FMOD DESIGNER

USER MANUAL
http://www.fmod.org

Updated: June 08

FMOD DESIGNER

LEGAL NOTICE
The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not
represent a commitment on the part of Firelight Technologies. This document is
provided for informational purposes only and Firelight Technologies makes no
warranties, either express or implied, in this document. Information in this document,
including URL and other Internet Web site references, is subject to change without
notice. The entire risk of the use or the results of the use of this document remains
with the user. Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the
user. Without limiting the rights under copyright, no part of this document may be
reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form
or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), or
for any purpose, without the express written permission of Firelight Technologies.
2005-2008 Firelight Technologies Pty. Ltd. All rights reserved.
Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their
respective owners.

USER MANUAL

TABLE OF CONTENTS
LEGAL NOTICE ............................................................................................... 2
CHAPTER ONE: FMOD DESIGNER............................................................... 11
WHAT IS FMOD DESIGNER? ........................................................................ 13
PLATFORM SUPPORT................................................................................... 13
CONTACT DETAILS ...................................................................................... 14
CHAPTER TWO: GETTING STARTED............................................................ 15
LEARNING THE INTERFACE.......................................................................... 17
OVERVIEW OF KEY TERMS ................................................................................................... 17
A HIERARCHY OF FMOD OBJECTS...................................................................................... 18

LEARNING THE INTERFACE.......................................................................... 19

OVERVIEW AND WORKFLOW PHILOSOPHY .................................................................... 19
THE EVENTS TAB ................................................................................................................... 20
THE EVENT EDITOR TAB....................................................................................................... 22
THE SOUND DEFINITION TAB............................................................................................. 24
THE WAVE BANK TAB........................................................................................................... 25
THE REVERB TAB ................................................................................................................... 26
THE PROFILER TAB ................................................................................................................ 27
THE INTERACTIVE MUSIC TAB............................................................................................. 28

CHAPTER THREE: USING FMOD DESIGNER................................................ 29

WORKSPACES............................................................................................... 31
WHAT IS A WORKSPACE?..................................................................................................... 31
OPENING A WORKSPACE .................................................................................................... 31
SAVING A WORKSPACE........................................................................................................ 31
CLOSING A WORKSPACE ..................................................................................................... 32

PROJECTS...................................................................................................... 32
CREATING A NEW PROJECT ................................................................................................. 32
LOADING A PROJECT ........................................................................................................... 32
SAVING A PROJECT ............................................................................................................... 33
CHOOSING A TARGET PLATFORM ..................................................................................... 33
WHY IS MY PLATFORM NOT AVAILABLE?.......................................................................... 33
DEVELOPING CONTENT FOR MULTIPLE LANGUAGES .................................................... 34
SETTING PROJECT PROPERTIES............................................................................................ 35
PROTECTING PROJECT DATA .............................................................................................. 35
CLEANING A PROJECT .......................................................................................................... 35
MERGING PROJECT DATA.................................................................................................... 36
BUILDING A PROJECT........................................................................................................... 36
ADVANCED BUILDING USING BUILD COMMANDS ........................................................ 38
CLOSING A PROJECT ............................................................................................................ 39

FMOD DESIGNER

EVENTS ......................................................................................................... 40
EVENT GROUPS .....................................................................................................................40
Adding a New Event Group ..............................................................................................40
Deleting an Existing Event Group .....................................................................................41
Setting an Event Group's Properties ..................................................................................41
EVENT CATEGORIES ..............................................................................................................41
Adding a New Event Category ..........................................................................................42
Deleting an Existing Event Category .................................................................................42
Setting an Event Category's Properties ..............................................................................43
MAINTAINING EVENTS .........................................................................................................43
Adding an Event to an Event Group..................................................................................43
Deleting an Event from the Event Group ..........................................................................44
Adding an Event to a Event Category................................................................................44
Setting an Event's Properties .............................................................................................44
EVENT LAYERS ........................................................................................................................45
What is a Layer? ................................................................................................................45
Adding a Layer...................................................................................................................46
Deleting a Layer ................................................................................................................46
Modifying Layer Properties ...............................................................................................46

SOUND DEFINITION INSTANCES ................................................................ 47

ADDING A SOUND USING A NEW WAVETABLE...............................................................47
ADDING A SOUND USING AN OSCILLATOR ....................................................................48
ADDING AN EXISTING SOUND DEFINITION .....................................................................49
MODIFYING THE PROPERTIES OF AN INSTANCE ..............................................................50
RESIZING A SOUND DEFINITION INSTANCE .....................................................................50
REPOSITIONING A SOUND DEFINITION INSTANCE .........................................................51
SETTING THE VOLUME OF AN INSTANCE..........................................................................51
CROSSFADING BETWEEN INSTANCES ................................................................................52
REPLACING THE SOUND INSTANCE ...................................................................................53
DELETING AN INSTANCE ......................................................................................................53

PARAMETERS ................................................................................................ 53
WHAT IS A PARAMETER?.......................................................................................................53
AUTOMATIC PARAMETERS ...................................................................................................55
ADDING A PARAMETER ........................................................................................................55
MODIFYING THE PROPERTIES OF A PARAMETER..............................................................55
ASSIGNING A PARAMETER TO AN EVENT LAYER ..............................................................56

EFFECTS ........................................................................................................ 57
ADDING AN EFFECT ..............................................................................................................57
SELECTING THE EFFECT PROPERTIES...................................................................................58
SETTING EFFECT PROPERTY..................................................................................................58
CREATING AN EFFECT ENVELOPE........................................................................................59
REMOVING AN EFFECT ENVELOPE POINT .........................................................................60
CHANGING THE COLOUR OF AN ENVELOPE ...................................................................60
REMOVING AN EFFECT .........................................................................................................60

USER MANUAL

EVENT TEMPLATES ....................................................................................... 60

CREATING A TEMPLATE ........................................................................................................ 61
CREATING AN EVENT WITH A TEMPLATE .......................................................................... 61
MODIFYING THE TEMPLATE ................................................................................................ 62

SOUND DEFINITIONS.................................................................................. 62
CREATING FOLDERS ............................................................................................................. 63
SETTING SOUND DEFINITION PROPERTIES....................................................................... 63
DELETING SOUND DEFINITIONS AND FOLDERS.............................................................. 64

WAVE BANKS ............................................................................................... 65

ADDING A WAVE BANK....................................................................................................... 65
THE CURRENT WAVE BANK................................................................................................. 65
SETTING THE WAVE BANK PROPERTIES ............................................................................. 66
INCREASING WORKFLOW WITH WAVE BANKS ............................................................... 66
MOVING FILES BETWEEN WAVE BANKS ............................................................................ 67
DELETING A WAVE BANK .................................................................................................... 67

REVERB ......................................................................................................... 68
ADDING AN EMPTY REVERB DEFINITION.......................................................................... 68
REVERB DEFINITION PROPERTIES ....................................................................................... 68
Preset Reverb Properties ................................................................................................... 69
User-Defined Reverb Properties ....................................................................................... 69
DELETING A REVERB DEFINITION ....................................................................................... 70

AUDITIONING ............................................................................................. 71
BASIC AUDITIONING............................................................................................................ 71
USING THE AUDITION TOOLS ............................................................................................ 72
USING THE RECORD MODE ................................................................................................ 72
Setting the Recording Directory........................................................................................ 72
Starting and Stopping the Record Mode........................................................................... 73
Rendering Multiple Events to Audio Files ........................................................................ 73
NETWORK AUDITIONING ................................................................................................... 74
CREATING WITH A NEW NETWORK CONNECTION ........................................................ 75
CONNECTING WITH EXISTING CONNECTION DETAILS.................................................. 75
AUDITIONING VIA THE NETWORK .................................................................................... 76
DISCONNECTING FROM THE NETWORK .......................................................................... 76
DELETING CONNECTION DETAILS ..................................................................................... 77

USER PROPERTIES......................................................................................... 77
CREATING A USER DEFINED PROPERTY............................................................................. 77
EDITING A USER DEFINED PROPERTY ................................................................................ 78
DELETING A USER DEFINED PROPERTY ............................................................................. 78

LOCALIZATION ............................................................................................ 79
MAINTAINING LANGUAGES................................................................................................ 79
Selecting a Language ........................................................................................................ 80
Adding a language ............................................................................................................ 80
Editing a language ............................................................................................................. 80
Removing a language........................................................................................................ 80

FMOD DESIGNER
SETTING THE PREFIX..............................................................................................................81
MISSING FILES AT BUILD TIME .............................................................................................81

CHAPTER FOUR: REFERENCE GUIDE........................................................... 83

PROPERTIES REFERENCE GUIDE................................................................... 85
EVENT TAB PROPERTIES ........................................................................................................85
Project Properties...............................................................................................................85
Event Category Properties..................................................................................................85
Event Group Properties......................................................................................................85
Event Properties .................................................................................................................86
EVENT EDITOR TAB PROPERTIES .........................................................................................93
Sound Instance Properties .................................................................................................93
Parameter Properties..........................................................................................................94
Layer Properties .................................................................................................................96
SOUND DEFINITION TAB PROPERTIES ...............................................................................97
Sound Definition Properties ..............................................................................................97
Sound Definition Waveform Properties ............................................................................98
WAVE BANK TAB PROPERTIES .............................................................................................99
Wave Bank Properties .......................................................................................................99
Wave Bank Waveform Properties ...................................................................................101
REVERB TAB PROPERTIES ....................................................................................................102
Reverb Properties.............................................................................................................102

TOOLS REFERENCE GUIDE......................................................................... 103

FMOD ENGINE DESIGNER ..................................................................................................103
AUDITION 3D ......................................................................................................................104
SURROUND PAN .................................................................................................................105
CONE DESIGNER..................................................................................................................107

EFFECTS REFERENCE GUIDE....................................................................... 108

PROPERTY AUTOMATION EFFECTS...................................................................................108
FMOD DSP EFFECTS.............................................................................................................111

CHAPTER FIVE: TUTORIAL PROJECTS........................................................ 121

CREATING A REALISTIC ENGINE................................................................ 123
CREATING THE EVENT STRUCTURES ................................................................................123
ORGANIZING THE SOUND DEFINITIONS ........................................................................124
USING THE AUTO-PITCH FEATURE ...................................................................................126
CREATING THE OFFLOAD LAYER ......................................................................................127
APPLYING VOLUME EFFECTS .............................................................................................128
AUDITIONING THE ENGINE...............................................................................................129

CREATING A CYCLE.................................................................................... 130

CREATING THE EVENT STRUCTURE ..................................................................................130
ADDING A VELOCITY BASED PARAMETER .......................................................................131
ADDING A SUSTAIN POINT ...............................................................................................132
AUDITIONING THE EVENT .................................................................................................133

USER MANUAL

SIMULATING DISTANCE ............................................................................ 134

CREATING THE EVENT STRUCTURE .................................................................................. 134
ADDING THE ROLLOFF EFFECTS ....................................................................................... 136
AUDITIONING THE EVENT................................................................................................. 138

FUN WITH MULTI-CHANNEL FILES ........................................................... 140

MULTI-CHANNEL AUDIO FILE ........................................................................................... 140
CREATING THE EVENT STRUCTURE .................................................................................. 140
APPLY THE EFFECT .............................................................................................................. 141
SETTING THE ROUTING ..................................................................................................... 142
AUDITIONING THE EVENT................................................................................................. 143

CHAPTER SIX: OPTIMIZATION .................................................................. 145

FILE FORMATS ............................................................................................ 147
WHAT IS COMPRESSION .................................................................................................... 147
CHOOSING A FILE FORMAT .............................................................................................. 147
RECOMMENDED FORMATS ............................................................................................... 148
EFFICIENT CPU USAGE ....................................................................................................... 149
DSP Effects ...................................................................................................................... 149
Forcing Software ............................................................................................................. 149
EFFICIENT MEMORY AND DISK USAGE ............................................................................ 150
DSP Effects ...................................................................................................................... 150
Event Group and Category Organization ....................................................................... 150
Limiting Polyphony ......................................................................................................... 150
Disk Streaming ................................................................................................................ 151
Compression Levels ........................................................................................................ 151
Manual Sample Rate Optimization ................................................................................ 152

CHAPTER SEVEN: ADVANCED TECHNIQUES............................................ 155

INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 157
SEQUENCES WITH 'KEYOFF ON SILENCE'................................................. 157
SCENARIO ............................................................................................................................ 157
SOLUTION ........................................................................................................................... 157
GOING FURTHER ................................................................................................................ 157

RANDOM LOOPS USING SPAWNING....................................................... 158

SCENARIO ............................................................................................................................ 158
SOLUTION ........................................................................................................................... 158

SELECTING WAVEFORMS AT RUNTIME..................................................... 159

SCENARIO ............................................................................................................................ 159
SOLUTION ........................................................................................................................... 159
Programmer Sounds ........................................................................................................ 159
The 'ProgrammerSelected' Play Mode ........................................................................... 160
COMBINING THE TECHNIQUES ........................................................................................ 160

FMOD DESIGNER

CHAPTER EIGHT: THE PROFILER ............................................................... 161

INTRODUCTION TO PROFILER.................................................................. 163
GETTING STARTED..................................................................................... 163
INITIALISATION OF FMOD EX (PROGRAMMER) ..............................................................163

PROFILING APPLICATIONS ........................................................................ 163

STARTING THE PROFILER....................................................................................................163
UNDERSTANDING THE DSP NETWORK ...........................................................................164

OTHER DSP NETWORK FEATURES............................................................. 165

SAVING .................................................................................................................................165
ZOOMING ............................................................................................................................165
HIDING INPUTS ...................................................................................................................165

CPU USAGE MONITORING........................................................................ 166

SELECTING AN ITEM TO MONITOR ..................................................................................166
CHOOSING THE RANGE TO DISPLAY...............................................................................166

CHAPTER NINE: INTERACTIVE MUSIC ...................................................... 169

INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 171
KEY TERMS AND OBJECTS.......................................................................... 172
CUE........................................................................................................................................172
PARAMETER ..........................................................................................................................172
SCENE ....................................................................................................................................172
THEME ...................................................................................................................................173
SEGMENT ..............................................................................................................................174
LINKS .....................................................................................................................................174

LEARNING THE INTERFACE........................................................................ 176

SCENE EDITOR .....................................................................................................................176
THEME EDITOR ....................................................................................................................176
THE FUNCTION PALETTE ....................................................................................................177
The Select Tool ................................................................................................................177
The Multi-Selection Tool.................................................................................................177
The Audition Tool ...........................................................................................................177
The Segment Stamp Tool.................................................................................................177
SEGMENT EDITOR................................................................................................................177
The Playlist Editor ............................................................................................................178
Beat-Sync Step Sequencer ...............................................................................................178
Link Editor........................................................................................................................178
CONDITION EDITOR...........................................................................................................179
AUDITION CONSOLE ..........................................................................................................179
ICONS AT A GLANCE ..........................................................................................................180

SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION CONCEPTS .................................................... 181

LIFESPAN OF CUES ..............................................................................................................181
THEME STACK AND SYSTEM STATES .................................................................................181

USER MANUAL
WHAT ARE START SEGMENTS? .......................................................................................... 182
WHAT ARE STOP SEGMENTS?............................................................................................ 183
TARGET CONDITIONS ........................................................................................................ 183
What is 'Targeting a Theme'? ......................................................................................... 183
What is 'Targeting a Conclusion'? .................................................................................. 183
FLOURISHES (CONCURRENT THEMES)............................................................................. 184

CREATING AN INTERACTIVE MUSIC SCORE ............................................. 185

CREATING AND MAINTAINING CUES .............................................................................. 185
CREATING AND MAINTAINING THEMES ......................................................................... 186
Switching to the Theme Editor Screen............................................................................ 186
CREATING FLOURISHES (CONCURRENT THEMES) ......................................................... 186
CREATING AND MAINTAINING PARAMETERS ................................................................ 187
CREATING AND MAINTAINING SEGMENTS .................................................................... 188
Specifying the audio in a segment.................................................................................. 188
Deleting the audio from a segment ................................................................................ 189
Creating Start Segments .................................................................................................. 189
Start Priorities and Conditions ........................................................................................ 190
Creating Stop Segments .................................................................................................. 190
Intelligent Beat Matching ................................................................................................ 191
Deleting a Segment ......................................................................................................... 192
CREATING AND MAINTAINING LINKS ............................................................................. 193
Creating Links.................................................................................................................. 193
Link Priorities and Conditions......................................................................................... 193
Removing Links............................................................................................................... 194
TRANSITIONING BETWEEN THEMES USING TARGETING .............................................. 194

AUDITIONING ........................................................................................... 195

BASIC AUDITIONING.......................................................................................................... 195
AUDITIONING STATIC SEQUENCES.................................................................................. 195

DYNAMIC AUDITIONING.......................................................................... 196

OPENING (AND RESIZING) THE AUDITION CONSOLE .................................................. 197
DOCKING / RELEASING THE AUDITION CONSOLE ........................................................ 197
CONTROLS........................................................................................................................... 197
ADDING A CUE TRIGGER PAD .......................................................................................... 198
ADDING A PARAMETER FADER ......................................................................................... 198
POSITIONING A CONTROL ............................................................................................... 199
EDITING A CONTROL'S PROPERTIES ................................................................................ 199
REMOVING A CONTROL.................................................................................................... 199
USING THE AUDITION CONSOLE..................................................................................... 200
Starting the Music System ............................................................................................... 200
Resetting the Music System............................................................................................. 200

HANDOVER TO THE PROGRAMMER ........................................................ 201

PROPERTY REFERENCE GUIDE................................................................... 202
THEME PROPERTIES............................................................................................................. 202
SEGMENT PROPERTIES........................................................................................................ 203

 10

FMOD DESIGNER
PLAYLIST PROPERTIES .........................................................................................................203

CUE TRIGGER PROPERTIES ........................................................................ 204

FADER PROPERTIES .................................................................................... 204
APPENDIX................................................................................................... 205
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS............................................................. 205
SHORT-CUT GUIDE.................................................................................... 209
THE EVENT TAB....................................................................................................................209
THE EVENT EDITOR TAB .....................................................................................................210
THE SOUND DEFINITION TAB ...........................................................................................211
THE WAVE BANK TAB .........................................................................................................211

COMMAND LINE USAGE ........................................................................... 212

USAGE ...................................................................................................................................212
TARGET PLATFORM.............................................................................................................212
SWITCHES .............................................................................................................................212
COMPRESSION FORMAT ....................................................................................................213
EXAMPLES .............................................................................................................................213

USER MANUAL

CHAPTER ONE: FMOD

DESIGNER

Welcome to the FMOD Designer user manual.

1
This manual contains instructions,

reference material, performance optimizations and tips on getting the best results using the
FMOD Designer software. In this chapter an introduction to FMOD designer is given.
Key topics in this chapter.
A description of FMOD Designer
Platform Support
Contact Details

11

 12

FMOD DESIGNER
This page is intentionally blank

USER MANUAL

WHAT IS FMOD DESIGNER?

FMOD Designer is a tool for creating complex audio events for playback with the
FMOD Ex Music and Sound Effects System. This application is designed to allow a
Sound Designer to create immersive auditory environments without the need for
programming.
Using the FMOD Designer tool, a Sound Designer can control both the sound and the
behavior of sound within a game title. The Sound Designer can model real world
sounds by creating events that contain layers, parameters, crossfading, DSP effects
and randomized behavior.
The software will then produce an output file that allows a programmer to dynamically
control these events at runtime in order to realize a rich interactive soundscape.

PLATFORM SUPPORT
The FMOD Designer software is currently available for the following platforms:
Microsoft Windows series
Macintosh OS X
FMOD Designer can create content for the following platforms:

Microsoft Windows series 32-bit

Microsoft Windows series 64-bit
Linux
Linux 64-bit
Solaris
Macintosh OS8 / 9 / X / X86
Sony PlayStation 2
Sony PlayStation Portable
Sony PlayStation 3
Microsoft Xbox
Microsoft Xbox 360
Nintendo Gamecube
Nintendo Wii

FMOD Designer supports all platform-specific audio compression methods, such as

XADPCM for Microsoft Xbox, VAG for Sony PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable,
XMA for Xbox 360. All hardware features are available to the Sound Designer where
applicable.

13

 14

FMOD DESIGNER

CONTACT DETAILS
The FMOD team can be contacted via the following channels:

FMOD Website: http://www.fmod.org/

FMOD Discussion Forums: http://www.fmod.org/forum
FMOD Wiki: http://www.fmod.org/wiki
Email support: [email protected]
Sales inquiries: [email protected]
Education: [email protected]

USER MANUAL

CHAPTER TWO: GETTING

STARTED

In this chapter, the FMOD Designer user interface is explored. To help users navigate
through all the FMOD Designer functionalities, a suggested workflow philosophy is
explained and the basic operations of the software are described.
Key topics in this chapter.
Exploring the basic operations of FMOD Designer
Learning the FMOD Designer User Interface
The functionality provided by the main tabs in the FMOD

15

 16

FMOD DESIGNER
This page is intentionally blank

USER MANUAL

LEARNING THE INTERFACE

OVERVIEW OF KEY TERMS
There is a complete hierarchy of objects used within FMOD Designer interface. Below
is a quick description of the key objects mentioned in this user manual.
Object

Descrip tio n

Workspace

A list of Projects currently open

Project

A file that contains all the FMOD Designer content.

Event Category

A virtual folder used to organize event data into generic categories

such as music. Allows volume and pitch changes to be applied to
all events within the group.

Event Group

A virtual folder used to organize event data into hierarchies.

Event

An event is the most used object in FMOD Designer, as it specifies

the actions taken when audio is requested.

Event Layer

Provides an event with the ability to play multiple audio pieces

simultaneously.

Sound Definition Instance

An occurrence of a Sound Definition object.

Parameter

Provides functionality to adjust the characteristics of the audio

playback in real-time.

Effect

Digital signal processing used to add impact to the audio. Includes

low pass filtering, distortion, flanging, etc.

Sound Definition

An object that contains audio waveforms, oscillators and other

playback entities.

Waveform (or wavetable)

An existing audio file.

Oscillator

A real-time generated audio signal.

Wave bank

Specifies the characteristics and content of the files exported to the

game title.

Reverb

Specifies the characteristics of the reverberation used in the

project.

Note: Key terms and objects used exclusively in the Interactive Music Tab are
explained Chapter 9.

17

 18

FMOD DESIGNER

A HIERARCHY OF FMOD OBJECTS

The diagram below illustrates the object hierarchy and can be used as a reference
when considering the suggested workflow described in the next section. Multiple
projects may be opened within a workspace, however each project is saved as its own
file and can be used independently from a particular workspace. The diagram below
shows that a project contains an event group, which contains an event, which contains
a layer, etc.
WORKSPACE
PROJECT

EVENT GROUP (OR CATEGORY)

EVENT

LAYER

SOUND DEFINITION INSTANCE

PARAMETER

EFFECT

SOUND DEFINITION

WAVETABLE

OSCILLATOR

WAVEBANK

REVERB

Figure 1: FMOD Hierarchy of Objects

USER MANUAL

LEARNING THE INTERFACE

Before starting an FMOD Designer project, it is important to consider the most
efficient way of working. In the next section, a brief overview of the FMOD Designer
tool is given and a workflow philosophy is suggested.

OVERVIEW AND WORKFLOW PHILOSOPHY

Most new users simply want to add a set of wave files and start building things.
However, this is not how the FMOD Designer workflow is structured. Instead FMOD
Designer's workflow encourages the Sound Designer to think about the sound events
(or 'triggers') that appear in the game.
Each important step in FMOD Designer's workflow is laid out using window tabs.
The order of workflow runs from left to right. As you can see in the figure below, the
'Events' tab is first. Once an event is created, the Sound Designer can then attach
sounds using the 'Event editor' tab.

Figure 2: The Main Window Tabs

The five main tabs in the FMOD Designer tool represent the:

Event hierarchy view

Event editor view
Sound definition view
Wave bank view
Reverb definition view
Profiler view
Interactive Music view

In the next section, the role of each tab will be briefly described.

19

 20

FMOD DESIGNER

THE EVENTS TAB

Before discussing the Events tab, it is important to define what an event is. An event
is a trigger that a Programmer will call from within their game code to play or update
a sound. A typical event might be sound for a gun, monster, explosion, car engine or
even musicanything that makes a sound! Using FMOD Designer, the Sound
Designer not only attaches sounds to an event but may also create parameters that
allow the sound to be manipulated.
An FMOD Designer event contains a combination of:

Waveforms (known as sound definition instances),

Layers,
DSP Effects, and
Parameters to manipulate the behavior of the sound

As stated in the first chapter, it is the role of the Sound Designer to create the events
and define the behavior of the sound in the game.
The Programmer is responsible for starting and stopping events, as well as, updating
event data from the game code. While the Programmer updates values at run-time,
the audio content and behavior is defined within the Sound Designer's event.
Consider the following example of a first-person shooting game. Each time an ingame player fires a weapon, a sound event (or events) is triggered.
The Sound Designer is responsible for tasks such as:

Creating a Gunfire event.

Selecting audio samples.
Setting the properties of an event, for example, one-shot or looping sounds
Specifying an event to be played in a 2D or 3D space environment.
Creating a parameter that modifies the audio based on a character's distance
from the detonation point.
Mixing the relative volumes of the gunfire event with the other game events.

The 'Events' tab is responsible for creating and organizing events. Event definitions
are created using the 'event hierarchy view', under the Events tab. This tab can be
seen in the figure on the next page.

USER MANUAL

Figure 3: The Events tab

This event hierarchy view can also be used to sort events into event groups. The
event group can be seen as a nested group in the Events tree hierarchy. The event
group 'Filters' in the figure above demonstrates this. Event groups are essential for
data organization and efficient memory usage. This concept is explained in further
detail in Chapter Six, Optimizations.
The event category view can be used to group events for mixing. An event category
works somewhat like a sub-group on a mixing desk (controlling the volume of
multiple channels with a single fader). An event category allows the Sound Designer
to change the volume and pitch of all events within the category in one location. This
is very useful when fine-tuning the relative mix of many events.

21

 22

FMOD DESIGNER

THE EVENT EDITOR TAB

Once an event has been created in the event hierarchy view, it can be edited. It is the
event editor tab that allows the Sound Designer to define the behavior of an event, its
parameters and sound definitions.
To edit an event, simply double-click the event in the hierarchy view. FMOD
Designer will automatically switch to the 'Event Editor' tab.

Figure 4: The Event Editor tab

Note:

Clicking on the event editor tab without an event selected

in the event hierarchy will produce a blank event editor
screen.
YOU MUST SELECT AN EVENT BEFORE YOU CAN EDIT
ANYTHING!
The major components of an event are designed within this tab. Using the event
editor it is possible to create a simple event such as an event with a single sound
playing or complex events, that can contain multiple sounds, multiple layers, cross
fading, effects, sequencing, pitch bending, event parameter definition and more.
Some complex event examples have been provided with the FMOD Designer tool and
the topic is discussed further in Chapter 5, Tutorial Projects.
The Event Editor tab can be seen in the figure above. This example has two layers
with four sound definitions on each layer, as well as two parameter bars.

USER MANUAL

The parameter bar is the cause of much confusion to new users. While the parameter
bar looks very much like a 'timeline' in its default setting the bar has no relationship to
the time domain. Instead, the bar simply represents the current value of a parameter.
Parameters are typically used to represent variable data from the game engine such
as engine RPM or the distance between the listener and the location of the sound
emitter. Using parameters a Sound Designer can create dynamic and non-linear
sequenced sound events from otherwise static samples.

Note:
Audio files can be dragged from an operating system
window

to

FMOD

Designer

and

dropped

into

event

hierarchy to automatically create a simple one-shot event

or dropped into the sound definition hierarchy panel to
automatically create sound definitions. You can add any
type of audio file to an FMOD sound definition, even midi
files!

23

 24

FMOD DESIGNER

THE SOUND DEFINITION TAB

Many users new to FMOD Designer mistakenly assume a sound definition to be an
audio file. The term 'sound definition' is used to describe a comprehensive set of
sounds, as well as a single wave file.
A sound definition featured in the event editor may contain multiple wave files (or
even real-time synthesized audio) with behavior specified for randomization and
attribute variation.
The sound definition allows the Sound Designer to control a variety of playback
characteristics, such as random selection of which sound within the definition to play
or randomization of pitch and volume. It may also control 'respawn' behavior, which
specifies the manner in which the sound repeats.
The 'Sound Definition' tab (as seen in the figure below) contains the screen that
allows the Sound Designer to add audio to a sound definition. As previously stated,
sound definitions can be a single audio file, multiple audio files or real-time generated
oscillations (such as white noise, sine wave, square wave etc). These oscillators use
no memory but take a small amount of CPU time to generate.

Figure 5: The Sound Definition tab

Finally if you double click on an entry in a sound definition hierarchy, it will
automatically take you to the next tab, which is the 'Wave banks' tab.

USER MANUAL

THE WAVE BANK TAB

Before any content can be exported into a game, it must be organized into 'Wave
Banks'. The Wave Bank tab provides the functionality for packing events and sound
definitions into banks. The banks are exported as '.fsb' files and are loaded at runtime
by the FMOD EX sound engine,
When creating a Wave Bank, FMOD Designer's build process automatically
compresses the audio data using the desired format regardless of the source file type.
For example, when working on the PS2 platform, the source audio files used in the
sound definitions may use MPEG and PCM audio files, but the wave banks that are
exported to the game will only contain VAG files.
The 'Waveforms' panel displays the audio data to be exported. When constructing
wave banks, audio is generally grouped into logical banks, such as banks per game
level or banks that are streamed (i.e. music or ambience). The organization of wave
banks should optimize memory usage. There is no single solution to wave bank
structure. It requires a memory loading strategy and coordination between the
Programmer and Sound Designer. This is discussed in Chapter 6, Optimizations.
As a general rule, when designing the sound for a game with ten levels, the Sound
Designer should avoid putting the audio data for all ten levels into a single wave bank!
The Wave Bank tab is displayed in the figure below.

Figure 6: The Wave Bank tab

25

 26

FMOD DESIGNER

THE REVERB TAB

The 'Reverb' tab makes it possible to define a reverb to be used by the programmer.
The 'Reverb' tab allows the Sound Designer to define a reverb setting and audition
the reverb using the same sounds that will be used in the game title.
FMOD uses a high quality reverb algorithm based on the I3DL2 standard.
Multiple reverb definitions can be specified. For example, a reverb definition could be
used for each room. The FMOD engine allows one reverb to be morphed into another.
The Reverb tab provides twenty-six preset reverb definitions, designed by Creative
Labs and range from concert halls and rooms to mountains, caves and even
underwater. The Reverb tab is displayed in the figure below.

Figure 7: The Reverb Tab

USER MANUAL

THE PROFILER TAB

The 'Profiler' tab within FMOD Designer allows a user to connect to a remote FMOD
Ex application over a network connection and monitor its resource usage. The profiler
connects to the application in the same way as the network audition functionality.
In use, the Profiler can also be used to:
Identify which DSP effects are active in the FMOD DSP network during the
application's execution. It is possible to identify the complete signal path of a
waveform through to the soundcard.
Monitor the CPU usage of various FMOD Ex components
The Profiler tab is displayed in the figure below.

Figure 8: The Profiler Tab

27

 28

FMOD DESIGNER

THE INTERACTIVE MUSIC TAB

The 'Interactive Music' tab within FMOD Designer allows the Sound Designer to
create a game soundtrack that features cues, musical themes, transitions between
music themes and flourishes.
All musical transitions and flourishes can be instructed to playback in a musically
intelligent and beat-matched manner. Each theme and transition can be attached to
cues and parameterized easily for the Programmer.
The Interactive Music tab is displayed in the figure below.

Figure 9: The Interactive Music Tab

USER MANUAL

CHAPTER THREE: USING

FMOD DESIGNER

In this chapter, the instructions for all basic FMOD Designer operations will be discussed.

Key topics in this chapter.

Using the basic functionality of FMOD Designer
Maintaining Events, Event Categories and Event Groups
Adding parameters to an event
Using sound definitions
Auditioning events
Using auditioning tools
Preparing wave banks for export

29

 30

FMOD DESIGNER
This page is intentionally blank

USER MANUAL

WORKSPACES
WHAT IS A WORKSPACE?
A workspace allows Sound Designers to open multiple projects simultaneously within
FMOD Designer. A workspace can be thought of as a list of open project files. Sound
Designers may save and load these lists as needed. Workspace data is saved as a
FMOD Designer workspace file, with the extension '.fdw'.
As previously stated, while multiple projects may be opened within a workspace, each
project is saved to its own project file (.fdp) and can be used independently from a
particular workspace.
When multiple projects are opened within FMOD Designer, the Sound Designer may
choose the current project using the 'Project' dropdown list, shown in the figure
below.

Figure 10: Selecting the project 'LevelOne' from the dropdown list
OPENING A WORKSPACE
To open a workspace:
1

Select 'File' from the main menu. A menu dialog should appear.

Choose the menu option 'Open Workspace

'. A dialog window should

appear.
3

Select the workspace file (.fdw) to load.

Press 'OK'. The workspace and project data will now be loaded. Sound
Designers can check the message log (by pressing the [CTRL] key + L) to
ensure all data was loaded successfully.

Projects opened within the workspace can now be selected using the
'Project' dropdown list.

SAVING A WORKSPACE
The list of open projects within a workspace can be saved to disk using the 'Save
Workspace' or 'Save Workspace As' menu items under File from the main menu.
Choosing to save a workspace will also cause all projects within the workspace to be
saved.
To save a workspace to a new file:
1

Select 'File' from the main menu. A menu dialog should appear.

31

 32

FMOD DESIGNER
2

Choose the menu option 'Save Workspace As

'. A dialog window should

appear.
3

Select the filename of the workspace file (.fdw) to save.

Press 'OK'. The workspace and all open projects will now be saved to
their respective files.

CLOSING A WORKSPACE
Closing a workspace causes all open projects to be closed and removed from the
current workspace's list of projects. To close a workspace:
1

Select 'File' from the main menu. A menu dialog should appear.

Choose the menu option 'Close Workspace'.

Should any project require saving, a dialog window should appear. To

save these projects press 'Yes'.

The workspace is now empty.

PROJECTS
CREATING A NEW PROJECT
To create a new project, complete the following steps:
1

Select 'File' from the main menu.

Select the menu item 'New'. A dialog window should appear.

Enter the name and a location of the FMOD designer project (.fdp) file.

The created '.fdp' file will contain all the data to be exported to the game. The location
of any audio files relating to this project will be relative to the location of this file.

LOADING A PROJECT
To load an existing project file:
1

Select 'File' from the menu.

Select the menu option 'Open

'. A file selection dialog screen should

appear.
3

Select the file to load and press 'Open'.

The file is now loaded.

USER MANUAL

SAVING A PROJECT
To save a new project:
1

Select 'File' from the menu.

Select the menu option 'Save As'. A file selection dialog screen should
appear.

Select the location and the filename and press 'Save'.

The file is now saved.

CHOOSING A TARGET PLATFORM

Most Sound Designers will be creating content for multiple target platforms. FMOD
Designer provides a method for switching easily between target platforms and also
allows the Sound Designer to use different build settings for each platform type.
To change platforms, select the desired platform from the 'Platform Dropdown List'.
This dropdown list can be found in the top right corner of the FMOD designer tool
interface at all times.
Currently, the following properties can be individually assigned for each platform:

'Build directory'. This property can be found in the 'Events' tab in the 'Project
Property' panel.
'Compression'. This property can be found in the 'Wave banks' tab for each
wave bank.
'Disable Layer icon'. This icon is found in the Event Editor' tab, on the Layer
panel.
'Layer Effects'. The special effects played on layers can be enabled or disabled
on a 'per-platform' basis using the 'Enabled effect' checkbox. DSP effects not
supported by a platform are automatically disabled.

Figure 11: The Platform Dropdown List

WHY IS MY PLATFORM NOT AVAILABLE?
All platforms supported by FMOD Designer do not appear in the platform dropdown
list by default (a list of FMOD supported platforms appears in Chapter One). There
are a few reasons for this.
The default platform 'PC' is a generic label that represents a number of platforms
including operating systems such as Windows, Macintosh and Linux.

33

 34

FMOD DESIGNER
Console platforms such as PS2, PSP, PS3, Xbox, Xbox 360, Gamecube etc, will only
appear in the platform list box when the relevant SDK is included. For example,
FMOD Designer will automatically detect the Microsoft XDK and make the Xbox and
Xbox 360 available in the platform dropdown list.
FMOD Designer will also detect if the FMOD programmer API for a particular platform
is installed. If a console's FMOD programmer API is installed after FMOD designer,
the installer for the programmer API will automatically enable the platform to be listed
in the FMOD Designer's platform dropdown list.

DEVELOPING CONTENT FOR MULTIPLE LANGUAGES

Many game titles will contain audio for multiple languages to cater for different
audiences. In this circumstance, while the audio content is different, the game
triggers do not change.
FMOD Designer supports localization of content, providing the Sound Designer an
easy method of constructing events using a primary language, then allowing the easy
substitution of secondary languages when building the project's FSB files.
The language to audition or build with, is selected using the 'Language' dropdown list.

Figure 12: The Language List Box

More information, about multiple language support can be found in the sections
'Building a Project' and 'Localization'.

Note:
Unfortunately FMOD Designer cannot list all platforms by
default.

Some

platforms

require

Non-Disclosure

Agreements (NDA) for sensitive or protected codecs and

are not to be used by the general public.
To obtain

console specific platform support, contact

[email protected] to verify you are registered as an official

developer of the platform. When verified, you will be given
access to the relevant SDK.

USER MANUAL

SETTING PROJECT PROPERTIES

Before continuing to the Event tab, the project properties should be set. Whilst setting
these properties is optional, it is good practice to set a 'build directory' target (or
directories, if developing for multiple platforms).
To set the project properties, complete the following steps:
1

Select a platform from the Platform list box.

Click on the Events tab.

Move to the 'Properties' panel that has the name of the current project.

Select the audio source directory by clicking on the [

] button in the

audio source directory's value cell.

5

Select the build directory location by clicking on the [

] button in the

build directory's value cell.

Figure 13: The Project Properties Panel

PROTECTING PROJECT DATA
FMOD provides optional cryptographic protection for the project's audio data. This
encryption is useful in stopping end-users making digital copies of the audio data.
The data is protected once the 'Encryption Key' value in the project properties panel
protects is set. The key is not stored within the data, it is provided by the programmer
in the code side of the application (using an FMOD API function) so that it can be
unlocked.

CLEANING A PROJECT
Before a project is exported to a game title, all unused media and data that are not
used should be removed. This procedure is referred to as 'cleaning the project'.
FMOD Designer provides an automated method to remove unused sound definitions
and audio media. To clean the project:
1

Select 'Edit' from the main menu.

35

 36

FMOD DESIGNER
2

Select the menu option 'Clean Project'. A confirmation dialog window

should appear.

Select 'Yes'.

All unused sound definitions and waveforms will now be removed from
the project.

MERGING PROJECT DATA

The 'Merge' function allows the event data from one project to be copied into another
project file. To merge '.fdp' project files:
1

Open the target project '.fdp' file by selecting 'File' then 'Open...' from
the main menu. An open file dialog should appear.

Select the file to open and press 'OK'.

To import event data from another project, select 'File' then 'Merge...'
from the main menu. A file selection dialog should appear.

If the source audio cannot be found, FMOD Designer will prompt for the
new location. Press 'OK' from the warning message, then select the
source audio file location using the file selection dialog window.

The new data has been merged into the target project file.

Note: If an existing project tries to import duplicate data from a merging project file,
the merging data will be ignored and the existing data will remain unchanged.

BUILDING A PROJECT
Once all the content has been created, the Sound Designer must process their data
into a form that can be exported to the game title. The process is known as 'Building
the Project'. The output files of the build process are placed in the directory specified
in the project property 'Build Directory'. The build process must be repeated for each
target platform.
The Programmer (and game title) requires the following files:

The .FEV file. This file contains all the definitions and properties for the events,
event groups, sound definitions, etc. This file contains no audio data.
All .FSB files. Each .FSB files represents one of the wave banks defined in the
project. The .FSB file is a binary file that contains the audio data in the format
specified in the wave bank definition.
The .TXT file [Optional]. This file is intended to be a project reference guide for
the Programmer. It contains a list of all the major objects used in the project,
along with index, range and important property values.
The .H file [Optional]. This file is a source code header file that allows the
Programmer to call the EventGroup::getEventByID() method, which uses a
numbered index, rather than the EventGroup::getEvent() method.

USER MANUAL
The building process will also create cache files, used to speed up any subsequent
build of the project. The Programmer does not require these files.
Before building a project:
1

Complete all the desired events, sound definitions and wave bank contents
to be exported to the game title.

Select the language to build from the 'Language' dropdown list. Ensure all
audio files for the language are in the correct location (as specified by the
wave bank's 'Filename Prefix' attribute).

Select the platform to build from the 'Platform' dropdown list.

Click on the 'Events' tab and ensure the 'Build Directory' in the 'Project
Properties' panel is set to the desired location.

To build a project:
1

Select 'Build' from the main menu. A sub-menu should appear.

Select the option 'Build project '. A window dialog should appear.

Select the desired language from the 'Language' drop-down list and the
target platform from the 'Platform' drop-down list.

If the Programmer requires the programmer report or header file, leave

the checkboxes checked, otherwise deselect as necessary.

If you require a listing of the files within the sound bank (useful if you
intend to re-build the .fsb file using the fsbankex utility) click the 'Build
wave bank listings (.LST)' checkbox.

Select (or deselect) the wave banks to be created using the checkboxes in
the 'Select which wave banks to build' panel.

To see compilation messages during the build process, press the 'Output'
button.

Press the 'Build' button. A confirmation dialog window should appear.

The newly created files will now be in the directory specified in the project
property 'Build Directory'.

37

 38

FMOD DESIGNER

ALERT:
When

building

projects

using

XMA,

some

rare

combinations of wave files and quality settings can cause a

burst of white noise in the audio of the resulting .FSB file.
This is a known issue with the XMA encoder (not FMOD). If
this occurs, try changing the quality value slightly (for
example, 100 to 99). This should fix the problem.

ADVANCED BUILDING USING BUILD COMMANDS

Pre and post build commands allow the user to execute shell scripts, programs, or
batch file jobs before and after the build process has taken place.
Pre- and post-build commands in Designer can include macro references, which will
be evaluated before executing the command. A macro reference looks like
"$MacroName" or "$(MacroName)", where MacroName is a valid macro name.
Macro references are replaced with the value of the specified macro; for example, if
the project is located in "C:/media", a pre-build command of "$(ProjectDir)/test.bat"
will become "C:/media/test.bat" when the pre-build command is executed.
Valid macros are list in the table below.

Macro

Description

ProjectName

The name of the current project, as specified in the project properties.

ProjectDir

The directory where the current project is located.

AudioSourceDir

BuildDir

BuildFiles

The current audio source directory, as specified in the project

properties.
The current build directory, as specified in the project properties.
The list of files created by the build process. Each item is contained
between characters and the list is space delimited.

USER MANUAL

CLOSING A PROJECT
To close the current project:
1

Select 'File' from the main menu.

Select the menu option 'Close'.

The project is now closed.

39

 40

FMOD DESIGNER

EVENTS
Once a project file has been created and the project properties set, then construction
of the event content begin. Typically a project will contain:

An event group
An event
A layer
One or more audio files
One parameter

EVENT GROUPS
As mentioned in Chapter Two, events are the sounds that are triggered by the actions
occurring within the game. A project can add as many events as required. To provide
organization and efficiency when loading data into memory during game execution,
event groups are required.
Each event group contains events or other event groups, making it possible to create a
full hierarchy to organize your game audio. All events and event groups are visible in
the Event Hierarchy tree view, as shown in the figure below.

Figure 14: Creating an Event Group

Adding a New Event Group
To add a new event group:
1

Click on the 'Events' tab.

Right click the Hierarchy tree view. A menu dialog should appear (as
shown in the figure above).

Select the menu item 'Add event group

name to be entered.

Enter a name and press the [enter] key.

'. A dialog window will ask for a

USER MANUAL
The new event group name should appear in the hierarchy tree view and above the
properties panel.

Deleting an Existing Event Group

To delete an existing event group, complete the following steps:
1

Click on the 'Events' tab.

Right-click on the Event Group (in the Hierarchy tree view) to be deleted.
A menu dialog should appear.

Select the menu item 'Delete'. A dialog window will ask for confirmation.

Click the 'YES' option.

The event group and its contents will be deleted.

Setting an Event Group's Properties

To modify the properties of an event group, complete the following steps:
1

Click on the 'Events' tab.

Click to the desired event group in the Hierarchy tree view.

When selected, the properties of the 'event group' will be displayed in the
lower panel.

Enter the desired value into the 'Name', 'Notes' or 'User Property' value cell
and press the [enter] key.

When changing the name property, the new event group name should appear in the
hierarchy tree view and above the properties panel.

EVENT CATEGORIES
Events can be organized into categories as well as groups. The event categories
hierarchy can be seen on the Events tab (click on the 'Category' tab).
Unlike event groups, an event category allows the Sound Designer to change the
volume and pitch of all events within the category in one location. This is very useful
when fine-tuning the relative mix of many events.
There are two default event categories that cannot be deleted - the master and music
categories. The master category represents the top level of the hierarchy and
contains all other categories.
The music category has a different, yet important purpose. Microsoft requires a title's
soundtrack be replaceable with the end-user's own music files. The Xbox 360 allows
end-users to import their own music using the Xbox 360 dashboard.
To comply with this requirement, all non-game related (soundtrack) music should be
placed in the 'music' category. This allows the FMOD engine to automatically

41

 42

FMOD DESIGNER
suspend the playback of audio in the music category and instead use the end-user
supplied music tracks.
When the end-user disables their own music from the dashboard, FMOD will
automatically resume the playback of the events in the music category.
All events are visible in the event category tree view, as shown in the figure on the
next page.

Figure 15: The Event Category View

Adding a New Event Category

To add a new event category:
1

Click on the 'Events' tab.

Right click the Category tree view. A menu dialog should appear.

Select the menu item 'Add event category

'. A dialog window will ask for

a name to be entered.
4

Enter a name and press the [enter] key.

The new event category name should appear in the category tree view and above the
properties panel.

Deleting an Existing Event Category

To delete an event category, complete the following steps:
1

Click on the 'Events' tab.

Right-click on the Event Category (in the Category tree view) to be

deleted. A menu dialog should appear.

Select the menu item 'Delete'. A dialog window will ask for confirmation.

Click the 'YES' option.

The event category and its contents will be deleted.

USER MANUAL

Setting an Event Category's Properties

To modify the properties of an event category, complete the following steps:
1

Click on the 'Events' tab.

Click to the desired event group in the Category tree view.

When selected, the properties of the 'event category' will be displayed in

the lower panel.

Enter the desired value into the property value cell and press the [enter]
key. All Event category properties are explained in Chapter Four,
Reference Guide.

When changing the name property, the new event category name should appear in
the hierarchy tree view and above the properties panel.

MAINTAINING EVENTS
Starting a new project will create a default event group that contains a default event.
This and any other event can be selected from the Hierarchy tree view.

Adding an Event to an Event Group

Events are added to an event category in the following
manner:
1

Tip:
Multiple

Right-click the event group (in the hierarchy tree

events may

view) that will contain the event. A menu dialog

be selected and

should appear.

updated at the

Select the menu item 'Add event '. A dialog

same time.

window should appear.

3

Enter the name of the event into the 'Name' Field.

Select the option 'Do not use a template'. (Use of

templates is discussed later in this chapter).

Press the OK button.

The event should now appear in the hierarchy tree view.

Use shift-click to
block select or ctrlclick to individually
select properties.

43

 44

FMOD DESIGNER

Deleting an Event from the Event Group

To delete an event, complete the following steps:
1

Click on the 'Events' tab.

Right-click on the Event (in the Hierarchy tree view) to be deleted. A menu
dialog should appear.

Select the menu item 'Delete'. A dialog window will ask for confirmation.

Click the 'YES' option.

The event will be deleted.

Adding an Event to a Event Category

All events are placed in the master category by default. To place an event in an event
category:
1

Click on the 'Events' tab.

Click on the 'Categories' hierarchy tab.

Click (all hold) the event to move. Drag and drop the event into desired
event category.

The event is now placed in the new category.

Setting an Event's Properties

To set the properties of an event:
1

To expand the Event Group, double-click the Event Group (from the Event
Hierarchy Tree) in which the event is placed.

Select the Event.

The Event's properties will be displayed in the event / event group

properties panel. This panel is shown in the figure on the next page.

To change the Event's properties, simply replace the value in the

appropriate 'Value' cell and press the [enter] key. An explanation of each
property is given in Chapter 4: Reference Guide.

USER MANUAL

Figure 16: The Event Properties Panel

EVENT LAYERS
What is a Layer?
An event is not limited to playing a single sound at a time. In fact, it is possible for an
event to play many sounds, either simultaneously using crossfades or in a sequenced
fashion.
This feat is made possible by splitting an event into multiple 'Layers'. Layers also allow
a sound in an event to be modified (using effects) whist the playback of another
sound in the same event is unaffected.
Sounds must be attached to an event layer. The FMOD Designer interface will jump
directly to the event editor tab, by double-clicking on an event in the Hierarchy Tree
view under the Events tab.
The figure on the next page shows a layer called 'layer00'. To the left of the layer
name are four icons, being (from left to right):
'The disable icon'. When clicked, the current layer will be ignored the layer
will not contribute to the CPU load (unlike the mute icon), nor will the layer
be included in the output file if the project is built. The disable icon status is
linked to the 'Target Platform' selection, allowing Sound Designers to select
which layers are included in each target platform.
'The solo icon'. When clicked the current layer will be heard in isolation, any
other layer not in 'solo' mode will be inaudible and disabled from editing.

45

 46

FMOD DESIGNER
'The mute icon'. When clicked, the mute icon will silence all 'Sound Definition
Instances' on the layer. This is useful when auditioning events with multiple
layers. Note: Muted layers are locked from modification.
'The sound lock icon'. When clicked, the sound lock icon will disable any
repositioning of the 'Sound Definition Instances' on the layer.
'The effect lock icon'. When clicked, the effect lock icon will disable any
changes being made to the effects on the layer.

Figure 17: An Event Layer called 'layer00'

Adding a Layer
A layer can be added in the following way:
1

If not already selected, view the Event's layers by double-clicking on the

Event in the hierarchy tree view under the Events tab.

Right-click on the layer panel and select the menu option 'Add layer'.

The layer will be added.

Deleting a Layer
To delete an existing layer:
1

If not already selected, view the Event's layers by double-clicking on the

Event in the hierarchy tree view under the Events tab.

Right-click on the layer name and select the menu option 'Delete layer'. A
dialog window for confirmation should appear.

Press 'Yes'.

The layer should now be deleted.

Modifying Layer Properties

A layer's properties can be modified in the following way:
1

If not already selected, view the Event's layers by double-clicking on the

Event in the hierarchy tree view under the Events tab.

USER MANUAL
2

Right-click on the layer name (the default layer is called 'layer00') and
select the menu option 'Layer properties

'.

Change the 'Name', 'Control Parameter', and 'Priority' values to the desired
value. Note: Only parameter set as the 'control parameter' determines
which sound definition on the layer is audible.

Press 'OK'.

If the layer's name is changed, the interface should now display the new
name.

SOUND DEFINITION INSTANCES

Now that the event group, event and event layers have all been created, it is time to
add some sounds! The event editor tab provides the functionality needed to add
sounds to an event. A sound is represented as a white box on the event layer this is
called a 'Sound Definition Instance'.
The 'Sound Definition' specifies a selection of audio files (and oscillators) and the
general behavior of the audio to be used in the event. A 'Sound Definition Instance' is
an occurrence of the 'Sound Definition'. There can be one or many such occurrences
each one with slightly individualized properties. Both the properties of 'Sound
Definitions' and 'Sound Definition Instances' are described in Chapter Four.

ADDING A SOUND USING A NEW WAVETABLE

In FMOD Designer, audio files are placed within a layer as a 'Wavetable'. The
simplest way to add a sound is:
1

If not selected, view the Event to edit by double-clicking on the Event in

the hierarchy tree view under the Events tab.

Right-click on the grey area of the layer to which the sound is to be

added. A menu should appear. This is demonstrated in the figure below.

Figure 18: Adding a new sound definition

47

 48

FMOD DESIGNER

Select the menu option 'Add sound'. A dialog window should appear.

Click the 'New wavetable' button. A dialog window to select files should
appear.

Select an audio file (or files) to add to the sound. Press 'OK' to add the
files.

[Optional] The added files can be auditioned by selecting the file and
pressing the play button.

Press 'OK' on the dialog window.

The sound definition should appear as a white box inside the layer.

Figure 19: A Sound Definition Instance added to the layer

Note:
It is important to realize that a 'sound definition' has been
added to the event not an audio file!

A sound definition can contain multiple waveforms and

behaviors.

If audio files are added directly to the layer,

FMOD Designer will automatically create a new sound

definition with the audio file(s) in it.

The complete sound

definition can be seen on the 'Sound definitions' tab.

ADDING A SOUND USING AN OSCILLATOR

Not all sounds are generated using audio files. The FMOD EX engine supports a type
of audio, known in FMOD Designer as an 'oscillator'. An Oscillator is a CPU
generated signal such as, white noise, sine wave, etc. An Oscillator requires no
memory space, but does use a small amount of CPU time.

USER MANUAL
To add an oscillator:
1

If not selected, view the Event to edit by double-clicking on the Event in

the hierarchy tree view under the Events tab.

Right-click on the grey area of the layer to which the sound is to be

added. A menu should appear. This is demonstrated in the figure below.

Figure 20: Adding a new sound definition

3

Select the menu option 'Add sound'. A dialog window should appear.

Click the 'New oscillator' button. A dialog window to configure the signal
should appear.

Select the wave type and the frequency of the signal in Hertz. Each wave
type is described in Chapter Four: Reference Guide.

Press 'OK' to add the oscillator.

[Optional] The added files can be auditioned by selecting the file and
pressing the play button.

Press 'OK' on the dialog window.

An instance of the sound definition should appear as a white box inside

the layer.

ADDING AN EXISTING SOUND DEFINITION

Once a wavetable or sound definition has been added to a project, it is possible to add
an instance of the sound definition to any event layer. This option is not available
when using a new project, as the list of sound definition will be empty!
To add a sound definition instance to a layer, complete the following steps:
1

If not selected, view the Event to edit by double-clicking on the Event in

the hierarchy tree view under the Events tab.

49

 50

FMOD DESIGNER
2

Right-click on the grey area of the layer to which the sound is to be

added. A menu should appear.

Select the menu option 'Add sound'. A dialog window should appear.

Select a sound from the list of available sound definitions.

[Optional] The added files can be auditioned by selecting the file and
pressing the play button.

Press 'OK' on the dialog window.

An instance of the sound definition will appear as a box inside the layer.

MODIFYING THE PROPERTIES OF AN INSTANCE

Once an instance of a sound definition has been added to an event there are a
number of properties that can be edited. It is important to note that these properties
only refer to an instance of the sound definition and not the sound definition itself.
For example, a sound definition may be added to a layer twice. One instance of the
sound definition may play the sound a single time (one-shot). The other instance
may play the sound repeatedly (using a loop).
To modify the properties of a sound instance:
1

If not selected, view the Event in the Event Editor tab by double-clicking
on the Event in the hierarchy tree view under the Events tab.

Right-click on the sound definition box to be modified. A menu dialog will

appear.

Select the menu option 'Sound instance properties

'. A dialog window

will appear.
4

Modify the properties value to the desired setting. Each property in this
dialog window is discussed in detail in Chapter Four: Reference Guide.

[Optional] Press the play button in this dialog screen to audition the
property changes made to the audio.

RESIZING A SOUND DEFINITION INSTANCE

To resize the sound definition instance:
1

Click the 'Event Editor' tab.

Move the mouse pointer to the left or right vertical edge of the instance
box to be resized.

Click to grab the edge of the sound definition instance box.

USER MANUAL
4

Extend (or reduce) the size of the box with a left or right movement.

Figure 21: Resizing the Sound Definition.

The sound definition box can also be expanded to fill all the available space in a layer
by holding [ctrl] and double clicking the instance.

REPOSITIONING A SOUND DEFINITION INSTANCE

To resize the sound definition instance:
1

Click the 'Event Editor' tab.

Press and hold the mouse button on the instance box to be repositioned.

Move the instance box to the desired location.

Release the mouse button.

SETTING THE VOLUME OF AN INSTANCE

The volume of each sound instance object can be set independently. The volume is
represented be a horizontal blue line within each sound instance. When this blue line
is placed at the top of the instance no attenuation occurs. When placed at the bottom,
the sound instance volume is fully attenuated (made silent). The blue line may be
placed anywhere between these two extremes.
To set the volume of a sound instance, complete the following steps:
1

Using the mouse, click (and hold) the top border of the sound instance
object.

While holding down the mouse button, drag the mouse downwards. A
horizontal blue line should appear and follow the mouse pointer down.

Release the mouse button at the desired volume position.

To change the volume position, click (and hold) the horizontal blue line
and drag it to its new position.

51

 52

FMOD DESIGNER

CROSSFADING BETWEEN INSTANCES

Crossfading is the practice of blending the transition between two sounds using
volume sweeps. Creating a crossfade in FMOD Designer is incredibly simple, as the
software automatically blends two sound definition instances when they overlap on an
event layer.
To create a crossfade:
1

Add a sound definition instance to an event layer.

Position and size the instance on the layer.

Figure 22: Adding the first Instance

3

Add another sound definition instance to the same event layer.

Click (and hold) the second instance and overlap the first instance, at the
point where the crossfading should begin.

Once the instances are overlapped, two blue lines representing the volume
change of each instance should appear. This is demonstrated in the figure
below.

Figure 23: Creating crossfades

6

The type of crossfade can also be specified. The type of crossfade varies
the relative rates of change in volume between the two instances. This is
done by right-clicking the cross faded section. A dialog window should
appear.

USER MANUAL
7

Place the mouse over the menu option 'Crossfade type', a sub-menu
should appear.

Select the desired crossfading style.

The blue lines should indicate the new crossfade style.

The sound of the crossfade is not just influenced by the crossfade type but also by the
size of the overlap. The size of the overlap must be sized and positioned appropriately
in relation to the parameter value. Parameters are explained later in the chapter.

REPLACING THE SOUND INSTANCE

To replace a sound definition instance:
1

Click the 'Event Editor' tab.

Right-click on the sound definition instance to change. A dialog menu

should appear.

Select the menu option 'Replace sound

'. A dialog window should

appear.
4

Select the new sound definition and press the 'OK' button.

The sound definition instance will now be modified.

DELETING AN INSTANCE
To delete a sound definition instance:
1

Click the 'Event Editor' tab.

Click on the sound definition instance to delete.

Press the delete key, a confirmation menu should appear.

Select 'Yes'.

The sound definition instance will be deleted.

Alternately, a sound definition instance can be deleted by right clicking on the

instance to delete and selecting 'Delete sound' from the dialog menu.

PARAMETERS
WHAT IS A PARAMETER?
An event parameter is a structure created by the Sound Designer to:
To select which sound instance(s) to play
Manipulate an effect or sound property during run-time.

53

 54

FMOD DESIGNER

For example, an event simulating a car engine noise might use a parameter with the
name 'rpm' with a range of 0 to 10,000. As the in-game engine revs harder, the 'rpm'
parameter changes, signaling the event to use a different sound definition to simulate
the change in engine noise.
Parameters are optional. If an event does not need to be controlled by the game after
it has started, parameters can be ignored. Most events in a game behave this way,
especially simple one-shot sounds. Parameters must be manually added by the Sound
Designer or included in an event template. Parameters are not included in an event
by default.
[N ote: Some older versions of FMOD Designer do add a default parameter called
'param00' to new events]
The effect of a parameter change on the audible sound is specified at design-time,
providing the Sound Designer near complete control of the audio. The Programmer is
only responsible for providing the parameter's value in real-time (during the game's
execution).
Common examples of parameter use would be, controlling the volume of the sound,
changing the pitch of the sound, and setting the 3D position of the sound.
In FMOD Designer, a parameter is visible as a 'ruler' above the layers in the Event
Editor screen. The Sound Designer may specify the range and unit dividers displayed
for each parameter. By default, the range is 0.0 to 1.0 but this can be changed to
whatever the Sound Designer desires. This is shown in the figure below.

Figure 24: A Parameter called 'param00'

Most users new to FMOD Designer assume this ruler represents a 'timeline' to play
the sound definitions. While many program editors use this timeline philosophy,
assuming FMOD Designer works this way is incorrect!
In its default form, the ruler represents a parameter and the cursor shows the current
value of the parameter. The cursor will not move by itself, unless you specify a
velocity in the parameter properties. The velocity property of a parameter is useful in
creating time-based behaviors for sequenced events. The use of velocity-based
parameters is demonstrated in Chapter Five.
An event can use as many parameters as required. Note: Using three or more
parameters can make it difficult to audition the event behavior in FMOD Designer.
The event would be better auditioned inside the game title, using the audition
network.

USER MANUAL

AUTOMATIC PARAMETERS
Within FMOD there are three special parameters that are automatically updated by
the FMOD engine. These parameters do not require programmer intervention to
update their values. Instead the sound designer must set the event 'Mode' property
to 3D and add one or more of the following parameters. The automatic parameters
are:
3D Distance Represents the distance between the listener and the event.
This can be used to implement custom roll volume off and (or) 2D/3D pan
morphing.
3D Event Angle Represents the absolute angle between the event's direction
and the location of the listener (ranging 0 to 180). This can be used to
implement custom cone roll off behavior.
3D Event Angle Represents the angle between the listener's direction and
the location of the event (ranging -180 to 180). This can be used to
implement custom head related transfer functionality.
To add an automatic parameter, right-click the parameter panel and select the desired
3D parameter to add.

ADDING A PARAMETER
To add a parameter:
1

If not already selected, view the Event in the Event editor by doubleclicking on the Event in the hierarchy tree view under the Events tab.

Right-click on the parameter bar (the panel above the 'ruler'). If there are
currently no parameters, you can right-click on the message Right-click
here to add an event parameter. A menu dialog will appear.

Select the menu item 'Add parameter'.

Press 'OK'.

The parameter will be added, and assigned a generic name such as

'param00'. To rename this parameter, modify its 'name ' property.

MODIFYING THE PROPERTIES OF A PARAMETER

To modify a parameter's properties:
1

If not already selected, view the Event to edit by double-clicking on the

Event in the hierarchy tree view under the Events tab.

Right-click on the parameter bar (the panel above the ruler). A menu
dialog will appear.

Select the menu item 'Parameter properties

dialog window will appear.

'. The parameter properties

55

 56

FMOD DESIGNER
4

Change the value of the appropriate property. Each of these properties is

described in detail in Chapter Four: Reference Guide.

Press 'OK'.

The properties have been changed,

Figure 25: The Parameter Properties Dialog Window

ASSIGNING A PARAMETER TO AN EVENT LAYER
As stated earlier, the control parameter selects which sound instance to play. Each
layer can have its own control parameter, meaning the playback of sound definitions
on separate layers can be controlled independently using multiple parameters. This
feature of FMOD Designer is demonstrated in the engine example of Chapter 5,
Tutorial Projects.
To select the control parameter for a layer:
1

Click the 'Event Editor' tab.

Right-click the layer name to change. A menu should appear.

Select the menu option 'Layer properties

Select the desired parameter from the 'Control parameter' listbox.

The selected parameter will now act as the 'control parameter' for this
layer.

'.

USER MANUAL

EFFECTS
FMOD provides a number of free DSP (Digital Signal Processing) effect plug-ins.
These plug-ins process the digital signal to change the characteristics of the audio in
real-time. FMOD includes effects such as low pass filtering, distortion, flanger, etc.
Event layers can use one or more DSP effects the only limitation is the amount of CPU
power available. Each effect placed on a layer may be individually enabled or
disabled on a per platform basis. To do this, select the desired platform using the
platform dropdown list and then set the 'Enabled effect' checkbox to the appropriate
on or off value
A complete reference to the FMOD effects is given in Chapter Four, Reference Guide.

ADDING AN EFFECT
An effect can be added to layer by:
1

Right-click on the layer panel. A menu dialog should appear. This is

demonstrated in the figure below.

Figure 26: Adding an Effect

2

Select the menu option 'Add effect'. A dialog window should appear.

Select the effect to add.

The effect parameter should appear in the Layer panel and a parameter
vector is also shown.

Each visible effect parameter is designated a color. In the figure below, the volume
effect parameter is set to 50% (the value of effect parameter is displayed as a
horizontal red line)

Figure 27: The Effect Parameter

Effects can also be copy (or cut) from one layer to another. To copy (or cut)

57

 58

FMOD DESIGNER
1

Right-click on the effect panel to copy or cut. A menu dialog should

appear.

Select the menu option 'Copy effect' (or 'Cut effect').

Apply the effect by right-clicking the target layer. A menu dialog should
appear.

Select the menu option 'Paste effect'.

Any effects parameter should appear in the Layer panel and a parameter
vector shown.

SELECTING THE EFFECT PROPERTIES

Some effects such as 'FMOD Flange' have multiple properties that can be adjusted.
FMOD Designer allows the Sound Designer to choose which effect properties are
manipulated by the event parameter. To select an effect property to set (or
automate):
1

Right-click on the Layer Effect. A menu dialog should appear.

Select the menu option 'Effect properties

. A dialog window should

appear.
3

Select the effect parameters to be visible in the Layer screen.

Press 'OK'.

The effect parameters will now be visible within the layer on the Event
Editor tab.

Not all effects have multiple properties. A comprehensive guide to FMOD effects can
be found in Chapter Four, Reference Guide.

SETTING EFFECT PROPERTY

In most circumstances, the parameters of an effect will be constant during the
playback of an event. The static value of an effect property can be adjusted by:
1

Clicking on the parameter value box (to the left of the parameter name).
A vertical slider should appear.

Set the vertical slider to the desired value.

To make the vertical slider disappear simply click on the layer space.

USER MANUAL

CREATING AN EFFECT ENVELOPE

Not only can a parameter be used to select which sound instance in an event layer to
play, parameters can also be assigned to automate various effects.
Many interesting sounds can be created by dynamically adjusting the value of these
effect properties during run time. Using the event editor, values of effect properties
can be specified as an envelope in relation to the event parameter value.
To create an effect envelope:
1

Right-click on the line representing the effect property. The color of the
line is denoted in the effect property list in the Layer Panel. A menu dialog
should appear.

Select the menu item 'Add point'

A point will appear on the effect envelope. Using the mouse, grab the
point and move it to the desired position. Moving the point left or right
changes the effect parameter's relationship with the event parameter,
while moving the point up or down changes the parameter value.

The figure below demonstrates an effect envelope that produces a dynamic volume
change. As the event parameter moves from 0 to 0.3, the volume effect property
changes from approximately 50% to 100%.

Figure 28: A Dynamic Effect Parameter

FMOD Designer supports four different transition styles between the points of the
envelope. The available curve shapes are:

Linear
Logarithmic
Flat Middle
Flat Ended

To change the curve shape between points:

1

Right-click the point in the envelope effect in the Layer. A menu dialog
should appear.

Select the curve shape desired. For example, Curve Shape: Logarithmic.

59

 60

FMOD DESIGNER
3

The transition between the selected point and the next point on the
envelope will change accordingly.

REMOVING AN EFFECT ENVELOPE POINT

To remove a point on the effect envelope:
1

Right-click the envelope point to be removed. A menu dialog should

appear.

Select the menu item 'Remove point'

The point will disappear and the envelope will be redrawn

CHANGING THE COLOUR OF AN ENVELOPE

To change the color of an effect envelope:
1

Click on the 'Event editor' tab.

Right-click the effect panel of the envelope to be changed. A menu dialog

should appear.

Select the menu option 'Envelope color

'. A color palette dialog should

appear.
4

Select the desired color from the color palette and press the 'OK' button.

The effect event should now display the new color.

REMOVING AN EFFECT
To remove an effect from a layer:
1

Click on the 'Event editor' tab.

Right-click on the effect to be removed. A menu dialog should appear.

Select the menu option ' Delete effect'.

The effect will be removed.

EVENT TEMPLATES
To increase workflow and reduce repetitive actions, FMOD Designer provides 'Event
Templates'. Event templates allow the Sound Designer to create their own preset
events or starting points for events. For example, a template could be created as a
starting point for gunshot events, car events, etc.
Each event created using the template will share characteristics such as event
properties, layers and effects. The Sound Designer can even choose which event
properties are part of the template!

USER MANUAL
Note: Templates only operate at the project level. Sound Designers cannot create a
single template for all projects within the workspace.

CREATING A TEMPLATE
Before a template can be created, an event must be made. This event will serve as
the starting point for the derived events.
A template is created using the following steps:
1

Click on the 'Events' tab.

Click on the event that will become the template, in the 'Event Hierarchy'
tree. The event properties should appear in the 'Event Properties' panel.

Click on the 'Template' property.

Click on the [

Click on the 'is a template' radio button. The template properties panel

] button in the value cell. A dialog window should appear.

should become enabled.

6

Select the properties to be included (or ignored) in the template. Only,

the properties included in the template will be applied to the derived
events.

Press the 'OK' button.

The event will now display a template icon in the 'Event Hierarchy Tree.

Figure 29: Selecting the Properties for the Template

CREATING AN EVENT WITH A TEMPLATE
To create an event using a template:
1

Click on the 'Events' tab.

61

 62

FMOD DESIGNER
2

Right-click on the 'Event Group' that will hold the event, from the 'Event
Hierarchy' tree. A dialog menu should appear.

Select the option, Add event

A dialog window should appear.

Enter the name of the new event.

Click on the 'use this template' radio button. The template drop-down list
should become enabled.

Select the template to apply to the new event.

Press the 'OK' button.

The newly created event will now use the same properties, number of
layers and effects as defined in the event template.

MODIFYING THE TEMPLATE

Any changes made to the event template can be applied to all the derived events
automatically.
To apply changes to the derived events:
1

Make changes to the event template.

Click on the 'Edit' option in the main menu. A dialog menu should appear.

Select the option 'Apply template changes'.

All changes to the event template have been applied to the derived events.

SOUND DEFINITIONS
A sound definition is more than just an audio file or collection of audio files and
oscillators. Using the correct properties, sound definitions can be used to add
dynamic or random behavior to event playback. Using sound definitions to create
randomized behavior is demonstrated in later chapters.
Sound Definitions can contain:

Wavetables (audio files)

Oscillators (generated signals)
Programmer Sounds
Don't Play entries

The purpose of the first two categories has been explained in earlier sections.
Programmer sounds and don't play entries must be explained further.
Programmer sounds allow the Sound Designer to create sound definition entries that
do not specify the source audio filename at design time. Instead the Programmer
must supply the filename at runtime using a callback. A programmer sound entry is
useful when using a large amount (10,000) of audio files and an algorithm to

USER MANUAL
determine which audio file to use. Using a single event with a sound definition
containing a programmer sound entry is a very memory efficient method for handling
large amounts of dialogue audio. This is discussed in greater detail later in the
manual.
The 'Don't play' entry allows the Sound Designer to insert silent entries into a sound
definition. These entries are useful when combined with random entry selection. This
allows the Sound Designer to add greater variation or randomness to dynamic events.

CREATING FOLDERS
A typical game title may use upwards of a hundred (some even use more than a
thousand) sound definitions. To keep this number of sound definitions manageable,
FMOD Designer provides 'Sound Definition Folders'.
To create a 'Sound Definition Folder':
1

Click the 'Sound definitions' tab.

Right-click on the sound definition hierarchy. A menu dialog should

appear.

Select the option 'Add sound definition folder

'. A dialog window should

appear.
4

Enter the desired name of the folder and press the 'OK' button.

The folder has been created.

SETTING SOUND DEFINITION PROPERTIES

In this section the steps required to set a sound definition property are explained. All
sound definition properties are described in chapter 4, Reference Guide.
To set the properties of a 'Sound Definition':
1

Click the 'Sound definitions' tab.

Click on the sound definition to be modified in the sound definition

hierarchy. The properties of the select sound definition should appear in
the upper properties panel.

Update the 'Value' cell of the property to be changed.

Press the [enter] key.

The sound definition property will now display the new value.

63

 64

FMOD DESIGNER

Figure 30: The Sound Definition Properties Panel

DELETING SOUND DEFINITIONS AND FOLDERS
To delete a 'Sound Definition' or 'Sound Definition Folder':
1

Click the 'Sound definitions' tab.

Right-click on the object in sound definition hierarchy to be deleted. A

menu dialog should appear.

Select the option 'Delete'. A confirmation dialog should appear.

Press the 'Yes' button.

The sound definition (or folder) has been deleted.

Figure 31: The Sound Definition Heirarchy

USER MANUAL

WAVE BANKS
Wave banks represent the organization of the final package of audio data that is
exported from FMOD Designer to the game title.

ADDING A WAVE BANK

To add a wave bank:
1

Click the 'Wave banks' tab.

Right-click on the 'Bank List' panel. A menu dialog should appear.

Select the option 'Add bank'.

The new bank will appear in the 'Wave Bank List' panel.

Figure 32: The Wave Bank List Panel

THE CURRENT WAVE BANK
Any audio files that are added to the project are automatically added to whichever
wave bank is set as 'current'. A red music folder icon indicates the 'current' wave
bank. All other wave banks have a blue music folder icon.
To set a wave bank as current:
1

Click the 'Wave banks' tab.

Right-click on the wave bank to set as current, from the 'Bank List' panel.
A menu dialog should appear.

Select the option 'Set as current bank'.

The wave bank icon should turn from blue to red, indicating it is now the
current bank.

65

 66

FMOD DESIGNER

SETTING THE WAVE BANK PROPERTIES

A complete guide to the wave bank properties is given in Chapter Four, Reference
Guide. To set the properties of a wave bank:
1

Click on the 'Wave banks' tab.

Click on the wave bank to edit, from the 'Bank List'. The properties should
appear in the 'Wave Bank Properties' panel.

Click on the property to change, and set the 'Value' cell to the desired
value. If the value property requires text input, press the [enter] key.

The new value should now be displayed.

Figure 33: Wave Bank Properties Panel

INCREASING WORKFLOW WITH WAVE BANKS
FMOD Designer provides two simple functions to speed up the creation and set up of
new wave banks.
The first function creates a simplified wave bank template. Once a wave bank is
created, it can be used as a default setting for future wave banks. To do this:
1

Click on the 'Wave banks' tab.

Create a wave bank and set its properties. These wave bank properties
will be used as the new default settings.

Right-click on the wave bank to use as default, from the bank hierarchy
tree. A dialog menu should appear.

Select the option 'Use properties as defaults for new banks'.

Any wave banks that are added from this point will be initialized with
these properties.

USER MANUAL
The second function applies the properties of one wave bank to all the other banks.
To do this:
1

Click on the 'Wave banks' tab.

Right-click on the wave bank (with the desired properties), from the bank
hierarchy tree panel.

A dialog menu should appear.

Select the option 'Apply properties to all exist wave banks'. A confirmation
dialog should appear.

Press the 'Yes' button.

All wave banks will now use these properties.

MOVING FILES BETWEEN WAVE BANKS

All audio files can be moved from one wave bank to another. To move an audio file
between wave banks:
1

Click on the 'Wave banks' tab.

Click on the wave bank that contains the file to transfer, from the bank
hierarchy tree.

Select the file to transfer (or select multiple files using [SHIFT]+Click) and
drag and drop the file (or files) into the desired wave bank.

The files have been transferred.

DELETING A WAVE BANK

Only empty wave banks can be deleted. To delete a non-empty bank, the files must
be transferred into another wave bank.
To delete a wave bank:
1

Click the 'Wave banks' tab.

Right-click on the wave bank to be deleted from the bank hierarchy tree
panel. A menu dialog should appear.

Select the option 'Delete Bank'.

The wave bank should disappear from the bank hierarchy tree.

67

 68

FMOD DESIGNER

REVERB
The 'Reverb' Tab makes it possible to define the reverb used in the game title. This
reverb should not be confused with the reverb DSP effect that is applied to individual
event layers. The DSP effects are used to apply reverb to individual events (or event
layers), whereas the reverb specified in this tab are used by the programmer and may
be applied to all events to simulate an environment.
For example, when the game character enters a cave, the 'scary cave' reverb would be
applied to all sounds using the reverb defined in the 'Reverb' tab.
The 'Reverb' Tab allows the Sound Designer to define the reverb and audition the
reverb using the same sounds that will be used in the game title.

ADDING AN EMPTY REVERB DEFINITION

To add an empty reverb definition:
1

Click on the 'Reverb' tab.

Right-click on the Reverb Definition List panel. A dialog menu should

appear.

Select the option 'Add an empty sound definition

'. A window dialog

should appear.
4

Enter the desired reverb definition name.

Press the 'OK' button.

The reverb definition will appear in the hierarchy.

Figure 34: The Reverb Definition Hierarchy

REVERB DEFINITION PROPERTIES
Once a reverb definition has been created, its properties can be set. There are two
ways to define a reverb's properties by using presets or manual.

USER MANUAL

Preset Reverb Properties

FMOD Designer includes 26 preset reverb settings (originally defined by Creative
Labs). To use preset properties in a reverb definition:
1

Click the 'Reverb' Tab.

Select the definition to edit from the 'Reverb Definition List' panel. The
properties of the definition should appear in the 'Reverb Definition
Properties' screen.

Click on the property 'Reverb Preset'. A drop-down list arrow should

appear.

Press the dropdown list arrow and select the desired preset. A
confirmation dialog should appear.

Click the 'Yes' button.

The new properties should now appear in the 'Reverb Definition Properties'
screen.

Figure 35: The Reverb Definition Properties

User-Defined Reverb Properties

All reverb properties may be customized. A comprehensive description for each
property is given in Chapter Four, Reference Guide. To manually set the properties in
a reverb definition:
1

Click the 'Reverb' Tab.

69

 70

FMOD DESIGNER
2

Select the definition to edit from the 'Reverb Definition List' panel. The
properties of the definition should appear in the 'Reverb Definition
Properties' screen.

Click on the property to be changed. Enter the new value in the 'Value' cell
and press the [enter] key. If this reverb definition was previously a 'preset
definition', the preset property will automatically change to 'User'.

The new property value should now appear in the 'Reverb Definition
Properties' screen.

DELETING A REVERB DEFINITION

To delete a sound definition:
1

Click the 'Reverb' Tab.

Right-click the definition to delete from the 'Reverb Definition List' panel.
A menu dialog should appear.

Select the menu option 'Delete'. A confirmation dialog should appear.

Click the 'Yes' button.

The reverb definition should now disappear from the 'Reverb Definition
List' panel.

USER MANUAL

AUDITIONING
BASIC AUDITIONING
With a valid event, event layer and sound definition in place, the resulting audio can
be auditioned. The audio can be heard by pressing the play button.

Figure 36: The Play, Stop and Key Off Buttons

I pressed the play button, but there was no sound!
The most common reason for an event remaining silent is caused by the layer's
control parameter value. If there is no sound definition instance for a given parameter
value, the event will be silent. This scenario can be seen in the figure below.

Figure 37: No Sound Definition Selected To Play

The vertical line that flashes red is known as the 'parameter cursor'. In the figure
above, the parameter cursor represents the current value for the primary parameter
(param00). No sound is audible, as 'layer00' does not contain a sound definition
instance for this parameter value.
There are two ways to remedy this situation. The first option is to move the
parameter cursor. To move the parameter cursor, use the mouse to grab the
parameter cursor and move it over the sound definition box as demonstrated in the
figure on the next page.
The second option is to move or resize the sound definition box. Resizing the sound
definition has been explained previously, in the section 'RESIZING A SOUND
DEFINITION INSTANCE'.

71

 72

FMOD DESIGNER

Figure 38: Moving the Parameter Cursor

If the play mode is active (shown when the play button remains depressed), a sound
definition instance will be heard as the parameter cursor is dragged above it.
If any effect properties have been sequenced proportionally to the event parameter,
these changes will also be audible as the parameter cursor is moved.

USING THE AUDITION TOOLS

FMOD Designer provides a number of tools that can be used to simplify the
auditioning process. These tools are:

FMOD Engine Designer

Audition 3D
Surround Pan
Cone Designer

It is important to understand these tools are not exported to or used by the game title,
they are provided to help the Sound Designer in setting properties or auditioning
events using a simple GUI.
Each tool is discussed in detail in Chapter Four, Reference Guide.

USING THE RECORD MODE

FMOD Designer allows the Sound Designer to send the audio output to file (as a .wav
file). This facility is useful for reducing CPU load, by rendering FMOD DSP effects to
static files, instead of generating the effect in real-time. The resulting audio can then
be imported back into FMOD Designer via a sound definition.

Setting the Recording Directory

All audio files are written to a directory specified by the user. To specify the location
of the audio files:
1. Click 'Edit' from the main menu. A menu dialog should appear.
2. Select the sub-menu option 'Set recording directory

'. A directory

selection dialog should appear.

3

Select the desired location (directory) for the audio files.

Press the 'OK' button. The target directory has now been set.

USER MANUAL

Starting and Stopping the Record Mode

To start the Recording Mode:
1. Click on the 'Event Editor' tab.
2

Click 'Edit' from the main menu. A menu dialog should appear.

Select the sub-menu option 'Record Mode'. A blinking 'Recording'

message should appear in the top right hand corner of the 'Event Editor'
tab. This shows the Recording Mode is armed.

Whilst in Recording Mode, each time an event is auditioned the audio

output is written to a file. FMOD Designer will use the event's name as the
filename, appended with an automatically incremented number (and the
.wav extension.

Note: Events or sound definitions that use loops will not be rendered, as
the Recording Mode is designed for one-shot sounds, and will ignore any
looped audio.

To stop the Recording Mode:

1. Click on the 'Event Editor' tab.
2

Click 'Edit' from the main menu. A menu dialog should appear.

Select the sub-menu option 'Record Mode'. A blinking 'Recording'

message should disappear from the top right hand corner of the 'Event
Editor' tab.

Rendering Multiple Events to Audio Files

Multiple events can be rendered in a single batch operation. To render multiple
events in the Recording Mode:
1. Click on the 'Event' tab.
2

Click 'Edit' from the main menu. A menu dialog should appear.

Select the sub-menu option 'Record Mode'.

Select the event(s) to render from the 'Event Hierarchy Tree View'. [CTRL]
+ click or [SHIFT] + Click can be used to select multiple events.

Right-click the highlighted (selected) events. A menu dialog should

appear.

Select the menu option 'Record...'. A dialog screen should appear.

73

 74

FMOD DESIGNER
7. Enter the number of recording passes required for each event. The Sound
Designer will generally choose to record multiple variations if the event
contains randomized behavior, such as randomized volume, pitch or sound
definition playback. Press the [enter] key. A progress dialog should
appear.
8

The files will be written to the location as specified by the 'Recording

Directory'.
Note: Events or sound definitions that use loops will not be rendered, as
the Recording Mode is designed for one-shot sounds, and will ignore any
looped audio.

NETWORK AUDITIONING
When using FMOD Ex and FMOD Designer, it is possible to audition properties setting
from inside the game title whilst running on the target platform. This allows Sound
Designers to hear their events, effects and sound definitions on the target platform,
therefore removing any guess work and time needed to fine-tune balances, effects,
etc.
To establish a connection with a console (or FMOD AuditionClient), the programmer
must first enable the audition network from the console or PC using the FMOD Ex
engine. For more information about this, please refer to the FMOD Ex API
Documentation.
Developers of PlayStation3 and Xbox 360 titles may also use the ready-made Audition
Client application to establish a network connection between FMOD Designer and the
target console.

Figure 39: The Manage Connection dialog window

USER MANUAL

CREATING WITH A NEW NETWORK CONNECTION

To add a connection from the FMOD Designer to the target machine:
1

Select 'Audition' from the main menu. A sub-menu should appear.

Select the option 'Manage Connections

'. A dialog window should

appear, as shown in the figure above.

3

Press the 'Add' button.

Enter a name for the connection in the 'Name' field.

Enter the IP address of the target machine in the 'IP Address' field.

Press the 'Connect' button. This will save the connection details.

FMOD Designer will now attempt to connect to the target machine. A

dialog screen should appear to inform the user whether or not the
connection is successful.

If successfully connected, the remote IP will appear in the FMOD

Designer's title bar.

CONNECTING WITH EXISTING CONNECTION DETAILS

To connect FMOD Designer using existing connection details:
1

Select 'Audition' from the main menu. A sub-menu should appear.

Select the option 'Manage Connections

'. A dialog window should

appear, as shown in the figure below.

3

Select the connection name from the 'Name' list.

Press the 'Connect' button.

FMOD Designer will now attempt to connect to the target machine. A

dialog screen should appear to inform the user whether or not the
connection is successful.

If successfully connected, the remote IP will appear in FMOD Designer's

title bar.

75

 76

FMOD DESIGNER

AUDITIONING VIA THE NETWORK

Once FMOD Designer is connected to the remote FMOD Ex Engine (i.e. the console
running the game title) any changes to the project made via the FMOD Designer
interface will be (almost) instantly reflected in the audio outputted from the remote
machine.
Auditioning a large title with multiple projects can be simplified through the use of
workspaces. Simply load all projects used in the title into the current workspace.
Individual projects can then be fine-tuned by selecting the project using the 'Project'
dropdown list.
The following properties may be modified and auditioned during run-time:
event category volume
event volume
event pitch
event priority
event 2D speaker levels
event envelopes
event 3D mindistance
event 3D maxdistance
event mode (2D or 3D)
event 3D rolloff (logarithmic, linear or custom)
event 3D position (world relative or head relative)
event cone settings
event doppler scale
event reverb dry level
event reverb wet level
event 3D speaker spread
event 3D pan level
sound volume (blue envelope)
reverb

DISCONNECTING FROM THE NETWORK

To disconnect FMOD Designer using existing connection details:
1

Select 'Audition' from the main menu. A sub-menu should appear.

Select the option 'Manage Connections

'. A dialog window should

appear, as shown in the figure below.

3

Press the 'Disconnect' button.

FMOD Designer will now disconnect from the target machine.

USER MANUAL

DELETING CONNECTION DETAILS

To delete connection details:
1

Select 'Audition' from the main menu. A sub-menu should appear.

Select the option 'Manage Connections

'. A dialog window should

appear.
3

Select the connection name from the 'Name' list.

Press the 'Delete' button. The connection details will now be deleted.

USER PROPERTIES
User Defined Properties are a provided by FMOD Designer to allow Sound Designers
to add their own properties to events and event groups.

CREATING A USER DEFINED PROPERTY

To create a user defined property:
1

Click the 'Event' tab.

Select the event (or event group) to add a property to.

Right-click on the 'User-property' cell from the properties panel. A menu

dialog should appear.

Select the option 'Add/Edit user properties'. A dialog window should

appear. This dialog window is shown in the figure below.

Press the 'Add' button. An empty user property will be created.

Enter the 'name' and 'description', then select the data 'type' from the Userproperty frame.

Press the 'OK' button. The property has been created.

Figure 40: The User Property Dialog

77

 78

FMOD DESIGNER

EDITING A USER DEFINED PROPERTY

To create a user defined property:
1

Click the 'Event' tab.

Select the event (or event group) with the user property to edit.

Right-click on the 'User-property' cell from the properties panel. A dialog

window should appear.

Select the option 'Add/Edit user properties'.

Select the user-property to be edited from the user property list.

Edit the 'name' and 'description', or 'type' from the User-property frame.

Press the 'OK' button. The property has been edited.

DELETING A USER DEFINED PROPERTY

To create a user defined property:
1

Click the 'Event' tab.

Select the event (or event group) to delete a property from.

Right-click on the 'User-property' cell from the properties panel. A dialog

window should appear.

Select the option 'Add/Edit user properties'.

Select the user-property to be edited from the user property list.

Press the 'Delete' button. The user-defined property should be removed

from the event or event group.

USER MANUAL

LOCALIZATION
As more and more games are released worldwide, Sound Designers find themselves
handling content for each language of the target markets.
How can a Sound Designer work with multiple languages?
Previously this situation required the Sound Designer to duplicate their project work
for each language. Such redundancy slows the Sound Designer's workflow and is not
a productive use of their time.
Localization within FMOD Designer eliminates the need for duplicate event data.
From within the application, the Sound Designer can construct events using a primary
language, and then easily substitute secondary languages when auditioning events or
building the project's FSB files.
This section details FMOD Designer localization support and provides instructions on
its use.

MAINTAINING LANGUAGES
FMOD Designer implements localization control using filename prefixes to identify the
language the file belongs to.
For example, if our primary language is English and the project uses the following
filenames:
hello.wav
howistheweather.wav
goodbye.wav
All subsequent languages will derive their filenames and location from these
filenames. Continuing this example, the secondary language is German. In this case
the German versions of the files will be identified with the prefix 'de_'. The following
files must be provided:
de_hello.wav
de_howistheweather.wav
de_goodbye.wav
Some users may choose to keep the different language files in different directories.
This can be done using a prefix such as 'german/', which would require the files to be
placed in a 'german' directory. Finally, both a directory and filename prefix can be
used together in a prefix, such as 'german/de_'.
Projects must contain at least one language, (acting as a 'primary' language). When
starting a new project, the primary language is set to 'default'. Whilst the primary
language does not require a prefix, one may be used. If the primary language has a
prefix, it is removed before the secondary language prefix is added.

79

 80

FMOD DESIGNER

Selecting a Language
The target language is selected using the 'Language' dropdown list. Simply click the
down arrow, and select the language from the menu that appears.

Figure 41: The Language List Box

Changing the selected language causes the following:
The prefix of the selected language is added to the start of all audio file names
within 'Sound Definitions', 'Sound Instances' and 'Wave banks'.
Any auditioning will feature the audio from the selected language.
When building the project, the wave banks placed into the .FSB file will use
the waveforms of the selected language.

Adding a language
To add a target language, complete the following steps:
1

Click the 'Language' drop down list. A menu should appear.

Select the menu item 'Edit languages

Press the 'Add

Enter the new language name into the 'Name' text field.

Press 'OK'.

'.

' button. A dialog window should appear.

Editing a language
To rename a target language, complete the following steps:
1

Click the 'Language' drop down list. A menu should appear.

Select the menu item 'Edit languages

Press the 'Rename

Enter the new language name into the 'Name' text field.

Press 'OK'.

'.

' button. A dialog window should appear.

Removing a language
Removing a language will also delete any wave bank language prefixes attached to
the language. To delete a target language, complete the following steps:
1

Click the 'Language' drop down list. A menu should appear.

Select the menu item 'Edit languages

'.

USER MANUAL
3

Press the 'Delete' button.

Press 'OK'.

SETTING THE PREFIX

To set the filename prefix for a language, complete the following steps:
1

Select the language using the 'Language' drop down list.

Click the 'Wave Bank' tab.

Click on the wave bank to localize.

Enter the desired prefix into the 'Filename prefix' cell and press the [enter]
key.

The path and (or) filenames of the waveforms inside the wave bank should change
accordingly.
Prefixes are set on a per wave bank basis. This allows the Sound Designer maximum
flexibility when associating wave banks with languages.
For example, imagine we are creating a sport title in both English and German. The
audio, in part, includes a 'commentary' wave bank featuring the vocal talent and the
'on-court' environment sounds wave bank. While the 'commentary' wave bank would
require both English and German versions of the audio files, the audio for the 'oncourt' wave bank could be the same for both language versions.
In this situation where the audio is shared, the wave bank 'Filename prefix' attribute
for both languages should be set blank. This will ensure both languages use the same
files.

MISSING FILES AT BUILD TIME

When building projects, FMOD Designer will attempt to use the files specified by the
'Language' dropdown list. When building languages other than the primary, it is
especially important that the files are present in the location shown in the waveform
panel under the 'Wave Bank' tab.
As all non-primary filenames are derived from the primary language filename, missing
files cannot be found manually using a 'Find file' dialog (which is typically what
happens when a file cannot be found during a build). To fix this error, the Sound
Designer must either move the files to the appropriate location (as per the prefix) or
change the wave bank prefix.

81

 82

FMOD DESIGNER
This page is intentionally blank

USER MANUAL

CHAPTER FOUR: REFERENCE

GUIDE

This chapter provides a comprehensive reference guide to FMOD Designer. Readers are
encouraged to read this section before attempting to produce complex soundscapes. The
purpose of this chapter is to provide a simple explanation for each property, option box,
menu item or effect contained in FMOD Designer.
Key topics in this chapter.
Reference guide for all screens
Reference guide for all property dialog windows
Reference guide for FMOD effects

83

 84

FMOD DESIGNER
This page is intentionally blank

USER MANUAL

PROPERTIES REFERENCE GUIDE

EVENT TAB PROPERTIES
This section provides a comprehensive reference guide to all property screens
contained within the Event tab.

Project Properties
Property

Sub-Properties

Description & Notes

Name

[none]

The name of this project.

Encryption
key

[none]

A cipher key that can be used to encrypt the

exported data of this project.

Audio source
directory

[none]

An absolute directory location. The location of

all audio data shall be relative to this value. If
left blank, the project file path is used as default.

Build
directory

[none]

The directory location of the output files. Note:

Each target platform may have its own build
directory location.

Pre build
commands

[none]

A list of commands that FMOD Designer will

execute before building a project.

Post build
commands

[none]

A list of commands that FMOD Designer will

execute after building a project.

Pre save
commands

[none]

A list of commands that FMOD Designer will

executer before saving. Useful for version
control. Output is written to the Message Log
dialog window [ctrl-L].

Post save
commands

[none]

A list of commands that FMOD Designer will

executer after saving. Output is written to the
Message Log dialog window [ctrl-L].

Notes

[none]

A text note attached to the project.

Event Category Properties

Property

Sub-Properties

Description & Notes

Name

[none]

The name of this event category.

Volume

[none]

An overall volume trim (in decibels) that is

applied to all events in the category.

Pitch

[none]

A relative pitch adjustment (in octaves) that is

applied to all events in the category.

Notes

[none]

A text note attached to the event category.

Event Group Properties

Property

Sub-Properties

Description & Notes

Name

[none]

The name of this event group.

Notes

[none]

A text notes attached to the Event Group.

User
properties

[none]

FMOD Designer allows sound designers to add

their own properties to an event group.

85

 86

FMOD DESIGNER

Event Properties
Property

Sub-Properties

Description & Notes

Name

[none]

The name of an event. Events should have a

short simple name, as the programmer may
use this name to retrieve the event while in the
game.

Volume

[none]

The overall volume for the entire event. This

property is generally not used, however, can
be useful when adjusting the relative volume of
events during the final stages of in-title mixing.

Volume
Randomization

[none]

Sets the maximum volume deviation that may

randomly be applied to the volume of the
event.

Pitch

[none]

The overall pitch of the whole event. This

property is generally not used, however can be
useful when adjusting the relative pitch of
events during the final stages of in-title mixing.

Pitch units

[none]

Sets the unit displayed when altering the pitch

of the event. Units include, octave, semitone
and tone.

Pitch
Randomization

[none]

Sets the maximum pitch shift deviation that

may randomly be applied to the pitch of the
event.

Priority

[none]

The importance of this event in relation to all

other events. This property is used to
determine if this event has priority over other
certain events, when there are many events
during playback. This is one of a number of
properties used by the FMOD engine to decide
which audio is audible.
For example a gunshot event of a player might
have higher priority than that of a footstep
event. A sound may be discarded when all
hardware or software voices on a platform are
being used and FMOD needs to choose
between event sounds as to which is the most
important.
Event priority is determined before any
audibility calculation (3D distance attenuation,
volume envelopes, occlusion, etc) is
accounted for.
0 = most important, 256 = least important.
Default = 128.

Max playbacks

This important property determines how much

memory FMOD should allocate for instances of
this event, and how many times at once this
event can possibly be heard.
This is important, as specifying a number too
large will result in the memory usage of FMOD
being higher than it should be.
If the event will only be heard once
simultaneously, then this property should be
set to 1.
If the event is triggered multiple times and
each occurrence needs to be heard, then the
max playbacks value should be set to a

USER MANUAL

Property

Sub-Properties

Description & Notes

number greater than 1.
It is also possible to control the manner in
which FMOD 'steals' playback from an event
instance, using property, 'Max playbacks
behavior'.

Max playbacks
behavior

This property allows the sound designer to

choose which method FMOD Ex uses when
the number of event instances exceeds the
'max playbacks' value.
The modes are listed below:
Steal next
[No longer
supported]

Mode

The audibility of the event to be stolen will be

next in the list of event instances. Event
instances are played in a round robin fashion.
For example, assuming that 'Max playbacks' is
set to 3 and there were 4 instances to be
played. When event instance 4 is to be
played, audibility is stolen from event instance
1, followed by 2, then 3, then 4 again and so
on.

Steal oldest

The event that has been playing the longest

will be replaced.

Steal newest

The most recent event to have been playing

will be replaced.

Steal quietest

The event with the lowest volume (taking into

consideration 3D distance attenuation and
event volume) will be replaced.

Just fail

The new instance of the event will not steal

any other instance and will just fail to be
played, letting the other instances play as they
were.

Just fail if quietest

If an event is calculated to be the quietest

voice, it will not steal any other instance and
will fail to be instantiated.
Selects whether the event will be managed in a
two or three-dimensional space by the FMOD
Engine.
If '2D' is selected, the sound will be unaffected
by any 3D calculations.
If '3D' is selected, the event will be placed in
3D space, and positioned by the programmer
at run time. 3D events are affected by
distance attenuation, speaker position in
regards to location relative to the listener and
Doppler (based on how fast the sound is
moving in relation to the listener).
Certain event properties are only available to
the 2D mode and others to the 3D mode. For
example, the 3D rolloff factor cannot be used
in a 2D event. 5.1 fixed speaker positions
cannot be set for 3D events (as the 3D engine
already does this automatically).

3D Rolloff
[3D events only]

Sets the style in which the volume of an event

will attenuate in the 3D world. There are three

87

 88

FMOD DESIGNER

Property

Sub-Properties

Description & Notes

types of attenuation: Logarithmic, Linear and
Custom.

Logarithmic

Selecting 'Logarithmic' rolloff causes the

volume to halve as the distance doubles
between the listening entity and the sound
source.
This is the most common method of sound
attenuation as it models real world physics. In
this case volume will only start to attenuate
from '3D Min distance' (see definition below)
onwards.
Below the '3D Min distance' the volume will
have no attenuation (it stays at full volume). At
'3D Max distance' the volume will stop
attenuating from whatever point it may be.
In this mode the rolloff is constant and uses
the rule specified above to simulate real world
attenuation.

Linear

Selecting 'Linear' rolloff will cause the volume

to linearly interpolate from full to silence
between 'the distances set in the 3D Min
distance' and '3D Max distance' properties.
This mode gives the Sound Designer more
control over the distance at which the sound
will become silent to the listener but is not
necessarily real world behavior.

Custom

Selecting 'Custom' rolloff allows the sound

designer to define how the volume of a sound
attenuates over a distance.
This method uses the event editor and a
volume or occlusion envelope. See the
Chapter 5, Tutorial Projects.
3D Min distance' and '3D Max distance' are
ignored in this mode and are unavailable for
editing.
Using this mode, it is even possible to include
low pass filtering to change the sound source
as it gets further away from the listener.

3D Min distance
[3D events only]

The distance between the sound source and

the listener where the sound starts attenuating
in volume. Before this point, the sound is
played at full volume.
This property can be used to model the
volume characteristics of the source sound.
For example, the sound of a bumblebee will
not carry far. The sound level drops quickly.
To simulate this use a small 3D min distance
(i.e. 1cm). A jumbo jet however, is incredibly
loud and can be heard at great distances. To
model this, a large 3D Min distance such as
100 meters would be used.
Choice of unit measurement is not important, it
may be feet, yards or some other unit just be
consistent!
Note: Consult with your programmer on which
distance units are being used in the title.

USER MANUAL

Property

Sub-Properties

3D Max distance

Description & Notes

Note: The usage of this property is dependent
on the '3D Rolloff' mode setting.

[3D events only]

In 'Logarithmic' rolloff mode, the amount of

attenuation is calculated using a fixed rate. In
this rolloff mode, the 3D Max distance
property represents the distance where the
sound will stop attenuating (i.e. At this point
the sound will not get any quieter).
In 'Linear' rolloff mode, this property
represents the distance between the listener
and sound source where the sound is fully
attenuated (i.e. this is the distance where the
sound becomes completely silent).
In 'Custom' rolloff mode, this parameter has
no effect.
Choice of unit measurement is not important, it
may be feet, yards or some other unit just be
consistent!
Note: Consult with your programmer on which
distance units are being used in the title.
3D Position

Specifies whether the event is a 'World relative

event' or a 'Head relative event'.

[3D events only]

World Relative
[default]

The World relative mode allows an event to be

placed in 3D space using an absolute world
position. The position of this event does not
change as location of the listener changes.
For example, when using the World Relative
mode, if an event is placed at 0,0,0 in world
space, it will stay there.
A majority of events will use this mode.

Head Relative

Head relative is a special mode that allows an

event to be 'attached' to the listener. The
sound appears to automatically follow the
listener around the world.
For example, using the Head Relative mode,
an event placed at position 0,0,0 would sound
like it is coming from inside the listener's head,
regardless of where the listener moves.
If the event is placed at 0,0,1 where z =
forwards and the units are in meters, then it
would appear that the sound was just in front
of the listener at all time, no matter where the
listener moves.
This mode is most useful for things like cockpit
sounds, player related sounds (i.e. gunfire for
the main player in an FPS) and the like.

3D Position
Randomization
[3D events only]

This property specifies a range of positional

deviation of a 3D event. Specified as a radius,
this randomization can be imagined as a cube
surrounding the event instance in 3D space,
representing the area in which the instance
may appear.
To audition this feature, the project must be
built and the event triggered in game or using
a tool such as FMOD Event Player. In some
circumstances, where the listener's position is
far from the event or the amount

89

 90

FMOD DESIGNER

Property

Sub-Properties

Description & Notes

randomization is small, changes to the event's
3D position may not create a change in the
listener's surround sound panning.
The random position offset is calculated each
time the event is triggered.

3D Cone

The 3D cone is a attenuation method that uses

the relationship between the listener's angle of
incidence and the sound source to calculate
attenuation. Using this method makes the
sound appear directional.

[3D events only]

A listener who is located within in the inside

angle of the 3D cone will hear the sound at full
volume, whilst a listener in the outside angle
will hear an attenuated sound.
This is shown in the diagram on the next page.

This person is in the inside

angle (set at 90), and hears
the full sound.
This person is in the outside
angle (set at 180), and hears
an attenuated sound.
This person is outside the
directional 3D cone, therefore
hears nothing.
3D Cone inside angle
[3D events only]

The inside angle of the cone, and the field of

sound that will have full volume (no
attenuation).
A 3D Cone with an inside angle of 90 and an
outside angle of 180 can be seen in the
diagram above.
The programmer will set the orientation of the
event (and therefore direction of the sound) at
runtime.

3D Cone outside
angle
[3D events only]

The outside angle of the 3D cone and the field

of sound that will be attenuate. The volume of
this space is set by 3D Cone outside volume
property.
The outside angle must be larger than the
inside angle. The FMOD engine will linearly
interpolate the volume from full to the volume
specified from the inside angle to the outside
angle.
A 3D Cone with an inside angle of 90 and an
outside angle of 180 can be seen in the
diagram above.
The programmer will set the orientation of the
event (and therefore direction of the sound) at
runtime.

3D Cone outside
volume

This property specifies the amount of

attenuation a sound should receive when the

USER MANUAL

Property

Sub-Properties

Description & Notes

listener is positioned in the outside angle.

Speaker

A 2D event can be mixed and positioned in a

5.1 or 7.1 speaker field. These levels let the
designer specify levels for each speaker.

[2D events only]

A more interactive method is available by

going to the menu and selecting [Tools |
Surround pan]. This tool enables the
speaker placement to be made using a
graphical interface.
Note: These properties do not operate on 3D
events, as 3D events are automatically panned
in 5.1 (or 7.1) based on their 3D position.
L

dB level in the 'Left' channel.

dB level in the 'Centre' channel.

db level in the 'Right' channel.

LS

dB level in the 'Left Side' channel.

RS

dB level in the 'Right Side' channel.

LR

dB level in the 'Left Rear' channel.

RR

dB level in the 'Right Rear' channel.

LFE

dB level in the 'Low Frequency Emitter'

channel.

Reverb Dry Level

[none]

dB level of the 'dry' (non-reverberated) signal.

Reverb Wet Level

[none]

dB level of the 'wet' (reverberated) signal.

Oneshot

[none]

If set to 'Yes', this event will automatically stop

if no sound definition instances (in this event)
are active.
This property is useful when the programmer
wants a callback or to release the event
instance once the event is not playing.

Fadein time

[none]

Specified in milliseconds, this property

represents the time it takes for the event
volume to gradually increase from silence to
full volume.

Fadeout time

[none]

Specified in milliseconds, this property

represents the time it takes for the event
volume to gradually decrease from full volume
to silence.

Spawn intensity

[none]

Applies a factor to all spawn times contained

within the event. This property can be used as
a global spawn frequency modifier for all
sound definitions contained within the event.

Spawn intensity
randomization

[none]

Adds a random behavior to the 'Spawn

intensity' property.

Template

[none]

Specifies whether or not this event is to be

used as a template.

Use template

[none]

Specifies the template that this event is

derived from.

Notes

[none]

Any event related information can be stored

here as a note. This data is not exported to
the final game data file.

91

 92

FMOD DESIGNER

Property

Sub-Properties

Description & Notes

User properties

[none]

FMOD Designer allows sound designers to

add their own properties to the event. Adding
these events allows the sound designer to add
game specific data to the audio engine.
For example, in a game featuring stealth, the
sound designer could add an 'AI radius'
property to an event. This property would
represent the distance required between the
sound source and AI character to remain
undetected.
The programmer would then use this property
and the world position of the event and AI
characters to test whether the AI characters
(i.e. guards) have been alerted to the sound.
Creating a user-defined property is discussed
in detail in Chapter Three.

USER MANUAL

EVENT EDITOR TAB PROPERTIES

This section provides a comprehensive reference guide to all property screens
contained within the Event Editor tab.

Sound Instance Properties

Property

Sub-Properties

Description & Notes

Start position

[none]

The starting position of a sound definition instance

box in the event editor. While this property can be
set using the mouse, manually entering this value
provides greater accuracy.
For example if the parameter has a range of 0.0 to
1.0, the sound instance can be manually placed at
exactly 0.5.

Length

[none]

The length of the sound definition instance

(according to the parameter). While this property
can be set using the mouse, manually entering this
value provides greater accuracy.
Assuming the starting position of the sound
definition instance is 0.5, the length could be
manually specified as 0.25. This would mean the
sound definition instance would range from 0.5 to
0.75 exactly.

Start mode

Determines how this particular instance of a sound

definition will start playback.
Immediate

The instance will start playback immediately when

activated by a parameter.

Wait for previous

The instance will start playback only when activated

by a parameter and the previous instance in the
layer has ended.

Loop mode

Loop Count

Determines how this particular instance of a sound

definition should play.
Oneshot

The instance will play once and stop.

Loop and cutoff

The instance will play repeatedly and will stop

immediately if deactivated by a parameter.

Loop and play to end

The instance will play repeatedly and will stop at the

end of the waveform when deselected by the
parameter.

[none]

If the 'Loop mode' of the sound instance is not set

to 'Oneshot', this property specifies the number of
times playback is repeated.
If this property is set to zero ('0'), the playback will
loop indefinitely.

Autopitch
enabled

[none]

When this property is set to 'Yes', the FMOD engine

will automatically pitch bend the sound based on
the position of the parameter cursor within the
parameter range (shown on the ruler), and the
Autopitch reference property.
This technique is useful for automatically
manipulating sounds, removing the need for
customized pitch envelopes. This technique is used
predominately in the car engine model example
included with the FMOD Designer software.

93

 94

FMOD DESIGNER

Property

Sub-Properties

Description & Notes

Autopitch
reference

[none]

This property represents the parameter value that

will act as the original pitch of the sound definition.
This is commonly referred to as the 'middle C' or
center frequency.
For example, assume that:
The property 'Autopitch enabled' is set to 'Yes'.
The event parameter (ruler) range is set from 0.0 to
1.0.
The property 'Autopitch reference' is set to 0.25.
The sound definition instance starts at 0.0 and stops
at 1.0.
If the parameter cursor is placed at:
0.25, the sound is heard at its original pitch.
0.125, the sound is heard at half the original pitch.
0.5, the sound is heard at double its original pitch.
0.75, the sound is heard at triple its original pitch.
1.0, the sound is heard at quadruple its original
pitch.

Autopitch at
min

[none]

This property determines the value of pitch when

the parameter value is at its minimum.
When 'Autopitch At Min' is set to 0, the pitch of the
sound instance will be shifted to 0Hz, when the
parameter is at its minimum value.
When 'Autopitch At Min' is set to 1, the pitch of the
sound instance will be equal to the reference pitch,
when the parameter is at its minimum value. . At

Fine tune

[none]

An offset value in hertz (hz) to the original pitch.

This property may be set using the Fine Tuner
dialog window. The Fine Tuner dialog windows
allow the pitch of the sound definition instance to be
modified while the event is playing both the instance
and other sounds in the background. This is useful
when tuning the sound definition instance against a
reference sound.
The Fine tune property can be controlled coarsely (20khz to +20khz), or finely (-2kHz to +2kHz).
Alternatively, a Hz offset can be manually set using
the text entry box.

Parameter Properties
Property

Sub-Properties

Description & Notes

Name

[none]

The name of the parameter. Parameter should be

named with a short simple name, as the
programmer may use this name to retrieve the
parameter while in the game.

Range

[none]

This group of properties affects the attributes of the

event parameter. Changes to these properties will
be reflected in the appearance of the ruler
displayed above the event layers.

USER MANUAL

Property

Sub-Properties

Description & Notes

Minimum Value

This property specifies the smallest value the

parameter can represent.

Maximum Value

This property specifies the largest value the

parameter can represent.

Units

This property is a text label used to describe the

unit type represented by the parameter.

Ruler Spacing

This property specifies the size of the divisions

displayed in the ruler.

Velocity

This group of properties affects how the parameter

value will change over time. These properties can
be used to time sequence sound definitions, effects
and parameter properties.
Velocity

This property specifies the speed at which the

event parameter cursor automatically increments
from its minimum value to its maximum value. This
value is specified in units per second.

Loop Behavior

This property specifies how the parameter cursor

behaves.
In 'Oneshot' mode the parameter cursor will move
through the time sequence once.
In 'Oneshot and end event' mode, the parameter
cursor will move through its time sequence and
then end the entire event. This will cause the
playback of any other layers or sound definitions to
also end.
In 'Looping' mode, the parameter cursor will
continually move through the time sequence in a
repeating fashion.

Seek speed

Provides an alternate method for time-sequencing

events. This parameter specifies (in units per
second) how quickly the parameter cursor reacts to
changes in the parameter value.
Using the Seek speed makes it possible to
automatically interpolate between the new
parameter value and previous parameter value,
Note: For this property to be effective, the velocity
parameter must be set to 0.0.

Keyoff on
silence

[none]

Provides an alternate behavior for sustain points.

When used, sustain points are automatically
released when the sound definition is silent. When
combined with a fast velocity parameter it is
possible to create sequences of one-shot sound
definitions.
To use this feature, the event's 'Oneshot'
property must be set to 'Yes'.

95

 96

FMOD DESIGNER

Layer Properties
Property

Sub-Properties

Description & Notes

Name

[none]

The name of the layer.

Control
parameter

[none]

Specifies which parameter selects the active sound

definition in the layer.

Priority

[none]

Specifies the layer's priority, where -1 uses the

event's priority by default, 0 = highest priority, 256
= low priority.

USER MANUAL

SOUND DEFINITION TAB PROPERTIES

This section provides a comprehensive reference guide to all property screens
contained within the Sound Definition tab.

Sound Definition Properties

Property

Sub-Properties

Description & Notes

Name

[none]

The name of the Sound Definition.

Spawn Time

Creates a random spawn time (normally

distributed) between the minimum and
maximum values. 'Spawning' means
the sound definition triggers repeated
playback of itself. However, unlike
looping, each repeat (or spawn) can
overlap the previous sound and select a
new sound definition entry.
This spawn time range can be scaled
using the 'Spawn Intensity' effect.

Maximum
spawned sounds

Minimum Value

Specifies the minimum time between

re-spawns

Maximum Value

Specifies the maximum time between

re-spawns

[none]

The number of waveforms within the

sound definition to be played
simultaneously.

Playmode

Volume

Specifies which method will be used to

select the waveform for playback.
Sequential

Waveforms are played back in

sequential order.

SequentialEventRestart

Waveforms are played back in

sequential order, however when the
event is restarted, playback returns to
the start of the queue.

Random

Waveforms are played back in random

order.

RandomNoRepeat

Waveforms are played back in a quasirandom order, with an added restriction

that no waveform is played twice in a
row.

Shuffle

Waveforms are played back in a quasirandom order, with an added restriction

that no waveform is repeated until all
waveforms have been played.

ProgrammerSelected

When the sound definition is played (or

respawned) a callback is created. The
programmer then selects which
waveform to play by supplying an index
where index 0, is the first waveform, 1
is the second, 2 is the third, etc.

[none]

The volume in which the sound

definition will be played. The volume is
specified in decibels (dB).

97

 98

FMOD DESIGNER

Property

Sub-Properties

Description & Notes

Volume
randomization

[none]

The maximum allowable negative gain

deviation to be applied to the sound
definition. The volume randomization is
specified in decibels.

Pitch

[none]

The relative pitch that the sound

definition will be played.

Pitch
randomization

[none]

The maximum allowable pitch deviation

to be applied to the sound definition.
The pitch randomization is specified in
octaves.

3D Position
randomization

[none]

This property specifies a range of

positional deviation of a sound
definition. This variation is calculated
each time the sound definition is
spawned.
This property is only functional when
the event mode is set to 3D.

Notes

[none]

A text note attached to the sound

definition.

Sound Definition Waveform Properties

Property

Sub-Properties

Description & Notes

Waveform

[none]

States the name (and directory) of the

waveforms within the sound definition.

Weight

[none]

States the weighted chance of the

waveform being selected for playback.

Play Percentage

[none]

States the percentile chance of the

waveform being selected for playback.

USER MANUAL

WAVE BANK TAB PROPERTIES

This section provides a comprehensive reference guide to all property screens
contained within the Wave Bank tab.

Wave Bank Properties

Property

Sub-Properties

Description & Notes

Name

[none]

The name of the Wave Bank.

Filename prefix

[none]

This attribute represents the prefix appended to

the beginning of the filename to identify its
language group. See the section 'Localization'
for more information.

Bank type

Specifies if the data is loaded partially or

completely into memory or streamed from disk.
Each option varies in terms of memory and CPU
usage.
Stream from disk

Audio data is streamed from disk. This method

reads the audio file from the disk and
decompresses it in real time (if required). This
method is best for large files such as
background music. Using this method with
small repetitive audio pieces causes a large
processing and disk access overhead.

Load into memory

Audio data is loaded completely into memory

and decompressed in real time each time the
audio is played. This method can save memory
usage but is more CPU intensive.

Decompress into
memory

Audio data is first decompressed and then

loaded into memory in raw PCM form.
This method requires more CPU during loading
and more memory, however, there is less delay
for playback making it ideal for small repetitive
sounds that require a fast response time (such
as a gunshot).

Load into RSX

memory

[none]

(PS3 only)

Audio data from this wave bank is loaded into

the PS3's RSX memory. The RSX memory is
generally reserved for graphics, however FMOD
can use it. This option is especially useful when
the main memory is overburdened.
Sound Designers should consult with the
programmer before setting this option as
'Yes'.

Compression

For more information on compression, see File

Formats in Chapter Six.
PCM

The Wave Bank is saved as PCM data. This

format uses the most disk space but is the least
CPU intensive.

ADPCM

The Wave Bank is saved as ADPCM data. This

format uses a simple compression method to
reduce the required disk space and required
CPU time.

MP3

The Wave Bank is saved as MPEG 1 layer 3

data. This format uses the least space but is the
most CPU intensive.

99

 100 FMOD DESIGNER

Property

Sub-Properties

Description & Notes

MP2

The Wave Bank is saved as MPEG 1 layer 2

data. This format reduces the required space
but is relatively CPU intensive. Unlike MP3, this
format does not require a license.

XADPCM

The Wave Bank is saved using a variant ADPCM

format. This format uses a simple compression
method to reduce the required disk space and
required CPU time.

(Xbox only)

VAG
(Sony Playstation2 and
PSP only)
GCADPCM
(GameCube, Wii only)

XMA
(xbox 360 only)

Disable Seeking

The Wave Bank is saved using a variant ADPCM

format. This format uses a simple compression
method to reduce the required disk space and
required CPU time.
The Wave Bank is saved using a variant ADPCM
format. This format uses a simple compression
method to reduce the required disk space and
required CPU time..
The Wave Bank is saved using a variable bit rate
' lossy' compression. This format requires little
space and has hardware support to negate any
load on the CPU.

[none]

This option will disable the inclusion of XMA

seek tables reducing the memory required by
the wavetable. Note: Disabling seek tables may
cause virtual voices to reposition themselves
incorrectly and repositioning audio using a time
offset property will no longer be possible.
Sound Designers should consult with the
programmer before setting this option as
'Yes'.

Enable
syncpoints

[none]

If syncpoint callbacks are not required, set this

property to 'No' to reduce memory usage.

Compression
quality

[none]

The amount of compression to be used. High

compression results in smaller disk usage, but
will reduce quality (creating audible distortion).
Bit-rate approximately equals 3.2 x this value.

Optimize sample
rate

[none]

If selected, FMOD Designer will attempt to

automatically optimize the sample rate of each
source audio file during the build process.

Force software

[none]

Specifies whether or not the wave bank is

forced to play back through FMOD's software
pipeline. This property should generally be set
to 'Yes'. For more information, see Chapter 6.

Max Streams

[none]

The maximum number of simultaneous disk

streams that may be created when loading from
this wave bank.

(Xbox 360 with

XMA only)

This property is only used when the 'Bank type'

property is set to 'Stream From Disk'.
The default value of 32 is generally more than
adequate, and will rarely need to be any higher.
For more information, see Chapter 6.
Notes

[none]

A field that allows the Sound Designer to

append text notes to the wave bank.

USER MANUAL

Wave Bank Waveform Properties

Property

Sub-Properties

Description & Notes

Filename

[none]

States the source name (and directory) of the

waveforms within the Wave Bank.

Quality

[none]

States the quality setting of the wave data.

Post optimized rate

reduction

[none]

States the reduction to the sample rate in the

post optimized wave data.

Frequency

[none]

States the sample rate of the pre-optimized

audio file.

Bit depth

[none]

States the bit depth of the pre-optimized audio

file.

Channels

States the number of channels in the preoptimized audio file. This property also has the
abilities to route multi-channel wave bank
entries into preset speaker layouts. These
routes are useful in applications such as
interactive music, where the source audio may
be located on many channels, but should be
played to the front speakers. For more
information, see the tutorial 'Multi-channel
waveforms and effects'.
n x Mono

All channels are consider mono feeds and are

placed in the centre speaker.

n x Stereo

Channels are routed in pairs to the front left and

right speakers

Mono

A mono channel waveform

Stereo

A stereo channel waveform

5.1

A six channel waveform, routed to the speakers

as: FL, FR, FC, LFE, RL, RW

7.1

An eight channel waveform, routed to the

speakers as: FL, FR, FC, LFE, RL, RW, SL, SR.

Sound type

[none]

States the file format of the pre-optimized audio

file.

File size

[none]

States the file size of the pre-optimized audio

file.

Used

[none]

States how audio will be used:

SW = Software
HW = Hardware
2D = 2D Sound Engine
3D = 3D Sound Engine

Notes

[none]

Text notes attached to the wave bank.

XMA Filtering

[none]

Specifies whether XMA filtering will be applied

to the waveform before encoding. The XMA
filter uses a low pass filter that allows the
encoder to achieve a higher compression rate.
Sound Designers may choose to disable XMA
filtering when the waveform contain requires
high fidelity in the upper frequencies.

(Xbox360 with XMA

only)

101

 102 FMOD DESIGNER

REVERB TAB PROPERTIES

This section provides a comprehensive reference guide to all property screens
contained within the Reverb tab.

Reverb Properties
Properties

Sub-Properties

Description & Notes

Name

[none]

The name of the reverb definition.

Reverb Preset

[none]

Selects a pre-defined reverb or a user-defined

reverb.

Room

[none]

The volume level of the longer swell reverberation.

The room level ranges from 10000.0 to 0.0 mB.

Room HF

[none]

The overall high frequency attenuation of the room

reverberation. The attenuation ranges from
10000.0 to 0.0 mB (no attenuation).

Room rolloff

[none]

The room rolloff factor, ranges from 0.0 to 10.0

(default value).

Decay time

[none]

The length of time the room reverberation takes to

fade to silence. Ranging from 0.1 to 20.0 seconds,
this feature can be used to simulate the size of the
acoustic environment.

Decay HF ratio

[none]

The ratio of the high frequency and low frequency

content in the reverberation decay.

Reflections

[none]

The volume level of the early reflections relative to

the volume of room reverberation and ranges from
10000.0 to 1000.0 mB.

Reflect delay

[none]

The delay time of the first reflection, ranging from

0.0 to 0.3 seconds.

Reverb

[none]

The volume level of the late reflections relative to

the volume of room reverberation and ranges from
10000.0 to 1000.0 mB.

Reverb delay

[none]

The delay time of the late reflection (relative to the

first reflection), ranging from 0.0 to 0.3 seconds.

Diffusion

[none]

The rate at which the density of the reverb

increases during the decay. This echo density
ranges from 0.0 to 100.0 percent.

Density

[none]

Represents how tightly the reflections in the decay

are packed. This modal density ranges from 0.0 to
100.0 percent.

HF reference

[none]

The high frequency value referenced by the other

parameters. The HF reference range from 20Hz to
20kHz.

Notes

[none]

A text note attached to the reverb definition.

USER MANUAL

TOOLS REFERENCE GUIDE

This section provides a comprehensive reference guide to all the tools provided with
FMOD Designer. The FMOD tools are designed to simplify auditioning and setting
properties within events, including multiple parameters, 3D, surround or directional
sound effects.

FMOD ENGINE DESIGNER

The FMOD Engine Designer tool is specially designed to simulate engine sounds
using a combination of engine RPM (revolutions per minute) and engine loading.
This tool automatically adjusts the engine load parameter proportionally to changes in
the RPM parameter value thus making it easy to hear how the parameters affect each
other and create the overall sound.
The FMOD Engine Designer tool is shown below.

Figure 42: The FMOD Engine Designer Screen

This tool requires the event to have two parameters called 'rpm' (the primary
parameter) and 'load'. Once created, the tool allows the Sound Designer to modify
the relationship between two parameters using the vertical sliders, 'RPM Smooth',
'Load Smooth' and 'Load Scale'.

103

 104 FMOD DESIGNER

The FMOD Engine Designer has the following attributes.

Attribute

Sub-Properties

Description & Notes

RPM Slider

[none]

The RPM value of the engine.

RPM Smooth

[none]

The rate of change of the RPM parameter

value.

Load Smooth

[none]

The rate of change of the Load parameter

value.

Load Scale

[none]

The amount of change the RPM parameter

invokes on the Load parameter value,

AUDITION 3D
The Audition 3D tool is specially designed to allow a Sound Designer to audition a 3D
event in a 3D space and hear the audible impact of parameter changes in real-time.
The Audition 3D tool is shown below.

Figure 43: The 3D Audition Screen

USER MANUAL
The Audition 3D tool has the following attributes.

Attribute

Sub-Properties

Description & Notes

Freq

The rate of oscillation on the z-axis (front/back

speakers).

Amp

The amount of oscillation on the z-axis (front/back

speakers).

Origin

The starting position on the z-axis (front/back

speakers).

Freq

The rate of oscillation on the x-axis (left/right

speakers).

Amp

The amount of oscillation on the x-axis (left/right

speakers).

Origin

The starting position on the x-axis (left/right

speakers).

[none]

Locks the front/back and left/right frequency and

amplitude sliders together. Therefore a change in the
front/back value is reflected in the left/right domain
(and vice versa).

Manual

Allows positioning of the event's location in the 3D

sound field is manually positioned.

Circle

The frequency, amplitude and origin are set to make

the event's 3D position in the sound field move
around the listener in a circular manner.

Figure-of-eight

The frequency, amplitude and origin are set to make

the event's 3D position in the sound field move
around the listener in a figure of eight pattern.

Ping Pong

The frequency, amplitude and origin are set to make

the event's 3D position in the sound field move from
left to right in front of the listener.

Doppler

[none]

A scaling factor that is applied to the Doppler effect.

Zoom

[none]

A scaling factor that is applied to the frequency and

amplitude values.

Front/Back
Sliders

Left/Right
Sliders

Lock Freq +
Amp

Movement
Preset

SURROUND PAN
The Surround Pan tool is specially designed to allow a Sound Designer to select the
position of an event in the surround sound field using a Graphical User Interface,
rather than manually setting each channel volume independently.

105

 106 FMOD DESIGNER

The Surround Pan tool is shown below.

Figure 44: The Surround Pan Tool Screen

The Surround Pan tool has the following attributes.

Attribute

Sub-Properties

Description & Notes

Position Cursor

[none]

A small red circle that indicates the position the

event will appear in the surround field. The value
of each channel will change as the cursor is
moved.

Mode

Selects the number of channels used.

5.1

Selects 5 channels (plus LFE).

7.1

Selects 7 channels (plus LFE).

LB

Displays the signal volume in the left back

channel.

LS (7.1 Mode Only)

Displays the signal volume in the left side

channel.

Displays the signal volume in the left front

channel.

Displays the signal volume in the centre front

channel.

Displays the signal volume in the right front

channel.

RS (7.1 Mode Only)

Displays the signal volume in the right side

channel.

RB

Displays the signal volume in the right back

channel.

Levels

USER MANUAL

Attribute

Add/Point point
at cursor
(button)

Sub-Properties

Description & Notes

LFE

Displays the signal volume in the low frequency

emitter channel.

[none]

When pressed, the position in the surround field

indicated by the position cursor will be applied to
the selected event layer at the parameter cursor.
Note: Before pressing this button, ensure that a
2D event, layer and parameter cursor is selected
in the Event Editor tab.

Delete point at
cursor (button)

[none]

When pressed, the position in the surround field

indicated by the parameter cursor (on the Event
Editor tab), will be applied to the selected event
layer at the parameter cursor.

CONE DESIGNER
The Cone Designer tool is specially designed to allow a Sound Designer to select the
inside and outside angle of a 3D cone using a graphical representation, rather than
manually setting each angle and outside level. For more information about the 3D
Cone, see the 3D Cone entry under the section Event Properties in this chapter.
The Cone Designer tool is shown below.

Figure 45: The Cone Designer Screen

The Surround Pan tool has the following attributes.

Attribute

Sub-Properties

Description & Notes

Inside Angle

[none]

The inside angle of the cone and the field of sound that
will have full volume (no attenuation).

Outside Angle

[none]

The outside angle of the 3D cone and the field of

sound that will be attenuated.

Outside Level

[none]

This property specifies the amount of attenuation a

sound should receive when the listener is positioned in
the outside angle.

107

 108 FMOD DESIGNER

EFFECTS REFERENCE GUIDE

This section describes all the properties of effects used in FMOD Designer. There are
two types of effects:
Property Automation Effects. This type of effect provides the Sound Designer
the ability to manipulate or sequence properties such as volume or pitch.
These effects use no additional CPU.
FMOD DSP Effect. This type of effect uses DSP (digital signal processing)
plug-ins to manipulate the audio stream in real-time, allowing the Sound
Designer to radically alter a sound's timbre by adding distortion, filtering and
echo. The properties of these effects can be set or sequenced using effect
envelopes. In general, DSP plug-in effects require more CPU. Note: Versions
of Designer 1.07.09 and above, support multiple pitch effects on each layer.
For each effect, a relative CPU and memory usage rating is given. The CPU and
memory cost of each effect is categorized into four levels, those being none, low,
medium and high.

PROPERTY AUTOMATION EFFECTS

Effect &
Properties

Description & Notes

Resource Usage

Volume

This effect can be used to

control the volume of an
event.

Volume

This property (specified in dB) represents the overall volume of the event layer.

Effect &
Properties

Description & Notes

Pitch

Resource Usage

This effect can be used to

control the pitch of an event.
The pitch is manipulated by
varying the sampling rate of
the playback. Unlike the
'Pitch shifter' DSP effect, this
effect makes no attempt to
retain the time duration of the
sound.

Pitch

This property specifies the desired change in pitch (measured in semi-tones).

USER MANUAL

Effect &
Properties

Description & Notes

Resource Usage

Spawn
Intensity

This effect can be used to

scale the spawn time range
of an event.

Intensity

Ranging from 0 to100, this value scales the minimum and maximum spawn
times. The scaling factor is the average spawn time (max min /2) divided by
the Intensity Value (Note: the sound will not re-spawn when this value is 0).

Effect &
Properties

Description & Notes

Resource Usage

Pan

This effect can be used to

dynamically control the
panning of a sound definition
in the stereo field.

Pan

This property specifies the desired position in the stereo field and ranges from
1.0 (left channel only) to 1.0 (right channel only).

Effect &
Properties

Description & Notes

Resource Usage

Surround
Pan

This effect can be used to

dynamically control the
panning of a sound definition
in a surround sound field.

Left / right
Pan

This property specifies the desired stereo position, ranging from 1.0 (left
channels only) to 1.0 (right channels only).

Front / back
pan

This property specifies the desired depth position, ranging from 1.0 (rear
channels only) to 1.0 (front channels only).

LFE send

This property specifies the amount of signal sent to the Low Frequency Emitter,
ranging from 0.0 (no signal) to 1.0 (full volume).

Effect &
Properties
Occlusion

Description & Notes

Resource Usage

This effect controls the direct and

reverb levels for the layer. Note: If
the programmer sets the flag
FMOD_INIT_SOFTWARE_OCCLUSION

to true, the occlusion will be done

using a low pass filter, otherwise it
is rendered using volume
attenuation.
Direct

This property represents the attenuation of the direct signal.

Reverb

This property represents the attenuation of the reverberated signal.

109

 110 FMOD DESIGNER

Effect &
Properties
3D Speaker
spread

Description & Notes

Resource Usage

This effect can be used to

dynamically control the
spread of sound in a
surround sound field.
The effect can be used to
make the sound appear
directional (coming from a
particular speaker driver) or
immersive (coming from all
speaker drivers) in nature.

Angle

Effect &
Properties
Reverb
Level

This property specifies how directional the sound is, ranging from 0 degrees
(highly directional) to 360 degrees (omni-directional).

Description & Notes

This effect can be used to
dynamically control the
amount of reverb used by
the event layer.
This effect utilizes the
reverb defined under the
'Reverb' tab.

Reverb Level

Effect &
Properties

Resource Usage

Note: Whilst the automation of the reverb level

requires minimal use of the CPU, the reverb
effect itself requires significant CPU time.

This property specifies the master volume of the reverb effect, ranging from
0db (full signal) to -55 db (approximately no signal).

Description & Notes

Resource Usage

3D Pan
Level

This effect can be used to

dynamically morph
between a 2D and 3D
panning control.

3D Pan Level

This property ranges from 0.00 (which causes the sound to pan according to
2D channel levels) to 1.00 (which causes the sound to pan according to its 3D
position).

USER MANUAL

Effect &
Properties
Time Offset

Description & Notes

Resource Usage

This effect can be used to

select an offset time
starting point in the sound
definition. This effect
allows the starting content
in the audio file to be
skipped.
Note: When using oneshot sound definitions, if
the time offset value is
greater than the length of
the audio, no sound will be
heard.

Time Offset

This property specifies the time-offset, ranging from 0 to 60 seconds.

Effect &
Properties

Description & Notes

Channel Mix

Resource Usage

This effect can be used to

independent set the volume
of channels within an audio
file.
Channels may also be
grouped.

Envelope

This parameter controls the volume of a channel (or group of channels) within a
waveform. This effect can be used in conjunction with waveform 'Channel'
property, found in the Wave bank tab.

FMOD DSP EFFECTS

Effect

Description & Notes

FMOD
Lowpass

This effect is a secondorder (resonance) filter that

leaves low frequencies
unaffected but attenuates
(or reduces) frequencies
above a cutoff frequency
point.

Resource Usage

This effect is used to

reduce the amount of treble
in a signal.
Whilst the FMOD Lowpass
effect is more
computationally expensive
than the other lowpass
filters provided by FMOD,
this effect produces a highresolution emulation of an
analog resonance filter.

Property

Description

Cutoff freq

This property represents the frequency at which the filter will start attenuating.
The cutoff frequency range is 10 to 22000Hz.

Resonance

This property alters the frequency response of the filter, by boosting the

111

 112 FMOD DESIGNER

Effect

Description & Notes

Resource Usage

frequencies just below the cutoff frequency. The resonance property ranges
from 0 to 10.

Effect

Description & Notes

FMOD IT
Lowpass

This effect is a secondorder (resonance) filter that

leaves low frequencies
unaffected but attenuates
(or reduces) frequencies
above a cutoff frequency
point.

Resource Usage

This IT effect was

specifically designed to:
1. Support Impulse Tracker
files.
2. Provide a resonant low
pass filter at the cheapest
CPU costs.
This filter is limited to an
effective cutoff of 10000Hz.

Property

Description

Cutoff freq

This property represents the frequency at which the filter will start attenuating.
The cutoff frequency range is 10 to 22000Hz.

Resonance

This property alters the frequency response of the filter, by boosting the
frequencies just below the cutoff frequency. The resonance property ranges
from 0 to 10.

Effect

Description & Notes

FMOD
Lowpass
Simple

This effect is a first-order

filter that leaves low
frequencies unaffected but
attenuates (or reduces)
frequencies above a cutoff
frequency point.
This effect is used to reduce
the amount of treble in a
signal.
FMOD Lowpass Simple
effect was specifically
designed to provide full
bandwidth response (up to
22kHz) at the cheapest CPU
costs. It does not provide
any resonance control.

CPU Usage

USER MANUAL

Property

Description

Cutoff freq

This property represents the frequency at which the filter will start attenuating.
The cutoff frequency range is 10 to 22000Hz.

Effect

Description & Notes

FMOD
Highpass

This effect is a second-order

filter that leaves high
frequencies unaffected but
attenuates (or reduces)
frequencies below a cutoff
frequency point.

Resource Usage

This effect is used to reduce

the amount of bass
frequency in a signal.

Property

Description

Cutoff freq

This property represents the frequency at which the filter will stop attenuating.
The cutoff frequency range is 10 to 22000Hz.

Resonance

This property alters the frequency response of the filter, by boosting the
frequencies just the above the cutoff frequency. The resonance property
ranges from 0 to 10.

Effect

Description & Notes

FMOD Echo

This effect creates a reverb

like sound by replaying the
sound definition with
additional time delays.

Resource Usage

This effect is less CPU

intensive than reverb and
useful for simulating
environments such as large
rooms, halls, caves, car
parks, etc.

Property

Description

Delay

The property represents the time between the original sound and its echoed
reflection.
The delay can be set from 0ms to 5000ms.

Decay

The property represents the amount of echoed signal that is fed back into the
echo plug-in.
The decay can be set from 0% to 100%. Note: Using 100% decay will cause
an infinite feedback loop, meaning the echo will never stop.

Max
Channels

This property sets the number of channels (and memory allocation) to be used
from 0 (default) to 16. The value 0 represents FMOD's default polyphony, 1 =
mono, 2 = stereo, etc.

Dry Mix

This property represents the volume of the original sound, ranging from 0%
(fully attenuated) to 100% (no attenuation).

Wet Mix

This property represents the volume of the echo, ranging from 0% (fully
attenuated) to 100% (no attenuation).

113

 114 FMOD DESIGNER

Effect

Description & Notes

CPU Usage

FMOD
Flange

This effect is created with a

signal that is combined with
a slightly delayed copy of
itself. Using a continuously
variable time delay (of up to
10ms) causes the combfiltering effect to move up
and down the frequency
spectrum, giving the filter its
famous 'jet'-like sound.

Property

Description

Dry Mix

This property represents the volume of the original sound, ranging from 0%
(fully attenuated) to 100% (no attenuation).

Wet Mix

This property represents the volume of the delayed copy, ranging from 0%
(fully attenuated) to 100% (no attenuation).

Depth

The depth property represents the size of the time delay, ranging from 0.00 (
0 ms) to 1.00 ( 10 ms).

Rate

The rate property represents the speed at which the comb filtering modulates
from its lowest to highest depth. The rate can be set from 0Hz to 20Hz.

Effect

Description & Notes

FMOD
Distortion

Distortion adds harmonics

and texture to an existing
signal by boosting the
signal's waveform until
clipping occurs.

Resource Usage

Whilst distortion reduces the

fidelity of a sound, at times
the increased harmonics
and reduced dynamic range
can add an appealing
'crunching' quality to the
sound.

Property

Description

Level

This property specifies the gain adjustment to the signal ranging from 52dB
(inaudible distortion) to 0 dB (extreme clipping).

USER MANUAL

Effect

Description & Notes

Resource Usage

FMOD
Normalize

This effect amplifies the

signal based on the
maximum peaks within the
signal.

Property

Description

Fade in time

This property represents the time to attenuate the signal to silence, ranging
from 0ms to 20000ms.

Lowest
volume

This property represents the minimum threshold of the signal before

normalization occurs, ranging from -52dB to 0db. Any signal under this
threshold is ignore. When set correctly, this parameter is useful in stopping
the amplification of any hiss, hum or noise in quiet sections.

Maximum
amp

This property represents the additional gain boost to the signal, where 1.00
provides no amplification and greater than 1.00 creates more boost.

Effect

Description & Notes

FMOD
ParamEq

This effect is a parametric

equalizer (or bandpass filter)
that attenuates or amplifies
a selected frequency (and
its neighboring frequencies
to a lesser degree).

Property

Description

Center freq

This property represents the frequency to boost or cut, ranging from 20 Hz to

22 kHz.

Octave range

This property specifies how many neighboring frequencies will be affected.

This is commonly known as the Q value. The octave parameter ranges from
0.2 octaves to 5 octaves (large overlap).

Frequency
gain.

This property represents the boost or cut to the frequency. The values 0.05 to
1 represent a cut to the frequency, whilst 1.00 to 5.0 boosts the frequency.

Resource Usage

115

 116 FMOD DESIGNER

Effect

Description & Notes

FMOD
Pitchshift

This effect allows a sound

to be raised or lowered in
pitch without changing its
time duration.

Resource Usage

This plug-in is very CPU

intensive. However, using
mono files, selecting a
smaller FFT size and
reducing the sampling rate
of the source file can
reduce the CPU load, (at
the expense of sound
quality)

Property

Description

Pitch

This property represents the change to the original pitch ranging from 0.5 (one
octave down) to 2.0 (one octave up). A value of 1.0 represents the original
pitch.

FFT size

The property specifies the spectral resolution used in the FFT process. A
higher number reduces the number of unwanted artifacts in the sound (but
requires more CPU time). The FFT size ranges from 256 to 4096.

Overlap

This property specifies the overlap between FFT windows, ranging from 1 to
32.
[Note: This property is now fixed at the value 4.]

Max
Channels

This property makes it is possible to set the number of channels (and memory
allocation) to be used by the pitch shifting plug-in. This property can be set
from 0 (default) to 16. The value 0 represents FMOD's default polyphony, 1 =
mono, 2 = stereo, etc.

Effect

Description & Notes

FMOD
Chorus

This effect is used to

simulate a sound coming
from multiple sources. This
chorus effect uses 3 chorus
taps (copies of the original
signal). Each tap is 90 out
of phase with the previous
tap.

Property

Description

Dry Mix

This property represents the volume of the original sound, ranging from 0.00
(fully attenuated) to 1.00 (no attenuation).

Wet mix tap

1, 2 & 3

This property represents the volume of chorus taps, ranging from 0.00 (fully
attenuated) to 1.00 (no attenuation).

Delay

The delay property specifies the total buffer size used by the effect. The
greater this value, the more phase modulation occurs. The delay ranges from
0ms to 100ms).

Rate

This property represents the speed of the chorus modulation. The rate can be
set from 0Hz to 20Hz.

Depth

The depth property represents the modulation of the time delay, ranging from
0.00 to 1.00.

Feedback

The feedback property controls how much of the wet (chorus) signal is placed
back into the chorus buffer.

Resource Usage

USER MANUAL

Effect

Description & Notes

FMOD
Reverb

This effect is a reverb that

can be used independently
from the system reverb
defined under the 'reverb'
tab.

(Deprecated)

Resource Usage

This DSP effect is stereo

only; meaning that only the
first two channels of the
5.1 outputs will be
affected.
Whilst the quality of this
reverb is inferior to the SFX
reverb, it is less
demanding in terms of
CPU time.
Note: Whilst supported
for older titles, this effect
is no longer available for
new projects. Firelight
Technologies strongly
encourages it users to
now use SFX Reverb.

Property

Description

Roomsize

The property 'Roomsize' represents the physical size of the acoustic space to
be simulated. The value ranges from 0.0 (a small space) to 1.0 (a large space).

Damp

The property 'Damp' specifies the amount of high frequency dampening

applied to the reverberated signal.

Wet

This property represents the volume of the reverberated sound, ranging from
0% (fully attenuated) to 100% (no attenuation).

Dry

This property represents the volume of the original sound, ranging from 0%
(fully attenuated) to 100% (no attenuation).

Width

Ranging from 0.0 (mono) to 1.0 (full stereo separation) the 'Width' parameter
represents the amount of stereo separation in the reverberated signal.

Mode

The 'Mode' parameter switches the reverb's decay to infinite.

Value 0.0 represents off, while 1.0 represents on.

117

 118 FMOD DESIGNER

Effect

Description & Notes

FMOD IT
Echo

This effect creates a reverb

like sound by replaying the
sound definition with
additional stereo time
delays.

Resource Usage

This IT effect is specifically

designed to emulate
DirectX effects and support
Impulse Tracker files.

Property

Description

WetDryMix

This property represents the proportion of the original signal and echoes in the
final output.

Feedback

The property represents the amount of echoed signal that is fed back into the
echo plug-in. The decay can be set from 0% to 100%. Note: Using 100%
decay will cause an infinite feedback loop, meaning the echo will never stop.

LeftDelay

The property represents the time between the original sound and its echoed
reflection in the left channel. The delay can be set from 0ms to 2000ms.

RightDelay

The property represents the time between the original sound and its echoed
reflection in the right channel. The delay can be set from 0ms to 2000ms.

PanDelay

This property sets the delay to switch stereo sides with each repetition. This
behavior is commonly referred to as a''ping-pong delay'. The value 0.0
represents off, while 1.0 represents on.
This feature is currently not supported by the FMOD Ex engine.

Effect

Description & Notes

FMOD
Compressor

A compressor is a gain
reduction device used to
reduce the dynamic range
of a signal.

Resource Usage

The main role of this effect

is to stop the audio from
clipping the FMOD software
mixer.
A compressor may also be
used to increase the
perceptual volume of an
audio signal.

Property

Description

Threshold

This property represents the volume at which the compression will begin. This
parameter ranges from 0dB (no compression) to 60dB (maximum
compression).

Attack

This property specifies the speed in which the compressor will react to a signal
above the set threshold level. The value ranges from 10 to 200 ms. Note:
While a small attack time will allow the compressor to catch all transient peaks,
it may cause some audible distortion artifacts.

Decay

This property specifies the speed in which the compressor will release the
signal back to its original gain level. The value ranges from 20 to 1000 ms.

Make up
gain

This property represents the desired gain boost to the entire signal after peak
limiting has been applied.

USER MANUAL

Effect

Description & Notes

SFX Reverb

This effect is a reverb that

can be used independently
from the system reverb
defined under the 'reverb'
tab.

Resource Usage

The quality of this reverb is

superior to the FMOD
reverb but uses more CPU
time. This effect models
both the early reflections
and longer reverb swell
(called 'room') present in
real-world reverberation.

Property

Description

Dry Level

This represents the level of dry signal in the output signal. The dry level ranges
from 10000.0 to 0.0 mB.

Room

This property represents the volume level of the ambient reverberation. The
room level ranges from 10000.0 to 0.0 mB.

Room HF

This property represents the overall high frequency attenuation of the room
reverberation. The attenuation ranges from 10000.0 to 0.0 mB (no
attenuation).

Room rolloff

This property specifies the room rolloff factor and ranges from 0.0 to 10.0
(default value).

Decay time

This property specifies the length of time the room reverberation takes to fade
to silence. Ranging from 0.1 to 20.0 seconds, this feature can be used to
simulate the size of the acoustic environment.

Decay HF
ratio

This property represents the ratio of the high frequency and low frequency
content in the reverberation decay.

Reflections

The reflection property represents the volume level of the early reflections
relative to the volume of room reverberation and ranges from 10000.0 to
1000.0 mB.

Reflect delay

This property specifies the delay time of the first reflection, ranging from 0.0 to
0.3 seconds.

Reverb

The reflection property represents the volume level of the late reflections
relative to the volume of room reverberation and ranges from 10000.0 to
1000.0 mB.

Reverb delay

This property specifies the delay time of the late reflection (relative to the first
reflection), ranging from 0.0 to 0.3 seconds.

Diffusion

The rate at which the denisty of the reverb increases during the decay. This
echo density ranges from 0.0 to 100.0 percent.

Density

Represents how tightly the reflections in the decay are packed. This modal
density ranges from 0.0 to 100.0 percent.

HF reference

This property specifies the high frequency value referenced by the other
properties. The HF reference ranges from 20Hz to 20kHz.

119

 120 FMOD DESIGNER

This page is intentionally blank

USER MANUAL

CHAPTER FIVE: TUTORIAL

PROJECTS

FMOD Designer is capable of producing highly realistic and dynamic aural environments.
In this chapter, a series of examples will be created in a step-by-step fashion.

These

examples will demonstrate advanced techniques, such as, multiple parameters, multiple
layers, randomization effects, etc.
Key topics in this chapter.
Advanced FMOD Designer techniques
Multiple Layers and Multiple Parameters
Using Sustained Points
Creating Complex Sound Definitions

121

 122 FMOD DESIGNER

This page is intentionally blank

USER MANUAL

CREATING A REALISTIC ENGINE

Creating a great engine sound is a goal for many a Sound Designer. The success of
today's favorite car titles is in part determined by how well the individual details of
each car are modeled.
In this tutorial, the basic method of producing an engine event is covered. The sound
of the engine is based on two parameters, the first represents the RPM of the engine
and the second represents the engine load.
The following tutorial demonstrates:

Using multiple parameters

Crossfading between sound definition instances
Using the auto-pitch feature
Auditioning events using tools

CREATING THE EVENT STRUCTURES

1

Create new event. Do this by right clicking on an event group, and

selecting 'Add Event' from the sub-menu that appears.

Set the following event properties:

- Name: Engine
- Mode: 3d

Double-click the 'Engine' event in the event hierarchy view. The event will
be opened in the 'Event Editor' tab.

Add a parameter by right-clicking the message "Right-click here to add an

event parameter". A menu dialog should appear.

Select the option 'Add parameter'.

Right-click the new parameter. A menu dialog should appear.

Select the option 'Parameter properties...'. A dialog window should

appear.

Set the parameter range from 0 to 8800. This range represents the RPM
range of the engine being modeled. Other engine may use a different
range. Set the following parameter properties for 'param00':
- Name: rpm
- Minimum Value: 0.000
- Maximum Value: 8800.000

123

 124 FMOD DESIGNER

- Ruler spacing: 1000.000
Press the 'OK' button.
9

Add another parameter.

10 Apply the following properties to the new parameter:

- Name: load
- Minimum Value: 0.000
- Maximum Value: 1.000
- Ruler spacing: 0.100

Press the 'OK' button.

11 Rename the exist layer ('layer00') to 'onload'. This is done by rightclicking the Layer name and selecting the option 'Layer properties...' from
the menu dialog. This layer will contain the sounds of the engine under
load.
12 Set the 'name' property to 'onload',
13 Press the 'OK' button.
14 Create a new layer. This is done by right-click the layer panel and
selecting the option 'Add layer' from the menu dialog.
15 Rename the new layer ('layer01') to 'offload'. This is done by rightclicking the Layer ('layer01') name and selecting the option 'Layer
properties...' from the menu dialog.
16 Set the 'name' property to 'offload'. This layer will contain the sounds of
the engine when not under load.
17 Press the 'OK' button

Figure 46: The Engine Event - Layers and Parameters

ORGANIZING THE SOUND DEFINITIONS
The tutorial continues with construction of the sound definitions and the sound
definition instances.

USER MANUAL

18 Press [F4] to switch to the 'Sound Definition' tab.

19 Open an explorer window (using the operating system) and open the
directory holding the car engine samples. This tutorial is using the files
'idle.ogg', 'onlow.ogg', 'onmid.ogg', 'onhigh.ogg', 'offlow.ogg',
'offmid.ogg' and finally 'offhigh.ogg'. Select all the supplied '.ogg' files
and 'drop and drag' them into the Sound Definition Tree View. Seven new
sound definitions will be added.
20 Starting with the layer 'onload', add the following sound instances (in the
following order):

idle

onlow

onmid

onhigh

Add an instance of the sound definition by right-clicking the layer space. A

dialog menu should appear. Select the option 'Add sound...'. A dialog
window should appear. Select the Sound Definition to add from the
listbox and then press the 'OK' button.
21 In this step, the sounds are placed in the layer, roughly matching the RPM
recorded in the audio file with the appropriate parameter value. Reposition
each instance according to the following values:
idle:

Start 0

Length 1800

onlow:

Start 1400

Length 3500

onmid:

Start 3900

Length 3600

onhigh:

Start 6300

Length 2500

Note how FMOD Designer automatically creates crossfades between the

overlapped sound definition instances. The relative volume of the instance
and the type of the crossfades can also be edited. To change the volume
of the envelope, drag the envelope line from the top of the instance
downward.

125

 126 FMOD DESIGNER

To edit the crossfade style, right-click the crossfade and select the 'Bezier'
crossfade method from the dialog option 'Crossfade type'. The desired
layout is demonstrated in the figure on the following page.

Figure 47: The Engine Event - Sound Instance Layout

USING THE AUTO-PITCH FEATURE
The tutorial continues using the auto-pitch feature to create a smooth transition from
0 to 8800 RPM.
22 If you audition the event at this point (press [SPACEBAR] and drag the
parameter cursor using the mouse), you will notice the engine does not
change smoothly, instead jumps between the different RPM sounds. To
fix this, the auto-pitch feature must be used. The auto-pitch function
automatically increases the pitch of a sound as the parameter is increased.
In this case the auto-pitch reference is the RPM value that the engine was
recorded at. To apply the auto-pitch feature, right-click on the sound
definition instance. A menu dialog should appear.
23 Select the option 'Sound definition properties...'. A dialog window should
appear.
24 Set the following properties for the 'idle' sound definition instance:
- Autopitch enabled: Yes
- Autopitch reference: 1135 (remember to press [enter])
This and the following auto-pitch references match the RPM of recorded
engine.

25 Press the 'Close' button.

26 Set the following properties for the 'onlow' sound definition instance:
- Autopitch enabled: Yes
- Autopitch reference: 3000

USER MANUAL

27 Set the following properties for the 'onmid' sound definition instance:
- Autopitch enabled: Yes
- Autopitch reference: 4000

28 Set the following properties for the 'onhigh' sound definition instance:
- Autopitch enabled: Yes
- Autopitch reference: 6000

29 If the crossfades are set correctly, the pitch of the engine should now
move smoothly through the RPM range.

CREATING THE OFFLOAD LAYER

The tutorial continues with the construction of the 'offload' layer. Much of this section
repeats techniques discussed previously.
30 Starting with the layer 'offload', add the following sound definition
instances (in the following order):

idle

offlow

offmid

offhigh

31 Reposition each instance according to the following values:

idle:

Start 0

Length 1800

offlow:

Start 1400

Length 3500

offmid:

Start 3900

Length 3600

offhigh: Start 6300

Length 2500

32 Set each crossfade type to 'Bezier' and set the volume as demonstrated in
the figure below.
33 Set the following properties for the 'idle' sound definition instance (on the
'offload' layer):
- Autopitch enabled: Yes
- Autopitch reference: 1135

34 Set the following properties for the 'offlow' sound definition instance:

127

 128 FMOD DESIGNER

- Autopitch enabled: Yes
- Autopitch reference: 3000

35 Set the following properties for the 'offmid' sound definition instance:
- Autopitch enabled: Yes
- Autopitch reference: 4000

36 Set the following properties for the 'offhigh' sound definition instance:
- Autopitch enabled: Yes
- Autopitch reference: 6000

Figure 48: The Engine Event - Laying Out The Second Layer
APPLYING VOLUME EFFECTS
In this section, volume effect envelopes are specified. This allows FMOD to make the
appropriate sound definitions audible as the load parameter changes value. This helps
to create a more realistic engine sound.
37 Add a 'Volume' effect to each layer. A layer effect is added by rightclicking on the layer name and selecting 'Add Effect...' from the menu
option. A dialog window should appear.
38 Select the effect 'Volume' from the list and press the 'OK' button.
(Remember to repeat for the second layer)
39 Add two points to the Volume effect line (a point can be created using
[SHIFT] + click on the line)
40 The volumes curve shape should be set 'Flat Ended', to do this right-click
the point and select the curve shape.
41 Position the points on Layer 'onload' so that:
- point 1 at 0 RPM is set to -inf dB
- point 2 at 4200 RPM is set to -inf dB

USER MANUAL
- point 3 at 4700 RPM is set to 0 dB

42 Position the points on Layer 'offload' so that:

- point 1 at 0 RPM is set to -2.94 dB
- point 2 at 4200 RPM is set to -2.94 dB
- point 3 at 4700 RPM is set to -inf dB

This arrangement is demonstrated in the figure below.

Figure 49: The Engine Event - Complete Layout

AUDITIONING THE ENGINE
The event is now complete. The tutorial continues with the auditioning of the engine.
43 The engine event is now complete. Press the [SPACEBAR] key to start the
auditioning process.
44 To audition the engine click on the 'Tools' option from the main menu. A
menu dialog should appear.
45 Select the option 'FMOD Engine Designer'. A tool window should appear.
The sound of the engine may change as the audition tool takes control.
Using the 'RPM' slider you can hear the engine increasing and decreasing
in RPM and load.
The advantage of the FMOD Engine Designer is, a single fader can control
two parameters and any changes to the parameters are smoothed, making
the audition more like testing the engine event with the data from the
game engine.

Remember the FMOD engine designer is only used for auditioning and is not included
with the game title instead, any data should be supplied by the game engine.

129

 130 FMOD DESIGNER

CREATING A CYCLE
Many sounds require a sequence that begins with a starting sound, then looped in a
sustained sound and are concluded with a stopping sound. If the length of the time of
sustained sound is static, a single sample event can be used, but what happens if the
sustained loop is dynamic in length?
In such a case, a more complex event is needed, one that uses a sustain point. This
tutorial demonstrates how sustain points can be used to create a 'cycle' in FMOD
Designer.
This method could be applied to objects such as a gatling gun, a jet engine, or
anything else that requires a sequence of different sound samples.
The following tutorial demonstrates:

Using the sustain points

Using a velocity based parameter
Auditioning events

CREATING THE EVENT STRUCTURE

The tutorial will begin with the creation on the event and layers.
1

Create a new event by right-clicking the event group and selecting 'Add
event'

Set the following properties of the new event.

- Name: Cycle

Double-click the 'Cycle' event in the hierarchy tree view to open it in the
'Event Editor' tab.

Three sounds need to be added to the layer. This tutorial is using

'start.wav', 'sustain.wav' and 'stop.wav'

To add 'start' to the layer, right-click the layer space, a menu dialog
should appear.

Select the option 'Add sound...'. A dialog window should appear.

Press the 'New wavetable' button and a select the file 'start.wav' from the
file dialog.

Set the loop mode to 'oneshot'.

Select the sound definition 'start', from the listbox and press 'OK'. The
sound definition instance will be added to the layer.

USER MANUAL
10 To add 'sustain' to the layer, right-click the layer space, a menu dialog
should appear.
11 Select the option 'Add sound...'. A dialog window should appear.
12 Press the 'New wavetable' button and a select the file 'sustain.wav' from
the file dialog.
13 Set the loop mode to 'looping'.
14 Select the sound definition 'sustain', from the listbox and press 'OK'. The
sound definition instance will be added to the layer.
15-To add 'stop' to the layer, right-click the layer space, a menu dialog
should appear.
16 Select the option 'Add sound...'. A dialog window should appear.
17 Press the 'New wavetable' button and a select the file 'stop.wav' from the
file dialog.
18 Set the loop mode to 'oneshot'.
19 Select the sound definition 'stop', from the listbox and press 'OK'. The
sound definition instance will be added to the layer.

Figure 50: Cycle Event - Adding The Instances

Note: At this point the order of the instances will be backwards, don't
panic they are re-organized later in the tutorial.

ADDING A VELOCITY BASED PARAMETER

To create a full cycle, the parameter must move from a starting sound, to a sustained
sound where it loops until the 'key off' signal is triggered and then moving to an
ending sound.
The tutorial will now continue with the creation of a parameter that uses a velocity to
move over time.

131

 132 FMOD DESIGNER

20 Add a parameter (if one does not already exist). To do this, right-click the
message '(Right-click here to add an event parameter)', and the menu
dialog should appear.
21 Select the option 'Add parameter'.
22 Edit the parameter properties. To do this, right-click on the 'param00'
parameter and the menu dialog should appear.
23 Select the option 'Parameter properties'.
24 Set the following properties for the (distance) parameter:

Name: Cycle

Minimum Value: 0.000

Maximum Value: 5.000

Units: Seconds

Ruler spacing: 1.000

Velocity: 1.000

Press 'OK' to set the parameter properties.

Figure 51: Cycle Event: Adding a Parameter

ADDING A SUSTAIN POINT
The tutorial continues with the addition of a sustain point. The sustain point is
required to make the parameter remain on a particular looped sound instance.
25 Add a sustain point, by first right-clicking on the ruler that appears just
below the parameter 'cycle'. A menu dialog should appear.
26 Select the option 'Add Sustain Point'. A yellow sustain point (with
vertical line) should appear.
27 (Click and hold, then) Drag the Sustain Point to the position '2.5' on the
ruler. This should be in the middle of the 'sustain' instance. The sustain
point can also be set numerically by double-clicking the sustain point icon,
entering the value 2.5 into the value field and pressing [OK].

USER MANUAL
28 Drag and reorder the instances as 'start', 'sustain', and 'stop'. To position
the sound definitions evenly across the layer, rightclick on the layer
space, a select the option 'Lay out sounds evenly' from the menu dialog.
A confirmation message should appear.
29. Press the 'YES' button. The events should be of equal size across the
layer. [Note: To make a smoother transition of sounds, the borders of the
'sustain' instance can be extended to create crossfades between the other
instances]

Figure 52: Cycle Event: Complete Layout

AUDITIONING THE EVENT
The event is now complete and is ready to be auditioned. The tutorial continues.
30 Press the [SPACEBAR] key. The parameter should move automatically
from left to right until it hits the sustain point. At this point the 'start'
instance has played, and playback has transitioned into the looping
'sustain' instance.
31 To transition from the 'sustain' instance to the 'stop' instance press the
button 'Key off' which is located above the parameter.

This tutorial demonstrated how to produce an event cycle which moves automatically
from a starting sound to a sustained sound, then finally to a stopping sound.

133

 134 FMOD DESIGNER

SIMULATING DISTANCE
As sound travels through the air, frequency energy dissipates at different rates as the
general volume reduces. These 'rolloff' characteristics are highly complex, and are
influence by atmospheric conditions and surrounding materials. In this example, a
technique used to simulate the perceived affects of distance to a listener is presented.
The technique uses a combination of volume attenuation, low pass filtering (from the
'Occlusion') effect and 3D to 2D pan morphing.
The following tutorial demonstrates:
Using a distance parameter
DSP effects
Morphing between 3D and 2D sounds
Auditioning events

CREATING THE EVENT STRUCTURE

The tutorial will begin with the creation on the event and layers.
1

Create a new event by right-clicking the event group and selecting 'Add
event'

Set the following properties of the new event.

- Name: SimDistance
- Mode: 3d
- 3D Rolloff: Custom
- 2D Speaker L: -3.01
- 2D Speaker C: -60
- 2D Speaker R: -3.01
- 2D Speaker LS: -60
- 2D Speaker RS: -60
- 2D Speaker LR: -60
- 2D Speaker RR: -60

Double-click the 'SimDistance' event in the hierarchy tree view to open it in

the 'Event Editor' tab.

To add a sound to the layer, right-click the layer space. A menu dialog
should appear.

Select the option 'Add sound...'. A dialog window should appear.

USER MANUAL
6

Press the 'New wavetable' button and a sound to add. In this case the file
'drum-loop.ogg' is being used.

Select 'Drum' from the listbox and press 'OK'. The sound definition
instance will be added to the layer.

Press [CTRL] and double-click the sound definition instance to fill all the
available area.

Figure 53: Simulating Distance - Sound Instance

9

If a default parameter doesn't exist (i.e. 'param00'), right-click the

message '(Right-click here to add an event parameter)'. A menu dialog
should appear.

10 Select the option 'Add 3D distance parameter'.

11 We will specify the how the 3D rolloff behaves over 100 yards. To do
this, the parameter range will need to be set appropriately. Right-click the
parameter. A menu dialog should appear.
12 Select the option 'Parameter properties'.
13 Set the following properties for the (distance) parameter:

Minimum Value: 0.000

Maximum Value: 100.000

Units: Yards

Ruler spacing: 10.000

Press 'OK'.

135

 136 FMOD DESIGNER

Figure 54: Simulating Distance - Distance Parameter

ADDING THE ROLLOFF EFFECTS
In this section of the tutorial, the 'Occlusion' effect is added to create the custom
rolloff. The 'Occlusion' effect is great choice for producing both volume and high
frequency attenuation. This effect automates the channel's volume and low pass filter
in FMOD Ex's DSP Mixer. As these processes already exist (for standard playback),
the 'Occlusion' effect is computationally inexpensive, as no additional DSP processing
is required.
14 The first characteristic of the rolloff to model is the volume decay, using
the 'Occlusion' effect. To do this, right-click the layer panel, a menu
dialog should appear.
15 Select the option 'Add effect'. A dialog window should appear.
16 Select 'Occlusion' from the effect listbox and press 'OK'. Effect envelopes
should appear over the layer.
17 The 'Occlusion' effect is able to control the direct (dry) signal, as well as
the reverberated signal. An envelope to control the attenuation of the
direct signal will be created first. Using the mouse to drag the point,
reposition the first point to 0 (zero) yards on the x-axis and -60dB on the
y-axis. Then position a second point to 100 yards on the x-axis and 0dB
on the y-axis. This means at 100 yards, the dry signal is completely
attenuated.

USER MANUAL

The envelope of the direct signal is shown in the figure below.

Figure 55: Simulating Distance Direct

18 The next step is to add an envelope to control the reverberated signal.
The reverb envelope created will become more perceptible as the listener
moves away from the sound source. No te: To hear reverb while
auditioning in Designer, you must activate it under the 'Reverb' tab. For
this exercise, a large easy to hear reverb such as the 'Cathedral Hall'
preset is recommended. Adding reverbs is explained on page 68 of the
manual.
Create the following points for the reverb envelope:

Point
Point
Point
Point

1
2
3
4

Distance:
Distance:
Distance:
Distance:

0, Reverb: 1
15, Reverb: 0.6
70, Reverb: 0.6 (Linear curve)
100, Reverb: 0

Both envelopes are shown in the figure below:

Figure 56: Simulating Distance Reverb Envelope Added

19 The final method of simulating the distance uses a powerful feature of
FMOD Ex - morphing 3D panned sound into 2D (and back again). When
used, the drums will appear to immerse the listener at a very close
distance, but will appear be very directional when the listener is a distance
away. To do this, right-click the layer panel, a menu dialog should
appear.
20 Select the option 'Add effect'. A dialog window should appear.

137

 138 FMOD DESIGNER

21 Select '3D Pan Level' from the effect listbox and press 'OK'. A new effect
envelope should appear over the layer.
22 The create a sense of immersion when close to the sound source, the 3D
pan level must be 0 for low (distance) parameter values. The pan level
should then be set to 1 for higher parameter values. To do this press
[SHIFT] and click on the 3D Pan Level effect envelope. This will add a
point to the line.
23 Using the mouse to drag the point, reposition the first point to 0 on the xaxis and 0 on the y-axis. Then reposition the second point to 10 yards on
the x-axis and 1 on the y-axis.
24 Change the envelope style of the 3D pan level by right-clicking the first
point (of the Level effect envelope). A menu dialog should appear.
25 Select the option 'Linear'. The envelope will redraw itself.
26 Move the parameter cursor to 0. The complete custom rolloff is shown in
the figure below.

Figure 57: Simulating Distance: Complete Layout

AUDITIONING THE EVENT
Now the event is complete, the simulated distance can be auditioned. To experience
the full impact of the distance parameter a 5.1 speaker system is required.
27 To audition the full impact of the distance parameter a 5.1 speaker setup
is required.
28 Press the [SPACEBAR]. The audition should start.
29 Using the mouse to move the (distance) parameter to the right, note how
the high frequencies and volume decrease as the value of the (distance)
parameter is increased.
30 To hear the impact of the 3D pan, set the (distance) parameter cursor to 0
then, click on 'Tools' in the main menu. A dialog window should appear.
31 Select the option 'Audition 3D'. A tools window should appear.

USER MANUAL
32 Set the sliders as shown in the figure on the next page, making sure the
zoom slide is set to 100.

Figure 58: The 3D Audition Tool

33 The event should now be automatically moving in a virtual 3D space. The
drums should appear to be getting closer, immersing the listener (while in
2D panning) and then moving away. As the drums are in the distance, the
high frequencies are filtered, and the reverb should be more obvious.

This tutorial demonstrated how to simulate distance using FMOD Designer

and FMOD Ex.

IMP OR TAN T NO TE FO R PR OG RAMME RS : The 'Occlusion' effect will only use a

low pass filter when the flag FMOD_INIT_SOFTWARE_OCCLUSION is set to TR UE
during the initialization of the FMOD system or event object. If this flag is not set the
signal will only be rendered using volume attenuation.

139

 140 FMOD DESIGNER

FUN WITH MULTI-CHANNEL FILES

This tutorial demonstrates how dynamically mixing the channels of a multi-channel
audio file can be used to create sample accurate blends between audio content.
This tutorial uses the following audio file, 'MultiChannel.wav'
The following tutorial demonstrates:
Using a parameter
Using an audio file with multiple channels
Using the 'Channel Mix' effect
Setting the 'Channel Setup' attribute of a wave bank
Auditioning events

MULTI-CHANNEL AUDIO FILE

The tutorial requires use of a .wav file with four channels. This file will be created
from two independent stereo audio files. This technique works very well with music.
For example, the first stereo pair contains drums, the second pair contents more
instrumentation. This scenario allows dynamic mixing of the instruments and drums
while retaining sample accurate synchronization!
To create a multi-channel audio file you can use a number of tools including software
such as 'wavewizard', 'Sony SoundForge 9' and FMOD's own FSBankEx, which is
freely available from the FMOD Ex API Download.

CREATING THE EVENT STRUCTURE

The tutorial will demonstrate how to dynamically switch between a pair of stereo
channels with sample accuracy.
1

Create a new event by right-clicking the event group and selecting 'Add
event'.

Set the following properties of the new event.

- Name: FunWithMulitChannel

Double-click the ' FunWithMulitChannel ' event in the hierarchy tree view to
open it in the 'Event Editor' tab.

Right click the empty layer. Add sub-menu dialog should appear.

Select the option 'Add Sound

Press the button 'New Wavetable

Select the file 'multi-channel.wav' and click the 'Open' button.

The filename should now be highlighted in the list of sound definitions.

'. A window should appear.

'. A file open dialog should appear.

Click 'OK'. A sound instance should appear in the layer.

USER MANUAL
9

Create a parameter by right clicking on the message 'Right-click here to

add an event parameter'.

APPLY THE EFFECT

At this point the basic elements of the event have been set. If the event is auditioned
at this point, all channels of the file will be heard in its default channel routing which
can sound awful if the content of each stereo pair is not related! This section will
describe how to use the effect 'Channel Mix' and envelope curves to hear one pair at
a time.
10 Right click on the layer panel. A menu dialog should appear.
11 Select the option 'Add effect '. A window should appear.
12 Select the effect 'Channel Mix' and click the 'OK' button. The effect should
be added to the layer.
13 Right click on the effect panel. A menu should appear.
14 Select the option 'Effect properties

'. A window should appear.

Each 'channel' item in the list represents a volume envelope for a channel (or group
of channels) in the audio file. In the case of this tutorial, the first envelope will control
channel 0 and 1 (the first two channels in the audio file). The second envelope will
control channels 2 and 3 (or the second pair of channels) within the audio file.

Figure 59: Fun With Multi-Channel Files Channel Envelopes

15 Double click the 'Channel 0' list item. A list of available channels to control
should appear.
16 Click the checkboxes for the channels 0 and 1 and click the 'OK' button.
The first envelope will now control these channels.

17 Double click the 'Channel 1' list item. A list of available channels to control
should appear.

141

 142 FMOD DESIGNER

18 Check the channels 2 and 3 and click the 'OK' button. The second
envelope will now control these channels.
19 Now the two channel control envelopes have been configured. Click the
'OK' button. The envelope names should appear in the effects panel.
20 To gain easier access to the envelopes, change the base values of the
effects using the vertical slider in the effect panel.
21 Add two points to the first envelope, then edit each point by double
clicking it. Set the following:

Point 1 parameter=0 and (dB)=0

Point 2 parameter=0.47 and (dB)=0

Point 3 parameter=0.53 and (dB)=-60

22 Add two points to the second envelope. Set the following:

Point 1 parameter=0 and (dB)=-60

Point 2 parameter=0.47 and (dB)=-60

Point 3 parameter=0.53 and (dB)=0

Figure 60: Fun With Multi-Channel Files - Envelopes

SETTING THE ROUTING
FMOD Ex has some default routing that must be changed for this event to playback as
intended. For example, a six channel file is generally routed in 5.1, with the first
channel being panned to front left, the second panned to the front right, etc. In the
case of music, it would be better to override the default behavior by having the file
played as a collection of stereo pair each routed to the front left or right channel.
(Note: the channels could also be routed as mono channels to the center speaker).
23 Click the 'Wave Bank' tab (or press the [F5] key)
24 Click the wave bank containing the multi-channel audio file. The files
contained in the wave bank should appear in the waveforms panel.
25 Right click the waveform 'multi-channel.wav' (from the waveform panel).
A menu dialog should appear.

USER MANUAL
26 Follow the option 'Channel Setup' and select the routing '2xstereo'. The
routing uses the format 'n x stereo ', dividing the file into pairs, routing the
first channel to front left, the second channel to front right.

AUDITIONING THE EVENT

The event is now complete and is ready to be auditioned. The tutorial continues.
27 Press the [SPACEBAR] key.
28 To transition between the audible channels of the audio file, simply drag
the parameter cursor over instance.

This tutorial demonstrated how to dynamically mix the channels of an audio file and
route the audio the front left and right speakers.

143

 144 FMOD DESIGNER

This page is intentionally blank

USER MANUAL

CHAPTER SIX: OPTIMIZATION

For many Sound Designers, producing a high quality aural environment is not the only
development requirement.

Projects for game titles generally have many other

requirements, such as processing and storage limits - Sound Designers spend much of their
time fine-tuning the balance between quality and resource optimization.

In this chapter, a number of optimization techniques will be discussed. These techniques

will help maximize CPU, memory and disk space usage.

Key topics in this chapter.

Compression and File Formats
Optimizing CPU and Memory Usage
Disk Streaming
Hardware Vs Software
Maximum Playbacks
Organizing Wave Banks and Event Groups

145

 146 FMOD DESIGNER

This page is intentionally blank

USER MANUAL

FILE FORMATS
WHAT IS COMPRESSION
PCM (pulse code modulation) is a standard method for representing an analogue
audio signal in the digital domain. PCM data is a simple format, where the analogue
audio signal is measured at regular intervals (known as the sample rate) and the
measurement quantitized to a digital value. The sample rate and the amount of data
used to store the quantitized measurement determine the quality of the PCM
representation.
If PCM works, why are other formats needed? The biggest problem with the PCM
format is the storage size. For example, a 3-minute song recorded in stereo at CD
quality requires 254,016,000 bits (or approximately 30 MB)
To reduce this data bandwidth burden and reduce the required storage space,
compression algorithms were created. There are 2 distinct types of compression
algorithms, 'lossless' and 'lossy'.
Lossless compression algorithms allow the original data to be perfectly reconstructed
from its compressed form. This means the size of the audio file can be reduced 30%
(and up to 50% for particular files) without reducing the quality of the audio.
Lossy compression algorithms reduce the quality of the audio signal by attempting to
remove data that is perceptually unimportant. This allows the signal to be reduced up
to 80% of its original size with little distortion.

CHOOSING A FILE FORMAT

It is important to select the best file format for each audio piece used in the project.
FMOD Designer may export data to game titles using the following formats:

PCM
ADPCM
MPEG 1 Layer 2 and 3 (mp2 and mp3)
XMA (Xbox 360)
XADPCM (Xbox)
VAG (Sony Playstation2, PSP)
GCADPCM (Nintendo GameCube, Wii)

To best optimize audio wave banks, the Sound Designer needs to balance CPU load,
memory usage, disk space and disk access. There are two attributes of a wave bank
that make a significant impact on performance those attributes being 'Compression
type' and 'Wave bank type'.
Choosing the compression type is not as simple as choosing the file format with the
smallest file size. File formats using variable bit-rates are capable of remarkable
compression ratios (with little distortion), however require relatively high CPU load in
comparison to PCM or ADPCM to decompress the audio before playback. (N ote :
Some platforms use hardware decoders to negate this issue.)

147

 148 FMOD DESIGNER

The PCM format uses no compression, therefore uses the most disk space but creates
no additional CPU load for playback.
ADPCM (Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation) and its variants use a simple
compression method to reduce the required disk space. While ADPCM compression is
classified as a 'lossy' compression, in some situations it is lossless. Typical
compression ratios range from 3.5:1 to 4:1. ADPCM encoding provides a good
compromise between file size, sound quality and the CPU load required for
decompression.
File compression such as MP2, MP3 and XMA use variable bit-rates and remove
perceptually redundant data to compress the audio. These techniques can have
compression ratios of 10:1 with minimal affect on sound quality.
The MPEG 1 layer 3 data (MP3) and XMA formats are capable of great compression,
but are also the most CPU intensive when decompressing. MPEG 1 layer 2 data
(MP2) is capable of compression rates around 6:1, but is relatively CPU inexpensive in
comparison to MP3. MP2 also has the advantage over MP3 of not requiring an
additional license for use.
The wave bank attribute 'bank type' plays a significant role in the CPU loading and
the amount of memory used. Choosing the best wave bank type requires the Sound
Designer to consider both the nature of the audio piece and the behavior of the event
that triggers the audio. There are three bank types available, those being:

Stream from disk. This option causes the data to be read from disk and
decompressed in real time for immediate playback. Using 'Stream from disk' is
appropriate with large files such as background music. Using this method with
small repetitive audio pieces causes a large processing and disk access
overhead.

Load into memory. This option causes the data to be loaded completely into
memory in its current format. If required the audio is decompressed in real time
each time the audio is played. The main benefit of this method is its reduced
memory usage - the disadvantage being it comes at the cost of an additional
CPU load each time the audio is played.

Decompress into memory. This option causes the audio data to be

decompressed, then loaded into memory in raw PCM form. This method
requires CPU time during loading and will use more memory space than the
other options. However there is no additional CPU load required for playback.

RECOMMENDED FORMATS
For some platforms, FMOD Ex has the ability to play compressed files without the
need to decompress the data to PCM first. For example the Xbox 360 is able to
playback XMA data without (any significant) CPU usage. This platform possesses
audio hardware to carry out the XMA decompression, instead of using the CPU.
Below is a table listing the recommended file formats for each platform supported by
FMOD. These recommendations are based on which format provides the most CPU
efficiency for the platform (in most cases this is done by selecting the native format
for the playback hardware).

USER MANUAL

Platform

Recommended Formats

PC

PCM (and MP2 for large files)

Xbox

XADPCM

Xbox360

XMA

PSP

VAG

PS2

VAG

PS3

ADPCM (and MP2 for large files)

GameCube

GCADPCM

Wii

GCADPCM

This table is only a guideline, not a fixed rule. In many cases, memory and disk
storage limitations may be imposed by the Programmer's specification - therefore the
format choice will require extensive use of MP3, MP2 or XMA compression.

EFFICIENT CPU USAGE

As stated earlier, optimization is the process for minimizing the processing resources
required to create the soundscape. The affect of file formats and wave bank 'bank
types' on CPU, memory and disk space have been discussed in the sections above. In
this section a number of CPU optimization techniques are considered.

DSP Effects
DSP effects are capable of adding an extra dimension to otherwise static sounds.
Every DSP effect causes an additional load to the CPU - therefore the Sound Designer
should choose DSP usage wisely. Where possible, the Sound Designer should look for
opportunities to render an effect to file rather than use a real-time DSP effect.

Forcing Software
The 'force software' property (found in the wave bank properties, under the Wave
bank tab), forces the contents of the wave bank to play through FMOD's software
pipeline - therefore all processing is handled by the CPU and not the audio hardware.
'Forcing software' does not mean FMOD will not use certain hardware features of the
machine. For example, even when using the 'software pipeline, FMOD Ex will still use
Xbox 360's hardware decoder. If a sound is set to hardware acceleration, but is
treated with an FMOD DSP effect, the software pipeline - not hardware, will handle
the sound!
On some platforms, forcing playback through the software pipeline is inefficient.
Forcing software should be avoided (where possible) on the following platforms:

PlayStation 2
PSP
Gamecube
Wii

149

 150 FMOD DESIGNER

It is important to note that Xbox 360 and PS3 are not affected by the 'Force software'
flag, as there is no hardware voice mixing on these platforms and will always use
FMOD's software mixer.

EFFICIENT MEMORY AND DISK USAGE

In this section, a number of memory optimization techniques are considered.

DSP Effects
Generally speaking, the memory footprint required for DSP Effects is small. DSP
effects that are more memory intensive include, echo, chorus or flanger effect. Other
types of DSP effects generally do not allocate any memory (IIR effects such as a
lowpass filter and distortion).

Event Group and Category Organization

The least efficient use of memory would be to load all event data into memory at once.
Instead, the project data should be divided then loaded and released from memory as
needed.
To do this, the Programmer must work with the Sound Designer to create a loading
strategy to conserve memory usage. The basis of this loading strategy should be the
use of event groups and event categories.
Implementing event groups and categories is a necessary practice when creating a
memory efficient project. Events with a common purpose or those that are required at
a common point of time should be placed into event groups. For example, an event
group could represent all the sounds required for a level in a game.
Programmers and Sound Designers should note that while wave data from the FSB
files may be referenced by multiple events, the data would only be loaded into
memory once.

Limiting Polyphony
It is possible to minimize the amount of memory required to play an event using the
'max playbacks' attribute (listed in the event properties, under the events tab). FMOD
will only allocate memory for the number of instances specified.

If the 'Max playbacks' is set to 1, FMOD Ex declares enough memory to play one
instance of the event.

If the 'Max playbacks' is set to 3, FMOD Ex declares enough memory to play

three instances of the event simultaneously.

Setting the 'Max playbacks' correctly requires the balancing of the 'artist vision' (or
creating a realistic and immersive soundscape) and the memory resources required to
play the all occurrences of an event.
For example, imagine a first person shooting game that contains 32 players and the
event 'Footsteps' that contains the sound of running feet. Commonsense may suggest

USER MANUAL
the 'Max playbacks' property of the 'Footsteps' event be set to 32, this way all players
are represented.
Before doing so, the Sound Designer should consider:

Does the player need to hear 32 pairs of feet?

How many pairs of feet can the player distinguish (when other events are
playing)?
How much memory am I willing use for this sound? Is it really that important?

Perhaps when using anything more than three simultaneous 'Footsteps' events, it
becomes hard to hear how many players are around anyway! Setting the 'max
playbacks' to 3 means FMOD Ex will allocate much less memory than is required for
32 instances of 'foot steps'.
If the number of playbacks exceeds the number set in the 'Max playbacks' property,
the FMOD Ex engine will 'steal' the audibility of one event occurrence and give
audibility to another occurrence. This steal behavior is controlled using the 'Max
playbacks behavior' property. The FMOD Ex engine can be set to:

Steal oldest: the playback of the oldest event is stolen.

Steal newest: the playback of the newest event is stolen.
Steal quietest: the playback of the quietest event is stolen.
Just fail: the playback of the current trigger event is ignored.
Just fail if quietest: the event is not instantiated if it is calculated as being the
quietest voice.

In the scenario described above, selecting the 'Max playbacks behavior' property
'Steal quietest', it may be possible to keep the 'Max playbacks' at 3, thereby reduce
the memory requirement while producing an artistically pleasing result.

Disk Streaming
As described in the section, 'Choosing a File Format', disk reading is used to read an
audio file from disk for immediate decompression and real-time playback.
Choosing an appropriate 'max streams' value is very important. The 'max streams'
value sets to the number of concurrent streams within a wave bank that can be
played. Where possible, this value should be lower than the default '32' to minimize
the amount of memory and disk access overhead.
As previously stated, streaming is best applied to the playback of large files such as
music tracks, dialog or extended environmental audio tracks.

Compression Levels
When the 'compression quality' property of a wave bank is set as a 'variable bit rate'
(such as MP2, MP3 or XMA), the 'compression level' property may be set. This
property allows the size of every file in the wave bank to be reduced using a single
property.
As the 'compression level' property is reduced (from 100 to 0), more 'lossy'
compression is applied, resulting in a smaller file size with less quality.

151

 152 FMOD DESIGNER

If the amount of compression causes a small number of files within the waveband to
exhibit unacceptable compression artifacts (distortion), the compression level of
individual files can also be set.
To set the compression level of an individual file:
1

Click on the 'Wave bank' tab.

Click on the wave bank that contains the audio file to be adjusted. Note:
The wave bank's 'compression' property must be either MP2, MP3 or XMA
(Xbox 360 only).

Right-Click on the desired filename in the 'Waveforms' panel (shown in

figure 56). A menu dialog should appear.

Select 'Adjust waveform quality'

To increase the sound quality (and the file size) adjust the slider towards
100.
To reduce the file size (and the sound quality) adjust the slider towards 0.

Press the [] button (play) to preview the change.

If the sound quality is still unacceptable, repeat steps 5 and 6 until the
desired result is achieved.

Manual Sample Rate Optimization

As explained at the beginning of this chapter, the sample rate represents the number
of measurements taken from the signal each second. The largest frequency that can
be represented by PCM data is equal to half the sample rate. Therefore the sample
rate has a strong impact on the perceived sound quality.
For example, if an audio file only has frequency content below 4000Hz, then a sample
rate of 44100 (which supports frequency content up to 22000Hz) is an inefficient use
of file size (and memory). It would be better to reduce the sample rate towards
8000Hz
FMOD provides an automatic method for sample rate optimization, which can be
activated by setting the 'Optimize Sample Rate' property (from the wave bank
properties, under the 'Wave banks' tab) to 'Yes'. This method analyses the audio
frequency content and determines the optimal sample rate. When the project is built,
the audio file is converted to the new (optimized) sample rate.
Sometimes the automated optimizer is quite conservative in its sample rate reduction,
and the Sound Designer may decide a further sample rate reduction would still have
acceptable quality. To manually reduce the sample rate:
1

Click on the 'Wave bank' tab.

Click on the wave bank that contains the audio file to adjust. Note: The
wave bank's 'Optimize sample rate' property must be set to 'Yes'.

USER MANUAL
3

Right-Click on the desired filename in the 'Waveforms' panel (shown in the

figure on the next page) A menu dialog should appear.

Select 'Adjust sample rate optimization'.

To reduce the file size (and the sound quality) adjust the slider downwards
towards 0%.

Press the [] button (play) to preview the change.

If the sound quality is still unacceptable, repeat steps 5 and 6 until the
desired result is achieved.

Figure 61: The Waveforms Panel

Sample rate optimization may also be disabled per waveform. To disable optimization
on a waveform:
1

Click on the 'Wave bank' tab.

Click on the wave bank that contains the audio file to adjust. Note: The
wave bank's 'Optimize sample rate' property must be set to 'Yes'.

Right-Click on the desired filename in the 'Waveforms' panel (shown in the

figure on the next page) A menu dialog should appear.

Select 'Adjust sample rate optimization'

Uncheck the 'Enable optimizer' checkbox.

Click on the 'Wave bank' screen to close the optimizer dialog window.

153

 154 FMOD DESIGNER

This page is intentionally blank

USER MANUAL

CHAPTER SEVEN: ADVANCED

TECHNIQUES

FMOD Designer can be used in many creative ways. In this section, a number of tips and
techniques that can be applied to typical in-game scenarios are discussed.

In some

situations, multiple options are considered, with discussion of the advantages and
disadvantages for each solution.

Key topics in this chapter.

Defining sequences with 'Key off on silence'
Interactive Music
Creating random loops using spawning
Selecting waveforms to play at runtime

155

 156 FMOD DESIGNER

This page is intentionally blank

USER MANUAL

INTRODUCTION
This section of the user manual discusses some FMOD Designer tips and techniques
that can be applied to typical in-game scenarios. For each technique, a scenario is
described and the possible solutions are considered. Reme m ber that these
techniques can be c om bi ne d to produce new possibilities and even more creative
audio content!

Note:
Take a look at the FMOD Wiki: (http://www.fmod.org/wiki)

for upcoming sample project files, techniques, features and

more!

SEQUENCES WITH 'KEYOFF ON SILENCE'

SCENARIO
Have you ever wondered how to create an event that contains a sequence of sound
definitions? Sure it is possible to create a parameter, set up a velocity and then
manually size the sound instances appropriately but there is an easier way, which
removes the need for time keeping!

SOLUTION
This solution will take advantage of the 'Keyoff on silence' behavior and is perfect for
playing a sequence to oneshot sounds. Try the following:
Set the event 'Oneshot' property to 'Yes'.
Open the event editor, add a parameter (if one doesn't exist).
Add a number of sound instances to the layer. Make sure there are no gaps
between the instances.
For each sound instance, set the 'Loop mode' property to 'Oneshot'.
Set a sustain point over each sound instance.
Check the parameter property 'Keyoff on silence'.
Set the parameter property 'Velocity' to a large value (such as 10000).
When auditioned, the event the parameter should jump to the first sustain point and
play the sound definition. When the sound instance finishes, the parameter will jump
to the next sustain point and play that sound instance, and so on until the max
parameter value is hit, ending the event.

GOING FURTHER
Sequences combining both oneshot and looping sound definitions can also be created.
Just note that the sustain points over the looping sound definitions must use a manual

157

 158 FMOD DESIGNER

keyoff to continue with the sequence. Setting the sound instance properties, 'Start
mode' to 'Wait for previous' and 'Loop mode' to 'Loop and play to end' can help
maintain the timing of a sequence.

RANDOM LOOPS USING SPAWNING

SCENARIO
Have you ever needed a sound definition that uses a different waveform each time it
loops? When using a sound instance set to loop, the standard behavior is to
repeatedly play the current entry the sound instance must be triggered again to
select a new entry to play.
An alternative looping method is needed hence this technique of creating random
loops using spawning.
Spawning means the sound definition triggers repeated playback of itself. Unlike
looping, each repeat (or spawn) can overlap the previous sound and select a new
sound definition entry.
In FMOD Designer, the frequency of spawning is specified as a range of time, using
the Sound Definition properties 'Minimum spawn time' and 'Maximum spawn time'. If
these minimum and maximum values are different, then a random time between them
is used. The number of simultaneous spawns is controlled by the property 'Maximum
spawned sounds'.

SOLUTION
It is possible to create a loop that uses a new waveform with each cycle, by taking
advantage of the sound definition's spawn behavior. Try the following:
Add a sound instance to the layer. The sound definition should contain
multiple waveforms or oscillations.
Set the 'Loop mode' of each sound instance to 'Oneshot'.
Double-click the sound instance to editor the sound definition properties.
Set the sound definition property 'Spawn time' maximum value to 1 ms.
Set the sound definition property 'Maximum spawned sounds' to 1ms.
Set the sound definition property 'Play mode' to 'Random' (this isn't too
important pick the one most appropriate to your situation).
The technique works by attempting to respawn the sound definition each millisecond,
however the 'Maximum spawned sounds' property only allows a single instance of the
sound definition to play. When the sound instance completes playback, a new
instances is spawned (in 1ms) and a new waveform from the sound definition is
selected.
This technique is well suited to creating dynamic ambient environments but could
be used with larger musical elements.

USER MANUAL

SELECTING WAVEFORMS AT RUNTIME

SCENARIO
Choosing an audio file to play at runtime is a typical function required for dynamic
dialogue (such as game commentary).

SOLUTION
Choosing the audio waveform to play at runtime in FMOD Ex can be done in two
ways:
Including a Programmer sound entry in a sound definition or,
Setting the sound definition property 'Play mode' to 'ProgrammerSelected'
Each method has it's own advantages and disadvantages and in some cases both
methods could be used in same event (but more on that later).

Programmer Sounds
As described earlier in the user manual a Programmer sound entry can be added to a
sound definition by right-clicking the sound definition (under the 'Sound Definition'
tab) and selecting 'Add Programmer sound' from the menu that appears.
When the sound instance (and programmer sound) is triggered, a callback is created
and must by handled by the Programmer.
The Sound Designer does not have control over which audio is played. Instead, the
Programmer supplies a 'sound' object within the source code. This technique is very
memory efficient when dealing with thousands of files containing dialog audio. The
Sound Designer can create a single event to handle every line of dialog!
This technique does break the data-driven model somewhat as the Sound Designer
loses control, however the memory savings can be significant enough to warrant this
choice.
Most Sound Designers find the biggest limitation of this technique is the inability to
easily audition the event (dialog audio in this case) from within FMOD Designer.

Notes f or the Pr ogra m mer:

For information about the 'Programmer Sound' callback,
consult the FMOD Ex API Event documentation. The FMOD
Ex Programmers API also includes a C source code example
of this technique.
Relevant sections include:
FMOD_EVENT_CALLBACKTYPE_SOUNDDEF_CREATE
FMOD_EVENT_CALLBACKTYPE_SOUNDDEF_RELEASE
Event::SetCallback

159

 160 FMOD DESIGNER

The 'ProgrammerSelected' Play Mode

FMOD Designer offers a second method for choosing a waveform to play at runtime.
This option is selected by first navigating to the appropriate sound definition (under
the 'Sound Definition' tab). Once the sound definition is selected, the 'Play mode'
property is set to 'ProgrammerSelected'.
During runtime whenever this sound definition is triggered (or respawned) a callback
is created and must be handled by the Programmer.
The Programmer supplies the index of the waveform in the sound definition to play.
For example, an index value of 0 plays the first waveform, 1 plays the second
waveform, etc.
Only waveforms within the sound definition can be played. The benefits of this
technique are:
It is much easier to audition the audio within FMOD Designer.
All resource management is handled by the event system.
The Sound Designer retains more control over which audio can be played

Notes f or the progra m mer :

For information about the 'ProgrammerSelected' mode and related
callback, consult the FMOD Ex API Event documentation.

Relevant sections include:

FMOD_EVENT_CALLBACKTYPE_SOUNDDEF_SELECTINDEX
Event::SetCallback

COMBINING THE TECHNIQUES

This technique can be combined with Programmer Sound entries, resulting in two
callbacks. The first callback would require the index for the Programmer Sound entry
within the sound definition. The second callback would return the actual sound to
play!

USER MANUAL

CHAPTER EIGHT: THE

PROFILER

The 'Profiler' tab within FMOD Designer allows a user to connect to an FMOD Ex
application and monitor its resource usage.

Key topics in this chapter.

Usage of the Profiler tab
Connecting to an application
Interpreting data from the Profiler

161

 162 FMOD DESIGNER

This page is intentionally blank

USER MANUAL

INTRODUCTION TO PROFILER
The 'Profiler' tab within FMOD Designer allows a user to connect to an FMOD Ex
application and monitor its resource usage. The profiler connects to the application in
the same way as the network audition functionality.
In use, the Profiler can also be used to identify which DSP effects are active in the
FMOD DSP network during the application's execution. It is possible to identify the
complete signal path, from waveform through to the soundcard.
Note: The Profiler tab will only identify processing in the software domain. Any
processing through hardware channels, or OpenAL will not be shown.

GETTING STARTED
INITIALISATION OF FMOD EX (PROGRAMMER)
Before the Profiler can view the DSP network or monitor resource usage, the FMOD
Ex engine (running in the target application) must be correctly initialized using the
flag:
FMOD_INIT_ENABLE_PROFILE

For example, initializing FMOD Ex (using the low level API) to enable profiling, would
look something like:
result = pSystem->init(32, FMOD_INIT_NORMAL | FMOD_INIT_ENABLE_PROFILE, 0);

PROFILING APPLICATIONS
Before running the profiler, please ensure:
FMOD Ex (System or EventSystem) is initialized using the flag
FMOD_INIT_ENABLE_PROFILE
The target game (or application) is running, and its IP address is noted

STARTING THE PROFILER

To run the profiler, complete the following steps:
1

Click the Profiler tab.

In the 'IP' text box, enter the IP address of the target game (or
application). For example, if the game is running on the same machine as
FMOD Designer, you would enter 127.0.0.1.

Enter the port number into the 'Port' text field. If unsure, use the default
value 9264.

163

 164 FMOD DESIGNER

4

Press the 'Connect' button. The tool will attempt to connect to the target
game.

When connected the DSP network of the target game will be displayed and
the CPU usage of the DSP network will start monitoring.

Figure 62: The DSPNET Listener GUI

UNDERSTANDING THE DSP NETWORK
Once the Profiler has connected to the FMOD Ex DSP network, it draws each node
and the connections between them. On the next page is an image of a simple DSP
network.
The output from the soundcard can be traced back to the input by reading from left to
right. On the far left is the 'Soundcard' unit. The soundcard then pulls data from the
'FMOD ChannelGroup Target Unit', which pulls data from a master group, reverb and
channels. etc.
Active DSP network nodes are identified with a light-blue background. Inactive DSP
network nodes, such as paused sounds or virtual voices are identified with a gray
background.

USER MANUAL

Figure 63: A DSP network

OTHER DSP NETWORK FEATURES

SAVING
To save the current state of the DSP network, the tool can create a screenshot. The
'Save' button, produces a .PNG image of the complete DSP network (and is not
affected by the current zoom level).
To use this feature:
1

Press the 'Save' button. A dialog window should appear.

Enter the desired filename and location of the image file.

Press 'OK'. The image file will be created.

ZOOMING
The Profiler allows the user to inspect nodes in closer detail or view all nodes at once,
using the zooming function. The feature requires a mouse with a scroll wheel facility.
To zoom in (for close viewing) roll the scroll wheel up. The zoom out (for distant
viewing) roll the scroll wheel down.

HIDING INPUTS
The checkbox labeled 'Hide Excessive Inputs' is useful when dealing with complex
DSP networks which contain many nodes. When deselected, the number of child
nodes displayed under any node will be limited.

165

 166 FMOD DESIGNER

The checkbox labeled 'Hide Inactive Inputs' allows any inputs not in use to be
ignored, and not displayed in the DSP network tree.

CPU USAGE MONITORING

Below the DSP network panel is the CPU monitoring panel. Within this panel, the
Sound Designer can monitor the CPU usage in real time. The following data is
displayed:
DS P
o

Identifies the CPU usage on the DSP network. This includes mixing and
DSP effects.
Strea m
o Identifies the CPU usage of the streaming engine. This CPU overhead is
incurred whenever sounds are streamed from disk.
Upda te
o Identifies the CPU usage of the processing undertaken in the
Sys te m:: update (.. ) or Eve nt Sys te m:: update (.. ) method of the source
code. This includes calculations for 3D behavior, occlusion and envelopes.
Total
o The total amount of CPU usage. N ote: The total percentage may exceed
100% in some circumstances, such as systems that feature multiple CPUs
and when the mixer thread does not receive adequate resources.

SELECTING AN ITEM TO MONITOR

To select a CPU usage item to monitor, complete the following steps:
1

Move the mouse pointer over the item to monitor from the options in the
bottom right hand of the tab. The options include DSP, Stream, Update
and Total. The item icon will change color as the mouse pointer is placed
over it.

Click the item. The item icon will brighten to notify the user it is active. If
connected to an application, the monitoring data should start appearing on
the line chart. The color of the line will correspond to color of the item
icon.

To stop the monitoring of an item, simply click the item icon again.

CHOOSING THE RANGE TO DISPLAY

By default, the profiler will maximize the display scale by dynamically adjusting the
'Max' value to highest value measured by the profiler.
The display scale can be fixed to a selected percentage:

USER MANUAL
1

Press the 'Lock Max' button. This will set the 'Max' value to 100%.

Using the scroll wheel (initially downwards) select the maximum value.
This will set the display scale accordingly.

167

 168 FMOD DESIGNER

This page is intentionally blank

USER MANUAL

CHAPTER NINE: INTERACTIVE

MUSIC

The 'Interactive Music' tab within FMOD Designer allows the Sound Designer to
create a game soundtrack that features cues, musical themes, transitions between
music themes and flourishes.
All musical transitions and flourishes can be instructed to playback in a musically
intelligent and beat-matched manner. Each theme can be attached to cues and
transitions between themes are easily parameterized for the Programmer.

Key topics in this chapter.

Introducing key concepts
Explaining how the music system works
Usage of the Interactive Music Tab

169

 170 FMOD DESIGNER

This page is intentionally blank

USER MANUAL

INTRODUCTION
The Interactive Music tab allows a Sound Designer to construct musical movements
and link these movements with seamless transitions. Transitions between themes are
not the only feature of the Interactive Music system. The Sound Designer can also
embellish these movements with additional concurrent flourishes. To preserve
musicality, these flourishes can be synchronized to any beat of the existing movement,
as selected by the Sound Designer.
The combination of seamless transitioning and flourishes provides useful musical
variation, and allows for non-linear sequencing and composition that is easily
connected to game state.
The Interactive Music tab is one component of a complete music system, the other
component being the FMOD Event System API. Within this chapter, the Interactive
Music tab refers to the tool used by the Sound Designer. The Interactive Music
System (or music system) refers to the complete system (tool and engine combined).
This chapter has the following structure:
Key terms and objects. A brief description and explanation of the common
components of the music system
Learning the Interface. A look at all the main dialog and property screens
used when creating a score within the Interactive Music tab.
System Implementation Concepts. This section discusses the inner workings
of the music system.
Creating an Interactive Music Score. This section provides the practical 'howto' information for creating a adaptive music piece within the Interactive Music
tab.
Auditioning. This section discusses methods for previewing a work in
progress or finished adaptive music piece.
Property Reference Guide. This section details all properties and dialog
options within the Interactive Music tab.

171

 172 FMOD DESIGNER

KEY TERMS AND OBJECTS

In this section, the key terms and objects used in the music system are explained.

CUE
From the Sound Designer's perspective, a cue is a potential musical trigger. The
Sound Designer can associate a cue with a particular piece of music (known in the
music system as a theme). In the user interface (scene editor) a cue is represented
with the icon below:

Figure 64: The 'Cue' icon

Cues are also displayed in a cue list. The figure below demonstrates a cue icon in the
cue list.

Figure 65: A cue icon called 'Action' in the cue list

PARAMETER
Parameters are values passed from the game engine to the music system. Using
these values allows the Sound Designer to specify how the music piece responds to
changes in game state. For example, the value of a particular parameter may dictate
the choice of one musical phrase over another.
Within the Interactive Music tab, the following icon represents a 'Parameter':

Figure 66: The 'Parameter' icon

SCENE
For the Sound Designer, a scene is simply a cue sheet. It allows the Sound Designer
to associate cues with themes. There is only one scene per project.

USER MANUAL

THEME
A theme is comprised of a number of musical segments and the links between them.
Themes are associated with cues - themes specify the music played when the
associated cue is triggered.
A theme is represented by a number of icons throughout the Interactive Music tab.
Within the theme editor, the theme icon is shown in the figure below.

Figure 67: The 'Theme' icon from the Theme Editor screen
Themes may also appear in the 'theme list'. The figure below demonstrates a theme
icon in the theme list.

Figure 68: A theme icon called 'Neutral' in the theme list

The figure below shows a theme attached to a cue within the Scene Editor screen.

Figure 69: The 'Theme' attached to a 'Cue' in the Scene Editor screen

173

 174 FMOD DESIGNER

SEGMENT
The individual musical elements used to form sequences are called segments.
Generally, each segment will contain one audio file of one or more bars of music. A
segment may be also used to hold a number of samples, known as a 'playlist'. A
sample from this playlist is chosen for playback in a sequenced or random fashion.
This is useful for adding variation to a segment without the need for additional linking
logic. A segment is shown in the figure below.

Figure 70: The 'Segment' icon

For each segment, the Sound Designer specifies a BPM (Beats Per Minute) and Time
signature.
With the BPM and time signature set, a powerful feature of the music system is
enabled. Within each segment, a step sequencer style widget is provided. Using this
step sequencer, the Sound Designer can specify which 'beats' within the bar act as a
synchronization point for any concurrent theme playback. The step sequencer is
shown on page 178.

LINKS
The sequencing of segments is achieved with links. A simple linear sequence of
segments is achieved by creating one link between each segment. Non-linear
sequences are achieved by created by linking one segment to multiple segments, or
linking from multiple segments to one segment.
The following diagram shows two segments and a link between them:

Figure 71: Linking segments

The Sound Designer can control the movement from segment to segment by
attaching conditions and prioritizing links. For example, the music system chooses
between two musical segments based on the 'health' of the in-game character. The
Sound Designer could add intensity and darken the mood of the score when the ingame character is in mortal danger. The Sound Designer must prioritize links to
specify the desired behavior when more than one valid path exists between segments.

USER MANUAL
Specialized links defining transitions between themes can also be created. These links
(shown in blue) have a special condition that becomes active when the music system
attempts to transition from one theme to another.

Figure 72: Creating a path between themes

175

 176 FMOD DESIGNER

LEARNING THE INTERFACE

In this section, the various screens and dialog windows used in the Interactive Music
tab are listed and their role briefly explained.

SCENE EDITOR
The Scene Editor screen (shown in the figure below) allows the Sound Designer to
associate cues with themes.

Figure 73: The Scene Editor

THEME EDITOR
The Theme Editor screen (shown in the figure below) provides the major design
functionality need to create an interactive music piece. The Theme Editor contains
palette tools, a zoom control and the audition console.

Figure 74: The Theme Editor

USER MANUAL
This Theme Editor screen allows the Sound Designer to:
Create and link segments
Set properties of segments
Use a palette of tools for segment creation and static auditioning
Access the Audition Console for dynamic auditioning

THE FUNCTION PALETTE

While the view is switched to the Theme Editor screen, a palette of tools becomes
visible. The buttons available in the palette are:

The SELE C T tool

The MU LT I-SE LEC T tool
The AU DI TI ON tool
The SE GMEN T STA MP tool

The Select Tool

This tool is used in the Theme Editor to move segments and themes around the editor
space. This tool is selected by default when the Theme Editor is opened for the first
time.

The Multi-Selection Tool

This tool is used in the Theme Editor to select a sequence of segments. Once the
Sound Designer has created their desired sequence, the audition tool can be used to
hear the selected segments played in sequence.

The Audition Tool

This tool can be used to audition an individual segment or audition a group of
segments (sequenced using the Multi-Selection tool). See page 195 for more
information.

The Segment Stamp Tool

This tool can be used to stamp new segments onto a theme.

SEGMENT EDITOR
The Segment Editor screen allows the Sound Designer to set the properties of a
segment. This window provides access to dialogs such the Beat-Sync Step
Sequencer, Link Editor, Playlist Editor and Condition Editor. Using these dialogs, the
Sound Designer may:
Set basic properties of a segment such as name.
Maintain a playlist (if more than one audio file is included in the segment)
Order the priority of links leaving the segment.

177

 178 FMOD DESIGNER

Apply conditions to links leaving the segment.
Specify which beats within the segment are synchronization points.

The Playlist Editor

A segment may contain zero or many audio files. In the case where a segment has
more than one audio file, the playlist editor is used to maintain the list of audio files
included in the segment. The playlist editor is also used to specify how a playlist item
is selected at runtime. The playmode options include, 'Sequential', 'Random', 'Random
no repeat' and 'Shuffle'. Each option is described in the properties section, found on
page 203.

Figure 75: The playlist editor

Beat-Sync Step Sequencer
For each segment, the time signature and tempo (BPM) must be specified. Once
entered, the Beat-Sync Step Sequencer can be used to specify which beats within
each bar of the segment are synchronization points. Each button in the step
sequencer represents a beat (of a bar) and when activated, specifies that concurrent
themes may synchronize to that beat.
This control is shown in the figure below.

Figure 76: The step sequencer-style widget

Link Editor
The Link Editor dialog allows the Sound Designer to specify the priority of links
leaving the segment. The Link Editor also displays any condition currently attached to
the link. The Link Editor may also be used to add a link back to the current segment
(loop), as well as delete any link within the list.

USER MANUAL

Figure 77: The Link Editor

CONDITION EDITOR
The Condition Editor dialog is available when editing a segment or theme's properties.
When editing a segment's properties, the Condition Editor allows the Sound Designer
to apply cue or parameter conditions to links leaving the segment. Within the context
of editing a theme's properties, the Condition Editor can be used to apply conditions
to the theme's starting segments.

Figure 78: The Condition Editor

AUDITION CONSOLE
The Audition Console is initially located within the Theme Editor, but may be released
from its dock to its own window. The Audition Console allows Sound Designers to
dynamically audition the current interactive music score that is being created. The
Audition Console provides much more sophisticated auditioning than the static
auditioning enabled by the function palette tools. The Audition Console allows nonlinear sequences to be evaluated and previewed in the same way the game engine
will interact with the Interactive Music System.

Figure 79: The Audition Console with controls

179

 180 FMOD DESIGNER

ICONS AT A GLANCE
In the table, the basic functions of the icons used in the Interactive Music tab are
described.

Icon

Name

Action

Add

Add the item.

Delete

Delete the item.

Close

Close the item.

Edit

Edit this item.

Include

Include the item.

Exclude

Exclude the item.

Centre

Open the Theme editor.

Start Icon

Set the segment as a valid 'START' destination.

Stop Icon

Set the segment as a valid 'STOP' destination.

Target

Target the current theme or segment.

Recalculate

Recalculate the length of the audio file.

Play

Start the audition playback.

Pause

Pause the audition playback.

Release / Eject

Release the dialog object from its dock.

USER MANUAL

SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION CONCEPTS

In order to better understand how the Interactive Music System chooses the sequence
of segments that are ultimately played, the inner workings of the system will be
described. The following sections are not intended to be in-depth or highly technical
- instead, it is hoped a Sound Designer can use this section as a reference to
understand the run-time behavior of the music system.

LIFESPAN OF CUES
Each cue has a lifetime. Once triggered, a cue is active until it is ended. This means
that multiple cues may be active at any given time. The Sound Designer has freedom
to choose how the system will respond to the multiple cues.
The Sound Designer might choose to create a transition segment between themes to
provide a transition (for a sequence of themes). Or perhaps for more abstract
compositions, it is quite possible to play themes concurrently - one musical piece on
top of another.

THEME STACK AND SYSTEM STATES

Each time a cue (that is associated with a theme) is received from the game engine,
the music system must react to the request whilst managing any previous request.
The mechanism used to do this is called the 'theme stack'.
The music system uses this theme stack to manage transitions between themes using
the 'Sequenced' playback method. There is one global theme stack for all sequenced
themes in the music system.
The theme stack changes whenever a cue (associated with a sequenced theme)
begins or ends:

When a cue-theme association begins, a reference to it is added to the top of

the stack

When a cue-theme association ends, the appropriate reference is removed

from the stack (regardless of its position in the stack)

The behavior of the music system is in part, dependent on the state of the theme
stack. At any time, the music system is:
Silent
In this state the Interactive Music System is waiting for a new theme to be
cued (the theme stack is empty).
Deter mini n g w hic h seg me nt of a the me will st art play b ack
To enter this state, a cue has been activated and the associated theme is
placed on top of the previously empty theme stack. To start playback of the
theme, the music system must determine which 'start segment' is valid.

181

 182 FMOD DESIGNER

In ac tive play bac k
Once the start segment has been determined, the music system will remain in
this state whilst the cue remains active and its associated theme remains a top
the theme stack.
Tran siti onin g from one t he me t o a nother t h eme
This state occurs in two ways. The first occurs when a new cue is activated
and a new theme is placed on top of the theme stack. The second scenario
occurs when the cue associated with the theme currently on top of the theme
stack is ended. In both cases, the music system will attempt to follow links
'targeting' the theme that is now on top of the theme stack.
Atte m ptin g t o silence pla yb ack
When all cues are inactive, the theme stack will be emptied. In this scenario,
the music system attempts to find a stop segment by following links that are
targeting a conclusion.

WHAT ARE START SEGMENTS?

Start segments are only evaluated when the theme stack is empty (no cues are
active) and a cue with an associated theme is triggered. The music system then
attempts to shift from its silent state to active playback of a theme.
To enter its active playback state, the music system looks at the theme's start segment
list in order of priority to determine where to start. Playback is started at the first start
segment in the list that satisfies its attached condition (if any).
If a t he me ha s n o a ctive st art seg me nt s wh en it is trig gere d, n ot hi ng will
play.
A green start icon within the segment tray indicates that a segment has been
nominated as a 'start segment'. A theme can have multiple start segments, each
controlled by a condition. The theme properties dialog can be used to edit start
segment conditions and priority (indicated by the order of start segments in the list).

Figure 80: A start segment is indicated by the green icon below the segment
Possible uses for multiple start segments include:

Adding all flourishes to a generic concurrent (flourish) theme. Then selecting

the appropriate flourish using a parameter and condition.

Selecting different entry sequences into a theme based on a parameter

representing 'intensity', 'mission outcome' or another mood characteristic.

To implement a Start Segment, see page 189 of the user manual.

USER MANUAL

WHAT ARE STOP SEGMENTS?

A red stop icon below the segment indicates a 'stop segment'. A theme can have
multiple stop segments, all of which are always active. A stop segment indicates (to
the music system) that it is musically acceptable for playback to be stopped once the
stop segment has finished.
Stop segments only come into effect when the theme stack is in the conclusion state
(no cues are active). In this case, if the current segment is a stop segment, no links
are followed when the segment ends, causing playback to end.
Another feature of stop segments is that target conditions can be created. These
specialized links (shown in red) are followed (to a stop segment) whilst the music
system is in the conclusion state.

Figure 81: A stop segment

To implement a Stop Segment, see page 190 of the user manual.

TARGET CONDITIONS
What is 'Targeting a Theme'?
The 'target theme' is the theme currently at the top of the theme stack. Once a new
theme is placed on top of the theme stack, the music system will attempt to transition
from the current segment to the new 'target' theme.
The Sound Designer guides this transition between themes using specialized links that
include a 'Target theme' condition or by specifying Default Transition behavior. Links
with the target condition are identifiable as blue in color.
For instructions on Targeting a Theme, see page 194 of the user manual.

What is 'Targeting a Conclusion'?

The conclusion state occurs when there is no target theme, i.e. when there are no
active cues and the theme stack is empty. When the conclusion state is active, the
music system will attempt to stop playback in a musically acceptable way. The Sound
Designer guides the conclusion logic by creating a stop segment, targeting the stop
segment and creating links with 'Targeting Conclusion' conditions. These links
(shown in red) specify a pathway to the stop segments.
For instructions on Targeting Conclusion, see page 190 of the user manual.

183

 184 FMOD DESIGNER

FLOURISHES (CONCURRENT THEMES)

Not all themes are designed for sequenced playback. Concurrent themes are
intended to overlay an existing musical piece. The playback of a concurrent theme
can be beat matched to a segment or started immediately (free from synchronization).
While originally intended to provide short musical 'stabs' to add dynamic flourishes to
music pieces, there is no reason why concurrent themes cannot be used for more
abstract music pieces. Concurrent themes also use start segments, stop segments and
links between segments - just like a sequenced theme.

USER MANUAL

CREATING AN INTERACTIVE MUSIC SCORE

CREATING AND MAINTAINING CUES
The 'Cue List' tab allows the Sound Designer to create a cue and place it in the scene.
To add a cue, simply type in the cue name into text field and press the button. The
new cue will appear in the Cues list, as shown by the 'Open' cue in the figure below.
The text field above the cue list also operates as a search filter. Typing in the text field
will limit the cues that appear in the cue list. This is useful for finding cues in projects
with a lot of data by removing the need to scroll through a large list.

Figure 82: Adding a cue

To place a cue into the scene, press the
button. This will cause a new cue icon to
appear in the scene editor screen. This is shown in figure below.

Figure 83: A cue in the Scene editor

A cue can be removed from the scene by selecting the appropriate cue from the list,
and pressing the button. The cue can be deleted entirely by selecting the
appropriate cue from the list and pressing the
button.

185

 186 FMOD DESIGNER

CREATING AND MAINTAINING THEMES

Themes can be created in two ways:
Meth od One : Pressing the button on the empty half of the cue icon. Adding a
theme in this way will:
1. Create a blank theme.
2. Add the new theme to the Theme list.
3. Open the Theme list tab.
4. Attach the new theme to the selected cue.

Meth od Tw o: The Theme list tab panel allows the Sound Designer to create a
theme and place it on the scene. To add a theme, type in the theme name into text
field and press the button. The new theme will appear in the Theme list.
The Theme list provides a number of functions. With the Scene editor open, themes
can be attached to cues by dragging the theme icon (the grey item in the Theme List)
and dropping it onto the cue icon. The cue icon will display a thick border when the
theme can be dropped onto the cue.

Switching to the Theme Editor Screen

The Theme Editor screen allows the Sound Designer to add segments and create
links. To enter the Theme Editor either a) pressing the
from the Theme list or b) Press the
shown in the figure below.

button for a theme selected

located on the cue-theme association icon, as

Figure 84: The 'New Theme' edit icon

CREATING FLOURISHES (CONCURRENT THEMES)
As stated previously in the user manual, flourishes are sounds or musical phrases that
are used to accent or provide variation to an existing theme that is playing. The audio
within the flourish is played concurrently with the existing theme and can be played
immediately or synchronized to the start of any bar or beat within the existing theme.
A flourish is just a theme with some specific properties. To create a flourish:
1

Create a new theme in the Theme list tab.

Press the

button to open the theme in the Theme Editor screen

USER MANUAL
3

Press the theme's

button. This button can be found in the top right

hand corner of the theme. A new property window should appear.

4

Set the theme to play concurrently with an existing theme by setting the
Playb ack M et hod property to C onc urre nt.

Set the Quantization property as desired. [See the section Theme

Properties on page 202 for more information]

Attach the concurrent theme to a cue.

Make sure any segments inside this theme are set as starting segments
(see page 189). If using multiple segments within the theme, conditions
and priority must be set. This is required for the music system to know
which segment within the concurrent theme to play when the flourish is
triggered.

When the cue is triggered in game, the segment within this theme will play
concurrently with the existing theme.

CREATING AND MAINTAINING PARAMETERS

The Parameter list tab panel allows the Sound Designer to create a parameter and
place it on the scene. To add a parameter, type in the theme name into text field and
press the button. The new parameter will appear in the Parameter list. This is
shown in the figure below:

Figure 85: Adding a parameter

A parameter can be deleted from the list by selecting the appropriate entry and
pressing the

button.

The parameter icon (shown above as an orange widget with a white x) can be
dragged and dropped in to the 'Condition editor'. This is method is described in
greater detail, in the 'Creating and maintaining links' section on page 193.

187

 188 FMOD DESIGNER

CREATING AND MAINTAINING SEGMENTS

There are two methods of adding a segment to a theme:

Using the 'Segment Stamp' tool. When selected from the function palette,
this tool allows the Sound Designer to add new segments by clicking on
the theme.

Drag and drop. Dragging an audio file from the operating system window
and dropping it on a theme (in the Theme Editor) automatically creates a
segments.

To modify the properties of a segment, click the

icon of the segment to change. A
segment properties screen should appear. This dialogue screen is shown in the figure
below:

Figure 86: The segment property dialogue

The text name or descriptor of the segment can also be added into the text field under
the 'Details' label in the segment property screen. This name field is provided for
readability purposes, Sound Designers need not worry about using unique names FMOD Designer uses an internal identifier for each segment.

Specifying the audio in a segment

As stated previously in the manual, each segment may contain zero, one or many
audio files. A segment properties dialog provides access an additional 'playlist' editor
when the segment contains multiple audio files.
1

To add (or replace) the audio file in a segment, click the

icon of the

segment to change. A segment properties screen should appear.

2

An audio file (or multiple files) can be added to the segment by clicking
the button, and selecting the audio file(s) from the file selection

USER MANUAL
dialogue. No te: The audio file(s) can also be dragged from an operating
system window and dropped into the panel 'Drop a track here'.

Deleting the audio from a segment

To delete the audio in segment containing one audio file:
1

Click the

icon of the desired segment. A segment properties screen

should appear.
2

Press the

button from the audio track panel (shown in the figure

below). The segment no longer contains the audio file.

Figure 87: The audio track panel

To delete the audio in segment containing multiple audio files:
1

Click the

icon of the desired segment. A segment properties screen

should appear.
2

Click the

icon on the audio track panel. The playlist editor should

appear.
3

Select the audio file to remove from the playlist. A

button should

appear.
4

Press the

button to remove the audio item from the playlist (and

segment).

Repeat steps 3 and 4 until all the undesired audio is removed.

5

Press the 'Done' button.

Creating Start Segments

When a cue is activated to start a theme (from silence), the Sound Designer must
specify which segment to start on. This is the role of a 'start segment'. A theme can
have multiple start segments. The music engine will determine which segment to
start on using priorities and/or conditions.
As previously stated, the starting segment is only evaluated when a cue is triggered
and no other cues are currently active.

189

 190 FMOD DESIGNER

To specify a segment as a potential start point:
1

Move the mouse pointer over the segment. A tray of icons should appear
beneath the segment.

Click the

icon. The icon should now appear green and remain in view

once the segment tray closes.

To remove the start segment status, simply re-click the

icon.

Start Priorities and Conditions

To specify the priority of 'Start' segments:
1

Open the theme's property screen by clicking the

button located on the

theme (whilst in the Theme Editor screen). A dialogue should appear.

2

Order the items in the 'Start Segments' list, where the first position in the
list represents the highest priority. The position of each can be changed by
selecting the list item, and using the and buttons.

Figure 88: The 'Start Segments' list

3

Additional cue, parameter or theme conditions can be applied to the start

segment by pressing the

button located on the list items. A 'Condition

Editor' window dialogue should appear.

4

Drag a cue or parameter icon from its respective list and drop it on the
empty Condition Editor. If using a parameter, additional condition
parameters will become available.

During run-time, the engine will evaluate the segments in the list from top to bottom
until it finds the first item that satisfies all its conditions. This segment will be chosen
as the starting segment.

Creating Stop Segments

When all cues are closed, the music engine will attempt to reach a stop (silent) state
in a graceful and musical manner.

USER MANUAL
To specify a segment as a valid stop point:
1

Move the mouse pointer over the segment. The segment tray should
appear.

Click the

icon. The icon should now appear red, and remain in view

once the segment tray closes.

To remove the 'Stop' status, simply re-click the

icon.

In it's simplest form, a stop segment can be a single segment that when complete,
allows the system to reach silence. However, the stop segment can be included as
the final destination of a sequence of linked segments. This path is automatically
followed when no themes are playing and the music system is attempting to reach
silence.
To create a stopping sequence:
1

Move the mouse pointer over the segment. The segment tray should
appear.

Make sure the segment is set as a stopping point. Click the

icon. The

icon should now appear red, and remain in view once the segment tray
closes.
3

Target the stop segment by pressing the

icon.

The message

confirming the target status should appear. Any link made while targeting
the stop segment will be identified as a red link. This path to the stop
segment will be followed when all cues are inactive.

Intelligent Beat Matching

Beat matching is not a 'fix all' for providing a musically cohesive flourish. For
example, the time signature 6/8 has six beats per bar - unfortunately synchronizing to
any of these six beats may not provide listener with the sense of rhythmic unity. This
is because humans tend to hear the beats one and four (in 6/8) as the strong beat to
tap along to!
The Interactive Music tab allows the Sound Designer to specify which beats within
audio file can be accented with a concurrent theme (or flourish). To do this:
1

Open the segment's property window, by clicking the

icon of the

segment to change. A window dialogue screen should appear.

2

Enter the tempo of the segment's audio file using BPM (Beats Per
Minute).

191

 192 FMOD DESIGNER

3

Enter the time signature of the segment's audio file. This specifies how
many beats are in each bar. N ote: The audio file may contain one or
more bars.

4- Press the refresh button, to calculate the length of the file.

5

A step sequencer should appear below the time signature. Each button (or
step) represents a beat in the bar. For example if the time signature is
4/4, four buttons representing each 1/4 note (beat) will be visible. This is
shown in the figure below.

Figure 89: Selecting the beat

5

Select the beat(s) to declare as a potential synchronization point, by

clicking the appropriate step. In the example above, beats one and three
in each bar are specified as beats that can be synchronized with.

Deleting a Segment
To delete a segment:
1

Place the mouse pointer above the segment to delete. A segment tray will
appear beneath the segment with a number of icons.

Click the

icon. A confirmation message should appear.

Choose 'Yes'. The segment will be deleted.

USER MANUAL

CREATING AND MAINTAINING LINKS

Creating Links
To create a link from one segment to another:
1

Using the mouse, click and hold the plug of the segment to leave. The
plug insertion point on all valid destination segments will become visible.
The segment plug shown in the figure below.

Figure 90: The Segment plug

2

Drag the plug to the destination segment. The destination segment's

border should appear to glow. Release the mouse button.

A link between the segments will become visible. Not e: If the source and
destination are on the same segment, a loop icon will become visible.

Link Priorities and Conditions

To specify the priority of a segments link:
1

Open the segment's property screen by clicking the

button located on

the segment inside the Theme Editor screen. A dialogue should appear.
2

Order the items in the 'Segment links' list. The first position in the list
represents the highest priority. The position of each can be changed by
selecting the list item and using the and buttons.

Figure 91: Setting the priority of links

3

Additional cue, parameter or theme conditions can be applied to the

segment link by pressing the

button located on the in list item. A

'Condition Editor' window dialogue should appear.

193

 194 FMOD DESIGNER

4

Drag a cue or parameter icon from its respective list and drop it on the
empty Condition Editor. If using a parameter icon, additional condition
parameters will become available.

During run-time, the engine will evaluate the segment links in the list, from first to
last, until it finds the first item that satisfies all its conditions. This segment link will be
chosen as the path to follow.

Removing Links
To delete a segment link:
1

Open the segment's property screen by clicking the

button located on

the segment inside the Theme Editor screen. A dialogue should appear.
2

Select the link to delete from the 'Segment Link' list.

Press the

button located on the in list item to delete the link.

TRANSITIONING BETWEEN THEMES USING TARGETING

Targeting a theme is one method for designing transitions between themes. In brief,
when a cue is triggered, the associated theme is considered the 'target theme'. To
make sure the music system responds correctly and transitions to the target theme,
the Sound Designer can specify special paths. [For more information about targeting
and the theme stack see page 181]

The 'target' function can be activated to clicking the

button on the destination
theme. When activated a message is displayed on the Theme Editor screen. This is
shown in the figure below.

Figure 92: Targeting a theme

Once the destination theme is targeted, any links that are created between segments
have a special condition included with the link. A link targeting a theme is identified
by a blue colored link. This condition is satisfied when a cue associated with the
target theme is triggered.
It is important to note, even when the target theme condition becomes active, the link
is still prioritized within the segment link list.
The benefit of the target function is multiple links to the targeted theme can be
created quickly and easily - without manually adding the theme to each link's
condition editor.

USER MANUAL

AUDITIONING
The Interactive Music Systems provides a number of tools that can be used by a
Sound Designer to preview or audition their work.
Within FMOD Designer, basic auditioning of single segments or static
sequences can be previewed using the function palette tools within the Theme
Editor.
More advanced pre-build auditioning, including concurrent themes and
conditional sequences can be previewed using the Audition Console.
For post-build auditioning, the standalone application FMOD Music Player is
available for Windows and Mac platforms. This application is included with
the FMOD Designer download.

BASIC AUDITIONING
To audition an individual segment:
1

Select the 'Audition Tool' and click on the segment to audition. The
segment will be automatically displayed in the audition transport bar.

The figure below shows a segment within the transport bar.

Figure 93: The transport bar

The position cursor of the transport bar can be moved manually to the desired point
of the segment's audio file.

AUDITIONING STATIC SEQUENCES

A Sound Designer can create a static linear sequence of segments to audition. This
includes segments from different themes. To audition a sequence:
1

Using the 'Multi-Selection' tool, select the segments to audition in the

desired sequence order. An example is shown in the figure below.

Figure 94: An example of multi-selection

195

 196 FMOD DESIGNER

2

Select the 'Audition Tool' and click on any of the selected segments. The
selected segments will automatically displayed in the audition transport
bar. The figure below shows three segments within the transport bar.

The Sound Designer can click any numbers in the transport bar to jump
straight to the desired segment. The position cursor in the transport bar
can also be moved manually to the desired point of the sequence.

Figure 95: The transport bar

DYNAMIC AUDITIONING
The Audition Console allows Sound Designers (or Composers) to dynamically
audition the current interactive music score that is being created. The Audition
Console provides much more sophisticated auditioning than the static auditioning
enabled by the function palette tools. The Audition Console allows non-linear
sequences to be created in the same way the game engine will interact with the
Interactive Music System.
Using the Audition Console, Sound Designers are able to audition:

The activation and deactivation of cues

Transition changes based on cues

Default transitioning behavior

Triggering of concurrent themes

Triggering of bar and beat-matched themes

Changes to parameter values

It should be noted, that the Audition Console operates on pre-build data, which means
the Sound Designer hears the source audio files - not the audio file format specified in
the properties of the wave bank. If the wave bank specifies high amounts of
compression, the source audio files may not be an accurate indicator of the final
sound.
Should a Sound Designer wish to audition the interactive music score post-build, the
application 'FMOD Music Player' (which is included in the FMOD Designer
download) may be used.

USER MANUAL

OPENING (AND RESIZING) THE AUDITION CONSOLE

The Audition Console can be found under the Theme Editor screen. In its default
position the Audition Console is minimized in size and must be opened for first time
use.

Figure 96: The Audition Console minimised

To open (or resize) the Audition Console:
1

Using the mouse, click (and hold) on the title bar of the Audition Console.
The mouse pointer icon will change, indicating the bar can be moved up
(or down).

Drag the title bar to the desired height. The Audition Console may only
contain a reset button if no other controls have been added for the current
project.

DOCKING / RELEASING THE AUDITION CONSOLE

To release the Audition Console from its Theme Editor dock:
1

Press the

icon. The Audition Console will appear in its own window.

Move the Audition Console window to the desired position.

To return the Audition Console to its Theme Editor dock:

1

Close the window containing the Audition Console.

The Audition Console will now be located under the 'Theme Editor'.

CONTROLS
By default only a reset button is included in the Audition Console. This reset control
cannot be added or removed. Currently two different types of control can be added to
the Audition Console. They are:
A trigger pad for starting and stopping cues
A fader for setting the value of a parameter

197

 198 FMOD DESIGNER

ADDING A CUE TRIGGER PAD

A trigger pad is used to provide real-time prompts (which may invoke cues) to the
music system. To add a trigger pad to the Audition Console:
1

Click the tab 'Cues' to display all the cues available in the project. No te:
Remember the text field above the list operates as a search filter. To see
all the available cues, this text field must be empty.

Drag the yellow icon of the cue to be auditioned from the cue list into the
Audition Console. On releasing the mouse button, a trigger pad should
appear.

The trigger pad can now be turned on and off to simulate changes in
game state the music system will react accordingly.

Figure 97: An active cue trigger pad

ADDING A PARAMETER FADER
A parameter fader is used to provide real-time parameter value changes to the music
system. To add a parameter to the Audition Console:
1

Click the tab 'Parameters' to display all the parameters available in the
project. N ote: Remember the text field above the list operates as a
search filter. To see all the available parameters, this text field must be
empty.

Drag the orange icon of the parameter to be auditioned from the

parameter list into the Audition Console. On releasing the mouse button,
a fader should appear.

The fader can now be moved up and down to simulate changes in game
state the music system will react accordingly.

USER MANUAL

Figure 98: A fader controlling a parameter value

POSITIONING A CONTROL
To move a control in the Audition Console:
1

Click (and hold) the outer frame of the control to be moved.

Drag the control to the desired position.

Release the mouse button.

EDITING A CONTROL'S PROPERTIES

To edit the properties of a control:
1

Press the

icon contained within the outer frame of the control to be

modified. A dialog window should appear.

2

Set the desired properties. A complete description of the properties is

available on page 203 (for cue trigger properties) and page 204 (for fader
properties).

Press the 'OK' button to confirm the changes.

REMOVING A CONTROL
To edit the properties of a control:
1

Press the

icon contained within the outer frame of the control to be

deleted. A confirmation message should appear.

2

Press the 'OK' button to confirm the deletion.

199

 200 FMOD DESIGNER

USING THE AUDITION CONSOLE

In this section, the mechanism to start and reset the Audition console is explained.

Starting the Music System

Before the Audition Console can start playback, the following must be true:

At least one cue trigger must be added to the Audition Console.

The cue controlled by this trigger must be associated with a theme.

At least one segment within the associated theme must be specified as a

'Start Segment'.

With these objects in place, the Audition Console is able to begin audition. To start
playback:
1

Press the cue trigger (which is associated with a theme). The cue trigger
should change appearance, indicating the cue prompt is active. Any
audible segment (in this case the Start Segment) in the Theme Editor will
appear to glow, this indicates playback. The audio contained in the
segment should now be audible.

Pressing another cue trigger that is associated with a 'sequenced' theme

will cause the Audition Console to follow blue links to the new theme
Not e: the appropriate links and priorities must be set.

Pressing a cue trigger that is associated with a 'concurrent' theme will

cause the Audition Console to overlay playback of the concurrent theme
over the existing theme. The starting point of this 'flourish' may be
immediate or at the next beat or bar depending on the settings of
quantization and sync point properties.

The Sound Designer can test conditions applied to links between segments
by changing the value a parameter fader.

When no trigger pads are active, the Audition Console will attempt to find
a Stop Segment by following red links.

Resetting the Music System

The reset button allows the Sound Designer to quickly terminate auditioning of the
score. To reset auditioning, simply press the reset button.

USER MANUAL

HANDOVER TO THE PROGRAMMER

During the build process, all the interactive music meta-data is placed into the .FEV
(just like any other the event data). If a Programmer's Report is requested during the
build, all cue and parameter identifications are included in the document.
The audio assets are placed in the .FSB file(s) as specified by the Sound Designer in
Wave Bank tab.

201

 202 FMOD DESIGNER

PROPERTY REFERENCE GUIDE

THEME PROPERTIES
Property

Option

Description

Details

Provides a text identifier for the theme

Playback method

Specifies the behavior when multiple cues are

active
Sequenced

Playback of the new theme waiting for a transition

from the existing theme

Concurrent

The new theme will play concurrently with the

existing theme. The playback starting point of the
new theme is determined by the Quantization
property.

Transition timeout (ms)

Specifies the maximum length of time allowed for

transition between themes. If this time is exceeded,
the Default transition type is invoked.

Default transition

Specifies a generic transition behavior between

themes, when no path exists. This transition
behavior is invoked when the Transition timeout
value is exceeded.
Never

No transition to the new theme is made. Note: The

cue will still exist.

Queued

Playback of the new theme will begin when the

current segment playback is complete.

Crossfade

The new theme transitions from the old theme using

a 2 second crossfade.

Quantization

Specifies when the theme will commence playback.

Note: This property is only active when the
Playback Mode is set to Concurrent.
Free

The new concurrent theme is started as soon as the

associated cue is activated.

On Bar

The new concurrent theme is started when the

existing segment starts a new bar.

On Beat

The new concurrent theme is started on the next

USER MANUAL
synchronization point of the segment currently
playing.
Start Segment

A list of all the segments that are flagged as a

'Start' segment. The segment's order in this list
defines its priority or weighting. Each 'Start'
segment can have a cue or parameter condition
attached to it.

SEGMENT PROPERTIES
Property

Option

Description

Details

Provides a text identifier for the segment.

File

Specifies the audio file to use in the segment.

Time Signature

Specifies the time signature of the segment.

Supports 1/1 to 16/8.

Beats per minute

Specifies the tempo of the segment.

Length in sec.

Displays the length of the audio file in seconds.

Non-editable
Sync theme on beats

A step sequencer style widget that allows the

Sound Designer to specify sync points for the
segment. The sync point positions are based on
the beats defined by the time signature and BPM
property values.

Segment Links

A list of the links from this segment to other

segments. The link's order in this list defines its
priority. Each link can have a cue or parameter
condition attached to it.

PLAYLIST PROPERTIES
Property

Option

Behavior

Description
Specify the method used to select an audio item
within the playlist. An item is selected each time
the segment is played (or looped).

Sequential

Selection of the item is determined by its position in

the playlist. Item 1 is selected the first time the
segment is played, item 2 is selected the next time
the segment is played, and so on.

203

 204 FMOD DESIGNER

Random

Selection of the item is determined randomly.

Random without repeat

Selection of the item is determined randomly, with

the additional restriction that the same item is never
played twice in succession.

Shuffle

Selection of the item is determined randomly, with

the additional restriction that an item is never
repeated until all items have been played.

CUE TRIGGER PROPERTIES

Property

Option

Description

Details

Provides a text identifier for the control.

Enable sticky mode

When this property set to 'on' the button must be

pressed once to activate and again to deactivate.
Turning this property off is only recommended for
use when triggering concurrent themes.

FADER PROPERTIES
Property

Option

Description

Details

Provides a text identifier for the control.

Range

Specifies the range of values that are provided from

the fader control to the parameter.

Value always on

Min

The minimum value avaliable on the fader.

Max

The maximum value available on the fader.

When this property is set to 'on' the current value of
the fader is always visible.
When this property is set to 'off' the current value of
the fader is only visible when the mouse pointer is
over the control.

USER MANUAL

APPENDIX
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
This section is intended to answer the questions that are frequently asked on the
FMOD Designer support forum, and provide references to the appropriate sections in
this user manual.

Q. I h av e a q ue sti o n th at i s n ot an swer e d i n th e d oc u m ent at io n.

Wh at sho ul d I d o?
A. Try the FMOD Discussion Forums (http://www.fmod.org/forum).

Q. My pr oj ec t ( .f d p) wo n 't l oad an y mor e. Ho w c an I f ix it?

A. Before FMOD Designer saves a '.fdp' file, it first creates a backup of the original
with a '.bak' extension. Try renaming this '.bak' file to '.fdp' and you may be able to
load the project again. Some changes may have been lost.

Q. Wh y do e sn 't t h e ti m eli n e wor k in th e Ev e nt Ed itor ?

A. The simplest answer is "It's NOT a timeline, it is a parameter bar!"
While the parameter bar looks very much like a 'timeline'. In its default setting the
bar has no relationship to the time domain. Instead, the bar simply represents the
current value of a parameter. Parameters are typically used to represent variables
inside the games engine such as engine RPM or the distance between the listener
and the location of the sound emitter.
The parameter can be used as a pseudo-timeline using the parameter's velocity
property. This technique is demonstrated in Chapter Five, Tutorial Projects.

Q. I 'm e x pe rie n ci ng cl ic kin g dur in g p l ay b ac k. Ho w c an I sto p i t?

A. There are a number of reasons that the audio contains clicking artefacts, the most
common reason is a buffer size that is too small for the computer to keep up with
the real-time audio processing.
To increase the buffer size:
1

Select 'Edit' from the main menu. A sub-menu should appear.

Select the option 'Preferences

'. A dialog should appear.

205

 206 FMOD DESIGNER

3

Select the category 'Sound' from the category list. The sound preferences
should appear in the right panel.

Increase the buffer size 10 ms by moving the 'Buffer size' slider to the
right.

Test the audio playback. If the clicking is still audible, repeat step 4 until it
disappears.

If the clicking persists, try the FMOD Designer forum

(http://www.fmod.org/forum).

Q. Ho w do I cr e at e a cu st o m di st an c e p ar am eter ?
A. See the tutorial 'Simulating Distance' in Chapter 5, Advanced Projects.

Q. D o I r e all y ne e d t o u se t he m u si c c at eg or y?
A. Developers of titles for the Microsoft Xbox 360, have a TRC requirement that states
titles must allow the non-game specific audio (i.e. Soundtrack) be replaced by the
music specified in the end user's dash board.
The easiest way to comply with this requirement is to add all soundtrack events to
the 'Music' category (shown under the Category tree on the Event tab).

Q. Ho w do I cr e at e se p ar at e bui ld s for sep ar at e pl atf or m s?

A. A different build directory can be set for each target platform. The target platform
is selected using the 'Platform' dropdown list. For information, see
Chapter 3, section 'Selecting a target platform', page 33.
Chapter 3, section 'Building a project', page 36.

Q. Wh at sho ul d I set t he ' Max pl ay b ac ks' pr op ert y t o?

A. Each event's 'Max playbacks' property should be set as low as possible, as it
directly influences the amount of memory used by the FMOD Ex engine.
If the 'Max playbacks' is set to 1, FMOD Ex declares enough memory to play one
instance of the event.
If the 'Max playbacks' is set to 3, FMOD Ex declares enough memory to play three
instances of the event simultaneously.

USER MANUAL
Setting the 'Max playbacks' correctly requires the balancing of the 'artist vision' (or
creating a realistic and immersive soundscape) and the memory resources
required to play the all events.
See page 150 for more information.

Q. Ho w do t h e e v en t te m pl ate s wor k?
A. Templates are discussed in Chapter 3, in the section 'Event Templates' on page 60.

Q. Wh y do e s t he e ve nt t e m pl at e kee p o ver writi ng my e ve nt

pro p erti e s?
A. If an event property belonging to the template is modified, this modification will be
carried through to all events that use the template when the 'Apply template
changes' function is executed
When an event template is created the sound designer selects the properties to be
included in the template. It is important to note these properties will be
INDENTICAL in ALL events that use the template. If an event property needs to
be different to that of the template:
1

The property should not be included in the template, or

The event should not use a template.

Q. Ho w do I d el et e u n use d m ed i a fro m t he wav e b an k?

A. Before building a project it is good practice to remove all unused media. FMOD
Designer has a function to do this automatically, called 'Clean project'. To use this
simply:
1

Select 'Edit' from the main menu. A sub-menu should appear.

Select the option 'Clean project'. A confirmation menu should appear.

Press the 'Yes' button.

All used sound definitions and wave banks have been deleted.

Cleaning a project is discussed in Chapter Three; in the section 'Cleaning the

project' on page 35.

Q. Wh y do e s .m p 2 an d .m p3 c o mpr e ssi o n pr o du c e t he sam e fi le

si ze? I t ho ug ht .mp 3 c o mpr e sse d f il es m ore .

207

 208 FMOD DESIGNER

A. Both .mp2 and .mp3 are variable bit rate compression formats. Setting the data
rate actually specifies how much data is used for each time unit of audio.
Therefore, if the same date rate is used for each format, both will produce the same
file size.
The advantage of .mp3 however, is the quality of the audio. The quality of an .mp3
file will be greater than that of an .mp2 file using the same date rate. This means
the Sound Designers can use greater compression levels when using .mp3 and still
achieve the same quality of larger .mp2 files.

USER MANUAL

SHORT-CUT GUIDE
THE EVENT TAB
Each of the following shortcuts can be applied to the event, event group in the event
hierarchy tree or event categories.

Target

Keyboard / Mouse

Description

Event

[ALT] + Left-Click

Previews the event.

Event, event group or event

category
Event, event group or event
category
Event, event group or event
category
Event, event group or event
category
Event, event group or event
category
Event, event group or event
category

Event Hierarchy Tree

Event

[DEL]

[CTRL] + c

[CTRL] + x

[CTRL] + v

Deletes the event, event group or

event category.
Copies the event, event group or
event category
Cuts the event, event group or
event category
Pastes the event, event group or
event category

Click[SHIFT] + Click

Multiple event selection

[CTRL] + Click

Toggle event selection

'Drag and drop' audio files from

Automatically creates an event

an explorer directory into the

and sound definition for each

Event Hierarchy Tree.

audio file.

Double-Click

Opens the event in the Event

Editor tab

209

 210 FMOD DESIGNER

THE EVENT EDITOR TAB

Each of the following shortcuts relate to the event editor tab.

Target

Keyboard / Mouse

[none]

[SPACE]

Sound Definition Instance

[DEL]

Description
Starts / Stops the playback of the
event
Deletes the sound definition
instances.
Toggles the size of the sound

Sound Definition Instance

[CTRL] + Double-Click

definition instance between all and

half the available space.

Effect property line

[SHIFT] + Left-Click

Adds a point

Effect property point

[SHIFT] + Double-Click

Deletes the selected point

Slows down the cursor speed

Effect property point

Hold down Z while moving mouse

when moving a point. Useful for

fine-tuning.

Effect property point

Hold down [CTRL] while moving

Locks the x-axis allowing the

mouse

point position to move vertically.

[]

Moves the parameter cursor left

[]

Moves the parameter cursor right

[CTRL] + [ ]

[CTRL] + [ ]

Moves the parameter cursor left at

a greater speed
Moves the parameter cursor right
at a greater speed

USER MANUAL

THE SOUND DEFINITION TAB

Each of the following shortcuts can be applied to the sound definition and, groups in
the sound definition list.

Target

Keyboard / Mouse

Sound definition or group

[DEL]

Sound definition or group

[CTRL] + c

Sound definition, or group

[CTRL] + x

Sound definition or group

[CTRL] + v

Sound definition or group

Click[SHIFT] + Click

Multiple sound definition selection

Sound definition or group

[CTRL] + Click

Toggle sound definition selection

'Drag and drop' audio files from

Sound definition List

an explorer directory into the

Sound definition List

Sound definition

Double-Click

Description
Deletes the sound definition, or
group
Copies the sound definition or
group
Cuts the sound definition, or
group
Pastes the sound definition, or
group

Automatically creates a sound

definition for each audio file.
Shows the location of the sound
definition in the Wave bank tab

THE WAVE BANK TAB

Each of the following shortcuts can be used in the Wave Table tab.

Target

Keyboard / Mouse

Description

Wave bank

[DEL]

Deletes the wave bank (if empty)

Wave bank

Click[SHIFT] + Click

Multiple wave bank selection

Wave bank

[CTRL] + Click

Toggle wave bank selection

Waveform

Double-Click

Shows the sound definition where

the waveform is located.

211

 212 FMOD DESIGNER

COMMAND LINE USAGE

The command line version of FMOD Designer (fmod_designercl.exe) can be used to
build projects or extract information from project using the command line
(Window32). This facilitates the use of FMOD Designer in offline build processes and
scripts etc.

USAGE
fmod_designer <-pc|xbox|xbox360|gc|ps2|psp|ps3|wii> [-a|b|h|m|n|p|s|c]
<project.fdp>

TARGET PLATFORM
The following switches can be used to select the target platforms:
-pc
-xbox
-xbox360
-gc
-ps2
-psp
-ps3
-wii

PC
Microsoft Xbox
Microsoft Xbox 360
Nintendo Gamecube
Sony PlayStation 2
Sony PSP
Sony PlayStation 3
Nintendo Wii

SWITCHES
The following option switches can be used:
-a <pathname>
-b <pathname>
-h
-m
-n
-p
-l
-s 0
-s 1
-s 2
-c <format>
-L

Alternate audio source directory

Alternate build directory
Generate header file
Display input/output files only (doesn't build .FEV or .FSB)
Don't build .FEV or .FSB files
Generate programmer report
Generate a listing of files within each FSB
Only build streaming FSB wavebanks, not static sample.
Only build static sample FSB wavebanks, not streaming.
Don't build any FSB wavebanks.
Override the compression format used for all wavebanks
Selects which language to build

USER MANUAL

COMPRESSION FORMAT
The following switches can be used to select the output compression format:
-pcm
-vag
-gcadpcm
-xadpcm
-source
-adpcm
-xma
-mp3
-mp2

EXAMPLES
1. Build foobar.fdp for PC:
fmod_designercl -pc foobar.fdp

2. Build a programmer report only:

fmod_designercl -n -p foobar.fdp

3. Display dependencies only:

fmod_designercl -m foobar.fdp

4. Only build streaming wave banks for foobar.fdp, and use alternate wave source
directory c:\temp:
fmod_designercl -a C:\temp -s 0 foobar.fdp

213