diff --git a/util/demo_noise.h b/util/demo_noise.h
index 973ce0c..8612fc6 100644
--- a/util/demo_noise.h
+++ b/util/demo_noise.h
@@ -6,29 +6,37 @@ namespace trnr {
 
 struct demo_noise {
 	double samplerate;
-	int counter;
+	int counter = 0;
+	// initialize with sane defaults
+	int noise_len_sec = 3;
+	int pause_len_sec = 17;
+	float noise_gain = 0.1f;
 };
 
 inline void demo_nose_init(demo_noise& d, double samplerate)
 {
 	d.samplerate = samplerate;
-	d.samplerate = 0;
+	d.counter = 0;
 }
 
+// overwrites the input buffer with noise in the specified time frame
 inline void process_block(demo_noise& d, float** samples, int blocksize)
 {
+	int noise_len_samples = d.noise_len_sec * d.samplerate;
+	int pause_len_samples = d.pause_len_sec * d.samplerate;
+	int total_len_samples = noise_len_samples + pause_len_samples;
+
 	for (int s = 0; s < blocksize; s++) {
 		d.counter++;
 
-		if (d.counter == d.samplerate * 20) { d.counter = 0; }
-		if (d.counter > d.samplerate * 17) {
+		if (d.counter > total_len_samples) { d.counter = 0; }
+		if (d.counter > pause_len_samples) {
 			float r1 = static_cast<float>(rand()) / static_cast<float>(RAND_MAX);
 			float r2 = static_cast<float>(rand()) / static_cast<float>(RAND_MAX);
 
 			float noise = static_cast<float>(sqrt(-2.0 * log(r1)) * cos(2.0 * M_PI * r2));
 
-			samples[0][s] = noise / 10.0;
-			samples[1][s] = noise / 10.0;
+			samples[0][s] = samples[1][s] = noise * d.noise_gain;
 		}
 	}
 }