Tutorial: Create/edit/set custom notification sounds such as "You've Got K-9 Mail"

[Andy Burnelli]

This quick tutorial is posted, out of the kindness of my heart, to help
others to do what I do, in terms of setting custom app notifications.

If you have improvements to suggest, please do so because Usenet is a team
sport where we each help everyone for the benefit of the team overall.

Tutorial: Create/edit/set custom Android app-notification sounds such as:
"You just got a new K-9 Mail"
"You just lost your cell signal"
"You just lost your Internet signal"
"Your battery just reached fifty-three percent"
"Your charging cable has just been disconnected"
etc.

If you want to set the notification sound per app, this tells you how.
*How to Change Notification Sounds for Each App on Your Android Phone*
<https://www.makeuseof.com/how-to-customize-notification-sounds-android/>

A huge problem with that article for me is it suggest ad-based free apps.
See my suggestions below which use only ad-free apps doing the same stuff.

What I find common is I have so many different notification sounds set that
I don't know which is which, which defeats the entire purpose of the sounds.

What I do is create my own verbal notifications, e.g., "You've got K-9 Mail"
which can be placed as a custom file in your audio notifications folder.

The process consists of two basic steps:
1. Use an audio recorder or a text-to-speech app that saves the audio file.
2. Use Android settings to set app notifications to that custom audio file.

Where & how you store your files is up to you, where I put all mine in:
/extSd/data/audio/notifications/youhavek-9email.{mp3,ogg,wav,aac,etc.}
/extSd/data/audio/notifications/yourbatteryislow.{mp3,ogg,wav,aac,etc.}
/extSd/data/audio/notifications/youlostcellsignal.{mp3,ogg,wav,aac,etc.}
/extSd/data/audio/notifications/youlosttheinternet.{mp3,ogg,wav,aac,etc.}
/extSd/data/audio/notifications/youstoppedcharging.{mp3,ogg,wav,aac,etc.}
etc.

The hard trick, of course, is finding the right obnoxious-free apps.
(If you know of _better_ ad free apps than those below, please suggest them
as the goal of all purposefully helpful people is to benefit everyone.)

A. This is a simple _text-to-speech_ app which will save text as audio.
*Tell Me Text-to-Speech* 100K+, 4.1, free, ad-free, gsf-free, google-free
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simplycomplexapps.ASTellme>

B. This is a simple _audio recorder_ to create the audio directly.
*Audio Recorder* 100K+, 4.4, free, ad-free, gsf-free, google-free, etc.
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.github.axet.audiorecorder>

C. This is a simple _audio cutter_ & MP3 converter for quick snipping.
*AIMP: Audio Cutter* 50K+, free, ad-free, gsf-free, google-free
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aimp.cutter>

D. This is a simple _audio pitch and speed changer_ for quick sound changes.
*Music Editor Pitch and Speed Changer* 100K+, 4.3, free, ad-free, etc.
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.stonekick.tempo>

E. This is a more _extensive audio editor_ to change more facets.
*Gold Wave* 50K+, free, ad-free, gsf-free, google-free
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.goldwave.GoldWave>

F. This is a _basic audio player_ if you want to test audio files en masse.
*foobar2000* 100K+, 4.5, free, ad-free, gsf-free, google-free, etc.
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.foobar2000.foobar2000>

G. This is a _basic cell network monitor_ which reports loss of cell signal.
*Cellular Connection Monitor* by Pavel Borzenkov, free ad-free
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simple.axanor.simpleconnectivitymonitor>

H. This is an _Internet connectivity monitor_ to report loss of Internet.
*Internet Connectivity Tester*, by Paul Rowe, free ad-free
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.boxhead.android.internettest>

I. This is a powerful _battery charge direction and level indicator_.
*Charging Indicator* 100K+, 4.2, free, ad-free, gsf-free, google free
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=maderski.chargingindicator>

So that everyone benefits in every post, please add useful utilities that
report situations that you may care about to have a custom audio output.

Here is an example of setting a custom mail receipt audio notification:
Android12:Settings > Apps > Your apps > K-9 Mail > Notifications >
Show notifications = on
(Longpress on "Messages" to get a deeper menu)
(Press on "Sound" to choose the desired sound file)
(Note some default sound pickers can't find your custom audio files)
(Select your file manager to find your custom notification sound files)

For example:
/extSd/data/audio/notifications/youhavek-9email.mp3
/extSd/data/audio/notifications/yourbatteryislow.wav
/extSd/data/audio/notifications/youlostcellsignal.ogg
/extSd/data/audio/notifications/youlosttheinternet.aac
/extSd/data/audio/notifications/youjuststoppedcharging.wma
etc.

As always, this tutorial is written and tested by me out of the goodness of
my heart so that others may benefit from my efforts, and so that others who
know more than I do about this subject can add even more value for all.