Steam Audio FMOD Studio Plugin

Copyright 2017 Valve Corporation. All rights reserved. Subject to the following license: https://valvesoftware.github.io/steam-audio/license.html

Introduction

Supported Platforms

• Windows 7 or later (64-bit only)

Supported Integrations

• FMOD Studio 1.10.01 or later
• Unity 5.3 or later

FMOD Studio Integration

Adding Steam Audio to FMOD Studio

Before using Steam Audio in your FMOD Studio project, you must install it to a location from which FMOD Studio can load it. After unzipping Steam Audio for FMOD Studio, navigate to the bin/fmod/ subdirectory and copy the following files:

• windows/x64/phonon.dll
• windows/x64/phonon_fmod.dll
• phonon_fmod.plugin.js

to one of the directories from which FMOD Studio loads plugins. For more information on these directories, refer to the FMOD Studio documentation.

Spatializing Events

Steam Audio is used to spatialize individual events in FMOD Studio, via the Steam Audio Spatializer plugin effect. To add the Steam Audio Spatializer to an event:

1. In the Event Editor window, in the Events tab, click the event you want to spatialize.
2. Click the Master track for the event.
3. In the effects deck at the bottom of the window, right-click an empty spot, and choose Add Effect > Plug-in Effects > Valve > Steam Audio Spatializer.
4. Drag the Steam Audio Spatializer to an appropriate position in the effect chain.

Disabling FMOD Studio Spatialization

When using the Steam Audio Spatializer, you will want to disable FMOD Studio’s built-in spatialization, which is performed by the Spatializer effect. Any one of the following approaches can be used:

• Delete the Spatializer effect, by right-clicking it and choosing Delete.
• Bypass the Spatializer effect, by right-clicking it and choosing Bypass.
• If you want to use the distance attenuation curves defined in the Spatializer effect, you can disable just the spatialization, by setting Envelopment to User and Min Extent to 360 degrees.

Steam Audio Spatializer Settings

The Steam Audio Spatializer provides several settings; these are discussed below.

Direct Binaural

When enabled, uses HRTF-based 3D audio for direct sound. Otherwise, panning is used.

HRTF Interpolation

HRTF Interpolation specifies what interpolation scheme to use for HRTF-based 3D audio processing.

• Nearest. This option uses the HRTF from the direction nearest to the direction of the source for which HRTF data is available.

• Bilinear. This option uses an HRTF generated after interpolating from four directions nearest to the direction of the source, for which HRTF data is available. Bilinear HRTF interpolation may result in smoother audio for some kinds of sources when the listener looks around, but has higher CPU usage (up to 2x) than Nearest HRTF interpolation.

Ignored if Direct Binaural is disabled.

Physics-Based Attenuation

When enabled, physics-based distance attenuation (inverse distance falloff) is applied to the audio.

Air Absorption

When enabled, frequency-dependent, distance-based air absorption is applied to the audio. Higher frequencies are attenuated more quickly than lower frequencies over distance.

Occlusion Mode

This specifies how occlusion is modeled, i.e., how solid objects affect sound passing through them.

• Off. Occlusion calculations are disabled. Sounds can be heard through walls and other solid objects. The scene setup does not need to be performed.

• On, No Transmission. Occlusion calculations are enabled. Occluded sound is inaudible.

• On, Frequency Independent Transmission. Occlusion calculations are enabled. Occluded sound is attenuated as it passes through geometry, based on the material properties of the occluding object. The attenuation is independent of frequency: the low, medium, and high frequency transmission coefficients are averaged, and the average value is used as a frequency-independent transmission coefficient.

• On, Frequency Dependent Transmission. Occlusion calculations are enabled. Occluded sound is filtered as it passes through geometry, based on the material properties of the occluding object. The filtering is dependent on frequency, so for example high frequencies may be attenuated more than low frequencies as the sound passes through geometry.

Requires scene setup in the game engine. If set to anything other than Off, the event should be auditioned from within the game engine.

Occlusion Method

This dropdown controls how occlusion calculations are performed.

• Raycast. Performs a single raycast from the source to the listener to determine occlusion. If the ray is occluded, direct sound is considered occluded.

• Partial. Performs multiple raycasts from the source to the listener based on the Source Radius setting. The proportion of rays that are occluded determine how much of the direct sound is considered occluded. Transmission calculations, if enabled, are only applied to the occluded portion of the direct sound.

Ignored if Occlusion Mode is set to Off.

Source Radius

Configures the apparent size of the sound source. The larger the source radius, the larger an object must be in order to fully occlude sound emitted by the source.

Ignored if Occlusion Mode is set to Off or Occlusion Method is set to Raycast.

Direct Mix Level

Direct Mix Level adjusts the contribution of direct sound to the overall mix.

Indirect

If enabled, Steam Audio will apply physics-based environmental effects to the audio emitted by the event emitter. If disabled, only direct sound settings (including occlusion) are applied.

Requires scene setup in the game engine.

Indirect Binaural

If enabled, renders indirect sound with HRTF-based 3D audio. This gives a better sense of directionality to indirect sound and improves immersion. There is a small increase in CPU overhead when checked.

Ignored if Indirect is disabled. If enabled, the event should be auditioned from within the game engine.

Simulation Type

This determines what kind of simulation is performed to calculate environmental effects.

• Realtime. Environmental effects are continuously simulated in real-time, during gameplay. This allows for more flexibility in incorporating changes to the scene and sources, but incurs a CPU overhead.

• Baked. Environmental effects are precomputed during the design phase and saved with the scene. For largely static scenes, this mode allows you to reduce CPU overhead at the cost of increased memory consumption. Requires baking to be performed in the game engine.

Ignored if Indirect is disabled.

Static Listener

When disabled, the source must be static in the game engine. Environmental effects are precomputed from the source position.

When enabled, the listener must be static or restricted to a few static positions. The listener is free to look around but cannot move around. Environmental effects are precomputed at a pre-determined listener position. Sources can freely move when using this mode. For a VR experience where the camera can only transport to a few locations, this mode allows you to reduce CPU overhead at the cost of increased memory consumption.

Ignored if Indirect is disabled or Simulation Type is Realtime.

Indirect Mix Level

Indirect Mix Level adjusts the contribution of indirect sound to the overall mix.

Ignored if Indirect is disabled.

Accelerated Mixing

If you are using the Steam Audio Spatializer to add indirect effects to many events in your project, you can use the Steam Audio Mixer Return effect to reduce the CPU overhead of audio processing for environmental effects. This can be done as follows:

1. Click Window > Mixer.
2. Click the Master Bus.
3. In the effects deck at the bottom of the window, right-click an empty spot and choose Add Effect > Plug-in Effects > Valve > Steam Audio Mixer Return.
4. Drag the Steam Audio Mixer Return effect to an appropriate position in the effect chain.

When using the Steam Audio Mixer Return effect, the following things happen:

• If indirect sound is enabled for a Steam Audio Spatializer attached to an event, then the indirect sound for that event is not sent to the event’s output. It is retained internally by Steam Audio for mixing. Only direct sound is sent to the event’s output.

• All of the indirect sound for all Steam Audio Spatializers is mixed, and inserted back into the audio pipeline at the bus to which the Steam Audio Mixer Return effect has been added.

• Since indirect sound is taken out of FMOD Studio’s audio pipeline at the Steam Audio Spatializer effect, any effects applied between the Steam Audio Spatializer on the event and the Steam Audio Mixer Return effect on the bus will not apply to indirect sound.

The following settings can be configured on a Steam Audio Mixer Return effect:

Indirect Binaural

If enabled, applies HRTF-based 3D audio rendering to indirect sound.

Applying Physics-Based Reverb to a Bus

Steam Audio also lets you apply listener-centric reverb to audio flowing through any bus in FMOD Studio. This helps reduce CPU usage, since indirect sound effects are applied after multiple sounds are mixed. When using listener-centric reverb, Steam Audio calculates and applies a reverb filter based on the listener’s position in the scene; it does not take source positions into account.

To use Steam Audio for modeling listener-centric reverb:

1. Click Window > Mixer.
2. Click the Reverb bus (or any other bus to which you want to apply reverb effects).
3. Make sure FMOD Studio’s built-in reverb effects are disabled or bypassed on the selected bus.
4. In the effects deck at the bottom of the window, right-click an empty spot and choose Add Effect > Plug-in Effects > Valve > Steam Audio Reverb.
5. Drag the Steam Audio Reverb effect to an appropriate position in the effect chain.

After doing this, Steam Audio will apply listener-centric reverb to all audio reaching the bus, either from events containing a Send to the bus, or from other buses that route audio to the selected bus.

The following settings can be configured on a Steam Audio Reverb effect:

Simulation Type

Simulation Type determines what kind of simulation is performed to calculate reverb.

• Realtime. Reverb is continuously simulated in real-time, during gameplay. This allows for more flexibility in incorporating changes to the scene and sources, but incurs a CPU overhead.

• Baked. Reverb is precomputed over a grid of listener positions during the design phase and saved with the scene. For largely static scenes, this mode allows you to reduce CPU overhead at the cost of increased memory consumption. Requires baking to be performed in the game engine.

Requires scene setup in the game engine. Events routing to this bus should be auditioned from within the game engine.

Indirect Binaural

If enabled, applies HRTF-based 3D audio rendering to reverb.

FMOD Studio + Unity Integration

This section describes additional steps or notes to consider when using Steam Audio with FMOD Studio and Unity. For the full instructions on how to use the Steam Audio Unity plugin, including instructions on scene setup, simulation settings, and baking, refer to the documentation for the Unity plugin.

Adding Steam Audio to FMOD Studio in Unity

The following instructions assume that you have already added the FMOD Studio plugin for Unity and the Steam Audio plugin for Unity into your Unity project.

Adding the Steam Audio FMOD Studio Plugin to Unity

Before using Steam Audio, you must add the Steam Audio plugin for FMOD Studio to your Unity project. To do this:

1. From the Unity menu, choose Assets > Import Package > Custom Package.
2. Navigate to the directory where you downloaded Steam Audio for FMOD Studio. Within this folder, navigate to the bin/unity/ subdirectory.
3. Double-click the SteamAudio_FMODStudio.unitypackage file.
4. In the Import dialog box that appears, make sure everything is selected, and click the Import button.

Enabling the Steam Audio FMOD Studio Plugin in Unity

The next step is to configure the FMOD Studio plugin for Unity to load the Steam Audio plugin for FMOD Studio. To do this:

1. Click FMOD > Edit Settings.
2. In the Inspector tab, under Plugins, click Add Plugin.
3. In the text box that appears, enter phonon_fmod.

Auditioning Steam Audio Effects

Events that are configured to use physics-based sound propagation, including occlusion, source-centric propagation, and listener-centric reverb, cannot be auditioned using just FMOD Studio. They must be auditioned by entering play mode in Unity and adjusting effect parameters in FMOD Studio. To do this:

1. In Unity, click Play to start playing a scene in the editor.
2. In FMOD Studio, click File > Connect To Game.
3. Enter the IP address of the game you want to connect to (typically localhost), and click OK.
4. If the connection succeeds, you should see “Live Update: On” in the FMOD Studio status bar.

You should now be able to interact with the scene in Unity, and adjust parameters in FMOD Studio, while listening to how these changes affect the sound produced by Steam Audio.

By default the Unity editor stops playing any sound when it loses focus, which will happen when you click in the FMOD Studio window to change something. To turn off this behavior:

1. Click Edit > Project Settings > Player.
2. In the Inspector tab, under Resolution and Presentation, check Run In Background.

Baking Notes

When baking sound propagation effects for a source (either in Baked Static Source mode or Baked Static Listener mode), you must attach a Steam Audio Source component to the GameObject that contains the corresponding FMOD Studio Event Emitter component.