To improve workflow efficiency within FMOD Studio, it would be beneficial to have the below features…
Embedded Audio Metadata
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Collapsible metadata viewer in the Asset Browser that lists all the embedded metadata for that audio file
This would be positioned in the UI near the “Notes” section. -
In the metadata viewer, if the user clicks a metadata entry its data gets copied to the clipboard
Have each entry outlined in a box which changes contrast when hovered over to convey to the user that it can be clicked. -
Search-bar filter for metadata in the Asset Browser
This should also be added as a right-click feature for each metadata entry (for example, you could filter all files that share the same “Actor” name in their metadata).
Embedded Audio Markers / Cues
NOTE: For shorthand sake, I’ll refer to embedded audio markers as “cues”.
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Option in “View” menu to toggle visibility in FMOD instruments for cues
I suggest having the markers be delineated lines within the instrument and position their text (if any) either at the top or bottom so that it doesn’t obscure the waveform. -
Feature to convert cues into FMOD logic markers
This feature would probably merit its own UI interface so the user can specify how the conversion will occur (e.g. Which cues to convert ; The type of logic marker ; Between which two cues will be a region ; Option to rename the logic marker to something other the cue’s name ; etc…) -
Callbacks for cues
This approach is more efficient than having to explicitly create logic markers at the cue points, because if the timing/name of the cues changes then the designer doesn’t have to reposition/rename the logic markers.
For example, say you have a very long dialogue audio file, cue callbacks can be used to trigger the next subtitle to display.
Another example (that could not be quickly done with FMOD logic markers), say you have a multi-instrument with audio files of varying durations and they need to have a callback that occurs when their audio reaches a certain point within themselves.
My team uses Unreal Engine, so I also request that this feature be made into a blueprint node.
As an example for how these features would be useful, in my case…
- My team uses ASWG metadata on all WAV files to categorize our audio assets, so the ability for our FMOD team to inspect metadata, and to be able to filter files of a certain category would be handy.
- BWF metadata stores the name of the DAW project that the file was created from, so if there’s an issue with a file then our FMOD team could communicate to the sound designer where the file originated from.
- Marker / Cue support would be useful to quickly set up, or get callbacks for dialogue subtitles, adaptive music, audiovisual syncs.
Those are all my thoughts. Thank you for reading my post.