COMPUTER

AUDIO/FMOD
CGDD 4603
Why fmod?
Sound you might have in a game:
Background music
Sound effects
Dialog
How do you currently use these in your
games?
fmod is very popular
Powerful both 2D and 3D sound, DSP/effects
Cross platform (PS3, Wii, PC)
Has a designer, sandbox and API
Partial List of Games that use
fmod
Allods Online
Audition Online
Battlestations: Pacific
BioShock
BioShock2
Brutal Legend
Clive Barker's Jericho
Cortex Command
Crysis
Darkfall
DJ Hero
Batman: Arkham Asylum
De Blob
Dragon Age: Origins
Dogfighter
Far Cry
Forza Motorsport 2
Forza Motorsport 3
Guild Wars

Guitar Hero III
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
Guitar Hero: World Tour
Heavenly Sword
Heroes of Newerth
Hellgate: London
Jurassic Park: Operation
Genesis
Just Cause 2
League of Legends
Lego Universe
LittleBigPlanet/LBP2
Metroid Prime 3
Natural Selection 2
Need for Speed: Shift
Nicktoons Unite!
Nicktoons: Across the Second
Dimension


Plants vs Zombies
Pure
Rise of Flight: The First Great Air
War
Second Life
Shatter
Shattered Horizon
[4]

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
Stargate Worlds
Stranglehold
TimeShift
TNA iMPACT!
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas
2
Tomb Raider: Underworld
Torchlight
Tropico 3
vSide
World of Tanks
World of WarCraft
You Don't Know Jack
Zuma

Things You Should Know
ADC/DAC Audio to Digital Conversion
Sampling rate
# of times per second the computer listens
44.1 KHz is CD
22 KHz is good
Bits per sample
Computers have to approximate
4 bits = 16 levels of approximation
8 bits = 256 levels of approximation

Original Sound
Low Sampling Rate
TIME
Low Sampling Rate
What the computer hears
TIME
High Sampling Rate
TIME
High Sampling Rate
TIME
2 bits per sample
4 Approximations
TIME
StairStep Effect
TIME
3 bits per sample
8 Approximations
TIME
Less StairStep
TIME
Capturing Sounds
Usually done with:
a microphone (such as voice)
Line in
CD
Hollywood Edge
Computer has sound card
Input types (RCA, MIDI, mini, , XLR)
Card has quality (plays 16-bit sound)
Need some kind of software
SoundForge/Audacity
Windows SoundRecorder (gag)




3D Sound
Sounds have position and velocity
There is a listener component
Relationship between the two
Attenuation (with distance)
Occlusion (low-pass filter)
Doppler (relative velocities)
Lots of psycho-acoustic options
Back to fmod
There are three primary components:
The Sound Designer
The Sandbox
The API
Well use all three
Start with Sound Designer
Setting up a Project
Take the advice of the video tutorials
Have a separate folder
Copy sounds into a sounds directory
Keeps the safe
Can have sub-directories
Create an output directory
Designer Interface
Can delete this if you want, but need to have at
least one group
Events
Used to define sound properties for an event
Can be comprised of
One sound
Several sounds randomly chosen
Monophonic vs Polyphonic
Can randomize pitch and attenuation
Events can be
Simple
Multi-track
A Simple Event

Granular Sounds
These sounds arent
looping
Allows for a sounds to
occur between time
ranges
Allows for polyphony
Event Options
Can vary attenuation
(dropoff with distance)
Can vary pitch
Creates a sound
considerably smaller
than a soundtrack
Plays forever and is
always random!
Sound Definitions
Required for multi-track events
Multi-track Events
Comprised of sound defs in layers
Multi-track Events
Careful when adding sounds
Choose sound def
Ambient noise is looping
Other sounds are granular,
so choose Oneshot
Have parameters
Not based on time!

Multi-track Events
Can cross-fade and set fade out time
Effects

Parameter Properties
Can define range and velocity (to simulate
time)
Engine Designer
fmod can specifically work with engine sounds
Need for Speed 2
Based on the load of the engine
Right-click on a
sound instance->properties
Auto-pitch
Window->fmod Engine Designer

The Build Process
Know which platform youre targeting
Changes are applied only to that platform
Project->Clean, Project->Build
Interactive Music
Comprised of several short segments of music
Intro music
Darkening or discovery
Fighting/intense fighting
Release
Before you begin, you must know
Tempo of music (beats per minute bpm)
Beats per measure (time signature)


Cues

Themes and Auditioning

Transitioning via Parameters

Other Things
Supports deployment of multiple languages
Can deploy different builds based on
Platform
Language

A Look at the API
Basic API
Designer API
Built on basic API
Can read .fev files
Written for C/C++
#include <fmod.h> // C
#include <fmod.hpp> // C++
Read the documentation fmodex.chm
API Parts
A System is the fmod engine
A Sound is the raw resource
2D uses FMOD_2D
3D uses FMOD_3D

result = system->createSound(music.wav", FMOD_2D, 0, &sound);


API Parts
A Channel is an instance of a Sound
Each time you play a sound, you get a new
channel
Channels can start out paused
You can set the
Volume (0.0f 1.0f)
Pan (-1.0f 1.0f)
Frequency (in Hz as a float)
Always use FMOD_CHANNEL_FREE to pick for you
#include <iostream>
#include <fmod.hpp>
#include <fmod_errors.h>

using namespace std;
using namespace FMOD;

void main () {
FMOD_RESULT result;
System* system;
// Create the fmod system. We only need one of these
result = System_Create(&system);
// Specify a max number of simultaneous channels
result = system->init(100, FMOD_INIT_NORMAL, 0);

Sound* sound;
// Decompress the entire mp3 into 16-bit PCM in memory
result = system->createSound("winning.mp3", FMOD_DEFAULT, 0, &sound);

if (result != FMOD_OK) {
cout << "Couldn't open it! " << FMOD_ErrorString(result) << endl;
}

Channel* channel; // Used for setting volume, pan, pausing...
// You have the option of passing that channel as the last parameter
result = system->playSound(FMOD_CHANNEL_FREE, sound, false, &channel);
channel->setFrequency (44100.0f);

if (result != FMOD_OK) {
cout << "Couldn't play it! " << FMOD_ErrorString(result) << endl;
}
while (true) {
cout << "1"; system->update(); // Now required in fmod
}
}

Virtual Voices
Supports virtual voices when hardware is
limited
Set from System::init()
System::getCPUUsage()
Try to keep < 1000
May need to set the
priority of a channel
if its important
channel->isVirtual()


3D Sound in fmod
Sound attenuation
Logarithmic
Set the mindistance of a sound channel to start
attenuation
Bee = 0.1f
Jet = 50.0f
Leave max distance alone (default is 10,000)
Set 3D settings with System::set3DSettings()
Doppler
Distance factor (in cm, m, feet)
Rolloff scale (attenuation models)

3D Sound
fmod uses a left-handed coordinate system
result=system->init(100,
(FMOD_MODE)(FMOD_INIT_3D_RIGHTHANDED|FMOD_3D), 0);

With velocity, you must pass it as meters per
second
velx = (posx-lastposx) * 1000 / timedelta;
vel = 0.1 * 1000 / 16.67 = 6 meters per second
vel = 0.2 * 1000 / 33.33 = 6 meters per second


void main () {
FMOD_RESULT result;
FMOD_VECTOR soundPos, soundVel;
FMOD_VECTOR listenerPos, listenerVel, listenerForward, listenerUp;

System* system;
result = System_Create(&system);
result = system->init(100, (FMOD_MODE)(FMOD_3D), 0);

int numHC = 0;
result = system->getHardwareChannels(&numHC);
cout << "Hardware channels: " << numHC << endl;

Sound* sound;
result = system->createSound(train.mp3", FMOD_3D, 0, &sound);

if (result != FMOD_OK) {
cout << "Couldn't open it! " << FMOD_ErrorString(result) << endl;
}

Channel* channel;
result = system->playSound(FMOD_CHANNEL_FREE, sound, false, &channel);
channel->setFrequency(44100.0f);

if (result != FMOD_OK) {
cout << "Couldn't play it! " << FMOD_ErrorString(result) << endl;
}
float dsp, stream, geometry, update, total;
soundPos.y = soundVel.x = soundVel.y = 0.0f;
soundPos.z = -100.0f; soundPos.x = 5.0f;
soundVel.z = 6.0f;
channel->set3DMinMaxDistance(10, 10000);
listenerPos.x = listenerPos.y = listenerPos.z = 0.0f;
listenerVel.x = listenerVel.y = listenerVel.z = 0.0f;
listenerForward.x = listenerForward.y = listenerUp.x = listenerUp.z = 0.0f;
listenerForward.z = listenerUp.y = 1.0f;
system->set3DListenerAttributes(0, &listenerPos, &listenerVel, &listenerForward, &listenerUp);

while (true) {
system->update();
system->getCPUUsage(&dsp, &stream, &geometry, &update, &total);
cout << total << endl;
soundPos.z+=0.01f;
channel->set3DAttributes(&soundPos, &soundVel);
}
}
Interfacing with Sound Designer
You should have received
.fev file (Designer file event data)
.fsb file (raw audio data)
.txt file (describes the events and parameters)
May want to start by creating a helper function


void checkErrors(FMOD_RESULT result) {
if (result != FMOD_OK) {
cout << "fmod error: " << FMOD_ErrorString(result) << endl;
exit(1);
}
}


Imagine That This is our Project

#include <iostream>
#include <fmod.hpp>
#include <fmod_event.hpp>
#include <fmod_errors.h>
using namespace std;
using namespace FMOD;


void main () {
EventSystem* eventSystem = NULL;
EventGroup* eventGroup = NULL;
Event* myEvent = NULL;
EventParameter* eventPar;

FMOD_RESULT result = EventSystem_Create(&eventSystem);
checkErrors(result);
result = eventSystem->init(64, FMOD_INIT_NORMAL, 0, FMOD_EVENT_INIT_NORMAL);
eventSystem->setMediaPath("..//");
result = eventSystem->load("fmodTest.fev", 0, 0);
result = eventSystem->getGroup("fmodTest/beeps", false, &eventGroup);
result = eventGroup->getEvent("PossessedComputer", FMOD_EVENT_DEFAULT, &myEvent);
result = myEvent->getParameter("proximityToComputer", &eventPar);
myEvent->start();

float dir = 0.0001f;
float currentParVal = -1.0f;
eventPar->setValue(0.1f);
while (true){
cout << currentParVal << endl;
eventPar->getValue(&currentParVal);
currentParVal+=dir;
eventPar->setValue(currentParVal);
if ((currentParVal >= 1.0)||(currentParVal <= 0.0)) {
dir = -dir;
}
}
}
Interactive Music
void main () {
EventSystem* eventSystem = NULL;
MusicSystem* musicSystem = NULL;
MusicPrompt* introPrompt, *fightPrompt, *fight2Prompt, *releasePrompt;
FMOD_MUSIC_ITERATOR cueIter;
FMOD_MUSIC_ITERATOR paramIter;
FMOD_MUSIC_ID intensityParID = -1.0f;


FMOD_RESULT result = EventSystem_Create(&eventSystem);
result = eventSystem->init(64, FMOD_INIT_NORMAL, 0,
FMOD_EVENT_INIT_NORMAL);
result = eventSystem->load("acid_test.fev", 0, 0);
result = eventSystem->getMusicSystem(&musicSystem);
musicSystem->setVolume(1.0f);
result = musicSystem->getCues(&cueIter);
cout << "Iter ID: " << cueIter.value->id << endl;
result = musicSystem->prepareCue(cueIter.value->id, &fightPrompt);
result = musicSystem->getNextCue(&cueIter);
cout << "Iter ID: " << cueIter.value->id << endl;
result = musicSystem->prepareCue(cueIter.value->id, &fight2Prompt);
result = musicSystem->getNextCue(&cueIter);
result = musicSystem->prepareCue(cueIter.value->id, &introPrompt);
result = musicSystem->getNextCue(&cueIter);
result = musicSystem->prepareCue(cueIter.value->id, &releasePrompt);

musicSystem->getParameters(&paramIter);
intensityParID = paramIter.value->id;
cout << "paramIter.value->name is " << paramIter.value->name << endl;
musicSystem->setParameterValue(intensityParID, 7.5f);
result = introPrompt->begin();

while (true){
eventSystem->update();
}
}
Other Things You Should Look
Into
The 3D Reverb API
Asynchronously loading data (by default)
Memory management for non-PC platforms
FMOD::Memory_Initialize() // fix size of fmod
Using compressed samples
Built-in DSP

Configuration Notes
Youll be working with
Header files
C/C++ -> General->Additional Include Directories
Lib files
Linker->General->Additional Library Directories
Linker->General->Additional Dependencies
DLLs (which you should put into
Windows/System32)
Theres also a FMOD.NET site
Configuration Notes
You have the option of 64-bit and 32-bit
libraries
You might have to create a new platform