The Wwise Multi-Channel Creator is a standalone utility that creates multi-channel audio files by combining several mono and/or stereo audio files. You can also use this tool to flag specific mono files as the 0.1 component or independent LFE channel. These files (from 0.1 to 13.1 standard channels, or up to 255 anonymous channels) can then be imported and used within your Wwise projects.
The source files must be tagged with special identification suffixes and then placed within a user-defined 'Input' folder. The Multi-Channel Creator scans the Input folder to create a list of possible multi-channel configurations. You must choose which configuration you want before generating the new multi-channel files. The Multi-Channel Creator saves the new multi-channel file in a user-defined 'Output' folder.
You can use this tool to create individual files or to process many multi-channel files as a batch.
The following illustration demonstrates the workflow for creating multi-channel files using the Multi-Channel Creator.
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The Multi-Channel Creator supports a wide variety of standard channel configurations, identifying channels with suffixes, as specified in the Settings dialog (for example, "FL", "C", "LFE", and so on). It also supports anonymous configurations, where channels simply follow the order prescribed by the user. Suffixes for such configurations consist of numbers. The Multi-Channel Creator can generate anonymous multi-channel audio files of up to 255 channels.
The Multi-Channel Creator only supports files in the PCM audio format (.wav). If you try to use other file formats that are not supported, you will encounter errors while generating the output files. These errors are displayed in the generation log.
The Multi-Channel Creator also preserves the position of all markers and loop points in the original source files. If duplicate markers or loop points are found in the source files, the Multi-Channel Creator removes the duplicate and preserves only one instance of the marker or loop point in the output file.
The Multi-Channel Creator is installed in the same folder as the Wwise application when you install Wwise. The Wwise Multi-Channel Creator can be launched via the list next to the Launch Wwise button in the Audiokinetic Launcher. After you have finished creating your multi-channel files, you can exit the application.
To start the Multi-Channel Creator:
Do one of the following:
From the Start menu, search for Multi-Channel Creator.
Double-click the Multi-Channel Creator icon on your desktop.
The Multi-Channel Creator application opens.
To exit the Multi-Channel Creator:
From the window title bar, click the Close (X) icon.
The Multi-Channel Creator application closes.
Before using the Multi-Channel Creator, you must define the application's settings. These settings are saved per user in the application data folder (Application Data > Audiokinetic > MultiChannelCreator).
The settings include a set of suffixes that will be used to represent the different channels or set of channels that make up a multi-channel audio file. After these suffixes have been defined, you must add them to the end of each source's filename so the system can easily identify which input files contain which channels. Since your input files can either be mono or stereo files, you can define both mono and stereo suffixes.
For example, let's say you want to create a 5.1 explosion sound called 'Bang.wav' for your Wwise project. You have the six different mono sounds for each channel:
Front left
Front right
Center
Surround left
Surround right
LFE
For the purposes of this example, the default suffixes will be used, but you can use any suffix you want as long as it is defined in the Settings dialog. The following table demonstrates how the suffixes can be added to the source filenames.
|
Channel |
Suffix |
Source Filename |
|---|---|---|
|
Front Left |
.L |
Bang.L.wav |
|
Front Right |
.R |
Bang.R.wav |
|
Center |
.C |
Bang.C.wav |
|
Surround Left |
.SL |
Bang.SL.wav |
|
Surround Right |
.SR |
Bang.SR.wav |
|
LFE |
.LFE |
Bang.LFE.wav |
After the suffixes have been added to the filenames, the Multi-Channel Creator will be able to provide you with a list of possible multi-channel configurations from which you can choose the one you want.
Another option in the Settings dialog allows you to determine how the system will handle source files of different lengths. The Multi-Channel Creator can deal with these cases in two different ways, by either padding the shorter files with silence so that they are all the same length or by simply aborting the multi-channel file generation process.
To define the Multi-Channel Creator settings:
From the menu bar, click Settings > Settings.
The Settings dialog opens.
To deal with input files of different lengths, select one of the following options from the When file lengths are different list:
Abort operation to cancel the multi-channel file generation process.
Pad shortest files with silence to make all source files the same length by adding silence to the end of the shorter files.
To change the default suffixes for the mono and/or stereo channel files, select one of the channels in the list and then click the corresponding suffix.
The suffix will become highlighted in blue.
Type the letter or series of letters that you want to represent the selected channel.
Press Enter.
Repeat steps 3-5 for the other channels in the list.
Click OK
The changes you made to the settings are saved and the Settings dialog is closed.
Before you can generate your multi-channel files, you must prepare your source files by doing the following:
Create the mono and/or stereo source files.
Name them appropriately using the special suffixes defined in the Settings dialog.
Place the source files in a separate 'Input' folder. The source files within the Input folder can be organized into sub-folders.
After this is done, you are ready to begin creating the multi-channel files that will be used in your Wwise project.
The creation process involves the following steps:
Specifying an Input folder that contains the source mono and/or stereo audio files.
Specifying the Output folder where the multi-channel files will be saved.
Selecting which multi-channel files you want to generate.
Selecting a multi-channel configuration from a list of possible configurations.
Generating the multi-channel file.
To create multi-channel files:
To specify the Input folder, do one of the following:
Type the full path of the folder in the Input folder field.
Drag the folder from the Windows Explorer or the Mac Finder to the Input folder field.
Click the Input folder Browse (...) button, navigate to the folder that contains your source files, select the folder, and then press OK.
The Multi-Channel Creator automatically scans the folder and populates the Output preview list.
If the Input folder contains sub-folders, the output file name will include the folder structure.
![[Note]](/images/2024.1.0_8669/?source=Help&id=note.png)
Note If changes are made to the contents of the Input folder, you can update the Output preview manually by clicking Refresh > Refresh or by pressing F5.
To specify the Output folder, do one of the following:
Type the full path of the folder in the Output folder field.
Click the Output folder Browse () button, navigate to the folder where you want the multi-channel files to be saved, select the folder, and then press OK.
In the Output preview table, select which file(s) you want to be output as a multi-channel file.
Note You can use the Select All and Select None buttons to select all files or to clear the selection.
For each file that will be output, select a multi-channel configuration from the Configuration list.
Click Process to begin generating the multi-channel files that you selected.
The Log dialog is displayed showing you the status of each multi-channel file that is created.
Click Close to close the Log dialog.
The generated multi-channel files are saved in the Output folder.
Anonymous channel configurations are configurations where channel roles are not known beforehand, such as "Front Left" or "LFE". They simply follow the order prescribed by the user. Special plugins have to be used in order to interpret them at run-time. Anonymous multi-channel files may consist of up to 255 channels.
Two steps are required in order to create an anonymous multi-channel file:
Set a separator character for anonymous configurations in the Settings (see Defining the Multi-Channel Creator settings);
Use multiple mono audio files having the same name, suffixed with this separator and followed by a number.
Mono files will be sorted according to the value of their suffix, and will be taken together into an anonymous multi-channel audio file.
For example, let's say you want to create a 4 channel anonymous multi-channel audio file from 4 mono files. Open the Settings dialog and type, say, "." as the Suffix Separator for Anonymous Audio Files. Then, you may give them the following names:
MyFile.1.wav
MyFile.2.wav
MyFile.123.wav
MyFile.9999.wav
An anonymous configuration identified as "4 (Anonymous)" will be available in the main screen. Upon generation, an anonymous multi-channel file will be created. Channels will be ordered in ascending order of suffixes, as listed above.
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