Tip for dealing with sound distortion

[Ryan]

I've noticed sound effects in Flash work differently to non-Flash.

Flash compiled sound effects by default volume are 200% amplied. This can cause distortion if the sound-effect is made to use the full range of a sound file.

If you're finding your sound effects are distorting in Flash, drop your main volume to 50. This will clear up any distortion problems.

[Atom]

I haven't tested audio in flash much yet but that sounds like a bug. This should definitely be fixed if this is what happens rather than needing a workaround in my opinion.

[Looki]

Just tested it - Can't confirm.

[Atom]

Is this with the built in audio or using a object?

You should probably post a mfa example for people to test, it might be due to something like events or certain computers audio etc.

[Tuna]

I've noticed the music in my game Race to 21 is louder than in the exe I compiled. I never really gave it much thought though, there wasn't any distortion. I suppose that I should consider that next time.

[Looki]

I just recorded the sound output and compared the waveforms. They're identical here.

[Ryan]

Firstly, it's not about sheer volume. Volume doesn't change.

The way flash amplifies the sound, pushing it beyond safe limits into distortion is the problem.

It occurs when more than one sound overlaps.

Here's the example, enable the "fix" group to test the fix.

[Atom]

That is normal though i think because the sounds are building over each other on the same audio channel.

Basically what you would want to avoid that is some sort of built in limiter or soft clipping. The sound will distort after the gain/volume reaches a certain point, this will happen even in audio sequencers etc also but these usually have a built in limiter so it's not much of a problem.

Maybe clickteam could make a built in limiter to avoid this or as you say people can just calculate or set the volume down so it does not distort. Most of the time this should not be a problem though only when you play multiple sounds together quickly.

[Ryan]

What's interesting though Atom is that it doesn't happen in non-Flash.

It'd be great if the flash export implemented a fix, even it's the built-in-limiter you speak of.