/godot-audio-systems

Audio pooling and bus architecture

Pooling anti-pattern (WHY)

# BAD: 60 new nodes/sec at 60 FPS → ~3600 allocations/minute + frame spikes
func play_footstep() -> void:
    var player := AudioStreamPlayer.new()
    add_child(player)
    player.stream = load("res://audio/footstep.ogg")
    player.finished.connect(player.queue_free)
    player.play()

Fix: Pre-allocate a round-robin pool — audio_voice_pool_manager.gd. Cap identical SFX with audio_voice_limiter_manager.gd to avoid constructive clipping when 50 explosions stack.

Bus layout

Master (limiter only)
├── Music
├── SFX
├── UI
└── Voice

• Never route gameplay to Master — mute/duck categories independently.
• set_bus_volume_db() is logarithmic; UI sliders need linear_to_db() — audio_linear_volume_interpolator.gd.

# BAD
AudioServer.set_bus_volume_db(music_idx, 0.5)

# GOOD
AudioServer.set_bus_volume_db(music_idx, linear_to_db(0.5))

3D spatial gotchas

Godot 4.7

AudioStreamPlayer.area_mask defaults to 0 — set layer 1 (or your bus layer) when using Area audio overrides.

Far-audio cull

Stop AudioStreamPlayer3D when listener distance > max_distance * 1.5 to skip inaudible mix work.

Edge cases

1. Stream assigned?
2. Bus muted?
3. volume_db < -60 effectively silent