Lack of Stereo Separation in Uploaded Samples

Support
#1

I’ve been using Syrinscape for several months now, and I have run into a problem I can’t get past. I’ve taken to uploading royalty-free music that exactly matches the mood of my game. After the music sample has been uploaded, however, and I am setting up the Element which will contain the sample, when I test the result it sounds as if it is playing back in mono.

I’ve found at least one other post here that had the same problem; at least in that case, the cause was that the element was configured using 3D Positioning, which necessarily flattens the stereo image and then places the result randomly in the sound field. I’ve ensured that I have not done this. The music I’ve uploaded is all contained in elements that are configured as Music and 3D Positioning isn’t even an option. And if it was the configuration of the element that was causing the problem, I would think that when I listen to the sample directly under the Element Playlist, it would sound as it was supposed to there. But it doesn’t; it’s mono there too. I’ve tried uploading with different formats (WAV, MP3 and OGG) and different sample rates and bit rates, but it doesn’t seem to make any difference.

It’s clear that the system is capable of providing normal stereo music, since the elements that are part of Official Content soundsets work as I would expect them to. The problem only seems to affect music and samples I’ve uploaded myself, and it seems to be an artifact of the sample upload process, not of the configuration of the element that contains the sample. Am I doing something wrong when setting up my files for upload? Is there a way I can fix the samples that are already uploaded? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

#2

Heya, easy fix. :slight_smile:

Go to the actual sample by focussing on it in the element playlist and open the SAMPLE INSPECTOR tab (by click those words at the top right).

Here you UNCHECK the “Enable 3D positioning” checkbox.

This will force the sample to not only be NOT positioned (i.e. in the centre) but also left channel totally left and right channel totally right.

Have a go of that and let us know if that works.

#3

Here’s the tutorial vid where I mention this:

Consider having a watch of some of the other vids in case there is other highly useful stuff you are missing:

(not there’s are a little out of date and need a rerecord = another job for the new year) :open_mouth: :slight_smile: :smiley:

OR just ask questions here too… which helps us know what isn’t obvious and what to do some more messaging on! :slight_smile: (or make more obvious in the UI)

#4

Huh! I thought I had watched all the tutorials but I must have missed this step. This indeed was the issue, and unchecking it has fixed the problem on at least the samples I’ve tested so far. Thanks for the info and the quick response!

On a side note, I have what might be more of a philosophical question about this. Is there really a need for this option to be present directly on the sample? At least in my brain, I would want to control 3D positioning at the elemental level, where I can set it appropriately for all samples included in the element. I personally wouldn’t want to have an element that contained multiple samples, some of which had this option enabled and others that didn’t. If I had a situation that called for that, I’d just separate the two groups into their own elements.

Anyway, thanks again for the assistance. I’ll have to go back through the tutorials to see if there’s anything else I’ve missed.

#5

Totally! 100% This was a decision we made REALLY early on, when setting up the database at first. Someone probably asked me: “Hey Ben…” and I thought about it for a while.

This IS something we are looking to fix… as you say… putting the Is_3D check box in the sample in the ELEMENT PLAYLIST. It’s on our list… not at the top yet… but it is there!