I recently watched a video of Luis Pons Livermore (@1:04), a modern Balearic slinger, and with the style of sling he was using in the video, it made a whip-crack sound upon every release of his sling.
The video made a big difference in how I viewed slinging in war/combat, compared to how I pictured it from various mentions of slingers that I've heard over time; much, much scarier than I typically imagined it!
I was curious though, I don't think I've ever heard it mentioned that slings made a typical whip-crack noise. In ancient war with a lot of people potentially using slings in the same area, I can imagine that it would have had a very distinct sound if they had all been making rather sharp sounding whip-cracks; distinct enough to be mentioned in historical accounts etc.
The sling pictured in the video seems to be a rather short-range sling, I assume there's an infinite variety of slings you can make/adjust for different ranges etc.
In ancient war, were slingers typically used as short-range direct-fire, or long-range 'lobbed' fire, or a combination etc.?
If short-range slinging was in use during war/combat, is it know if the slings made the same distinct whip-crack noise as the one in the video?
EDIT:
Just for more detail, this appears to roughly be the style of sling that Luis uses, based off an old comment he made on the slinging org forum.
u/iphakrates answers the part of your question about range here: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/42gngh/why_were_slings_chosen_over_bows_and_arrows_when/
It is apparent that slings were used as long-range weapons. This does not mean they couldn't have been used as short-range weapons as well, but I don't have any sources on that. I've also never read anything about the roar of many whipping slings at once, but you bring up a very good point. Some roman sites have uncovered whistling bullets which effect would be purposefully more psychological than physical https://gizmodo.com/roman-troops-used-whistling-projectiles-to-terrify-the-1781967720. I'm wondering what a large group of slingers would sound like at a distance.
I would love for someone to record this!
If slings were used in short-range combat, then I would assume they would still make the crack. If you watch those same balearic competitions, slingers will make the cracking noise on their release even when pinpointing targets not more than (50 m?) away. The crack is a testimony to the power put into the projectile, which enables it to be slung over great distances, but doesn't mean that the power (and hence the crack) wouldn't be present on a flatter trajectory.
As far as being viable in short-range combat we hear from Strabo that youth of the balearic were only allowed to eat once they hit a loaf of bread off a post with their slings - Strabo (iii. 5. 1). This means that precision was trained, not just ranging, which means that these slings would have been able to be effective short range. However, it is not clear whether this was meant as training for war, as many cultures used slings for hunting as well (see Incan and many Native American tribes, just to name a few).
It strikes me that close range slinging would have certain disadvantages during a battle, specifically the enemy's proximity to charge. Even heavily armored slingers (which I haven't heard of) would have a hard time fighting off a charge with a sling dangling from their predominant hand. To counter this, you could put heavy infantry in front of your slingers, but then the angle that would need to be slung to hit nearby enemy troops would be very narrow, and missing would mean hitting your own troops in the back of the head. Whereas their superior range was apparent, as a military commander I think I would reserve them in that role instead of risking them near the front.
