:09 AM on December 14, 2018

I use the Apollo 11 transmission "The Eagle has landed..." for text messages and the theme song from The Rockford Files for phone calls. Way more people have recognized the Apollo 11 transmission, which I guess says something good about the people I'm around. Or it says they've missed out on a great TV show :)
posted by COD at 7:20 AM on December 14, 2018

I've used "Mahnah Mahnah" (muppets) and the dialup noise. Both get...looks.
posted by notsnot at 7:41 AM on December 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

Wallendar 2009 ringtone. http://www.mediafire.com/file/ntzwmvnzztl/
Custom ringtone created for the excellent series, fun when someone recognizes it.
posted by cosmac at 7:54 AM on December 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

How about the beeping a big truck makes backing up?

I am currently using my own voice flatly telling me that my phone is ringing, which is fairly effective and quite nerdy.
posted by aspersioncast at 8:18 AM on December 14, 2018 [2 favorites]

Welp thanks to this ask my new ringtone is going to be the Windows 95 start up sound
posted by Is It Over Yet? at 8:25 AM on December 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

hepta said the ST communicator chirp, but I've always been partial to the STTNG doorbell. It's a surprisingly complicated tone. And now I'm thinking of changing mine to the '60s Batman tv series brass flourish that accompanies the spinning bat-logo.
posted by turkeybrain at 8:39 AM on December 14, 2018

Mine has been ukulele version of the Mario Bros theme and it makes me very happy and people smile around me when my phone rings. Except when my bf calls its the Darth Vader song.

My text notification is The Good Place's Janet saying "Hi There!" or the Mario growing sound, depending on who's texting.
posted by danapiper at 8:54 AM on December 14, 2018

Nerd who doens't wanna be TOO nerdy here:

I have Steven's ringtone from Steven Universe. It makes me happy every time I hear it, occasionally catches the attention of other SU fans who hear it, and sounds like a perfectly normal ringtone to anyone else.

My text notification sound is currently the new heart sound from the Zelda games. Again, sounds pretty normal (and it's unobtrusive, too), but if you know what it is, it's immediately recognizable.
posted by rhiannonstone at 9:04 AM on December 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

Many years ago Brian Eno made a collection of ringtones for a Nokia flip-phone. You can find them here. They are excellent.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 9:10 AM on December 14, 2018 [2 favorites]

Star Trek TOS has some nifty sound effects. Number 5 on this list "Dematerialization" starts low and steadily increases in volume which I think would be handy for a ringtone.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 9:56 AM on December 14, 2018

I currently have the eshop music from the wii as my ring tone. I actually really like the tune and it confuses so many people. A good percentage of people seem to be familiar with it in the deep back of their mind, but not many can work out where from...
posted by samworm at 10:30 AM on December 14, 2018

My ringtone’s from the Global Frequency TV pilot. Alas, I’ve yet to run into anyone who recognizes it.
posted by evoque at 10:33 AM on December 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

I came in to recommend the Wallendar tone, too.
posted by cocoagirl at 10:58 AM on December 14, 2018

I got King George III singing "da-da-dat-tat-dah!" from Hamilton for my ringtone. Makes me happy.
posted by suelac at 11:00 AM on December 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

I use this Star Trek door signal for certain ring tone purposes. (Though I admit to using this loud basic ringtone when I really need to be sure hear it.)
posted by gudrun at 11:09 AM on December 14, 2018

I'm a huge fan of ClearTones
posted by rebent at 12:12 PM on December 14, 2018

I have a boatload of rather geeky ringtones that I created myself out of excerpts of various TV & movie soundtracks and a few sound bites; they include:

• Angel & Buffy themes
• Back To The Future theme
• Dr. Who theme & the Tardis sound
• Pirate of the Caribbean theme
• Indiana Jones theme
• JAG theme
• James Bond theme
• Jeeves the Butler
• Magnum PI theme (original)
• Mission Impossible
• NASA/Space related (Eagle has landed, Small Step, Sputnik, etc.)
• Pink Panther theme
• Various Star Trek sound effects (TOS, Next Gen, etc.)
• Stargate theme
• Rocky Horror Picture Show "Time Warp"
• X-Files theme
posted by Jade Dragon at 12:44 PM on December 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

WCityMike ... now I have to figure out how to get that on my iPhone. It's amazing how many feels are packed into just those few measures.
posted by DrAstroZoom at 1:09 PM on December 14, 2018

I use a Portal 2 themed ringtone setup, with An Accent Beyond from the soundtrack as my phone ringtone and this button sound effect for my text tone. You can find a bunch of these sound files at the official Portal 2 soundtrack page. It's nerdy, but obscure enough not to be obvious, which was my criteria. (My parents are into the Star Trek/Star Wars soundbytes for ringtones, which I always felt were a bit... much.)
posted by Aleyn at 1:55 PM on December 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

My ringtone is the sound of a dialup modem.
posted by ralan at 2:12 PM on December 14, 2018 [2 favorites]

I had Steven's ringtone too! At one point it was the "ring ring hello" sequence from Charlie the Unicorn.

My current text tone is a Shy Guy (Mario) sound effect. An ex had "Hey!" from Zelda. So if games are your jam, maybe there's inspiration?
posted by divabat at 3:04 PM on December 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

The sound the Gems make when they teleport somewhere strikes me as a good tone too.
posted by divabat at 3:06 PM on December 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

I'll second the Portal sound effects as being distinctively nerdy but classy. Also, I had the Mario coin sound as my message tone, which was nicely audible, and also made bank notifications sound just right. The official NASA app provides sounds for use as ringtones, but I found them too distinctive to use as notifications.

Getting a bit more abstract and mathsy, I used Shepard tones for a while, they are easily audible but a little disturbing. Would only satisfy the inside nerd joke for a certain type of nerd.
posted by Wrinkled Stumpskin at 4:54 PM on December 14, 2018

Mine is the Doctor Who theme. My alarm clock is the fragile rock theme, which starts with a barking dog....
posted by Valancy Rachel at 5:53 PM on December 14, 2018

evogue: I'd recognize it, and I'd immediately pull out my own phone, because it's also my ringtone.

(Also, WB now has angry words for both of us, because nobody's supposed to have seen it.)
posted by jackbishop at 8:26 PM on December 14, 2018

Japanese train and subway stations all have distinctive little tunes of electronic music which play when the train arrives. My own ringtone is from Shibuya station, on the Yamanote line. Nine years previously somebody asked, Where can I listen to Japanese train station melodies? and there were some sources listed in response, but they may not be very current.
posted by Rash at 9:33 PM on December 14, 2018

I alternate that with the introductory hooks only, just a couple seconds from classic Rolling Stones songs like Can You See Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow? and 19th Nervous Breakdown. You need something loud and attention-getting in a ringtone, in order to hear it above loud ambient noise, and Keith Richards provides.
posted by Rash at 9:37 PM on December 14, 2018

I was ringtone shopping yesterday so this is so timely and awesome.
Holy warps, that Shepard tones was so cool and so anxiety-producing all at the same time. I loved it but had to turn it off after about 20 seconds!
posted by sundrop at 7:59 AM on December 15, 2018

Something like the metallic *snikt* sound Wolverine's claws make when they come out, maybe?

If you're at all into Jurassic Park, you can find various dinosaur sounds as ringtones. I've had the T. rex roar before, and right now I've got Clever Girl's raptor "bark." It startles me sometimes, which is half the fun.
posted by QuickedWeen at 11:14 AM on December 15, 2018

I had the Farnsworth ring from Warehouse 13 as my message alert for a while.

I'll warn you though if you re-watch this show their Farnsworths ring _a lot_ during an episode. Even though it's been years since that was my tone I haven't disassociated the tone from meaning new message in my brain. Every time I watch an episode I'm checking my phone constantly (I normally get less than a text a day so four false positives in an hour is really annoying).
posted by Mitheral at 1:24 PM on December 15, 2018

I myself use the “alien communication tones” from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Loud, unexpected, nerdy, but not... too blatantly so.
posted by Tomorrowful at 3:30 PM on December 15, 2018