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Wwise SDK 2021.1.14
Default Wwise Audio Devices

Audio Devices represent all the physical and virtual outputs provided by each supported platform. Wwise supports several Audio Devices by default. Some are not available on all platforms. This page provides the platform-specific information for each of the default Audio Devices available in Wwise. See Audio Devices for more information regarding default Audio Devices.

System

Default audio output offered by the system. This is where you would expect any audio to go, on all platforms.

Communication

Windows:

  • Matches the Communication device selected in Window's Sound Playback Devices properties tab.

DVR Bypass

Some platforms have a DVR function that allows the gamer to record their gameplay and publish it. This raises a few legal issues regarding the copyrighted music that might be part of the game audio, or user-replaceable music. While the game studio have the rights to use the music in their game, the end-user doesn't have the rights to distribute it in any form. Thus the platform requirements usually state that user background music should not be recorded. This virtual Audio Device allows a separate mix that is not sent to the DVR, but mixed in the main output afterwards.

Game Controller Speaker

Some platforms have a speaker on the game controller. You can have one output per player.

Windows:

  • Matches the functionality of the System audio output.

Game Controller Headphones

Some platforms can connect headphones on the game controller. You can have one output per player.

Windows:

  • Matches the functionality of the System audio output.

Auxiliary

Windows:

  • Matches the functionality of the System audio output.

No Output

This is a virtual device that outputs nowhere. It can be useful for testing and is supported on all platforms.

Targeting Specific System Devices

On some platforms, the audio devices listed above can be configured to output to a specific system-level device when multiple are available. A value of 0 always means "use the default device". To configure an audio device with a specific system-level device, set AkOutputSettings::idDevice according to the rules described in this section.

Windows:

macOS:

  • Use an AudioDeviceID value obtained by querying the Audio Object properties of the Core Audio framework.

Linux:

  • Retrieve the device name returned by PulseAudio's pa_context_get_sink_info_list function, and convert it to a 32-bit ID using AK::SoundEngine::GetIDFromString.
See also

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