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Using Stingers

To add more feedback to your interactive music, you can play Stingers at key points in the game action. Stingers are brief musical phrases that are superimposed and mixed over the currently playing music. To play a Stinger, the game calls a Trigger that is associated with a Stinger Music Segment. For more information on using Triggers, refer to Working with Triggers.

Let's say the daring archaeologist that we met in the previous example is busily exploring a temple in search of artifacts and adventure. The exploration music plays as they wander about examining their surroundings. Then as they find the treasure, another short piece of music plays to emphasize this exciting discovery. The exploration music is not replaced, but rather the game calls a Trigger which in turn plays a Stinger called “Found it” over the ongoing exploration music to signify this big moment. After the Stinger has finished, the exploration music continues to play.

To insert a Stinger on top of the already playing music, you need to do the following:

  • Associate a music object to a Trigger.

  • Create the Stinger by mapping a Music Segment to a Trigger.

  • Define how the Stinger will play back.

Using Stingers in the Interactive Music Hierarchy

Since Stingers can be created at different levels in the hierarchy, you can assign the same Trigger to different segments. This means that while the top level music object may use a Trigger called, for example, “Headshot”, any of its child objects may also use the “Headshot” Trigger. In this case, the child object would associate the “Headshot” Trigger with a different segment. This automatically overrides the parent Trigger/stinger association and increases the range of Stingers that you can play at important moments in the game. Since only one Stinger may play for a specific Trigger in the hierarchy of music objects, it is the associated Stinger of the currently playing child object that will play.

Adding Stingers

You can create Stingers for music objects in the Stingers tab of the Music Object Property Editor. In Wwise, there are two ways to add Stingers:

  • Using drag and drop from the Project Explorer.

  • Using the buttons in the Property Editor.

You can use either method or a combination of the two.

[Note]Note

If your Stinger contains a segment that has been unloaded from the project, the segment will be highlighted in yellow.

To insert a Stinger using drag and drop from the Project Explorer:

  1. Load a music object into the Property Editor and switch to the Stingers tab.

  2. From the Game Syncs tab of the Project Explorer, drag a Trigger to the Stingers list.

    A Stinger is automatically created using the Trigger you dragged from the Project Explorer. By default, the Trigger is not associated with any Music Segment (Nothing).

  3. To assign a Music Segment to this Trigger, switch to the Audio tab of the Project Explorer, and then drag the Music Segment to the Segment to Play column.

    This Music Segment replaces the “Nothing” option that is added by default, and is now associated with the Trigger.

  4. In the Play At column, define when you want the segment to play by selecting one of the following options:

    • Immediate - Change occurs immediately. If a look-ahead time has been defined for a track, then this time must elapse before the Stinger can play.

    • Next Grid - Stinger plays at the next grid. The grid is an arbitrary frequency by which music objects can be virtually partitioned.

    • Next Bar - Stinger plays at the next bar.

    • Next Beat - Stinger plays at the next beat.

    • Next Cue - Stinger plays at the next cue. The next cue could be an Entry, Exit, or custom cue.

    • Next Custom Cue - Stinger plays at the next custom cue.

    • Entry Cue - Stinger plays at the Entry cue.

    • Exit Cue - Stinger plays at the Exit cue.

  5. Repeat steps 2-4 to continue adding Stingers as needed.

To insert a Stinger using the buttons in the Property Editor:

  1. On the Stingers tab of the Property Editor, click Add.

    The Project Explorer - Browser dialog opens.

  2. Select the Trigger to assign to the music object, and click OK.

    [Note]Note

    To select another Trigger for the Stinger, in the Trigger column click the Browse button (...) to browse to the Trigger you want to use for this Stinger.

  3. Select the Trigger, and click OK

    The Trigger is added to the Stinger.

  4. In the Segment to Play column, click the browse button (...).

    The Project Explorer-Browser opens.

  5. Navigate to the segment that you want to use, and click OK.

    The segment is added to the Stinger.

    • Immediate - Change occurs immediately. If a look-ahead time has been defined for a track, then this time must elapse before the Stinger can play.

    • Next Grid - Stinger plays at the next grid. The grid is an arbitrary frequency by which music objects can be virtually partitioned.

    • Next Bar - Stinger plays at the next bar.

    • Next Beat - Stinger plays at the next beat.

    • Next Cue - Stinger plays at the next cue. The next cue could be an Entry, Exit, or custom cue.

    • Next Custom Cue - Stinger plays at the next custom cue.

    • Entry Cue - Stinger plays at the Entry cue.

    • Exit Cue - Stinger plays at the Exit cue.

  7. Continue to add Stingers as needed.

Defining playback settings for Stingers

After you have created the Stingers for a music object, you can define certain settings that help manage the playback of Stingers in game. To obtain the best results for using a Stinger you need to consider two playback issues:

  • The time you want to elapse before a Stinger plays again. Since Stingers are meant to add intensity to a music score, it is important to avoid diluting this impact by playing a Stinger too often and soon after one has played.

  • What to do when there is not enough time left in a segment to launch a Stinger. If a Stinger is called by a Trigger, and the next opportunity to play the Stinger occurs too late in the current segment, the Stinger is not played. You can, however, play the segment at the first defined opportunity of the next segment in the playlist. If you do not select this option the Stinger will be killed.

To define the playback settings for your Stingers:

  1. On the Stingers tab of the Property Editor, in the Don't play this Stinger again for x seconds field, type the number of seconds that must elapse before the Stinger can play again. If the Trigger calls this Stinger within the specified number of seconds, the Trigger is ignored.

    [Note]Note

    The "don't play Stinger again for" time is relative to the Stinger's synchronization point, that is, the moment in time where the Stinger's entry cue occurs.

  2. To play a Stinger in the next segment when there is not enough time to play it in the current segment, select the Allow playing the Stinger in next segment option.

    [Note]Note

    If you do not select this option, the Stinger will be killed.

Removing Stingers

You can delete any Stingers that you no longer need.

To remove a Stinger from the Stinger list:

  1. In the Stingers tab, select the Stinger that you want to remove.

  2. Click Remove.

    The selected Stinger is removed from the list.

    [Note]Note

    When a Stinger is deleted, this does not affect the associated Trigger or Music Segment.

Auditioning Stingers

After you have created a Stinger segment, you can audition it in the Transport Control on its own or with another segment to verify its impact when it plays over other music. Since Stingers can be created at different levels in the hierarchy, you may have different segment settings that use the same Trigger. Only one Stinger, however, may play for a specific Trigger in the hierarchy of music objects and it is the child object that determines which Stinger will play. For example if you created a Stinger using the Trigger “Headshot” at the Music Switch Container level, and used the same Trigger “Headshot” for a Stinger in the child object Playlist Container, and then you loaded the Music Switch Container in the Transport Control, and called the Trigger, only the Playlist Container Stinger would play.

In addition, you can also create simulations in the Soundcaster and profile your simulation in the Profiler to monitor performance issues. For more information about simulations and profiling, refer to:

[Note]Note

If a Stinger contains a segment that has been unloaded from the project, the segment will be highlighted in yellow. You will not be able to audition your Stinger until the Work Unit that contains the Stinger segment has been loaded back into the project.

To audition a Stinger in the Transport Control:

  1. Load the Stinger segment into the Transport Control.

  2. Click the Play icon.

    The Stinger segment will play back.

To audition a Stinger superimposed over currently playing music:

  1. Load a music object into the Transport Control.

  2. Click the Play icon.

    The music object loaded into the Transport Control will play back.

  3. In the Game Syncs area, click the Triggers button to display the Trigger list.

  4. Click the Call Trigger icon.

    The corresponding Stinger will play over the currently playing music object. You can continue to select other Triggers and play back their corresponding Stingers to simulate the playback of Stingers in game.

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