When an event that has a snapshot instrument enters the parameter timeline, the event keeps playing and does not stop.
Is this a bug, or is it the expected behavior?
This is the expected behaviour. An event instance does not reach a natural end until none of the instruments in that event instance are active - and an active snapshot instrument is an active instrument.
I understand. But what I want is to control the volume of music and other audio via a snapshot when a voice line is played. Does that mean there’s no way to do this? Do I have no choice but to use compressor side-chaining? (For reference, our game does not have many voice lines, so we’re not using programmer instruments.)
It’s possible; you just need to ensure that the snapshot instrument is untriggered when the voice line finishes playing. There are multiple ways to do this.
My personal favorite is as follows:
- Create a new continuous parameter. Leave all of its settings as their default values.
- Add a parameter trigger condition to the snapshot instrument, based on the parameter you just added. Set the trigger condition’s range to 0.1 to 1.
- Add a sidechain to the audio track containing the single instruments.
- Add a sidechain modulator to the parameter’s value. Set its amount property to 1.00, its attack to 10 ms, and its threshold to -70 to -70 dB.
- Link the sidechain modulator to the sidechain.
This method is less computationally expensive than using a compressor effect would be, and avoids the disadvantages and limitations of real-time audio compression, while still working for audio assets of any length.
Of course, any method that ensures the snapshot instrument is untriggered when the audio file finishes playing would work. For example, if you know the length of the audio file, you could use the timeline to untrigger the snapshot instrument after a specific amount of time, or give the snaphot instrument a trigger condition based on a parameter with a velocity to achieve the same effect.
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Ah… It seems this was also in the example project.
I don’t know why I didn’t think of that method.
Thank you for giving me such a great tip, Joseph.
Thanks a lot.
Joseph, I have a question.
Even though I set the Release value of the sidechain modulator to 10ms, the snapshot event does not end immediately when the voice instrument playback finishes.
After the sound instrument stops playing, the snapshot instrument continues for about one more second before stopping.
I’ve tried changing various settings, but nothing seems to work.
Do you know why this is happening?
Any help would be appreciated!
Unfortunately, I can’t tell from that video whether the snapshot is continuuing to play even after the audio asset has finished playing. I can tell that the parent event is continuuing to play, but I can’t be sure whether the snapshot is the cause, because there’s nothing on screen that indicates that.
Could you try expanding the master track, so that you can see a rectangle with rounded corners appearing on the body of the snapshot insturment? This rectangle will light up when the snapshot is triggered, and return to a dull colour when the snapshot stops.
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