Audio Manager

The Audio Manager is the master audio controller for every GS_Play project. It extends GS_ManagerComponent and participates in the standard two-stage initialization managed by the Game Manager. On startup it initializes the MiniAudio engine, creates the named mixing bus graph, and coordinates score track playback.

Like all GS_Play managers, the Audio Manager responds to standby mode automatically — muting or pausing audio output when the game enters a blocking operation such as a stage change.

For usage guides and setup examples, see The Basics: GS_Audio.

Contents

• How It Works
• Inspector Properties
• API Reference
  • Audio Event Graph
  • Mixing
  • Score
  • Notifications
• See Also

How It Works

Engine Lifecycle

When the Audio Manager activates, it initializes a MiniAudio engine instance and builds the mixing bus graph from its configured bus list.

Mixing Bus Routing

All audio output flows through named mixing buses. Each bus is a GS_MixingBus node in the MiniAudio graph with its own volume level and optional effects chain. The Audio Manager owns the top-level routing and exposes volume control per bus through the request bus.

Audio Event Graph Pooling

The Audio Manager maintains a template cache and instance pool for Audio Event Graphs. When a graph is played:

• First request for a path loads and caches the GraphDocumentAsset
• A GraphInstance is created from the cached asset
• On release, idle instances are pooled for reuse (default pool size: 8)
• Each instance is fully independent — variables, phase, and state do not bleed between instances

Score Playback

The Audio Manager coordinates playback of ScoreArrangementTrack assets — multi-layer musical scores with configurable tempo, time signature, and layer selection.

Inspector Properties

API Reference

GS_AudioManagerComponent

Audio Event Graph

Instanced, visual-graph-based sound events with full lifecycle control, variable injection, and 3D spatialization.

Playback Control

Lifecycle

Variable Control

Set graph variables at runtime to drive filter parameters, routing, and source selection.

Setting a variable marks dependent nodes dirty and re-evaluates only the affected portion of the graph on the next tick.

3D Spatialization

Usage Pattern

// Fire-and-forget
AudioManagerRequestBus::Broadcast(&AudioManagerRequests::PlayAudioGraph,
    "Assets/Audio/Footstep_Stone.audiograph");

// Manual control with variable injection
AZ::u32 instanceId = 0;
AudioManagerRequestBus::BroadcastResult(instanceId,
    &AudioManagerRequests::AcquireAudioGraph,
    "Assets/Audio/Ambience_Forest.audiograph");

AudioManagerRequestBus::Broadcast(&AudioManagerRequests::SetAudioGraphLooping, instanceId, true);
AudioManagerRequestBus::Broadcast(&AudioManagerRequests::SetAudioGraphEntity, instanceId, entityId);
AudioManagerRequestBus::Broadcast(&AudioManagerRequests::FireAudioGraph, instanceId);

// Later: set a variable to mute underwater
AudioManagerRequestBus::Broadcast(&AudioManagerRequests::SetAudioGraphVariable,
    instanceId, "underwater", 0.8f);

// Stop when done
AudioManagerRequestBus::Broadcast(&AudioManagerRequests::StopAudioGraph, instanceId);
AudioManagerRequestBus::Broadcast(&AudioManagerRequests::ReleaseAudioGraph, instanceId);

Mixing

Score

Notification Bus: AudioManagerNotificationBus

Events broadcast by the Audio Manager. Multiple handler bus — any number of components can subscribe.

See Also

• Audio Event Graph — Visual graph editor for sound events
• Mixing & Effects — Mixing buses and effects chains
• Score Arrangement — Multi-layer music scoring
• Manager Base Class — The base class pattern for all managers

Get GS_Audio

GS_Audio — Explore this gem on the product page and add it to your project.