5 reasons to use ADX2 as your game audio middleware
Do you want to add high-quality interactive audio to your game in no time and at a tiny CPU cost? You found the right page! Here are 5 reasons why you should use ADX2 in your game.
#1 – Virtually no learning curve: ADX2 is like a DAW for your game audio
Because of its “DAW-like” tool (AtomCraft), ADX2 is intuitive and easy to learn. Already spent a lot of time learning another game audio middleware and afraid to change? No problem! You can switch to ADX2 in no time and start working on your game audio right away! AtomCraft looks and feels like a usual DAW – one which would have been built for game audio. It boasts all the typical DAW features such as tracks, waveform regions, envelopes, filters, automation curves, busses, bouncing and effects but also includes powerful interactive functions (randomization, RTPCs, sound selectors, 3D positioning, categories, auto-ducking, interactive music…)
Everything in AtomCraft is always a click away and it offers the best workflow available today for this type of tool. Basic tasks are ultra-fast, while complex interactive behaviors are a pleasure to design. Drop samples from the Windows Explorer onto a CueSheet and the samples will be added to the project as Materials, a Cue will be created with Tracks for the waveforms. You just have to press play! Need a random range on that parameter? Just click on the parameter slider and drag the mouse vertically instead of horizontally: here is your random range. No need to open a randomizer window or to add a modulation parameter, no need to click many times, open or close windows, features are always there in front of you where you need them.
#2 – Easy integration with Unity, Unreal or your native game engine
The CRIWARE SDK (which includes ADX2) works on all common platforms from PC and consoles to handhelds and mobile devices. In addition, CRIWARE is available as a plug-in for both Unity and Unreal, making it easy to add top-quality audio and video features to your games. Where some other audio middleware behave like elephants once integrated, ADX2 has a very light footprint. By the way, for the same price, the CRIWARE SDK also contains Sofdec2, a video encoding and playback solution with many options, used for example on Destiny. Sofdec2 uses the ADX2 codecs for its audio tracks and shares the same underlying file system. Which brings us to our next point…
#3 – Proprietary audio codecs for blazing-fast playback and low CPU footprint
CRI Middleware has a long history of developing powerful codecs, all the way back to the early 90’s when our company was assisting SEGA with multi-streaming and sound compression technologies for the Saturn. ADX2 can use the ADX, HCA and HCA-MX proprietary codecs in addition to the regular codecs provided by the console manufacturers. Our codecs have been carefully tuned for games. Their CPU load is very low and stable during decoding, while offering a high-fidelity sound with a high compression ratio. They also have the advantage of running on all game platforms, mobile devices and embedded systems. Thanks to these codecs, the audio engine can play hundreds of sounds on consoles and tens of sounds on mobile platforms! If you are developing a mobile game, the choice is obvious!
#4 – Super-easy to work with API
The API has been designed in the same way than the tool: uniform and coherent, very easy to learn and to use. The various modules are configured, initialized and operated similarly and API functions follow a clear naming scheme. ADX2 has already been used in more than 3200 games and is the most battle-tested game audio middleware. Once you have checked the list of bug fixes in each version of other game audio middleware, you will want the peace of mind that comes with using ADX2 and its fully-optimized engine.
#5 – Empowers both the sound designer and the audio programmer
Depending on the wishes or skillset of your audio team, you can decide to have the sound designers control the whole audio experience, to put the audio programmers fully in charge or a mix of these two solutions. For example, as a sound designer, you could design an automatic ducking system in a few clicks with the REACT feature in AtomCraft (based on the categories the sounds belong too). You could also do it with envelopes or AISACs. The programmer, on his side, could trigger automatic fade-ins / fade-outs with the Fader module at run-time or he could program every single change by updating the volumes of the sound effects themselves or of their respective categories. With ADX2, there are many creative or technical ways to achieve the same result, depending on your preference.
You can try ADX2 yourself by downloading the CRIWARE SDK:
