[Openal] Filter

Andy Patrick Andy.Patrick at rebellion-derby.com
Fri Oct 12 01:46:25 PDT 2007


Many thanks Dan, that is extremely helpful information.

My next question then: I seem to recall that there is an (optional?)
automatic distance filter built into the OpenAL calculations (hence why
you can change the density of the air and the units-to-metres scale) but
can't seem to find a reference to it now, in the docs. What does that
do, by comparison to trying to use the manual filter to achieve a
distance filter effect?

Thanks again

Andy P

> -----Original Message-----
> From: openal-bounces at opensource.creative.com 
> [mailto:openal-bounces at opensource.creative.com] On Behalf Of 
> Daniel PEACOCK
> Sent: 11 October 2007 20:02
> To: openal at opensource.creative.com
> Subject: RE: [Openal] Filter
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Andy,
> 
> The 'Gain' parameter controls the volume at all frequencies 
> (so setting this parameter to 0 will silence the sound), the 
> Gain HF parameter controls the volume at high-frequencies 
> (the reference high frequency is 5KHz).
> Setting the Gain HF to 0 should result in very muffled audio 
> where all the high-frequencies have been filtered out.
> 
> The EFX10Show application in the OpenAL SDK allows you to 
> play with these
> parameters to see how they work.   The parameters are in the 
> box labelled
> 'Direct' on the right-hand-side of the Sound Properties dialogue box.
> NOTE : It is actually a little tricky to play with these 
> parameter in the application due to the fact that they are in 
> a linear 0 to 1 scale.  (The parameters are in linear scale 
> to match the rest of OpenAL).
> 
> These parameters are actually being mapped to EAX Source parameters
> 'Direct' and 'DirectHF'.   If you have the EAX 4.0 SDK 
> installed you can
> use the ALEAX40Show test application to control the 'Direct' 
> and 'Direct HF' parameters in a decibel scale (-10000mb to 
> 0mb) which makes it easier to hear their effect.
> 
> If you are using a linear interpolation to control the Gain 
> HF parameter based on source to listener distance I would 
> imagine that this would not sound too good and would result 
> in very little audible change until your
> were practically at your defined maximum distance.   A logarithmic
> interpolation would have the opposite affect - but may be too 
> drastic for your needs - could be worth a try though.
> 
> Dan
> Creative Labs, Inc.
> 
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>                                                               
>              
>              "Andy Patrick"                                   
>              
>              <Andy.Patrick at reb                                
>              
>              ellion-derby.com>                                
>           To 
>              Sent by:                  "Luis" 
> <h.k.1981 at gmail.com>,        
>              openal-bounces at op         
> <openal at opensource.creative.com>    
>              ensource.creative                                
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>              .com                                             
>              
>                                                               
>      Subject 
>                                        RE: [Openal] Filter    
>              
>              10/10/2007 01:49                                 
>              
>              AM                                               
>              
>                                                               
>              
>                                                               
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> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Luis, thanks, yes I am reassigning the filter to the 
> source after modifying it, however it still doesn't seem to 
> change the sound very much.
> 
> And I'm still wondering why a filter (for which I would 
> expect to change cutoff and slope) instead has fixed cutoff 
> and slope, and only allows you to change "gain" and "gainHF" 
> and it's not clear what that is expected to do.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Andy
> 
> 
> From: Luis [mailto:h.k.1981 at gmail.com]
> Sent: 10 October 2007 06:12
> To: Andy Patrick; openal at opensource.creative.com
> Subject: Re: [Openal] Filter
> 
>  Hi Andy.
>  Just checking, are you reassigning the filter to the source 
> after  modifying its parameters? You must do this or the new 
> parameters won't  affect the source at all.
> 
>  Hope that helps
> 
>  On 10/4/07, Andy Patrick <Andy.Patrick at rebellion-derby.com> wrote:
>   Hello all,
> 
>   We're looking at playing around with the per-voice filter 
> in the Effects
>   Extension, in preparation for occlusion etc. We'd also like 
> to change the
>   filter over distance using a method that offers more 
> control than the
>   in-built distance filter in OpenAL, which I seem to remember reading
>   about but can't now find a reference to!
> 
>   I understand that the low pass filter cut-off (-3dB point) 
> is fixed at
>   4KHz, and the slope is fixed at -6dB/octave. What I don't 
> understand is
>   how the available parameters - AL_LOWPASS_GAIN and 
> AL_LOWPASS_GAINHF -
>   relate to that. I assumed that GAIN would modify the gain 
> to the left of
>   the cut-off point, and GAINHF would modify the gain to the 
> right of the
>   cut-off point. However, my attempts at varying GAINHF from 0 to 1 by
>   distance doesn't seem to change the sound very much, and 
> based on this
>   assumption setting both GAIN and GAINHF to 0 would silence 
> the sound,
>   which it doesn't.
> 
>   Could someone please explain what the intent of these 
> settings is, and
>   briefly suggest how I might be able to implement the 
> effects I'm after?
>   I'm using OpenAL 1.1 on the Windows platform, primarily.
> 
>   Many thanks
> 
>   Andy P
> 
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> 
> 
> 
>  --
>  Luis
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