I guess I was wrong.. JJ is turning Trek into Star Wars!!

[Christopher]

For instance... did the George Pal film version of "War of the Worlds" use a "hammer striking high-tension wire" effect? Quite possibly, but Star Trek didn't use the same sound (ie, not the same tape) but a different, newly-recorded sound, using a different hammer, a different wire, etc, etc, and processed it in a different way.

Quite right. The sound of the green energy bolts fired from the tips of the Martian War Machines is much the same as the photon torpedo sound effect, but not exactly the same.

However, the whistling/warbling sound of the War Machines' levitation (the one sound that constantly accompanies them whenever they appear in the film) sounds similar enough to a low-pitched version of the phaser warble that I suspect it's the same recording played at a lower speed. The phaser sound is actually a recording of a swarm of locusts stridulating, I believe.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

...a swarm of locusts stridulating...

That's still illegal in six southern states.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I wouldn't be surprised if you might have heard SIMILAR sound effects in other places... but not THE SAME sound effects. For instance... did the George Pal film version of "War of the Worlds" use a "hammer striking high-tension wire" effect? Quite possibly, but Star Trek didn't use the same sound (ie, not the same tape) but a different, newly-recorded sound, using a different hammer, a different wire, etc, etc, and processed it in a different way.

From the liner notes of the GNP Crescendo TOS "Sound Effects" CD:

"Virtually all the sound effects were created exclusively for the television series: the pneumatic doors of the Enterprise were actually the sound of an airgun played in reverse. Spock's viewing machine was in reality the thump of a torpedo firing pin played backwards..."

 

[Jon1701]

All this talk of the Wilhelm sound effect, you also gotta love the youuuaarrrgghh sound effect.