Limit on concurrent looping sounds

[Remi Alpha]

Let's say that –

• I want to have multiple looping sounds in a parcel (llLoopSound) combined with one-shot sounds (llPlaySound)
• It should be possible to hear them all playing at once each coming from a different prim
• The sound emitting prims would be spread out to create stereo effects due to where each sound comes from

I am talking here about layering ambient environmental sounds that won't create a cacophony and, incidentally, they do not need to be in sync

Some questions –

• Are there any technical or practical limit to how many sounds can (or should!) be played at once?
  • If so is it a viewer or server limit?
• Can users' settings affect concurrent sounds, or is it more of a device performance consideration?
• Is there any documentation about how distance and direction relative to the "listener" avatar affects playback? For example would closer sounds start sooner? Or when moving your avatar towards another sound emitter could this new sound in front replace a now more distant sound behind?
• I am aware of Firestorm's "Media source volume rolloff distance". Does "media" in this context include prim sounds?

Something like 8 different sounds at once would work well. They would be turned on or off and randomised in scripts. I want to get a feel for whether that could work and if so how far apart the sound sources could be placed. I have had problems in the past with wave sounds not being heard until I turn to face them, even when they are in range - (perhaps due to the parent prim not being rendered?)

Obviously I can experiment but looking for any tips from experience, or documentation I have missed.

 

[Rolig Loon]

As far as I am aware, there is no limit. If you wander around any of the regions that Linden Lab has decorated  (for example, in Bellisseria). you'll hear quite a number of bird/wind/waterfall/etc sounds playing at once.  The volume of each one depends on how close you are to the emitter, of course, so the mix varies as you wander around.  If there's any limit, it's in the size of the sound cache on your own computer, not in LSL.  Someone else may know better ....