# FMOD Surround Sound

**URL:** <https://qa.fmod.com/t/fmod-surround-sound/17123>\
**Category:** FMOD Engine\
**Created:** [April 28, 2021, 7:59am UTC](https://qa.fmod.com/t/fmod-surround-sound/17123 "2021-04-28T07:59:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![zhanz1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecb155/32.png) [@zhanz1](https://qa.fmod.com/u/zhanz1)\
**Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 7:59am UTC](https://qa.fmod.com/t/fmod-surround-sound/17123/1 "2021-04-28T07:59:46Z")

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The question here is a little weird. So the case is that I’m trying to build like a simulating game with 8 speakers + 1 for bass. I’ve read the previous posts about multiple outputs so here I’m planning on creating multiple systems for each of the speakers. The question is that if I’m using separate systems and apply the correct parameters like positions, distances to each of the speakers and place them around a person, will that person hear the sound with the same effect as 7.1 or other surround sound systems. If not, what can be some other approaches for this?

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**Author:** ![joseph](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/qa.fmod.com/joseph/32/264_2.png) [@joseph](https://qa.fmod.com/u/joseph)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2021, 1:30am UTC](https://qa.fmod.com/t/fmod-surround-sound/17123/2 "2021-04-29T01:30:47Z")

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> [@zhanz1](#):
>
> The question is that if I’m using separate systems and apply the correct parameters like positions, distances to each of the speakers and place them around a person, will that person hear the sound with the same effect as 7.1 or other surround sound systems.

Yes and no.

When using a non-standard channel setup, you won’t be able to use FMOD Studio’s existing spatializer or object spatializer effects, as they do not currently support arbitrary channel formats and speaker positions.

However, you can use [System::setSpeakerPosition](https://www.fmod.com/resources/documentation-api?version=2.2&page=core-api-system.html#system_setspeakerposition) to set your speaker positions for use with Core API spatialization via [ChannelControl::set3DAttributes](https://www.fmod.com/resources/documentation-api?version=2.2&page=core-api-channelcontrol.html#channelcontrol_set3dattributes).

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**Author:** ![zhanz1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecb155/32.png) [@zhanz1](https://qa.fmod.com/u/zhanz1)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2021, 3:03am UTC](https://qa.fmod.com/t/fmod-surround-sound/17123/3 "2021-04-29T03:03:29Z")

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Thanks! I’ve looked at the API and found that setSpeakerPosition only supports x and y, but I’m placing the speakers at different heights. I wonder if we can set the speaker’s position in 3D space instead of 2D where we only have x and y. Thank you!

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**Author:** ![joseph](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/qa.fmod.com/joseph/32/264_2.png) [@joseph](https://qa.fmod.com/u/joseph)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2021, 4:04am UTC](https://qa.fmod.com/t/fmod-surround-sound/17123/4 "2021-04-29T04:04:35Z")

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> [@zhanz1](#):
>
> I wonder if we can set the speaker’s position in 3D space instead of 2D where we only have x and y.

As of the time of writing (April of 2021), the FMOD Engine does not support using [System::setSpeakerPosition](https://www.fmod.com/resources/documentation-api?version=2.2&page=core-api-system.html#system_setspeakerposition) to set custom speaker heights.

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**Author:** ![zhanz1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecb155/32.png) [@zhanz1](https://qa.fmod.com/u/zhanz1)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2021, 4:09am UTC](https://qa.fmod.com/t/fmod-surround-sound/17123/5 "2021-04-29T04:09:48Z")

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Thank you!