Audio Subforum?

(pinging [MENTION=8] [/MENTION] and @Minus_Kelvin – not sure who else to ask regarding this?)

Would it make sense to create a dedicated “Audio” subforum under “Development Discussion” as a home for all things audio?

Now that we’re seeing audio treated more like a first-class citizen (see the talks regarding the new audio engine below if you haven’t already), it occurs to me that we don’t really have a home on these forums to discuss audio development. There are a few places where these topics can currently be wedged in:

  • Content Creation (for prerendered static audio asset creation)
  • Rendering? (for realtime dynamic audio synthesis and processing – but I’m assuming this subforum is intended for purely visual rendering topics)
  • VR Development (for headphone audio spatialization, binaural, HRTF, and other specifics relevant to VR)
  • iOS, Android, and HTML5 subforums (for platform-specific implementation challenges)

But sometimes none of these are the right place for discussion of broader technologies and third-party tools, sound design, audio programming, cross-platform audio challenges, etc. Or even to post simple one-liner topics such as “Why is my audio doing XYZ?” (of course these can go on AnswerHub, but not thinks to use it, even a long-time UE4 dev like myself); or more open-ended discussions such as pros/cons of method A vs method B, or other “share your experience” topics.

I do extremely audio-focused dev work, and I’m just floored by some of the recent and upcoming audio changes in UE4 – I can’t tell you how happy I am to see audio getting this kind of attention.

What do Epic or any devs out there think? Any we could take a vote? :wink: I would love to have the stage set for discussion of the new audio engine changes as they roll out…

Links to talks regarding the new audio engine for anyone who hasn’t been following this stuff:

The Future of Audio in Unreal Engine @ GDC 2017

Audio Engine Update Preview

Thanks for looking!

I would also like to see an audio section of the forum. I’ve only recently started working on the audio of our project and would love to have a forum section to more conveniently find threads about it.

Oh yes, +1,000,000

Seems annoying to have to put ‘audio’ and wade through general to find anything sound related. It’s an entire one of our senses and needs is own forum

I’d like some more sections in general.
UI would also be a good thing to have as a separate subforum.

I would vote for it too. Man , I even have problems making tags for my project :).

Aaron Mcleran (Epic’s senior audio dev) was kind enough to look into this after my pestering: https://twitter.com/acatalept/status/843630239502782465

Hopefully we’ll see some audio attention on the forums soon! If you or any other devs you know are interested in this, speak up and hopefully the forum gods will be swayed :wink:

Would also be very keen on an Audio Specific sub-forum, here’s hoping!

Hey there! Yeah, I’m considering the subforums and what their structure should really look like based on the engines many toolsets. I’d be happy to add an audio subforum, but I’m also going to try to do some planning around this.

No worries, take your time, just glad this is on the To Do list :smiley:

IMHO, at least as far as audio is concerned, I don’t know how much structure we’d need initially because things are changing/developing so rapidly… but even just a master “Audio” section like we currently have for “Rendering” or “VR Development” would be a great start, and as interest is shown in various areas over time, maybe sticky some of the more useful threads (e,.g. “Wwise FAQ”, “Steam Audio FAQ”, “Synthesis in the New Audio Engine”), or even make subforums within “Audio” for things like “Middleware (FMOD, Wwise, Steam Audio)”, “Troubleshooting”, “Sound Design”, etc to contain threads along those lines.

Maybe best to err on the side of fewer and more general categories / sections, and let community interest dictate over time how much compartmentalization is needed?

Just my 2 cents – thanks much!

Yeah, that’s what all I want to take into consideration. There are a few more that have been requested and I want to set up a better overall structure here first.

I’d love an Audio and a UI subforum as well. In terms of studio responsibilities there are whole teams now devoted to this stuff so it’d be great to build a community around those dealing with the same problems re: Audio and UI. Thanks!

Just an update: I’m working with the audio guys about getting a sticky post and some basic assets to start it off, but the audio subforum is coming.


Thank you!

Great, thank you! :slight_smile:

Woo hoo! :smiley:

I like this idea, I want to create an audio visualizer, so this would be the appropriate section.

Epiiiiiiic:

http://i.imgur.com/CjYdp1q.png

Wishes can come true :wink:

Hahaha, yep, came back to let you know, but you beat me to it. Sorry the image wasn’t showing up (ironically), but we’ll have that fixed in one moment.

This is awesome. I don’t know anything about audio but I find it fascinating, so I’m definitely happy to finally see a forum about it where I can lurk. :slight_smile:

Oh awesome, thanks for putting that together so quickly!