# Do I need to release an instance after it plays to its end?

**URL:** <https://qa.fmod.com/t/do-i-need-to-release-an-instance-after-it-plays-to-its-end/21197>\
**Category:** Unity\
**Tags:** unity, csharp\
**Created:** [February 3, 2024, 10:38am UTC](https://qa.fmod.com/t/do-i-need-to-release-an-instance-after-it-plays-to-its-end/21197 "2024-02-03T10:38:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![theconsoloist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@theconsoloist](https://qa.fmod.com/u/theconsoloist)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 10:38am UTC](https://qa.fmod.com/t/do-i-need-to-release-an-instance-after-it-plays-to-its-end/21197/1 "2024-02-03T10:38:45Z")

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I have a simple timeline event that plays to a sustain point and holds a loop there. Then I call KeyOff and the event runs for another second or so and plays an “ending” sound and the event stops, as shown by the ‘stopped’ indication in FMOD Studio.

Do I need to call instance.release in this case, or does it release automatically after it has stopped as OneShots are said to do?

Thank you for your help!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Connor\_FMOD](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/qa.fmod.com/connor_fmod/32/3685_2.png) [@Connor\_FMOD](https://qa.fmod.com/u/Connor_FMOD)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 12:20am UTC](https://qa.fmod.com/t/do-i-need-to-release-an-instance-after-it-plays-to-its-end/21197/2 "2024-02-05T00:20:20Z")

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Hi,

From our docs:  
“Generally it is a best practice to release event instances immediately after calling [Studio::EventInstance::start](https://fmod.com/docs/2.02/api/studio-api-eventinstance.html#studio_eventinstance_start), unless you want to play the event instance multiple times or explicitly stop it and start it again later. It is possible to interact with the instance after falling `release()` , however if the sound has stopped `ERR_INVALID_HANDLE` will be returned.”

[FMOD Engine | Studio API Reference - EventInstance::release](https://fmod.com/docs/2.02/api/studio-api-eventinstance.html#studio_eventinstance_release)  
Hope this helps!