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Property Editor: Sound

This Property Editor contains the properties and behavior options for the selected sound object (an SFX or a Voice). Object properties, such as pitch and volume, determine how the audio sounds in-game. Object behaviors, such as looping and streaming, determine how sounds are played at any given point in the game.

The General Settings tab of the Property Editor is divided into three separate areas. The first area includes all the absolute properties, such as output routing. The middle area includes all the relative properties, such as volume and pitch. The last area, on the right, includes all the behaviors.

For a complete description of absolute and relative properties, refer to About Properties in the Project Hierarchy.

For a description of the properties on the Conversion, Effects, Positioning, RTPC, States, and Advanced Settings tabs, refer to Common Property Tabs: Actor-Mixer Objects.

Refer to Understanding the Voice Pipeline to learn about how voices are being processed, how they are being routed and where the different volumes and Effects are being applied.

General

Interface Element

Description

[name]

The name of the object.

Displays the object's color. Clicking the icon opens the color selector.

Select a color to apply it to the object. When you choose a color for an object, a palette icon appears on the selected square, as well as a yellow triangle in the lower-right corner, as shown.

To inherit the parent object's color, select the square at the far left of the color selector.

Controls the Mute and Solo states for the object and shows the implicit mute and solo states for the object.

Muting an object silences this object for the current monitoring session. Soloing an object silences all the other objects in the project except this one.

A bold M or S indicates that the Mute or Solo state has been explicitly set for the object. A non-bold M or S with faded color indicates that the object's Mute or Solo state was implicitly set from another object's state.

Muting an object implicitly mutes the descendant objects.

Soloing an object implicitly mutes the sibling objects and implicitly solos the descendant and ancestor objects.

[Tip]Tip

Hold the Ctrl key while clicking a solo button to exclusively solo the object for which the solo button is associated.

[Note]Note

Mute and Solo are designed to be used for monitoring purposes only and are not persisted in the project or stored in the SoundBanks.

Inclusion

Determines whether the element is included in the SoundBanks when they are generated. When selected, the element is included. When unselected, the element is not included.

To optimize your sound design for each platform, you might want to exclude certain elements on certain platforms. By default, this check box applies across all platforms. Use the Link indicator to the left of the check box to unlink the element. Then you can customize the state of the check box per platform.

When this option is unselected, the property and behavior options in the editor become unavailable.

Default value: true

Indicates the number of elements in your project that contain direct references to the object. The icon is displayed in orange when references to the object exist, and in gray when no references exist.

Selecting the button opens the Reference View with the object's name in the References to: field.

Notes

Any additional information about the object properties.

Sets the display of the Property Editor's selected tabs. By default, there is one panel that displays a single selected tab. You can, however, click a splitter button to display two panels, divided horizontally or vertically. The selected option is highlighted with a background color.

You cannot open the same tab in both panels. If you try to open the same tab in both panels, the first panel automatically opens a different tab.

[Tip]Shortcuts for selecting tabs

  • Press Ctrl and the number that corresponds to the number of the Property Editor tab you want to view. For example, Ctrl+4 opens the RTPC tab if it is the fourth visible tab.

Relative Properties

Interface Element

Description

Voice Volume

The attenuation (level or amplitude) applied on the current object before it is routed to a bus or sent to an Auxiliary Bus. Refer to Understanding the Voice Pipeline for more information about volumes.

Default value: 0
Range: -400 to 400
Units: dB

[Note]Note

The default slider range is from -96 to +12 dB. You can go over those limits by entering the value directly or by rolling the mouse while the focus is on the edit control.

Voice Pitch

The playback speed of an audio structure, where:

  • Pitch 0 = Normal speed.

  • Pitch 1,200 = 2 x speed.

  • Pitch 2,400 = 4 x speed.

  • Pitch -1,200 = 0.5 speed

  • Pitch -2,400 = 0.25 speed

[Tip]Tip

1,200 cents is equivalent to one octave.

Default value: 0

Range: -2400 to 2400

Units: Cents

Voice Low-pass Filter

A recursive filter that attenuates high frequencies based on the value specified.

The units for this filter represent the percentage of low-pass filtering that has been applied, where 0 means no low-pass filtering (signal unaffected) and 100 means maximal attenuation.

(For more detail, see Wwise LPF and HPF Value Cutoff Frequencies .)

Default value: 0

Range: 0 to 100

Units: %

Cone High-pass filter

A recursive filter that attenuates low frequencies based on the value specified.

The units for this filter represent the percentage of high-pass filtering that will be applied, where 0 means no high-pass filtering (signal unaffected) and 100 means maximal attenuation.

The Cone High-pass filter has a link indicator and an RTPC indicator. Refer to Working with the Property Editor for more information.

Default value: 0

Range: 0 to 100

Units: %

Make-up Gain

Interface Element

Description

Make-up Gain

Volume gain in decibels (dB) applied to the voice, after all other volume adjustments. The make-up gain is additive across the Actor-Mixer Hierarchy.

Refer to Understanding the voice pipeline to learn about how voices are being processed, how they are being routed and where the different volumes and Effects are being applied.

For more information about the Make-up Gain, refer to Using Loudness Normalization or Make-up gain to Adjust Volume .

[Note]Note

The default slider range is from -96 to +12. You can go over those limits by entering the value directly, or by rolling the mouse while the focus is on the edit control.

Default value: 0

Range: -200 to 200

Units: dB

Output Bus

Interface Element

Description

Volume (to Output Bus)

The attenuation or amplitude of the signal routed to the audio output bus.

[Note]Note

The default slider range is from -96 to +12. You can go over those limits by entering the value directly, or by rolling the mouse while the focus is on the edit control.

[Tip]Tip

When using the User-Defined Auxiliary Sends in a wet/dry mix scenario, the Output Bus Volume would be associated with the dry level, as opposed to the auxiliary send volume, which would relate to the wet level. Use an RTPC on Output Bus Volume and Auxiliary Send Volumes to control the balance from the game.

Default value: 0

Range: -200 to 200

Units: dB

Low-pass Filter (to Output Bus)

A Low-Pass Filter for the signal routed to the audio output bus.

A recursive filter that attenuates high frequencies based on the value specified.

The units for this filter represent the percentage of Low-Pass Filtering that has been applied, where 0 means no Low-Pass Filtering (signal unaffected) and 100 means maximal attenuation.

Default value: 0

Range: 0 to 100

Units: %

High-pass Filter (to Output Bus)

A High-Pass Filter for the signal routed to the audio output bus.

A recursive filter that attenuates low frequencies based on the value specified.

The units for this filter represent the percentage of High-Pass Filtering that has been applied, where 0 means no High-Pass Filtering (signal unaffected) and 100 means maximal attenuation.

Default value: 0

Range: 0 to 100

Units: %

Game-defined Auxiliary Sends

Interface Element

Description

Override parent

Determines whether the game-defined auxiliary sends usage will be inherited from the parent or defined at the current level in the hierarchy. When this option is not selected, the game-defined auxiliary controls are unavailable.

[Note]Note

If the object is a top-level object, this option is unavailable.

Default value: false

Use game-defined auxiliary sends

Determines whether the object is using the game-defined auxiliary sends for the game object. A game-defined send is a combination of an Auxiliary Bus and a send volume.

Enable this option to have the object affected by the values coming from the game for the following functions:

If the game has initialized Spatial Audio and sent Rooms and Portals data to Wwise, this property determines if the object should send to the Auxiliary Bus defined by the current Room that the game object is inside.

Default value: false

Volume (Game-defined auxiliary sends)

Determines the attenuation on the game-defined auxiliary sends volumes set for the game object.

Use this volume to offset game-defined auxiliary send values.

[Note]Note

The default slider range is from -96 to +12. You can go over those limits by entering the value directly, or by rolling the mouse while the focus is on the edit control.

Default value: 0

Range: -200 to 200

Units: dB

[Note]Game-defined auxiliary sends properties in the All Properties tab

There are game-defined auxiliary sends properties for LPF and HPF, which can only be adjusted in the All Properties Tab.

User-Defined Auxiliary Sends

Interface Element

Description

Override Parent

Determines whether the User-Defined Auxiliary Sends usage will be inherited from the parent or defined at the current level in the hierarchy. When this option is not selected, the user-defined auxiliary controls are unavailable.

[Note]Note

If the object is a top-level object, then this option is unavailable.

Click the Configure Columns... shortcut (right-click) option from the column header band.

The Configure Columns Dialog opens. Specify which columns to display and their order.

ID column (User-Defined Auxiliary Sends)

Determines the ID of the User-Defined Auxiliary Sends. Up to 4 different sends can be added.

User Auxiliary Send

Determines the Auxiliary Bus this object is sending audio data to. Auxiliary sends can only target Auxiliary Busses.

To add an auxiliary send:

  1. Click the selector […] button.

  2. Select an Auxiliary Bus from the Master-Mixer Hierarchy.

  3. Click OK.

  4. Set the send volume for this newly added send.

[Note]Note

Auxiliary Busses can be created anywhere in the Master-Mixer Hierarchy as children of an existing Bus or an existing Auxiliary Bus.

[Tip]Tip

You can drag and drop an Auxiliary Bus object from the Project Explorer to the User-Defined Auxiliary Sends list to quickly add a send.

[...] column (User-Defined Auxiliary Sends)

Allow to select an Auxiliary Bus from the Master-Mixer Hierarchy.

User-Defined Auxiliary Send Volume

Determine the attenuation of the signal sent to the Auxiliary Bus.

[Note]Note

The default slider range is from -96 to +12 dB. You can go over those limits by entering the value directly, or by rolling the mouse while the focus is on the edit control.

[Note]Note

This control is only active when an Auxiliary Bus is selected for a specific send entry.

Default value: 0

Range: -200 to 200

Units: dB

[Note]User-defined auxiliary sends properties in the All Properties tab

There are user-defined auxiliary sends properties for LPF and HPF, which can only be adjusted in the All Properties Tab.

Early Reflections Auxiliary Sends

Interface Element

Description

Override parent

Determines whether the early reflections auxiliary sends usage will be inherited from the parent or defined at the current level in the hierarchy. When this option is not selected, the early reflections auxiliary controls are unavailable.

[Note]Note

If the object is a top-level object, this option is unavailable.

Default value: false

Early Reflections Auxiliary Send

Enables reflection processing in Wwise Spatial Audio and determines the Auxiliary Bus this object is sending to for early reflections processing.

Early reflections processing simulates the acoustic phenomenon of sound bouncing off of virtual surfaces defined by geometry in the game. Since the first few reflections convey the most spatial information to the listener, it is advantageous to process the early reflections separately (from the late reverb) and with more detail using the Reflect plug-in.

To render early reflections, the Reflect plugin must be assigned to an effect slot on the Auxiliary Bus assigned to an early reflections send.

If no send is specified, then Wwise Spatial Audio will not compute early reflections paths for the sound.

[Note]Note

It is also possible to assign a reflections Auxiliary Bus per Game Object via the Spatial Audio API. In the case that a reflections bus is assigned both via the API and to the sound in the authoring tool, the bus used for the sound is taken from the authoring tool.

[Note]Note

For reflections to be computed, the Wwise Spatial Audio library must be initialized and the game must send level geometry to Wwise Spatial Audio.

To add an auxiliary send:

  1. Click the selector […] button.

  2. Select an Auxiliary Bus from the Master-Mixer Hierarchy.

  3. Click OK.

  4. Set the send volume for this newly added send.

[Note]Note

Auxiliary Busses can be created anywhere in the Master-Mixer Hierarchy as children of an existing Bus or an existing Auxiliary Bus.

[Tip]Tip

You can drag and drop an Auxiliary Bus object from the Project Explorer to the User-Defined Auxiliary Sends list to quickly add a send.

Early Reflections Auxiliary Send Volume

Determine the attenuation of the signal sent to the reflections Auxiliary Bus. This control also effects the volume of the reflections aux send specified by the API.

[Note]Note

The default slider range is from -96 to +12 dB. You can go over those limits by entering the value directly, or by rolling the mouse while the focus is on the edit control.

Default value: 0

Range: -200 to 200

Units: dB

Sound Object Specific

Initial Delay

Initial delay applied before playing. This delay will be added to parents and children Initial delay.

[Note]Note

This delay changes the behavior of a container in Trigger rate mode as the delay of its children will be applied additionally to the Trigger rate duration.

[Note]Note

The Source Editor’s Play Cursor start position is not respected when there is an Initial Delay. For more information, refer to the Source Editor documentation .

[Note]Note

Using the built-in parameters to control an RTPC can lead to problems if that RTPC is tied to Initial Delay or Priority. Built-in parameters are computed when a sound plays on a given game object, so they work great for most sound properties. Logical control of playback items like Initial Delay and Priority are not suited while using the built-in parameters to control an RTPC since their value is unknown at the moment the Play Action is posted.

Default value: 0

Range: 0 to 3600

Units: s

Behaviors

Loop

Enables controls that define the number of times the sound or defined loop region in the file will be played.

Some compressed audio file formats, such as ADPCM, require that loop markers lie on predetermined sample boundaries. To accommodate these requirements, you may have to convert your files again when using the Loop option

Default value: false

Infinite

Specifies that the sound or defined loop region in the file will be repeated indefinitely.

Default value: true

No. of loops

The number of times the sound or defined loop region in the file will be played.

Default value: 1

Range: -1 to 32767

Stream

Enables controls that allow you to stream the audio played in game directly from game media.

Streamed media is not included into SoundBanks. It is the Wwise Stream Manager’s, and ultimately, the Low-Level I/O submodule’s responsibility to open and read them from disk at run-time. Refer to the Wwise SDK documentation for more details on Wwise I/O.

Streamed files are described in the file SoundBanksInfo.xml, which is created for each platform when SoundBanks are generated. Refer to Managing SoundBanks for more details.

[Note]Note

Within the Project Settings’ or the SoundBanks Settings’ SoundBanks tab, the Generate Metadata Files option should always be enabled. Additionally, you must enable the Generate XML Metadata option. With these set, Wwise generates the SoundbanksInfo.xml file whenever you successfully generate SoundBanks.

Default value: false

Is Non Cachable

Disables caching of this file, when caching is enabled in the streaming manager. This is useful to prevent long loops, or files that are played infrequently, from using up space in the streaming cache that could be better utilized by other sounds.

Default value: false

Zero Latency

Creates a small audio buffer consisting of the beginning portion of the audio file that covers the latency time required to fetch the rest of the file. This enables the entire streamed sound to be played back without delays.

Latency and prefetch settings are set per track. If you have more than one music source per track then the beginning portion of each source will need to be loaded into memory.

Default value: false

Prefetch length (ms)

The beginning portion of the sound, in milliseconds, that will be loaded into memory in order for the streamed sound to be played back with zero latency.

Default value: 100

Range: 0 to 10000

Units: ms


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