godot-audio Checked

Play and mix audio in Godot 4.7: AudioStreamPlayer (2D/3D variants), audio buses with volume/mute and effects, music vs SFX routing, db/linear volume, and precise sync-to-beat playback timing. Use when playing sounds or music in a Godot project, routing AudioStreamPlayer nodes to buses, adjusting bus volume via AudioServer, or syncing gameplay to the beat.

Godot Audio (4.x)

Play SFX and music, route them through buses, control volume in decibels, and time

gameplay to the beat. Targets **Godot 4.7**.

Play and mix audio in Godot 4.7: AudioStreamPlayer (2D/3D variants), audio buses with volume/mute and effects, music vs SFX routing, db/linear volume, and precise sync-to-beat playback timing. Use when playing sounds or music in a Godot project, routing AudioStreamPlayer nodes to buses, adjusting bus volume via AudioServer, or syncing gameplay to the beat.

Godot Audio (4.x)

Play SFX and music, route them through buses, control volume in decibels, and time

gameplay to the beat. Targets **Godot 4.7**.

When to use

• Use when playing sound effects or music, routing audio to buses (Master/Music/SFX),

adjusting volume/mute from code, adding bus effects (reverb, compressor), positional 3D

audio, or syncing events to music.

**When *not* to use:** engine-agnostic audio *design* (adaptive music structure, mixing

philosophy, ducking patterns) → audio-design; importing/encoding assets outside Godot.

Core workflow

1. **Pick the player node:**

• AudioStreamPlayer — non-positional (music, UI, global SFX).
• AudioStreamPlayer2D / AudioStreamPlayer3D — positional; volume/pan from distance.

2. **Assign an AudioStream** to stream (.ogg for music/loops, .wav for short SFX)

and play(). Set autoplay for music that starts with the scene.

3. **Route to a bus.** Set the player's bus to a named bus (e.g. "Music", "SFX").

Define buses in the Audio panel (bottom dock); each can have volume, mute, solo, and

effects.

4. **Control volume in dB**, not linear (audio is logarithmic). 0 dB = unchanged,

-80 dB ≈ silent. Convert with linear_to_db/db_to_linear.

5. **Drive volume/mute from code** with AudioServer by bus index.

6. **For rhythm**, compute precise playback time using output latency compensation.

Patterns

### 1. One-shot SFX (fire-and-forget)

@onready var sfx: AudioStreamPlayer = $Sfx   # stream assigned in the editor

func play_jump() -> void:
    sfx.pitch_scale = randf_range(0.95, 1.05)   # slight variation avoids fatigue
    sfx.play()

# For many overlapping copies, use an AudioStreamPlayer with an
# AudioStreamPolyphonic stream, or spawn short-lived players and free on `finished`.

### 2. Set a bus's volume and mute via AudioServer

func set_music_volume(linear_0_to_1: float) -> void:
    var bus := AudioServer.get_bus_index("Music")
    # Convert a 0..1 slider to decibels; clamp avoids -inf at 0.
    AudioServer.set_bus_volume_db(bus, linear_to_db(maxf(linear_0_to_1, 0.0001)))

func toggle_sfx(muted: bool) -> void:
    AudioServer.set_bus_mute(AudioServer.get_bus_index("SFX"), muted)

### 3. Crossfade between two music tracks

@onready var a: AudioStreamPlayer = $MusicA
@onready var b: AudioStreamPlayer = $MusicB