Path of Exile Audio Team Q&A

What are some technical advancements you're hoping for in the future?

I remember a long time ago asking for splashes running through water in particular (which we got with the updated water system, great btw!), I'm curious about things like more environmental interaction (a projectile slapping against belly of the beast vs striking the stone of a catacomb or being muffled by a jungle wall).

Also how is the limit to the number of concurrent sounds determined? I encounter semi-often only half a pack making sound, silenced voice lines, or other muting during active gameplay - my channel count is High. Is this a CPU bottlenecking issue?

What is the most interesting part of this job for you?

Hey there, big fan of the bosses' themes here (celestial being the all time favourite <3)

Any behind the scenes info on how you guys did the choral part for the Searing Exarch's theme "The Cleansing Fire"?
I can only remember something similar on Highgate and I appreciate to see more of it

Changing the topic to skills and MTX, some sounds are perfect on "fast" characters and you can spam away to your hearts content, while others can get annoying when you hear only part of the effect or when it overlaps with itself
Did it ever happen that a effect or skill sounded fine by itself, but had to be changed once tested "on the field" with more stuff going on? How does that affect the design?

Ty and looking forward to it

In Oriath after killing Kitava, WHAT was that odd sort of CLONK CLONK CLONK sound meant to be? Someone rebuilding? It's driven me mad for absolutely years.

Can you push GGG to make HO music player much better, allowing you to make custom playlists like in real desktop audioplayer ?.. Pls and ty.

How much direction do you give voice actors in creating the character for their dialogue, and how are the audio team involved in the auditioning and recording process? I'm curious for example whether Weylam Roth and Sister Cassia's voice actors (two of my favourites, others including Sirus, Shaper, the Delirium voice, the Envoy, Maven, ...) created their characters from an outline or a detailed brief on the character and their tone and manner. Cassia is such a terrific schoolmarm. Weylam Roth is surprisingly Irish but a brilliantly canonical pirate. The contrast between Sirus' wavering tones and his projection's dire intonation is perfect.

Are the voice recordings in the game now the full recorded quality, or do you have to scale back for game use due to engine limitations? Would you re-record or remix in future from a master if tech changes?

Do you still use a digital mixing desk (Pro Tools) to design audio a la https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1874615? Or do you go to a studio for some recording and mixing?

Are there any plans to replace or update FMOD, if you're still using that? It seemed to cause some issues a few leagues back, none for me this league. Are there any constraints to FMOD that impact sound design, as I imagine tech is advancing, for example I conjecture live control of things like sustain or multi-stage blended effects?

How is the Legion music, and really so much of the game's music and sound effects, so awesome?

Which tools/VSTs you use the most for sound design, and which VSTs/libraries you use for music. Top 10 VSTs that really improved your workflow or gave your creativity another dimension. Thanks :)

What is your opinion on Archnemesis? Do you think it is a fun game mechanic?

will there be "metal" music in the future?
i'd like to battle the bosses with some epic metal music :)

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How does the Game handles massive amounts of sounds playing together? Do you have priorities for boss abilities and such?

I'ma poke this for extra visibility. Does channel count or other settings have an effect on prioritized sounds, if there are any prioritized sounds?
For example the lighting boiz that spawn and try to explode on you have a very distinct sound, and the sound is the only reason I stay alive most of the time.

On another note, has the sound being turned to 0 versus false affecting performance been confirmed? If so, shouldn't GGG solve that so one doesn't have to go into the settings files to change it?

Thanks!