# Parameter controlled Surround Direction/Extent issues

**URL:** <https://qa.fmod.com/t/parameter-controlled-surround-direction-extent-issues/17742>\
**Category:** FMOD Studio\
**Tags:** ue4\
**Created:** [October 1, 2021, 8:33am UTC](https://qa.fmod.com/t/parameter-controlled-surround-direction-extent-issues/17742 "2021-10-01T08:33:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ptrefall](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/qa.fmod.com/ptrefall/32/2672_2.png) [@ptrefall](https://qa.fmod.com/u/ptrefall)\
**Post date:** [October 1, 2021, 8:33am UTC](https://qa.fmod.com/t/parameter-controlled-surround-direction-extent-issues/17742/1 "2021-10-01T08:33:18Z")

</div>

Hi, I’m working on atmospheric sounds / ambiances, and in particular the ambiance of the _outside_ when the listener is _inside_. For this I’ve set up an occlusion parameter. When the ambiance is heavily occluded, my idea was to narrow it’s surround extent and make the sound more directional, such that the sound appears to come from the mouth of a cave, or the windows/doors of a building.

But, when I try to automate the surround direction and extent via parameters in FMOD Studio, adjusting the parameters seem to have no effect on the direction/extent. I have not yet tried to integrate this in Unreal to check whether it will be a problem there as well, but I would assume it wouldn’t work when FMOD Studio itself can’t make it work?

Adjusting the Surround Direction and Extent manually gives me exactly the type of effect I’m after. Is this a bug, or are we simply not supposed to tweak these features dynamically?

 ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/uploads/fmod/original/2X/1/160f373b4a2784141a4f7957b19a37953adc7998.png)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ptrefall](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/qa.fmod.com/ptrefall/32/2672_2.png) [@ptrefall](https://qa.fmod.com/u/ptrefall)\
**Post date:** [October 1, 2021, 8:44am UTC](https://qa.fmod.com/t/parameter-controlled-surround-direction-extent-issues/17742/2 "2021-10-01T08:44:41Z")

</div>

Ah, I just realized I had set the surround extent on the Spatializer rather than the Panner. So I can adjust the Panner’s Surround Extent and Direction, and solve the Direction parameter in Unreal. Awesome!