UE5 Early Access MetaSounds Ambient FM

Someone was wondering if MetaSounds can do FM, yes, they can!
I'm not great at FM Synth design, but here is 5 operator algorithm built with MetaSounds with some procedural melody and ambient delay added in for fun and style!

[@officialrhythmicthoughts]

as a composer and a game dev, this is going to be the most useful tool for me, what you've created after a day is beautiful

[@SulkyOptimism]

This is honestly one of the coolest things to see in so long. I feel as though we've passed audio *for* games, and now have an entire audio suite in tandom with the game engines. Hope we see more cool stuff from you soon :) Ty for sharing.

[@pavledin]

That's some seriously cool stuff. In the past two years, I've experimented with replacing more traditional software environments for designing sound for audiovisual installations (like Max/MSP, for example) with UE4, but MetaSound just takes it to another level entirely. Can't wait to try it out myself! Thanks for all the great videos, as always.

[@dontnormally]

This is really exciting

[@KordTaylor]

That is one cool sound Dan! ❤

[@kettenotter]

I hope they make some slider or something you can connect to variables so its easier to test different inputs

[@psalm702]

Aphex Dan!

[@DanReynoldsAudio]

The HD processing is super slow on KZbin lately, but basically FM is really easy in UE5 MetaSounds. Every audio rate oscillator has an audio buffer input for FM and many of the oscillator algorithms support audio rate FM. The trick is to get all the operators to be in clean frequency ratios of one another. You can also kind of do single oscillator feedback by using a Send and Receive, but just be aware that the actual audio received is one buffer behind using that trick. Since I had to make all of them clean ratios of each other, I also made a little procedural melody generator and added some delay.

[@anthonyyost2945]

Christmas came early this year!

[@HartTales]

can you share it please? :3

[@broodovermind]

really cool, but how does the NoteOff trigger work? and how did you change the audio output node from mono to stereo?

[@DanReynoldsAudio]

Check out the Quick Start guide, at the bottom-ish you can see the Audio Component Parameter Interface which has functions for calling Triggers by name: docs.unrealengine.com/5.0/en-US/AudioFeatures/MetaSounds/QuickStart/

[@andrew_ryu]

Hi, this is really cool. I have a question: How do I get Send/Receive Audio nodes? I can't seem to find them (May 30, 2022). Thanks!

[@DanReynoldsAudio]

Use Variables. Set an Audio Variable, Get a Delayed Audio Variable.

[@bigbadbrad2389]

@@DanReynoldsAudio I gotta jump in here, I can't for the life of me figure out what "Audio Variable" I need to set to emulate your set up. When I create a plain Audio Variable it doesn't seem to have the address pin, and when I create a transmission variable it also doesn't have that spot labeled "FM_Feedback" on your Send and Receive Nodes. Any further clarity for how to build those send and receives?

[@bigbadbrad2389]

Is it as simple as pulling off the Multiply Audio by Float pin in your "Operator A" Group, Promoting to a Graph Variable and then using a delayed version of that same variable to feed into the multiply by float going into the modulation pin?

[@DanReynoldsAudio]

@@bigbadbrad2389 Send and Receives were deprecated because there were issues with stability. So what you want to do instead is create an Audio Variable and set it and for the feedback, you want to get the Delayed version of that variable. (It will have a clock showing it's from the last buffer)

[@bigbadbrad2389]

@@DanReynoldsAudio Wow so somehow, I was guessing the correct process... Thanks for confirming Dan! It's a really cool example, my brain has been struggling to piece together how I become a sound designer in Metasounds but I'm determined to get somewhat proficient this month.... def looking forward to Game Sound Con and hoping to absorb as much of that insider knowledge as possible :P

[@Keereal72]

Isn't it easier to create a track inside some DAW and then import it into UE5 than do all this spaghetti in metasound?

[@DanReynoldsAudio]

This is real time synthesis. If your project has no need for real time synthesis, then go right ahead. This is equivalent to a texture artist asking "isn't it easier to create a texture inside photoshop and then import it," on a video about the Material Editor and the realtime rendering pipeline.

[@Conormcnproductions]

@@DanReynoldsAudio but still I'm not sure "real time synthesis" holds much credit, because this looks like so much work setting up all these modular blocks to achieve a very simple sound that you can create instantly in a simple FM synth. I'm not sure I see the point yet but maybe there is value in it still...

[@DanReynoldsAudio]

@@Conormcnproductions Games are interactive, so too should be your game audio. How you decide to achieve that is up to you. Use the tools, don't use the tools, it makes no difference to me.