[Openal-devel] Broad soundscapes - repost

[Chris Robinson]

On Monday 10 November 2008 06:15:33 am Joss Sanglier wrote:
> My question is:
>
> How do I put together the sound elements so that a player will be able
> to wander round the massive world, from forest to lake, mountain side to
> desert, in such a way that it is seamless?
>
> As a player moves towards a different environment, they need to be able
> to hear "where" it is in the 3d sound field and it slowly raise in
> volume till they enter. Then the background sound should level out till
> they leave again. Obviously the reverse would then happen to the old sound.

Hi Joss.

I'm a bit tired and about to be getting to bed, so I apologize in advance if I 
completely miss your question, or give lack-luster advice. However, it seems 
you're asking how to get ambient area sounds to "fade" as you move between 
areas, preferably with 3d positional cues.

I'd probably try something natural.. seperate the individual mono sounds and 
place them in the 3d world, and let them play together to create a 
multi-channel ambience in real-time. Scatter cricket sounds around that 
play/loop at night (quieting down and stopping them as day approaches), 
place "wind-through-leaves" sounds near trees thar'll play randomly/when the 
wind blows, etc. Also eneabling a slight reverb to those sounds may help.

Then not only will these effects seemlessly and naturally pick up and rolloff 
as the player moves around, they'll also pan around as the player turns, and 
take advantage of the number of output channels being used, giving a more 
immersive feel as the sounds will be part of the virtual world and not 
just "background tracks".

Hope that's helpful. :)

- Chris