AmbientReverb

Description:

The ambient sound environment preset used by SoundService.

The Enum/ReverbType this property simulates a range of different environment’s impact on sound. Each different option corresponds with a preset available in the FMOD sound engine. For example, when AmbientReverb is set to Hangar, the sound will reverberate differently to simulate being in a large enclosed space.

Changing the AmbientReverb effects the following properties used by Roblox’s sound engine.

Reverberation decay time
Initial reflection delay time
Late reverberation delay time relative to initial reflection
Reference high frequency
High-frequency to mid-frequency decay time ratio
Value that controls the echo density in the late reverberation decay
Value that controls the modal density in the late reverberation decay
Reference low frequency
Relative room effect level at low frequencies
Relative room effect level at high frequencies
Early reflections level relative to room effect
Room effect level at mid frequencies

Those interested in finding more out about ambient reverb presets should see the FMOD documentation on the topic. For most developers however, the Enum/ReverbType names are descriptive enough to be able to use this setting without advanced knowledge.

Code Samples

Dynamic Reverb System

The code in this sample, when ran from a LocalScript, will change the SoundService/AmbientReverb property of SoundService when the player is inside a BasePart tagged using CollectionService.

To add or remove tags and reverb types, change the entries in the ‘reverbTags’ table.

local Players = game:GetService("Players")
local CollectionService = game:GetService("CollectionService")
local SoundService = game:GetService("SoundService")

local localPlayer = Players.LocalPlayer

-- define tags
local reverbTags = {
	["reverb_Cave"] = Enum.ReverbType.Cave
}

-- collect parts and group them by tag
local parts = {}
for reverbTag, reverbType in pairs(reverbTags) do
	for _, part in pairs(CollectionService:GetTagged(reverbTag)) do
		parts[part] = reverbType
	end
end

-- function to check if a position is within a part's extents
local function positionInPart(part, position)
	local extents = part.Size / 2
	local offset = part.CFrame:pointToObjectSpace(position)
	return offset.x < extents.x
		and offset.y < extents.y
		and offset.z < extents.z
end

local reverbType = SoundService.AmbientReverb

while true do 
	wait()
	if not localPlayer then
		return
	end

	local character = localPlayer.Character

	-- default to no reverb
	local newReverbType = Enum.ReverbType.NoReverb

	if character and character.PrimaryPart then
		local position = character.PrimaryPart.Position

		-- go through all the indexed parts
		for part, type in pairs(parts) do
			-- see if the character is within them
			if positionInPart(part, position) then
				-- if so, pick that reverb type
				newReverbType = type
				break
			end
		end
	end

	-- set the reverb type if it has changed
	if newReverbType ~= reverbType then
		SoundService.AmbientReverb = newReverbType
		reverbType = newReverbType
	end
end