I have a number of background sounds in my game (voiceovers, spot effects etc.) which I want to be non local, however I find that the only way to do this is to make them stereo, which uses twice the memory!
I’ve tried positioning the mono sound files at the same point as the Audio Listener (their Audio Source is a child of the Audio Listener object, so they follow it around) but the mono sounds are always affected by L-R panning.
This seems to be a fault in Unity 3D audio, as sounds positioned exactly at the point of the audio listener shouldn’t pan at all, whether mono or stereo…
Is there a way to use mono sounds without panning?
I wish Unity had a check box in the inspector to make a sound non-positional.
Most of the 3d-sounds that we are using are 8-bit and/or using a lower frequency (you really don’t hear the difference for fx-sounds) and therefore don’t use more memory when converted to stereo.
Whatever frequency you use mono always takes half the memory of the same file in stereo (important if you are trying to keep sound quality good and fit everything into 20mb).
Still, my problem is not really about memory (that is just a side effect) my problem is:
I need Mono sounds in my scene without 3D positioning! Is this possible?
You should be able to uncheck the 3D Sound box in the Inspector for the audio asset. Is this not working?
In the inspector for audio I just have:
Format
Length
Frequency
Size
Decompress On Load
Apple Native
In Import I have Audio Format and Channels
and in Audio Source
Audio Clip
Play On Awake
Volume
Pitch
Min Vol
Max Vol
Rolloff Factor
Loop
… ummmm…can you tell me (embarrassingly) where the 3D sound check box is please??
did you put them in as wav?
on compressed ones you have no control over the outcome.
also you forgot to mention U3 in the title 
all the sounds are wav and I’m using Unity 1.7.
I would just like to be able to use mono wavs in my level, without having to force them to stereo so they don’t pan L/R…
The option isn’t in 1.7.
I originally imported all my sounds while working in Unity 2.6, then transferred the project over to iPhone 1.7. 2.6 had the check box for 3D, I don’t know if it carried those settings over to 1.7.
I’m now using the beta of Unity 3, which has the 3D sound check box, even when set for iPhone.
Thanks, looks like I need to install the update from Unity iPhone 1.7.
I’m quite close to finishing my game and while looking forward to the latest version could do without any hold ups due to upgrading. Is Unity 3 Beta suitable for creating the final submission build already?
depends on what you rely on and need. there are some areas where the problems are non-overcomable at the time while its a massive step ahead on others.
For example without iphone pro, upgrading is a bad idea if you rely on occlusion as umbra is Pro only (also on iphone) for example.
On the other hand now both iphone licenses have plugin support
the only way to really know is “test it” basically
It would at least be some getting in touch with it, which you will have to do cause iPhone 1.x will neither get OS 4 nor iPhone 4 support
I should have said, I’m using Unity iPhone 1.7 Pro …
I’ll give U3 a try then…
in 1.7 all sounds are 3d sounds so the best way to make them not sound like 3d is to position them at a balanced place (or just on the camera potentially)
Stereo sounds in 1.7 are not 3D.
–Eric
aha? Interesting, didn’t know that.
So far I assumed that consistency is the idea, not breaking it 
audio component + 3d position = 3D sound
2d sound should be played through a single sound manager class of some sort if one asks me.
But that shows that dummy media does not show all ceavats and in contract projects I’m not responsible for media commonly so I’m glad to learn new stuff every day
but the idea with the balanced position should none the less work for mono, right?
There was no option to have stereo sounds played in 3D until 2.6, I think (possibly 2.5).
Unity 2.1 had some audio glitches, as noted in the OP.
–Eric