I think I got
The Sound of the Far Future to sound less bracingly abrasive. (I also got it down to 1.3 MB — it can fit on a floppy!) I presented it today with the earlier more abrasive synths, but it seemed like people did not pay really close attention to the sounds because I was doing a talk over it.
Something I've noticed about both voices and sounds is that when you combine them, neither has to be as good as they need to be alone. Hence, text-to-speech robot voices sound less grating when they're happening over music, and harsh synths don't seem as glaring when they're under talking. I think this is also why you can sometimes get away with recording vocals on an iPhone and put it in a professional recording.