Audio Helm is released!
Anyone want a native synth and sequencer in their game?
Audio Helm is a live audio synthesizer, sequencer and sampler for Unity. With Audio Helm you can create generative music and musical sound effects for your game.
Synthesizer
The synthesizer generates dynamic audio live, no samples or recordings required. It runs as a native plugin to ensure low latency, high performance, mobile ready audio. Download the standalone synth now (free or pay what you want) to browse and create synth patches you can import into your game.
Sequencer
The sequencer is a tool for creating musical patterns and rhythms by playing synthesizer or sampler notes over time. You can create your own patterns inside Unityâs inspector or create them live from code to generate procedural music.
Sampler
The sampler takes an audio sample or recording and can play it back at different speeds to create musical pitches. Using different keyzones you can create a full spectrum piano sampler. Audio Helm comes with 4 drum machines each with a separate sample bank.
Hi, I just purchased this and I am hearing a popping sound just before the notes play on the Piano Sampler. I am using a Sample Sequencer and just testing out playing a single note. The popping only starts after several loops have run. Currently testing C-1 though Iâm pretty sure it does it with any note.
Also, this is unrelated to your kit, but do you have any experience with visualizing audio information via AudioSource.GetSpectrumData? I want to be able to visualize multiple Audio Sources in the scene (but not all of them, otherwise Iâd be able to use AudioListener.GetSpectrumData), so I need a way to combine the spectrum data from multiple Audio Sources. Again, this is unrelated to your product, but I thought Iâd ask since you appear to be an audio expert.
Okay, I see now that the popping sound is coming from the program stopping one of the sounds before it completely finishes because my âNum Voicesâ value was not high enough. For instance, if itâs set to 2, then on the third loop it will pop as it stops the first loops sound in order to play the third loops sound.
This may be a dumb question (I have no knowledge about this audio stuff), but would it be possible to reproduce how an actual instrument works when playing a note that is already being played? Like if C-1 key on a piano has been played and is kind of just reverberating (correct term I hope), and then I press it again, the new note will take over the first, since they utilize the same hardware to produce the sound. This seems like it would cut down on the number of âvoicesâ played at once, if possible.
Like you said Num Voices should fix it. I think thereâs a bug where the sampler is not listening to Note Off events from the sequencer, so that can leave a lot of trailing voices on (and have multiple of the same note). Iâll fix that in the next release.
As for the spectrum data, you might be able to route certain Audio Sources to an Audio Mixer Group and get the spectrum data there, but I havenât tried this myself.
If you want to make audio reactive things using Audio Helm, there are note events in the sequencer you can hook into and respond to. This doesnât cover prerecorded music/audio though.
Thanks for the insight! I did notice the Note Off did not seem to be working right, though I think for my use I will probably not use that option (will have to experiment), so it probably doesnât matter.
I think I might be not understanding something though. Like I said, I am testing a c1 note, which is 9.752 seconds long according to the piano_upright_c1 clip. I put it as the first and only note in a length 16 (Sixteenth Division) sequencer. From what I can gather, this sequence from beginning to end takes about 2 seconds, so a new note is sounded every 2 seconds. Given that, this is what I would assume is happening:
So when note 6 plays, note 1 should be done playing, and then when note 7 plays, note 2 should be done, and so on. This means only 5 notes are playing at once, so a value of 5 for âNum Voicesâ should be adequate to avoid a note from being cut off.
Or is the time a single note sounds much longer than 9.752? Thanks again!
Posting again for some help (If you could look at the previous question that would be great as well). It doesnât appear that I am able to use AudioSource.GetSpectrumData or GetData when using Helm Controller. Is that expected behaviour or a bug? Thanks.
Iâll answer my own question. When using Helm, the sound is effectively generated by an Audio Mixer Group effect, so the data from the Audio Source is as if it were muted, i.e., there is no data from it to process.
This obviously isnât your problem but I wonder if you know of a way to work around this? A way to read data from the mixer groups, for example. Thanks.
I just want to clarify something related to what I wrote above, as the answer has far reaching repercussions. As I stated, the audio appears to be generated by the Helm Audio Mixer Group Effect (a native audio plugin, right?). The consequence of this is that the Audio Source outputs no data. In addition to making data analyzing impossible, it also means you cannot use Audio Filters (such as Reverb Zones) with Helm.
If true, I would say this is fairly limiting attribute of Helm. Can you confirm this, or if I am wrong explain how so?
I see there there is a script called Helm Audio Receive which utilizes AudioHelm.Native.HelmGetBufferData. Is this a way of retrieving the actual sound generated by Helm? I tried adding it to my game object that has my Audio Source (which is outputted to my mixer), and it seemed to screw things up. Iâm not sure what the correct usage is.
Yes, the synthesizer runs inside that AudioMixerGroup as a native audio plugin so you canât access the Spectrum Data in the Audio Source.
Audio Reverb Zone works by pre-modifying a recorded audio clip and is not a real time effect so will not work with a real-time instrument like Helm.
If youâd like reverb as an effect on Helm, you can add a Reverb to the Audio Mixer Group after Helm in the same Audio Mixer Group. You can then modify the parameters (by right clicking on the controls and Exposing them) on this reverb by distance from a zone. This will give you a lot more control than just a pre-edited file that the Reverb Zone gives you. It may take some tweaking to sound good but if you just start with the Dry Level itâll give you a good first pass.
Helm Audio Receive works by extracting the audio from an Audio Mixer Group back into a different Audio Source. Itâs useful for using third party spatialization or possibly in your case using GetSpectrumData (though I havenât tried this use case).
For your original question about the note off timing, You might still get clicks in that scenario because the Sampler looks ahead a little bit and schedule the next note before it should play. When it schedules the note it silences the voice it will use so you may need one more voice than that.
All right, so it looks like you can route the audio from the mixer back to an audio source using the Helm Audio Receive script (attached to a game object with an Audio Source component that doesnât have an Audio Clip - itâs got to be the first one if you have multiple Audio Filters), however it doesnât appear that any of the other Effects are included in the routed data. This may or not be a good thing for your use case. I tried moving the Helm effect to the end of the chain and it doesnât make a difference.
However, you can download some sample Native Audio Plugins that add various Effects to your project (from here), one of which is an Effect called Demo Routing. Add this to your Mixer Group and set the Target to whatever channel you are using. Then add a script called Speaker Routing to your game object in the same way you add the Helm Audio Receive script. Make sure the channels all match up. This method does include all the effects on the Mixer Group.
Note that with either method you are effectively duplicating the sound generated using Helm, so you have to mute it by setting up a Mixer Group with its attenuation all the way down.
Clearly you can see Iâm a novice at this sound thing, so please correct any inaccuracies with what I wrote.
Thanks for the information (especially the answer to my previous question).
The spectral analysis is the main thing I am worried about, though I mentioned Reverb Zones since some people may want to use Audio Filters. Using the Effects on the Audio Mixer Groups is probably a better method though.
One thing I am testing out now is adding a parent to the Audio Mixer Group with the Helm effect and muting it (setting attenuation to -80), routing the child of this parentâs audio to a separate Audio Source via DemoRouting effect, and then outputting this sound to a separate Audio Mixer Group that is a direct child to the Master group. Besides the obvious extra processing this involves by the CPU, do you any issues with this route? It should allow for Audio Filters on game objects to be used (though I havenât tested).
Right, attenuating the volume in the mixer is the best way at the moment to get what you want. It would be best if Unity allowed a native audio plugin to run in an AudioSource but I donât think thatâs going to happen anytime soon. I
'm not sure what Audio Filters youâre talking about, but as I said the Reverb Zone one is actually pre-processed so doesnât work on live audio. Iâd recommend avoiding C# audio filters if thatâs what youâre talking about. Even with extremely simple audio processing Iâve seen bad audio glitching. It might have gotten better since I last checked though.
By Audio Filters I mean these. Basically anything with an OnAudioFilterRead method. It is good to know about the filters being glitchy, and Iâll take your word regarding the Audio Reverb Zone not working (not a big deal). Thanks!
Thanks for this plugin, its great! Quick question - I want to be able to drive the parameters of the synth at runtime without using collisions or a UI, what would be the best way to go about this? Is there anyway to have steady oscillation without having to hit a note? Like, just having an oscillator running at 20 hz that can be manipulated without a key stroke? Or to wait for a note to end before hitting it again in update instead using note length? Here is a script I currently have going, I would like to dynamically update the note being played based on the length of a synth sound, or to directly control an oscillator. Also any recommendations on how to map values from other sources, such as user position or proximity to an audio object?
public class ObjectAudio : MonoBehaviour {
public GameObject audioObject;
public AudioHelm.HelmController helmController;
public int note = 60;
public float noteLength = 1.0f;
public float hitStrength = 1.0f;
public float subVolume = 1.0f;
void Update () {
if (!helmController.IsNoteOn(note)) helmController.NoteOn(note, hitStrength, noteLength);
helmController.SetParameterPercent(AudioHelm.Param.kSubVolume, subVolume);
If youâre comfortable using Unityâs Animations that would probably be the easiest way.
If you add a parameter to the HelmController in the inspector you can animate those added sliders.
If you want to update a single parameter based on user position, you can just pass in a normalized distance into where youâre passing subVolume. Is that what youâre looking for?
You might also try programming this change into the patch itself using the Helm standalone engine (Helm by Matt Tytel). You can have an envelope slowly bring up the volume of the sub or have an lfo pulse the volume.
Hey, I have a multi tracks midi file (with drums) that I need to play in my game.
I have noticed that the plugin cannot take a midi file and just play it (with the association of tracks, channels, instruments), it is more âlow levelâ which is fine if I find a way to achieve the same.
I have imported the tracks in different sequencers using the âLoad MIDI Fileâ button (NOTE: the track must be on channel 1, if not they donât appear).
I now want to output the sequencers to something that would sound like those basic general midi patches. The patches that are given with AudioHelm donât sound like that and I donât want to create my own sample.
In a nutshell I want to play the sequencer to some basic general midi instruments/patches (including drums)
