Audio
Sound Waves, Sound Cues, MetaSounds, attenuation, and 3D spatialization in UE5.
Audio Asset Types
| Asset | Description |
|---|---|
| Sound Wave | Raw imported audio file (WAV/OGG). The base asset — holds PCM data. |
| Sound Cue | Legacy node graph for mixing, randomizing, and looping Sound Waves. |
| MetaSound Source | UE5's next-gen audio graph — full DSP control, procedural generation. |
| Sound Attenuation | Asset defining how volume, pitch, and spatialization fall off with distance. |
| Sound Class | Hierarchical group for volume mixing (Master, Music, SFX, Voice). |
| Sound Mix | EQ and volume modifiers applied to Sound Classes (e.g., muffled underwater). |
MetaSounds
MetaSounds is the modern audio rendering system introduced in UE5. Like the Material Editor for shaders, MetaSounds is a DSP graph where each node represents a signal processor: oscillators, filters, envelopes, random streams, and trigger events.
Key MetaSound node categories:
- Wave Player — plays a Sound Wave asset at variable pitch and rate.
- Random Get — selects randomly from a set of Wave Players on each trigger.
- ADSR Envelope — shapes amplitude over attack / decay / sustain / release.
- Biquad Filter — low-pass, high-pass, band-pass filtering.
- Trigger On Threshold — fires an event when an input value crosses a threshold.
Prefer MetaSounds for all new projects. Sound Cues are deprecated in UE5 but remain supported for backwards compatibility. MetaSounds compile to efficient native DSP code and support real-time parameter modulation.
3D Attenuation & Spatialization
Assign a Sound Attenuation asset to make a sound behave in 3D space. Key settings:
- Inner Radius — full volume within this distance.
- Attenuation Distance — falloff shape from Inner Radius to max distance.
- Falloff Function — Linear, Logarithmic, Inverse, Natural Sound.
- Spatialization — HRTF binaural panning for headphones; speaker-based panning for surround.
- Occlusion — low-pass filter applied when geometry blocks line-of-sight to source.
- Reverb Send — how much signal feeds into the Audio Volume reverb effect.
Playing Sounds
Three common ways to trigger audio in Blueprint or C++:
Play Sound at Location— fire-and-forget, no actor, best for one-shots.Spawn Sound Attached— attaches to a Component; moves with the actor.UAudioComponent— persistent component with Play/Stop/Pause and parameter control.