MetaSound Cue Points, Composition, and Gameplay Hooks UE5 P1

In this video, Dan shows off:
1) Using Cue Points instead of beat-counting
2) MetaSound Source composition and custom MetaSound Nodes
3) Hooking it up to gameplay and passing data into Inputs via the Parameter Interface

[@anthonypalomba351]

Hey Dan, this is a fantastic video. I love the way the levels of intensity transition so smoothly. It would be great to see a stinger being encountered. Great work!

[@benedictnichols1539]

Was a Part 2 to this vid ever made? super useful, thank you!

[@fovkoss7]

Great stuff Dan! keep it up! Love your explorations!

[@josselinviricel6852]

You're helping me a lot with this video, so thank you very much! I wanted to let know other persons trying that that they had to render (most likely) in 16bits, as 24bits seems to be converted by Unreal, making it lose the cue points information (I was starting to lose my head but now everything's fine!).

[@DanReynoldsAudio]

Oh snap, thanks for the heads up! Glad the video was helpful to you. Another reason to output 16-bit is that the importer doesn't use a ditherer, so if you have a preferred dither algorithm, it's best to apply it yourself.

[@rayner8330]

AMAZING! Thank you Dan. Do you have any more information on how to import markers as cues in metadata in other DAWs that the metasounds can read?

[@thejonathanhull]

Incredible tutorial and really helping me work through a sudden change from Wwise to MetaSounds. One question: What is the best way to re-start the loop after the stinger/ending has finished?

[@ebarkani]

Lots of useful info, thanx for taking the time to make these videos. Is there a way to create/add Cue Points to waves in UE5 ?

[@DanReynoldsAudio]

Not yet, currently all you can do is read from them--but that is definitely on the road map.

[@Sedokun]

18:45 Metasound Module? Same as Niagara Module. "Metasound Function" also makes sense. As it behave similar to the functions in BPs. They may have Custom Variables Inputs and Outputs and they have Trigger Input and Output.

[@DanReynoldsAudio]

Definitely, what's important is that the name immediately suggest how the user can use it to avoid any confusion.

[@minuskelvin]

Yeah I think we'll rename it to something that more clearly distinguishes between "MetaSound Source" and what this asset type is... we think likely it'll be "MetaSound Node" by 5.1... or something similar.

[@AlvaroALorite]

The stuck with "Metasounds Graph" which it think is good, but could be better, as metasounds sources are also graph like

[@Sedokun]

14:00 I assume at that point the ending is triggered - even if you drop off the platform it will still play it, as the gate will be open? (that one will be Base?)

[@DanReynoldsAudio]

Yeah, I wasn't really thinking about it, but yes, if I kept running around, the ending would play out like normal and the cue would be over.

[@doudar41]

I'm sorry if question is obvious but.. Did I get it right? Wave player Cue Point Id and Cue Point Label return marker data form wave file?

[@Sedokun]

at 6:55 Dan says that Labels only used for debugging, but yes, that's what is written in the log "A 1" is "Label ID"

[@DanReynoldsAudio]

Cue Point ID is your Marker ID number, which is an integer. The Cue Point Label is the Marker Label or Name, which is a string. There isn't any way in MetaSounds to functionally use strings outside of log data, but the ID numbers are very easy to take advantage of, especially if they increment logically as with my example.

[@doudar41]

@@DanReynoldsAudio Thanks)

[@minuskelvin]

@@DanReynoldsAudio It's likely that the string value could be something we utilize in the future (e.g. string compare, etc). Also note that cue poitn data lives on USoundWave assets and can be retrieved in C++ outside of MetaSounds (CuePoints data member).

[@DanReynoldsAudio]

@@minuskelvin, utility nodes to direct flow based on string data will probably be necessary for more complex Cue Point implementations. Especially since Cue Points have unique ID numbers but non unique Labels/Names.

[@omegaskies5876]

Is there an ETA on when the "MIDI Note Quantizer" and/or "Scale to Note Array" nodes will be fixed... are they broken? / Could you cover these, because they are very unclear and notes doubling up like Note In 60 or 61 being the same note is confusing why. Also the chord tones only is confusing, the results I mean. I am a long time musician, I understand number theory and a lot of music theory, it's just that the expectation here vs what happens doesn't line up or make sense. I'm trying to build chords / progressions and ultimately I just made an array of interval ratios to pull from given a root note as frequency rather than use these other nodes because I couldn't make sense of them lol.

[@omegaskies5876]

Oh okay, so midi note quantizer is definitely broke. I can put 60 into note in hit play and hear one note, stop, change to 61 hit enter, change back to 60 hit enter and play again and it's different that it was before even though everything is exactly the same.

[@mattdmatt]

Great video, thanks for sharing! Apologies for posting here, but I can't seem to add a question to the UE5 forums (something to do with not liking the UE5 tags)? I have been working on an audio project using UE5 Early Access 2. I wanted to use some of the new tools in UE5 Preview so I updated the engine version. It worked fine for a week, however, this morning I tried to open my project and it failed to load the maps and all of the MetaSounds . It also failed to load the Game Mode and various other assets. The error says they are 'unrecognised file types'. The previous two saved versions are also apparently corrupt. Has anyone encountered this sort of error? If anyone knows a fix, or has some insight, that would be great. Many thanks.

[@DanReynoldsAudio]

You're probably trying to open your updated project with the old Early Access version of the Engine. Make sure you open it with the Preview version instead. You can delete your old Early Access version or just open the Preview version before opening your project.

[@mattdmatt]

@@DanReynoldsAudio Thanks for the reply, I'll try that tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

[@fedorvoronovcomposer]

when was this uploaded, I see no time, only time on comments

[@blacklight3923]

In MetaSound version 1.0, I couldn't find the "Timecrossfade" component. Why is that? Is it abandoned? What should I replace it with

[@DanReynoldsAudio]

You misunderstood, you're supposed to make that node yourself. I start talking about it at 18:26, it's not a MetaSound Source, it's a custom MetaSound node you make yourself. You can see the whole node at 18:30.

[@blacklight3923]

@@DanReynoldsAudio Thank you

[@lgrcen2008]

What is a cue point? How do you trigger one?

[@DanReynoldsAudio]

It's a timestamped Marker embedded into your wav file's metadata. This video explains how you can use them.

[@lgrcen2008]

@@DanReynoldsAudio Thx!

[@Yevad_Nivek]

You lost me at Hey Fam!