Tutorial: Changing The Audio

Changing The Audio: Controlling Volume and Pitch

We are able to set the volume and pitch of our Audio objects as they are playing by calling the SetVolume and SetPitch actions. These actions both take number parameters that represent the percent change in the pitch. For example, a number of 0.5 passed to SetVolume will set the new volume at 50% of the maximum volume. A number of 1.2 passed to SetPitch will raise the pitch 20% above the normal pitch. Examples of these actions follow:

use Libraries.Sound.Audio
Audio audio
audio:Load("Sounds/Clang.ogg")

// this line sets the volume of our Audio object at 50% its maximum volume.
audio:SetVolume(0.5)

// this line sets the pitch of our Audio object at 120% the normal pitch
audio:SetPitch(1.2)

audio:PlayUntilDone()

If we want to know what the current settings of the volume and pitch of our Audio objects are, we can use the GetVolume and GetPitch actions, respectively. These actions return a number that represents the value of the volume or pitch and can be used with their corresponding Set actions to change the values of the volume and/or pitch over time. An example of this follows:

use Libraries.Sound.Audio
Audio audio
audio:Load("Sounds/song.ogg")
audio:Play()

// this loop keeps our sound playing until it is done
repeat while audio:IsPlaying()
   // this conditional checks if the current volume is greater than 0. If it is, it decreases the volume
   if audio:GetVolume() > 0.0
   // this line calculates the new volume by getting the current volume and subtracting 0.00001% (one hundred-thousandth of a percent)
   number newVolume = audio:GetVolume() - 0.0000001

   // this line sets the volumen to newVolume, which will have the effect of fading the sound out quickly.
   audio:SetVolume(newVolume)
   end
end

Changing where the sound is played:

Balance, Fade and Rotation

When using these actions, we should be aware of a few things.

• First, the default volume of an Audio object is its maximum volume. This means that the volume can never be set higher than that default volume. Passing a number parameter that is greater than 1 to the SetVolume action will have no effect.
• Second, changing the pitch of the Audio object also affects the speed of playback. Making the pitch lower causes the sound to play slower; likewise, making the pitch higher causes the sound to play faster.

Next Tutorial

In the next tutorial, we will discuss Changing Where the Sound is Played: Balance, Fade and Rotation, which describes how to play audio files Quorum.