Spatialization Workflows

atmoky trueSpatial supports two workflows to spatializer audio objects in Unreal Engine:

↓ MetaSounds: spatialize audio directly within a MetaSounds patch
↓ Sound Attenuation: use UE’s built-in sound attenuation settings to spatialize audio in Sound Cues

You can use either or both workflows in your project, depending on your needs. As you will see below, you can even use the Sound Attenuation workflow to spatialize MetaSounds Sources.

MetaSounds

You can use the atmoky Spatializer Node to spatialize audio directly within a MetaSounds Patch/Source. The Spatializer takes stereo audio input and positional information to spatialize the audio in 3D space. It supports HRTF-based binaural rendering for headphones, as well as Stereo rendering for loudspeakers.

The positional information of the sound source within the scene is created using the Spatialization Data node. It combines the data from the UE.Attenuation, UE.Source.Orientation, and UE.Spatialization interfaces and feeds them into the Spatializer node.

Follow the steps below to add the Spatializer node to your MetaSounds patch:

Add the Spatializer Node

Right-click on the graph and search for Spatializer to add the atmoky Spatializer node to your MetaSounds patch.

Add the Spatialization Data Node

Right-click on the graph and search for Spatialization Data to add the Spatialization Data node to your MetaSounds patch. Connect the output of the Spatialization Data node to the input of the Spatializer node.

Add the UE interfaces

In the Interfaces tab, add the UE.Attenuation, UE.Source.Orientation, and UE.Spatialization interfaces to your MetaSounds patch. In the Members tab, drag the following members to the graph:

UE → Attenuation → Distance
UE → Source → Orientation → Azimuth
UE → Source → Orientation → Elevation
UE → Spatialization → Azimuth
UE → Spatialization → Elevation

Connect the members to the corresponding inputs of the Spatialization Data node.

⚠️

Note that the distance information is currently only used for the near-field effects and not for applying distance-based attenuation. This is left to the user to implement in the MetaSounds patch.

Connect the Audio Input and Output

Connect the audio input to the Spatializer node and the output of the Spatializer node to the output of the MetaSounds patch. If your input audio is mono, simply connect it to both the left and right inputs of the Spatializer node.

The final graph could look like this:

With this setup you can place the MetaSound Source in the scene and the audio will be spatialized relative to the listener’s position.

For more information on how to use the Spatializer node, refer to the Spatializer Node documentation.

Sound Attenuation

Alternatively, you can use Unreal Engine’s built-in sound attenuation settings to spatialize audio in Sound Cues (see Attenuation (Spatialization)). This workflow is useful when you want to spatialize audio in a more traditional way, without using MetaSounds.

To spatialize audio using Sound Attenuation, follow these steps:

Set Platform Spatializer

In the Project Settings, navigate to the Platforms settings for each platform you are targeting and set the Spatialization Plugin to atmokyTrueSpatial Spatializer.

Create Spatializer Settings

Create a new atmoky Spatializer Settings asset by right-clicking in the Content Browser and navigating to “Audio / atmoky” and select atmoky Spatializer Settings. For more information about the settings, refer to the Spatializer documentation.

Create Sound Attenuation

Create a new Sound Attenuation asset by right-clicking in the Content Browser and navigating to “Audio / Sound Attenuation”. Open the Sound Attenuation asset by double-clicking it, and perform the following steps:

check the Enable Spatialization box
set the Spatialization Method to Binaural
add the atmoky Spatializer Settings asset you created to the Spatialization Plugin Settings field

Apply to Sound Cues or MetaSound Sources

You can now use the Sound Attenuation asset in your Sound Cues or MetaSound Sources by setting their Attenuation Settings to the Sound Attenuation asset you created.