Skip to content

[FMOD/Core] Sound comes from left side when listener and source are roughly at the same position #557

@Schroedingers-Cat

Description

@Schroedingers-Cat

System Information
Please provide the following information about your system:

  • Steam Audio version: 4.8.1
  • FMOD Studio version: 2.2.20
  • Operating System and version: Linux, macOS, Windows
  • CPU architecture (e.g. x86-64, armv7): x64, ARM64

Issue Description
When the listener is very close to or exactly at the source, the source will be spatialized 90° to the left.
While listener at source position is a special case for a math function extracting a direction, it should nevertheless be as neutral as possible. Left isn't a neutral option because it is also absence on the right side. A much more neutral option would be the front since it gives both sides equal weight.

Interestingly, FMOD Studio seems to do this by default - but only after the first playback of an event's lifetime. So the first time after loading an event, it plays back fully left (but due to #556 this can be a bit less prominent when not listening very closely). After that, FMOD slightly nudges the source away from the listener, a tiny bit to its front.

Steps To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

  1. Open an event with a clear transient material that makes use of the Steam Audio Spatializer
  2. Start playback and watch the channel level meters or listen carefully
  3. You should see/hear the sound coming from the left side (or without a fix for [FMOD/Core] Spatializer smooths panning after idle #556 moving to the left side) (bug)
  4. Stop playback - note how FMOD now nudges the source position indicator slightly above the listener position
  5. Start playback again
  6. You should see/hear the sound coming from the center (expected) (or without a fix for [FMOD/Core] Spatializer smooths panning after idle #556 moving from the left to the center)
SteamAudio-SoundFromLeftWhenListenerIsAtSource.mp4

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

No one assigned

    Labels

    No labels
    No labels

    Type

    No type

    Projects

    No projects

    Milestone

    No milestone

    Relationships

    None yet

    Development

    No branches or pull requests

    Issue actions