Sound

Functions and messages for controlling sound components and mixer groups.

play_sound

plays a sound

Post this message to a sound-component to make it play its sound. Multiple voices is supported. The limit is set to 32 voices per sound component.

A sound will continue to play even if the game object the sound component belonged to is deleted. You can send a stop_sound to stop the sound.

PARAMETERS

[delay] -

number delay in seconds before the sound starts playing, default is 0.

[gain] -

number sound gain between 0 and 1, default is 1.

[play_id] -

number the identifier of the sound, can be used to distinguish between consecutive plays from the same component.

EXAMPLES

Assuming the script belongs to an instance with a sound-component with id "sound", this will make the component play its sound after 1 second:

msg.post("#sound", "play_sound", {delay = 1, gain = 0.5})

set_gain

set sound gain

Post this message to a sound-component to set gain on all active playing voices.

PARAMETERS

[gain] -

number sound gain between 0 and 1, default is 1.

EXAMPLES

Assuming the script belongs to an instance with a sound-component with id "sound", this will set the gain to 0.5

msg.post("#sound", "set_gain", {gain = 0.5})

sound.get_group_gain()

get mixer group gain

Get mixer group gain

PARAMETERS

group -

string | hash group name

RETURN

gain -

number gain in linear scale

EXAMPLES

Get the mixer group gain for the "soundfx" and convert to dB:

local gain = sound.get_group_gain("soundfx")
local gain_db = 20 * log(gain)

sound.get_group_name()

get mixer group name string

Get a mixer group name as a string.

This function is to be used for debugging and development tooling only. The function does a reverse hash lookup, which does not return a proper string value when the game is built in release mode.

PARAMETERS

group -

string | hash group name

RETURN

name -

string group name

EXAMPLES

Get the mixer group string names so we can show them as labels on a dev mixer overlay:

local groups = sound.get_groups()
for _,group in ipairs(groups) do
    local name = sound.get_group_name(group)
    msg.post("/mixer_overlay#gui", "set_mixer_label", { group = group, label = name})
end

sound.get_groups()

get all mixer group names

Get a table of all mixer group names (hashes).

RETURN

groups -

table table of mixer group names

EXAMPLES

Get the mixer groups, set all gains to 0 except for "master" and "soundfx" where gain is set to 1:

local groups = sound.get_groups()
for _,group in ipairs(groups) do
    if group == hash("master") or group == hash("soundfx") then
        sound.set_group_gain(group, 1)
    else
        sound.set_group_gain(group, 0)
    end
end

sound.get_peak()

get peak gain value from mixer group

Get peak value from mixer group.

Note that gain is in linear scale, between 0 and 1. To get the dB value from the gain, use the formula 20 * log(gain). Inversely, to find the linear value from a dB value, use the formula 10^db/20. Also note that the returned value might be an approximation and in particular the effective window might be larger than specified.

PARAMETERS

group -

string | hash group name

window -

number window length in seconds

RETURN

peak_l -

number peak value for left channel

peak_r -

number peak value for right channel

EXAMPLES

Get the peak gain from the "master" group and convert to dB for displaying:

local left_p, right_p = sound.get_peak("master", 0.1)
left_p_db = 20 * log(left_p)
right_p_db = 20 * log(right_p)

sound.get_rms()

get RMS value from mixer group

Get RMS (Root Mean Square) value from mixer group. This value is the square root of the mean (average) value of the squared function of the instantaneous values.

For instance: for a sinewave signal with a peak gain of -1.94 dB (0.8 linear), the RMS is 0.8 × 1/sqrt(2) which is about 0.566.

Note the returned value might be an approximation and in particular the effective window might be larger than specified.

PARAMETERS

group -

string | hash group name

window -

number window length in seconds

RETURN

rms_l -

number RMS value for left channel

rms_r -

number RMS value for right channel

EXAMPLES

Get the RMS from the "master" group where a mono -1.94 dB sinewave is playing:

local rms = sound.get_rms("master", 0.1) -- throw away right channel.
print(rms) --> 0.56555819511414

sound.is_music_playing()

check if background music is playing

Checks if background music is playing, e.g. from iTunes.

On non mobile platforms, this function always return false.

On Android you can only get a correct reading of this state if your game is not playing any sounds itself. This is a limitation in the Android SDK. If your game is playing any sounds, even with a gain of zero, this function will return false.

The best time to call this function is:

In the init function of your main collection script before any sounds are triggered
In a window listener callback when the window.WINDOW_EVENT_FOCUS_GAINED event is received

Both those times will give you a correct reading of the state even when your application is swapped out and in while playing sounds and it works equally well on Android and iOS.

RETURN

playing -

boolean true if music is playing, otherwise false.

EXAMPLES

If music is playing, mute "master":

if sound.is_music_playing() then
    -- mute "master"
    sound.set_group_gain("master", 0)
end

sound.is_phone_call_active()

check if a phone call is active

Checks if a phone call is active. If there is an active phone call all other sounds will be muted until the phone call is finished.

On non mobile platforms, this function always return false.

RETURN

call_active -

boolean true if there is an active phone call, false otherwise.

EXAMPLES

Test if a phone call is on-going:

if sound.is_phone_call_active() then
    -- do something sensible.
end

sound.play()

plays a sound

Make the sound component play its sound. Multiple voices are supported. The limit is set to 32 voices per sound component.

A sound will continue to play even if the game object the sound component belonged to is deleted. You can call sound.stop() to stop the sound.

PARAMETERS

url -

string | hash | url the sound that should play

[play_properties] -

table optional table with properties:
delay: number delay in seconds before the sound starts playing, default is 0.
gain: number sound gain between 0 and 1, default is 1. The final gain of the sound will be a combination of this gain, the group gain and the master gain.
pan: number sound pan between -1 and 1, default is 0. The final gain of the sound will be an addition of this pan and the sound pan.

[complete_function] -

function(self, message_id, message, sender)) function to call when the sound has finished playing.

self: object The current object.
message_id: hash The name of the completion message, "sound_done".
message: table Information about the completion:

number play_id - the sequential play identifier that was given by the sound.play function.

sender: url The invoker of the callback: the sound component.

EXAMPLES

Assuming the script belongs to an instance with a sound-component with id "sound", this will make the component play its sound after 1 second:

sound.play("#sound", { delay = 1, gain = 0.5, pan = -1.0 } )

Using the callback argument, you can chain several sounds together:

local function sound_done(self, message_id, message, sender)
  -- play 'boom' sound fx when the countdown has completed
  if message_id == hash("sound_done") and message.play_id == self.countdown_id then
    sound.play("#boom", nil, sound_done)
  end
end

function init(self)
  self.countdown_id = sound.play("#countdown", nil, sound_done)
end

sound.set_gain()

set sound gain

Set gain on all active playing voices of a sound.

PARAMETERS

url -

string | hash | url the sound to set the gain of

[gain] -

number sound gain between 0 and 1. The final gain of the sound will be a combination of this gain, the group gain and the master gain.

EXAMPLES

Assuming the script belongs to an instance with a sound-component with id "sound", this will set the gain to 0.5

sound.set_gain("#sound", 0.5)

sound.set_group_gain()

set mixer group gain

Set mixer group gain

PARAMETERS

group -

string | hash group name

gain -

number gain in linear scale

EXAMPLES

Set mixer group gain on the "soundfx" group to -4 dB:

local gain_db = -4
local gain = 10^gain_db/20 -- 0.63095734448019
sound.set_group_gain("soundfx", gain)

sound.set_pan()

set sound pan

Set panning on all active playing voices of a sound.

The valid range is from -1.0 to 1.0, representing -45 degrees left, to +45 degrees right.

PARAMETERS

url -

string | hash | url the sound to set the panning value to

[pan] -

number sound panning between -1.0 and 1.0

EXAMPLES

Assuming the script belongs to an instance with a sound-component with id "sound", this will set the gain to 0.5

sound.set_pan("#sound", 0.5) -- pan to the right

sound.stop()

stop a playing a sound(s)

Stop playing all active voices

PARAMETERS

url -

string | hash | url the sound that should stop

EXAMPLES

Assuming the script belongs to an instance with a sound-component with id "sound", this will make the component stop all playing voices:

sound.stop("#sound")

sound_done

reports when a sound has finished playing

This message is sent back to the sender of a play_sound message, if the sound could be played to completion.

PARAMETERS

[play_id] -

number id number supplied when the message was posted.

stop_sound

stop a playing a sound(s)

Post this message to a sound-component to make it stop playing all active voices

EXAMPLES

Assuming the script belongs to an instance with a sound-component with id "sound", this will make the component stop all playing voices:

msg.post("#sound", "stop_sound")