Sample Project

2019.2.1
Sample Project

Sample Project
Wwise 2019.2.1 Revision 3707
Copyright © 2020 Audiokinetic Inc. All rights reserved.
This document (whether in written, graphic or video form) is supplied as a guide for the Wwise® product. This documentation is the property
of Audiokinetic Inc. (“Audiokinetic”), and protected by Canadian copyright law and in other jurisdictions by virtue of international copyright
treaties.

This documentation may be duplicated, reproduced, stored or transmitted, exclusively for your internal, non-commercial purposes, but you may
not alter the content of any portion of the documentation. Any copy of the documentation shall retain all copyright and other proprietary notices
contained therein.

The content of the Sample Project documentation is furnished for information purposes only, and its content is subject to change without notice.
Reasonable care has been taken in preparing the information contained in this document, however, we disclaim all representations, warranties
and conditions, whether express, implied or arising out of usage of trade or course of dealing, concerning the Sample Project documentation and
assume no responsibility or liability for any losses or damages of any kind arising out of the use of this guide or of any error or inaccuracy it may
contain, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such loss or damage.

Wwise®, Audiokinetic®, Actor-Mixer®, SoundFrame® and SoundSeed® are registered trademarks, and Master-Mixer™, SoundCaster™ and
Randomizer™ are trademarks, of Audiokinetic. Other trademarks, trade names or company names referenced herein may be the property of their
respective owners.

Car engine audio content provided by Tinitus, Inc.

With the help of the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences.
© 2007 Tinitus, Inc.
www.tinitus.net
The Audio Content contained in this file is the property of Tinitus, Inc. Your sole right with regard to this Audio Content is to listen to the Audio
Content as part of this Sample Project. This Audio Content cannot be used or modified for a commercial purpose nor for public demonstration.

Footsteps, 24 hour ambiance, Minigun audio content provided by Soundelux Design Music Group
© 2007 Soundelux Design Music Group
www.soundeluxdmg.com
The Audio Content contained in this digitally watermarked file is the property of Soundelux Design Music Group. Your sole right with regard
to this Audio Content is to listen to the Audio Content as part of this Sample Project. This Audio Content cannot be used or modified for a
commercial purpose nor for public demonstration.

Interactive Music audio content provided by Michael McCann and Tim Rideout
© 2007 Michael McCann and Tim Rideout
www.behaviormusic.com
www.timrideout.com
The Audio Content contained in this file is the property of Michael McCann and Tim Rideout. Your sole right with regard to this Audio Content
is to listen to the Audio Content as part of this Sample Project. This Audio Content cannot be used or modified for a commercial purpose nor for
public demonstration.

Dialogue audio content provided by Technicolor.

© 2007 Technicolor.
www.technicolor.com
The Audio Content contained in this file is the property of Technicolor. Your sole right with regard to this Audio Content is to listen to the Audio
Content as part of this Sample Project. This Audio Content cannot be used or modified for a commercial purpose nor for public demo.

SoundSeed Impact audio content provided by Wave Generation.

© 2008 Wave Generation.
www.wavegeneration.ca
The Audio Content contained in this file is the property of Wave Generation. Your sole right with regard to this Audio Content is to listen to the
Audio Content as part of this Sample Project. This Audio Content cannot be used or modified for a commercial purpose nor for public demo.

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Table of Contents
1. About the Sample Project ..................................................................... 1
Wwise Sample Project ....................................................................... 2
About the Project .............................................................................. 2
2. Project Details ....................................................................................... 4
Project Details ................................................................................... 5
Bus Routing - Master-Mixer Hierarchy ............................................. 5
Example: Footsteps ............................................................................ 5
Example: Minigun ............................................................................. 8
Minigun Details: Events ............................................................ 9
Minigun Details: Sounds ......................................................... 10
Example: Car Engine ....................................................................... 11
Porsche 911 - Blend Container ................................................ 11
Car Engine Details: Matching Pitch to RPM Using
RTPCs .............................................................................. 12
Car Engine Details: Using Blend Containers ................... 13
Chevrolet Camaro - Crankcase Audio REV ............................. 13
Example: New York City Ambience ................................................. 14
Example: SoundSeed Impact ........................................................... 15
Technology Overview .............................................................. 15
Offline Processing .................................................................... 16
Runtime Processing ................................................................. 16
SoundSeed Impact: Details ...................................................... 17
Quick Overview ....................................................................... 17
Detailed Examples ................................................................... 21
Example: Dialogue ........................................................................... 25
Dialogue Details: Understanding Dynamic Dialogue .............. 26
Fallback Mechanism ................................................................ 27
Example: Ambisonics ...................................................................... 28
Ambisonics Example: Ambisonic City 3D Ambiance .............. 29
Ambisonics Example: Helico Passby Overhead ....................... 30
Ambisonics Example: Ambisonic City Ambiance .................... 30
Example: Music ............................................................................... 31
Game Music Details: Looking at Interactive Music ................. 32
Game Music Part 1: Learner’s Permit ...................................... 33
Game Music Part 2: In the Driver’s Seat ................................. 34
Example: MIDI Music ..................................................................... 36
Music Structure ....................................................................... 36
MIDI Music - A Hybrid Approach .......................................... 38
Factory Assets .................................................................................. 39
3. Need Help? .......................................................................................... 40
Using Help ....................................................................................... 41
Further Resources ............................................................................ 41

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Chapter 1. About the Sample Project
Wwise Sample Project ............................................................................... 2
About the Project ...................................................................................... 2

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About the Sample Project

Wwise Sample Project

For the current release of Wwise, Audiokinetic has prepared a sample
project demonstrating typical sound design examples. This sample project
demonstrates how you can creatively use established and new features of
Wwise. We encourage you to have a close look at this project to see how
Wwise can manage game audio in one complete project. After you’ve gone
through this project, go ahead and make your own projects to reflect your
vision of game audio.

This documentation is meant to provide general guidelines about project

design and Wwise functionality, and is not meant to replace other Wwise
documentation. To learn more about Wwise, you can consult the online
Help, video tutorials and other resources from the Audiokinetic website.

About the Project

This sample project exposes different examples of typical ways to use
Wwise. Each of these examples has been integrated into different Work
Units, each identified by name.
• Footsteps — A demonstration of how a hierarchy of Switch Containers
can create interesting footstep sounds within a game.
• Minigun — An example of how a complex audio object can be easily
managed with two Events and a game sync.
• Car Engine — A demonstration of how to use a Blend Container to
reproduce the shifting sounds of a car engine.
• NYC Ambience — A demonstration of how Wwise allows you to create
a complex ambience which evolves over a day and is influenced by
weather.
• SoundSeed Impact — A demonstration of many uses of SoundSeed
Impact.
• Dialogue — A demonstration of how to create dialogue that changes
dynamically according to actions in game.
• Ambisonics — A demonstration of the surround sound of ambisonics
through the binauralization of an Audio Bus using the Auro Headphone
Effect.
• Music — These examples demonstrate different techniques for
arranging and implementing interactive game music using pre-rendered
audio files.
• MIDI — This MIDI music mixes and matches pre-rendered music and
MIDI sequences, the MIDI Sequences target sampled instruments and a
soft synthesizer.

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About the Sample Project

Note
Materials sent by content providers were all originally high
quality (48 kHz, 16 or 24 bit). However, to save download time
and disk space, we have reduced the size of some of the sound
assets.

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Chapter 2. Project Details
Project Details ........................................................................................... 5
Bus Routing - Master-Mixer Hierarchy ..................................................... 5
Example: Footsteps .................................................................................... 5
Example: Minigun ..................................................................................... 8
Minigun Details: Events .................................................................... 9
Minigun Details: Sounds ................................................................. 10
Example: Car Engine ............................................................................... 11
Porsche 911 - Blend Container ........................................................ 11
Car Engine Details: Matching Pitch to RPM Using RTPCs
.................................................................................................. 12
Car Engine Details: Using Blend Containers ........................... 13
Chevrolet Camaro - Crankcase Audio REV .................................... 13
Example: New York City Ambience ........................................................ 14
Example: SoundSeed Impact ................................................................... 15
Technology Overview ...................................................................... 15
Offline Processing ............................................................................ 16
Runtime Processing ......................................................................... 16
SoundSeed Impact: Details .............................................................. 17
Quick Overview ............................................................................... 17
Detailed Examples ........................................................................... 21
Example: Dialogue ................................................................................... 25
Dialogue Details: Understanding Dynamic Dialogue ...................... 26
Fallback Mechanism ........................................................................ 27
Example: Ambisonics .............................................................................. 28
Ambisonics Example: Ambisonic City 3D Ambiance ...................... 29
Ambisonics Example: Helico Passby Overhead ............................... 30
Ambisonics Example: Ambisonic City Ambiance ............................ 30
Example: Music ....................................................................................... 31
Game Music Details: Looking at Interactive Music ......................... 32
Game Music Part 1: Learner’s Permit .............................................. 33
Game Music Part 2: In the Driver’s Seat ......................................... 34
Example: MIDI Music ............................................................................. 36
Music Structure ............................................................................... 36
MIDI Music - A Hybrid Approach .................................................. 38
Factory Assets .......................................................................................... 39

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Project Details
The following sections describe each of the project’s examples in detail.
Feel free to experiment with these examples in Wwise. Before doing so,
however, you may want to save a backup copy of the original sample
project to your hard drive.

Bus Routing - Master-Mixer Hierarchy

The Master-Mixer hierarchy for this project is organized in two sections as
if a 3D game was developed with a series of rooms where different reverbs
would be applied at runtime:
• The “Environmental” bus regroups audio busses for 3D sounds that
would normally be affected by reverberation (e.g. foley, weapons,
vehicles, etc.) and auxiliary busses that have reverb or delay effects
inserted. The audio busses can be seen as the 'dry' path and the aux
busses as the 'wet' path.

Note
The sample project has been set as if it would be integrated in
an actual 3D game where reverbs are dynamically assigned at
runtime. Therefore, the objects in the Actor-Mixer hierarchy
have been set to use the Game-Defined Auxiliary Sends and
not the User-Defined Auxiliary Sends.

Game-Defined Auxiliary Sends cannot be heard from Wwise.

If you'd like to listen to these sounds with reverb, you can
route the top parent User-Defined Auxiliary Sends objects
from the Actor-Mixer hierarchy to the Aux busses.
• The “Non-Environmental” bus groups all busses that are not affected
by runtime reverberation. In general, music and some voices such as
commentators or narrators are the types of objects that are not affected
by runtime reverb.

Note
The “Music” bus is flagged as “Mute for Background Music” to
be compliant with technical certification requirements for Xbox
One™, PlayStation® 4, iOS, and Android™.

Example: Footsteps
The Footsteps example demonstrates how you can create a simple
hierarchy of Switch Containers to create variation for an otherwise
repetitive sound.

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To listen to the Footsteps example:

1. Load the “Footstep_Types” Switch Container or the “Play_Footstep”

Event into the Transport Control.
2. In the Transport Control, click Switches and select the footstep type and
material that you want to hear.

In this example, the parent Switch Container includes three footstep types:
• Crouching
• Walking
• Running

Each of these three footstep types contains another Switch Container that
determines the surfaces on which the characters will walk:
• Concrete
• Gravel
• Hard Metal
• Hard Wood
• Water

To create diversity for each footstep type to material association, a Random

Container containing between four and six variations has been created for
each variation. The complete hierarchy looks like this:

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To further avoid repetition, volume and pitch is randomized each time

a new footstep is played. To see the random ranges, double click on the
volume or pitch randomizer icon on the top-level Switch Container named
“Footstep_Types”.

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Example: Minigun
The Minigun example demonstrates how the sounds of a complex firearm
can be simulated in a game by using Wwise.

To listen to the Minigun example:

1. In the Sessions tab of the Project Explorer, go in the Soundcaster
Sessions section, expand the Minigun Work Unit and double-click the
Minigun Soundcaster session.

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The session is loaded into the Soundcaster.

2. You can then do any of the following:
• Play the “Play_Minigun” Event.
• Play the “Stop_Minigun” Event.
• Select a material from the list to hear the shells falling on different
materials.

Minigun Details: Events

To understand the construction of the Minigun example, take some time

to examine the Play and Stop Minigun Events. Look at the delays that
have been inserted on the different Actions. Don’t hesitate to unselect the
platform (PF) check boxes on both Events to be able to listen to the three
different stems (barrel, fire, and shells) independently.

For the Stop_Minigun Event, the Break action has been used to stop the
“Fire” and “Shells” random continuous containers that use the “trigger
rate” transition type. The Break actions stop the containers to trigger new
fire or shell sounds without cutting the tail of the sounds that have already
been triggered.

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Note

The Events in the Minigun example have been simplified for

this sample project. In a real game, refinements would be
made to produce a more realistic simulation. For example, the
Play_Minigun Event would be split into two separate Events
for the barrel and fire sounds, so that each could be controlled
more closely.

Minigun Details: Sounds

The minigun sounds are divided into three categories:

• Barrel sounds: The minigun barrel movements are represented by three
sounds: “Up”, “Loop,” and “Down”. The “Up” and “Loop” sounds have
been integrated into the “Minigun_Barrel_Start” sequence container
using a sample accurate transition. The “Down” sound is played when
the “Stop_Minigun” Event is triggered.

• Fire sounds: The minigun discharge sounds are included in the “Fire”
Random Container. This container is set to trigger a new fire sound
every 0.05 seconds in an infinite loop. The Trigger rate transition option
ensures that a new sound is triggered at the frequency defined in the
Duration field without interrupting the previously played sounds. A
limit of five instances per game object has been set in the Fire sounds
Advanced Settings to restrict CPU usage.

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Note
The trigger rate is not always rhythmically perfect when
the “Fire” container is played back within Wwise when the
transport is set to play the original audio files. This happens
because original files are streamed from the hard drive. This
is a playback limitation within Wwise only; when played
back from a game, the timing of each fire sounds is sample
accurately perfect and constant.

You can get better timing from Wwise by unselecting the

Original button in the transport. Beforehand, make sure
you convert the audio files (select 'Convert All Audio Files...'
from the Project menu) as you'll hear nothing otherwise.
• Shell sounds: The sounds of the minigun’s brass hitting the ground
is simulated by five Random Containers set to infinitely trigger a new
shell sound every 0.1 seconds. These objects are inserted into a Switch
Container to play the right Random Container based on the actual
material onto which the shells will fall.

Note that the frequency of the trigger rate for the shells is slower than
the fire rate. This decision was made simply because the slower rate
sounded better.

A limit of five instances per game object has been set in the Shells
sounds Advanced Settings to restrict CPU usage.

Example: Car Engine

Car Engine demonstrates two examples of how car engines can be
reproduced using Wwise. The first example uses the "old-school" approach
of pitch shifting a series of recording with a blend container. The other
example uses REV, a source plug-in develop by Crankcase Audio that uses
granular synthesis and runtime DSP to reproduce car engines.

Porsche 911 - Blend Container

To create this simulation, two main operations were performed. First, a

pitch curve was created for RPM for each sound to link pitch to RPM.
Next, these sounds were placed into a blend container to define which
would play within defined RPM ranges.

To listen to the car engine example:

1. Load the “Engine” blend container or the “Play_Porsche_911” Event in
the Transport Control.

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2. Click RTPCs to modify the Engine_Load and RPM game parameters.

3. Begin with the Engine_Load at “1” and the RPM at “1000”, then move
the RPM value slowly.

Note

To hear even better audio results, you can use the CarSim
application located where you installed Wwise in Samples
\SoundFrame\CarSim.

Car Engine Details: Matching Pitch to RPM Using RTPCs

Each of the engine sounds (except idle) has a pitch curve attached to
RPM game parameter. To speed up the process, Wwise allows you to
automatically draw a pitch curve based on the actual RPM at which a file
was recorded. To use it, right-click any graph segment and select Build
Smart Pitch Curve. For more information on this or any other feature,
refer to the Wwise Help.

You might have noticed that while certain engine sounds will not play at
certain RPM values, each sound’s pitch curve still extends for the full range
of possible RPM values. In this case, because the curves extend past values
that will be used, points have been removed to save runtime memory.

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Car Engine Details: Using Blend Containers

The car engine simulation consists of six looping sounds revolving at

different RPM on-load values (on-load meaning that the gas pedal is
pressed) and six other sounds matching the same RPM off-load (off-
load meaning the gas pedal is released). These sounds were inserted into
the blend container on two blend tracks named On-Load and Off-Load.
A crossfade region was defined between each of these sounds to ensure
a smooth transition between them for when the RPM game parameter
changes in real time.

A volume curve attached to the game parameter “Engine_Load” was

created for each blend track. This curve, which is displayed in red, defines
which blend track is heard based on the current Engine_Load value:
• From -1 to ~0: the Off-Load track is heard.
• From ~0 to 1: the On-Load track is heard.

Therefore, as the game updates the current Engine_Load game parameter,

the corresponding curve is heard.

Chevrolet Camaro - Crankcase Audio REV

Crankcase Audio REV is a source plug-in using granular synthesis and

runtime DSP.

Note
Mac Authoring Tool: Users cannot use Crankcase Audio REV.

To listen to Camaro SS - CrankcaseAudio REV example:

1. Select the sound Camaro SS - CrankcaseAudio REV in the Project
Explorer.

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2. From the Content Editor, double-click the source plug-in "Chevrolet

Camaro SS" to display the Source Editor view.
3. Play the sound.
4. Click on the Drive button in the REV source plug-in and move the
cursor left and right to 'drive' the vehicle.

Note

This example shows the plug-in doing the full car engine
simulation. That may suit certain games just right. For games
needing more control over the car simulation, it's possible to
control the car throttle, RPM, gear and velocity using game
parameters. Again, refer to the plug-in documentation if you'd
like more details on this.

Example: New York City Ambience

The New York City Ambience example shows how you can create a
complex and evolving soundscape. This example uses a blend container
to alter game sounds based on two parameters: Time of day and Rain
Intensity.

To listen to the New York City Ambience example:

1. Load the “24h New York City Ambience” Blend Container or the
“Play_24h_New_York_City_Ambience” Event into the Transport
Control.
2. In the Transport Control, click RTPCs.
3. Set “Rain_Intensity” and “Time” to 0.
4. Start the playback and move the “Time” game parameter very slowly to
the right. “Time” ranges from 0 to 240, so ten units represent one hour.
5. Move the “Rain_Intensity” game parameter slowly to hear the rain
falling on the city.

The ambient sounds subtly disappear as the rain becomes stronger. The
Rain_Intensity game parameter also modifies the volume and low pass
filter properties of many of the objects inserted on certain blend tracks.

A single blend container containing nine tracks has been used for this
example. Each of the blend tracks contains one or several sounds or
Random Containers. Before looking at the Blend Track Editor, you can
look at the behavior settings of each Random Container to understand
how each of these has been set up. The transitions options should be of
particular interest.

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Example: SoundSeed Impact

Game audio content creators strive to create realistic and immersive
audio soundscapes for games. Compelling audio content requires many
sound variations to help reduce repetition which can contribute to several
negative aspects of gameplay, including player fatigue and a loss of realism
and player immersion.

Unfortunately, the need for many sound variations results in a high

memory consumption to accommodate multiple sound asset variations.
SoundSeed Impact allows you to create many unique sound variations
at runtime using a single audio source file, thus reducing the impact on
storage and memory.

SoundSeed Impact models a wide range of resonant impact type

sounds, which means you can use it to create many different sounds
in your game. Furthermore, the compromise between audio quality
and performance can be controlled at runtime along with other model
parameter transformations that allow you to dynamically control a sound's
characteristics in real time.

The main advantages of using SoundSeed Impact are to:

• Increase sound variety through synthesis of multiple sound instances
from a single template sound.
• Reduce memory requirements by storing compact parameter sets
instead of entire audio files for each variation.
• Increase interactivity by controlling synthesis parameters based on
context-specific (possibly physics related) run-time parameters.

Technology Overview

The SoundSeed Impact technology has two distinct processing stages:

offline analysis using the SoundSeed Impact Modeler, and runtime sound
rendering using the SoundSeed Impact Wwise plug-in.

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Offline Processing

Offline analysis is performed using the SoundSeed Impact Modeler, which

is a standalone external application. During offline analysis, you detect and
remove resonance information from the source audio file. Each mode of
resonance is characterized by a series of parameters, including frequency
(Hz), magnitude (dB) and bandwidth (Hz). The offline analysis stage
generates the following components:
• A residual WAV file, which is based on the source WAV file, but with the
detected resonances removed.
• A parametric model text file, which is a very compact .SSM (SoundSeed
Model) file that contains information in the form of various parameters,
about the resonances.

Runtime Processing

During the runtime processing stage, the information in the resonance file
is re-introduced with the residual file using efficient frequency filtering.
This creates a new sound that retains the characteristics of the original
analyzed file. What makes it so powerful is that you can modify the
resonance parameters within the text file during re-synthesis to generate an
unlimited number of variations that are slightly or largely different from
the analyzed sound.

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Runtime processing is performed in Wwise using the SoundSeed Impact

effect plug-in. Using both the residual file and the .SSM model file, the
Wwise SoundSeed Impact plug-in allows you to do the following:
• Synthesize the output sound using the transformed model. The
resonances are reintroduced through time-domain signal filtering of the
residual sound.
• Modify the characteristics of the detected resonances by transforming
model parameters.

For more detailed information on using the SoundSeed Modeler or

the Wwise plug-in, consult the Audiokinetic web site for additional
resources.

SoundSeed Impact: Details

The Sample Project features some practical examples on how SoundSeed
Impact can be used. The SS_Impact Work Unit of the Sample Project is
broken down into the following folders:

Be sure to check the "Notes" field of the various sound elements to read
additional information.

Quick Overview
This folder contains a series of subfolders that give you a general overview
of using SoundSeed Impact in your game productions.

• 1_GainingControlOverTimbreWithRTPC—this folder contains

examples that show how to control the SoundSeed Impact Synthesis
parameters in real time using RTPCs.

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• 1_EmptyPlasticBottle_FrequencyControl—demonstrates the
effect of frequency transformation in isolation. Play with the
"PlasticBottle_Frequency" RTPC slider in the Transport Control
to affect the perceived size of the bottle without getting pitch shift
artifacts or duration changes.
• 2_MetalHit_DampingControl—demonstrates the effect of bandwidth
transformation in isolation. Play with the "MetalHit2_Resonance"
RTPC slider in the Transport Control to see how changes to the
bandwidth stretching property can affect the resonance. Reduce the
value to 0 for more damping, or increase it to 100 for less damping.
Ctrl+click the slider to return it back to the original value of 50.
Notice how the sound does not get truncated when using less
damping as it would when using a multi-band EQ.
• 3_Machinery_MagnitudeControl—play for a bit and then increase
the magnitude variation RTPC slider in the Transport Control to 100
and listen how a random weight on each resonance creates a different
impact every time. These changes are akin to different weight or strike
position.
• 2_GettingRandomVariations—this folder contains examples that
show how virtually an unlimited number of playback variations can be
achieved from a single source file. Play the Random Container for each
example.

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• 3_AvoidPitchShiftArtefacts—this folder contains examples that

demonstrate how pitch shifting is often not possible for large pitch
changes due to the undesirable time-scaling it introduces. These
examples also show how frequency variations can contribute greatly to
sonic variations.

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• 4_SaveMemoryForResonantSounds—this folder contains examples that

demonstrate the possible runtime memory savings that are possible for
highly resonant sounds.

• 5_QualityTransformations_LODControl—this folder contains examples

that show how an RTPC can be attached to the “Model Quality”
parameter to reduce the number of harmonics effectively synthesized
to change the sound quality. This can also be used as a level of detail
control in the 50-100 range. For example, a value of 50 only uses half the
processing power and may be suitable for background sounds.

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• 6_Cross-Synthesis—this folder contains examples that show some

creative uses of SoundSeed Impact. In these examples, data model files
from different sources are combined with residual files.

Detailed Examples

The remaining folders contain more elaborate examples of typical uses of

SoundSeed Impact.

• 1_Impacts—this folder contains examples of transformations using a

variety of different materials.

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• 2_Combat—this folder contains examples of transformations possible

for combat class type sounds. Play the Random Containers to hear the
different sound variations.

• 3_Sports—this folder contains examples of transformations possible for

sports type sounds. Play the Random Containers to hear the different
sound variations.

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• 4_Footsteps—this folder contains a dramatic example of the potential

of SoundSeed Impact. Here we can see a series of nested Switch
Containers, Random Containers and residual sounds/SoundSeed impact
plug-ins. Be sure to select the Switches button in the Transport Control
so that you can switch between the available footstep types and surface
materials during playback.

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• 5_Destruction—this folder contains an example of the destruction of

a brick wall. It demonstrates how SoundSeed Impact can be used to
obtain more variations on individual grains in a granular synthesis
setting. Additionally you can gain control over the sound of the brick
wall destruction by changing, for example, the brick resonance RTPC
control.

• 6_Cross-Synthesis—this folder contains other examples of the creative

use of cross-synthesis using SoundSeed Impact.

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Example: Dialogue
The Dialogue example demonstrates how you can use Wwise’s dynamic
dialogue features to organize dialogue that adapts to gameplay situations
as they happen. Dynamic dialogue uses a set of rules within a decision-tree
structure to determine which piece of dialogue to play at any particular
moment in game.

In the sample project’s game, the main player character has to work with
NPCs to accomplish mission objectives. The main player can radio the
NPCs, who in this case are two on-duty police officers. Through their
radio responses, the two officers report back with details of their current
assignment and status. For example, the officers can report that they
are rescuing a hostage, then later report on whether their rescue was
successful.

To listen to the Dialogue example:

1. In the Events tab of the Project Explorer, locate the Dialogue Work Unit
in the Dynamic Dialogue section and double-click the Objective_Status
Dialogue Event.

The Objective_Status Dialogue Event is loaded into the Dialogue Event

Editor.

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2. In the Dialogue Event Editor, select an argument from each column as

follows:
• In the Unit column, select either Unit_A or Unit_B.
• In the Objective column, select either DefuseBomb,
NeutralizeHostile, or RescueHostage.
• In the ObjectiveStatus column, select either Completed or Failed.

Each argument you choose is highlighted

3. In the Argument Path Filter list, select Current Selection.

The selected argument path and its associated object are displayed.
4. In the Transport Control, click Play to hear the object.

The object associated with the selected argument path is played.

5. To listen to other argument paths in the dialogue example, repeat Steps
3 to 5.

Dialogue Details: Understanding Dynamic Dialogue

Dynamic dialogue is a flexible tool for creating responses on the fly. These
responses are determined through a decision-tree structure that selects
audio based on multiple game conditions. The example of dynamic
dialogue provided with the sample project shows how to implement
dialogue functionality in a game that uses game variables to trigger the
particular sentences. Dynamic Dialogue is particularly well suited to create
play-by-play for sports games, but any game genres could see advantages
to use this system. It can also be used for SFX in situations where large
hierarchies are needed like footsteps structures for example.

In this project, in the Objective_Status Dialogue Event example, a series of

arguments and arguments values has been created to reflect multiple game
situations and outcomes. These arguments create a matrix of argument
paths that can be triggered at any moment by the player’s radio call to the
police officers.

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In this project, in the Objective_Status Dialogue Event example, a series of

arguments and arguments values has been created to reflect multiple game
situations and outcomes. These arguments create a matrix of argument
paths that can be triggered at any moment by the player’s radio call to the
police officers.

In this game, each time a police officer responds to the player, the game
triggers the “Objective_Status” Dialogue Event while setting the actual
argument values. Consequently, the object associated with the argument
path, either a voice object or a container holding sound objects, is heard.
This example doesn’t take advantage of the Probability and Weighting
tools, but you can use them in your game to have more control over which
piece of audio is played, if any.

Fallback Mechanism

When you create dynamic dialogue for a game, you may realize that your
game can’t always provide all the information you need at all times. In
this example, when the player radios an officer for his status, the officer
NPC might be between actions. To deal with this possibility, the dynamic
dialogue system includes a fallback mechanism. The fallback mechanism
allows you to trigger generic dialogue for situations where an argument
path does not have an associated object, or when an argument value in the
argument path is not specified by the game.

For example, the sample project contains the following fallback lines:
• Unit_B.*.Completed: “Mission accomplished. Nice job everyone.”

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• Unit_B.*.Failed: “Let’s do better next time, OK?”

Note
When an argument is used to create a fallback argument path,
the argument is represented by an asterisk in the path name.
In the example above, the asterisk represents the argument:
“Objective”.

Compare these to specific lines such as:

• Unit_B.RescueHostage.Completed: “We got the hostage.”
• Unit_B.DefuseBomb.Failed: “We can’t stop the bomb. Everyone out!”

The fallback mechanism is a really important aspect because it provides a

“safety net” for the scriptwriter. These lines could be delivered in cases in
which the game does not specify a particular objective. They could also be
useful in a situation where new objectives are added to the game after the
voice recordings are completed. Because no specific dialogue exists for the
new objectives, the fallback dialogue will be selected automatically.

Example: Ambisonics
The Ambisonics Work Unit in the Actor-Mixer Hierarchy includes three
examples of moving ambient sounds to demonstrate the spatial audio you
can expect with ambisonics output. The multichannel setup necessary
to do ambisonics justice (you must at least have some height channels)
is not a commonly available Sound Engine Audio System. Consequently,
these examples are routed to an “Ambisonics” Audio Bus and its parent
“Binauralizer” Audio Bus, which uses the Auro Headphone Effect to
generate binaural output. Listening to this with just a pair of headphones
will faithfully render the spherical directional power of ambisonics
according to the selected Channel Configuration, which could be set to
first, second, or third order ambisonics.

Note
Feel free to open the Effect Editor and tweak the Auro
Headphone settings to optimize your personal experience.
In practice, your perceived output will vary according to the
content.

To listen to different ambisonic channel configurations:

1. Select the “Binauralizer” Audio Bus, found in the Master-Mixer
Hierarchy under the Master Audio Bus's Environmental Audio Bus.

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It opens in the Property Editor.

2. In the General Settings tab of the Property Editor, select Ambisonics 2-2
for second order output (9 channels) or Ambisonics 3-3 for third order
output (16 channels).

3. With one of the examples loaded in the Transport Control, press play.
Note the differences between the different orders of ambisonic channel
configuration outputs.

Tip
Regardless of what you select in the Project Explorer, you can
keep the same sound object loaded in the Transport Control
by pinning it. Just click the Pin icon found in the upper right
corner of the view to the left of the Help icon.

Each of the following ambisonic examples uses different types of source

files arranged to demonstrate a variety of ways to produce an ambisonic
output.

Ambisonics Example: Ambisonic City 3D Ambiance

This ambisonic example is just a single first order (4-channel) ambisonic

recording imported in Wwise. It gives an idea of how well ambisonics can
generate ambient sounds with the traffic rhythms of passing cars and a
blaring horn interjection.

As with the other ambisonic examples, users can adjust the “Binauralizer”
Audio Bus to listen to the differences in precision when it's set to a second
or third order channel configuration. However, with a first order source
file, the output will be the same.

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Ambisonics Example: Helico Passby Overhead

The “Ex 2 - Helico Passby Overhead” Sound FX is only a mono source

file. However, we have set it to have a 3D User-defined path, which helps
to simulate the overhead directional sound of a helicopter flying by. More
importantly, the 3D positioning allows the ambisonic output to be audibly
more precise in higher orders.

You may wish to play with the User-defined path to help you better
appreciate the differences in precision.

To adjust the User-defined path:

1. Select the “Ex 2 - Helico Passby Overhead” Sound FX, found in the
Actor-Mixer Hierarchy under the “Ambisonics” Work Unit.
It opens in the Property Editor.
2. In the Positioning tab of the Property Editor, click Edit... next to the
User-defined option of the Position Source group box.
The Position Editor opens.
3. Within the Position Editor, adjust the path as desired by clicking points
and dragging them to the desired location. Add points by double-
clicking in the Graph view. Refer to the contextual help to learn more
about how you can adjust the user-defined path.

You should play the “Ex 2 - Helico Passby Overhead” Sound FX in the
Transport Control using different ambisonic channel configurations. The
higher order ambisonics configurations deliver more precise sound than
the lower order ones.

Ambisonics Example: Ambisonic City Ambiance

The “Ex 3 - Ambisonic City Ambiance” Blend Container is a mix of

multiple Random Containers with mono source files, giving a variety of
city atmosphere sounds, and the single first order ambisonics file of our
first ambisonics example.

Tip

To help hear the difference in ambisonic orders, mute the first

order ambisonics file.

Like the other examples, the channel configurations can be adjusted and
played back in the Transport Control to hear how well different orders
of ambisonic output produce an encompassing spatial audio. Because
there are many other sounds to output to the higher order channels, you

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will also notice a more significant difference in outputting to second and

especially third order. That is, in addition to the four basic channels of the
source first order file, you will hear with more precision the additional
mono sounds of the Blend Container's city atmosphere.

This can be recorded to a single ambisonics file, for later import or

for sharing, using a Wwise Recorder plug-in Effect placed on the
“Binauralizer” Audio Bus.

See more about using the Wwise Recorder in the Wwise Plug-ins section of
the help.

Example: Music
The Music Work Unit in the Interactive Music Hierarchy includes two
examples of game music to demonstrate both a basic and an advanced
integration of interactive music. These interactive music examples show
how you can create music that evolves through three distinct States
representing the level of intensity of the gameplay:
• Stealth: No threat in sight. The player moves quietly through the
environment.
• Stress: The player is in danger and should hide or escape to avoid
trouble.
• Fight: Action sequence where the player is attacked by bad guys and
fights for his life.

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Game Music Details: Looking at Interactive Music

The interactive music view allows you to examine game music at different
levels of detail. The following procedure should show you how to take
advantage of Wwise’s interface when looking at one particular project
element.

Note

To view or work with interactive music objects, first select the

Interactive Music layout by selecting Layouts > Interactive
Music or pressing F10.

To examine the Stealth music:

1. Double-click on the music segment named “Stealth_Seg_01” to reveal
its properties and to see the four tracks in the Music Segment Editor.

2. In the Music Segment editor, hold “Z” while clicking in the Music
Segment Editor track view to zoom out and see the four tracks.

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3. The volume of the tracks “Stealth_Ambient” and

“Stealth_Drums_Ambient” has a RTPC curve attached to it. Double-
click on one of these tracks to reveal its properties in the Property
Editor, and switch to the RTPC tab to see the curve that was created.

The volume of this track is influenced by the game-driven parameter

“Stealth_Factor”.

Game Music Part 1: Learner’s Permit

The “01_In-Game Music” music Switch Container holds three music

playlist containers, one for each state of the game.

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• Stealth Music: The Stealth music is made up of multiple tracks, the

contents of which are played according to the game’s state and RTPC
values. Effects can also be applied to these tracks.
• Stress Music: The Stress music is also comprised of multiple tracks
which can be affected by states, RTPCs, or effects. Like the Stealth music,
the stress music has also been inserted into a music playlist container to
sequence the three segments.
• Fight Music: The Fight music takes another approach in terms of music
composition. Instead of using multi-track segments, the fight music has
simple two-bar long segment playing stereo files. This approach allows
for elaborate combinations inside the music playlist container.
• Transitions: The transitions between Stealth and Stress use different
fade-in and fade-out curves. However, they both use the “Same Time as
Playing Segment” option as the destination sync point. This means that
the destination segment starts playing at the exact moment at which the
source music leaves.
• Outro_to_Stealth_or_Stress: For the transitions from Fight to Stress
and Fight to Stealth, a transition segment is used to bridge the source
and the destination segments smoothly. This transition segment was
needed to cover the tempo difference between the source music (120
BPM) and the destination music (90 BPM).

To listen to Game Music Part 1:

1. Load the Music Switch Container “01_In-Game Music” into the
Transport Control.
2. In the Transport Control, click States.
3. Set the State to “a_Stealth”.
4. Start the playback.
5. Change the State in the list to go from Stealth to Stress to Fight.
6. While in the Stealth state, you can click RTPCs to change the
“Stealth_Factor” level and therefore modify the volume of certain
tracks.

Game Music Part 2: In the Driver’s Seat

The example “02_In-Game Music” reuses the music from “01_In-Game

Music” and adds more transitions segments, stingers, and an additional set
of variables to transition music over different contexts. The following are
advanced features included in this example:
• An additional State Group for Music Transition: A new state group
is used to manage interactive music transitions between the In-Game
music and the Menu music. It provides an example of how transitions
can be set between different game contexts.

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• Stingers: Stingers are brief musical phrases that are superimposed and
mixed over the currently playing music.
• Bonus Stinger: The “Bonus” stinger uses the segment “Stinger
Bonus” for all objects except for the Fight music container, which
uses the segment “Stinger Bonus - Fight”. “Stinger Bonus - Fight” has
three subtracks set to play in sequence. This ensures that you hear a
different music punch each time the Bonus stinger is triggered in the
Fight state.
• Backup Team Arrives: The “Backup Team Arrives” theme has
been composed to play over the Fight music only. It uses the music
segment “Stinger Backup Team”, which has been routed to a control
bus that auto-ducks the “00_Fight” bus by -10 dB.
• Additional Transition Segments: The transitions found in the “02_In-
Game Music” music Switch Container manage the transitions between
the in-game music and the menu music. There is also a custom
transition between Fight and Menu music that uses the dedicated
transition segment "Fight to Menu Transition".
• Transition from Fight to “Nothing”: This transition uses a transition
segment named “Death”. In this case, the “Nothing” state occurs at the
main character’s death.
• Stealth to Stress Transition: The transitions between Stealth and Stress
have been enhanced by adding rules to the Transition Matrix to get
more interesting results. For example, if segment “Stealth_Seg_02”
is playing when a transition to the Stress state occurs, the specific
destination segment will be “Stress_Seg_02” instead of the first segment
of the Playlist as the default behavior proposes. Six rules have been
defined to cover all possible transitions between the three Stealth
segments and the three Stress segments.

To listen to Game Music Part 2:

1. In the Sessions tab of the Project Explorer, double-click the Soundcaster
session named “Music”.

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2. In the Soundcaster, set the states to “InGame” and “a_Stealth”.

3. Start the music playback by playing the “Play_Music” Event.
4. Change the different States; launch the other Events such as
Mute_Drums or Set_LPF (low pass filter).
5. With the State set to Fight, click each trigger button (>) to hear the
“Backup_Team_Arrives” and “Bonus” stingers.

Example: MIDI Music

MIDI music provides an example of how a hybrid approach can be taken
to build music. This example mixes and matches pre-rendered music and
MIDI Sequences, the MIDI Sequences target sampled instruments and a
soft synthesizer.

Music Structure

The music has been composed with a fictional puzzle game in mind
comprised of five musical states:
• "Neutral", "Rising" and "Falling" are the main themes that follows the
player's progression during a puzzle.
• "Victory" is only heard after "Rising" when the player successfully
complete the puzzle.
• "Defeat" is only heard after "Falling" when the player failed the puzzle.

This graph shows the game states and gives an overview of the music
structure and transitions between states.

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You can listen to the various states by using the Soundcaster session
"MIDI". Start by playing the "Start_MIDI_Music" Event in the Soundcaster
session, and then trigger the other Events in this session to change from
state to state.

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MIDI Music - A Hybrid Approach

The MIDI music uses pre-rendered music and MIDI tracks targeting
sampled instruments and a soft synthesizer. Taking "Neutral Loop" music
segment as an example, you'll see the following:
• Track 1 "Audio Mix - No MIDI" uses a pre-rendered audio files.
• Tracks 2 to 6 are using MIDI files that each target a different sampled
instrument located in the Actor-Mixer Hierarchy.
• Track 7 "Synth" is also using a MIDI file, but targets a Sound that uses
the Wwise Synth One source synthesizer instead of sampled sounds.

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Take a look at the Wwise Help for more details on how to create sampled
instruments and MIDI tracks in Wwise.

Factory Assets
It is possible to import additional "factory" content in Wwise using the
"Import Factory Assets..." option found in the "Project" menu in Wwise.
Altiverb and Convolution Reverb are Effect assets while Crankcase REV,
SoundSeed Air and Synth One are source plug-in assets.

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Chapter 3. Need Help?
Using Help ............................................................................................... 41
Further Resources .................................................................................... 41

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Need Help?

Using Help
Wwise Help contains detailed information on each interface element in
Wwise.

To open Help from within Wwise, do one of the following:

• Click the Help icon (?) in the title bar of any of the views or dialog
boxes.
• From the menu bar, click Help > Wwise Help.
• Press F1.

Further Resources
This sample project gives an overview of how typical audio structure for
game can be built in Wwise. If you want to learn more about Wwise, we
suggest you take a look at the following resources
• Cube Project - Also available from the Wwise Launcher, Cube is a
first person shooter game. Although the game is old and not so great
looking, the interest comes from the fact that it contains a few sound
Events that can be easily customized. Real-time mixing and profiling
is also easily achieved which makes it pretty close to the workflow of
working on a game production.
• Video Tutorials - Video tutorial are available for all users in the
community section of our website. They are also available on
AudiokineticWwise's YouTube channel.
• Wwise Certification - The Wwise Certification online courses offer
several programs for learning Wwise fundamentals and advanced
specialized topics.

Note
Materials sent by content providers were all originally high
quality (48 kHz, 16 or 24 bits). However, to save download time
and disk space, we have reduced the size of some of the sound
assets.

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