FMOD Studio audio tools now completely free for indies

Source: GamaSutra

Yeahhh, They put a Unity similar system (< 100k = free), this is very good, FMOD is the best software to add audio to the game, and now it free for commercial projects, I hope the sound quality of various games increase.

 

YES!!!

 

I would be a lot more excited if studio had a dedicated tool for interactive music like the old designer did.

 

That's great news indeed!

 

OK, dumb question - what exactly is FMOD? Can't figure it out from their website.

 

Lol I was wondering the same thing so I downloaded it and checked out their user manual. Here's a screencap from it that I think sums it pretty well:

 

It's what unitys audio engine is built on top of.
FMOD Studio is a user interface where you can define audio
And now they have built a unity implementation to make it easier to access the stuff defined in studio.

 

That is awesome!
I was actually on the verge of removing fmod studio from my engine because of the licencing costs.
So glad I haven't done that yet.

 

OK, thanks for the info guys!

 

That's good news ! The only thing that bothers me a bit is that the integration for Unity doesn't seem to support games built for Linux?

Is this right ? Can someone confirm this please?

 

The way I'm reading it, it seems you are correct. It's a bit disappointing since I am planning to release on PC, Mac, and Linux. Would have loved to switch to fmod for development. If I'm wrong then hopefully someone will correct me.

 

Awesome news!

It sounds like they just don't support authoring them on Linux?
"UPDATE: According to CEO Bret Paterson, FMOD Studio 1.4 will include API support for Linux, but will still require Windows or Mac to run the tool itself."
http://indiestatik.com/2014/03/10/fmod-studio-free/

 

What kind of things did the old designer have for interactive music?

 

A node based system.

It had potential, I was hoping they would flesh it out a lot more.

 

We've known about this for awhile now. My studio DarkTonic makes Master Audio, the most popular audio plugin on the Unity Asset Store. Here's a link. To some people, this free FMod announcement would make all such non-free plugins dead in the water, so to speak. We don't see it that way though. Currently, the documentation for FMOD is bad, we've been told by a prominent game audio teacher. Also, our plugin has tons of features that require zero coding, even without Playmaker. Also, our workflow seems more optimal when you can do everything right in the Unity editor. Especially when you have no previous experience with FMod or WWise and their sound event concepts.

In other words, dedicated established game audio developers may prefer to use FMOD or WWISE, but usually Unity devs who happen to "also do sound" will still prefer Master Audio.

Now if there's anything further we can build into the product so that it has an edge over this free product, do drop us a line and suggest some features!

FMod is a great product no doubt, do not think I don't see that. I think both products have a place. Carry on!

 

I see it the same way as Jerotas, there is definitely place for alternatives to FMOD. The unified pipeline, source code access and deep project integration is better with Unity based solutions. To plug my own new solution, InAudio, supports just that. It is a bit of a different approach than Master Audio, both with their own strengths.
Please write to us if you have a feature request, need help or perhaps an evaluation copy.

It seemed quite powerful, never got a chance to try it though. You can see it in action in an older FMOD tutorial video here.

Indeed, The only free documentation for FMOD studio is as far as I know 6 youtube videos and their forum, which is very limited compared to other solutions.

 

Except is even better because it seems that 100k is per-project basis (100k BUDGET), not annually. Yeeee-haw!

 

Interesting. Thanks for the link. It seems though, that the node based approach is really just a finite state machine. It seems like this part could easily be done with Playmaker, and another system such as FMOD, Master Audio, InAudio, etc.

There is also the FMOD Studio Programmer’s API available in their download section, though from a quick glance, it seems that it's more geared for C++ development. http://www.fmod.org/download/

I haven't gotten to look into it too far yet, but as I see it, this could also be an opportunity for another dev to create a more user friendly integration with FMOD studio and Unity, and integrate with Playmaker, etc.

 

I was looking for a decent way to do audio in Unity with a low-cost entry for learning... I guess I found it!