Smooth swing lightsaber, sometimes written as SmoothSwing lightsaber, refers to a lightsaber with extremely responsive, nuanced, realistic motion sensitivity influencing the lightsaber’s sounds. Originally developed by Thexter, a smooth swing lightsaber is much more sensitive to subtler lightsaber movements than a non-smooth swing lightsaber.
Custom sabers configured as neopixel lightsabers and as in-hilt LED sabers may feature smooth swing. The soundboard installed inside the hilt must feature smooth swing support, however.
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First developed by Thexter, the smooth swing motion-to-sound algorithm began increasing in popularity around 2019 following the release of Proffieboard, an open source lightsaber soundboard with smooth swing support. Want to explore a more technical breakdown of the smooth swing algorithm? Read Thexter’s detailed SmoothSwing V2 description over at the The Rebel Armory (TRA).
Since the unveiling of Proffieboard, additional soundboard companies like Plecter Labs (CFX soundboard), Golden Harvest, KR Sabers (Verso soundboard), Electrum Sabercrafts (Diatium 3 soundboard), etc. have incorporated the algorithm into their soundboards as well.
Certain soundboards allow the user customize the smooth swing parameters to suit their personal tastes. For example, a user may customize smooth swing parameters on a Plecter Labs CFX soundboard. The soundboard’s customizable smooth swing parameters include: sensitivity to blade rotation, volume of the smooth swing effect, idle hum dampening percentage of smooth swing, etc.
Smooth Swing Sound Fonts
Consider that the smooth swing algorithm only works with smooth swing capable sound fonts. Sometimes a default sound font package installed onto a sound saber may use only some smooth swing capable sound fonts. Non-smooth swing sound fonts may still work when the lightsaber is activated. The fonts just can’t utilize the smooth swing algorithm.
When you purchase sound fonts for your smooth swing lightsaber, look for ‘smooth swing’ in the category, title, or description. When in doubt, ask the sound font artist/seller if the sound font is smooth swing capable.
Budget Smooth Swing Lightsabers
Some lightsabers with more budget friendly soundboards tout a feature called ‘hybrid smooth swing’ or ‘ECO smooth swing’. These or other similarly named entities are cheaper, slightly simpler and less sophisticated siblings to smooth swing.
