Audio#

Summary

The Audio Manager configures pooled Audio Sources from Play Instructions, then reclaims each source when its sound ends. Choose a resource and channel without placing a separate Audio Source in the scene.

The five Play Instructions#

There's one Instruction per channel, under Audio in the Instructions dropdown.

Instruction	Plays on	Suits
Play Sound Effect	Sound Effect	Footsteps, impacts, gunshots, a door closing.
Play Ambient	Ambient	Wind, rain, a crowd, the hum of a generator.
Play Music	Music	The score.
Play Voice	Voice	Dialogue, barks, grunts.
Play UI	UI	Button clicks, menu confirmations, chimes.

All five share the same playback behavior. Their channel and initial field values differ:

Instruction	Loop	Fade in	Clock	Spatial blend	Has Target
Play Sound Effect	No	`0`	Game Time	`1` — 3D	Off
Play Ambient	Yes	`3`	Game Time	`1` — 3D	On
Play Music	Yes	`3`	Real Time	`0` — 2D	Off
Play Voice	No	`0`	Game Time	`1` — 3D	On
Play UI	No	`0`	Real Time	`0` — 2D	Off

Random pitch varies repeated effects

Play Sound Effect starts with a random Pitch between 0.95 and 1.05 instead of a fixed 1. This variation keeps repeated shots from sounding like one recording in a loop.

Each default is an editable field. For example, Play Music can produce a one-shot 3D sound from a radio instead of a looping 2D track. Playing a sound covers every field.

Sources are pooled#

When you play a sound, the Audio Manager takes an Audio Source from its pool. When the clip finishes, the manager disables the source and returns it to the pool.

The pool grows to the highest number of concurrent sounds reached during the session. After that peak, Visual Script reuses sources instead of creating and destroying one for every sound.

Unity still has a voice limit

The pool has no fixed capacity limit, but Unity limits how many voices it plays at once. Beyond that limit, lower-priority sounds become virtual: they keep their playback position but produce no sound. Use Priority to indicate which sounds should remain audible.

Loops need an explicit stop#

A looping sound continues when you leave the zone that started it or load a different scene. This lets music continue across scene transitions, but it also means you need to decide when each loop should stop. See Stopping a sound.

Try it#

Put Play Music on an On Start Event with a looping track, and listen to the three-second fade in.
Put Play Sound Effect on an On Keyboard Press, press the key a dozen times in a row, and listen to the pitch variation between repeats.
Set the time scale to 0.25 while a sound effect and a music track are both playing. With the default Time settings, the effect drops in pitch while the music stays unchanged.
Play an ambient loop with Has Target pointed at a game object, then end it with Stop Audio on Game Object and a two-second fade.
Wire a uGUI slider to the Music Volume Signal with an On Slider Change Event, then add a Save Shared Instruction beside it. The slider now controls music volume and preserves its value across restarts.

Where to go next#

Channels — control category and Master volumes, routing, and final loudness.
Playing a sound — configure playback, timing, spatial settings, and ownership.
Stopping a sound — select sounds to stop and control their fade-out.
Audio API — call AudioManager and VolumeManager from C#.