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Elements

An element represents a media item within an echo. Normally these are sound files.

Elements are triggered when you enter an echo (zone). You can provide a number of different options to control playback. Note that some of these options are only available on membership packages, and some might not be public yet (drop us a line if you'd like to try!).

Basic options​

Play loop​

loops while the listener is in the zone.

One-shot​

only plays the zone once, as long as the listener plays to the end.

Play complete​

always plays to the end, even if the listener leaves the echo.

Spatialization​

plays louder towards the centre (don't confuse with the 3D options).

Resume​

resume playing where you left off when reentering the echo.

More advanced​

Fade in​

control how long it takes for the sound to fade in.

Fade out​

control how long it takes for the sound to fade… out.

Max volume​

the relative maximum volume the sound will play at (1 is maximum). This is also affected by spatialization and 3D options.

Really advanced​

Tempo sync​

set which tempo sync group this element belongs to. It'll beat sync with any other sounds in that group that are playing.

Queueing​

Queueing allows you to create one or more queues where sounds will queue up behind each other if one or more is in the queue. These will either wait to be triggered, or disappear if you don't trigger them before leaving the zone.

Options​

  • Queue - set the queue group that this sound belongs to. Any others allocated to the same group (number) will be affected with the following settings.
  • Queue priority - 1 is high, 10 is low. The playing element will never be interrupted, but if there are more elements in the queue, higher priority ones will skip the queue. i.e. there are 3 elements with priority 2 in the queue; a priority 1 element joins; it will jump to the front of the queue for playback.
  • Dequeue on detrigger - the element will be removed from the queue when detriggering (i.e. leaving the zone)

Voice Groups​

Voice groups allow you change the behaviour of elements in a group. The principal use is for ducking (lowering the volume) of one element when another starts playing. This allows you to, for example, have some ambient sound or music duck when a voiceover is triggered.

Voice groups are much more complex, though. They allow you to have multiple groups and multiple competing elements with different numbers of 'voices' which take priority.

Options​

  • Add a new voice group at the walk level
  • Max voices - the number of elements that will be unaffected by the voice group effects.
  • Add elements to a particular voice group
  • Group - set the voice group that this element belongs to. Add new ones at the walk level. Any others allocated to the same group (number) will be affected with the following Action settings.
  • Action - Duck - ducks this element by the specified amount, i.e. 0 is no ducking
  • Action - Pause - pauses this element
  • Priority - which ones in the group will take precedence i.e. not have any effects applied

Even more advanced​

3D \ Spatial​

Set the sound to play back using spatial audio. Each element will get its own unique position on the map. To learn more, visit our page on spatial audio

Options​

  • Rolloff - controls the way the volume decreases from the minimum distance towards maximum distance. The options are:
    • inverse - follows the inverse square law (quite a harsh decrease, but realistic)
    • linear - decreases evenly from max to min (same law as spatialization above)
    • linear-square - keeps the volume higher for longer, then a sharp drop at the edge
    • inverse-tapered - the classic 'S' curve. Higher at the beginning then dropping in the second half.
  • Minimum/maximum distance for 3D rolloff
    These are the distances at which the sound reaches maximum volume, and minimum volume (the edge). These are separate from the echo zone.
  • Relative elevation
    How 'high' the sound is above you.