Sound objects should be InverseTapered by default

[asimo3089]

Today, new Sound objects come with their RollOffMode set to Inverse. The problem is that Inverse never reaches a volume of zero once you reach the edge of that sound objects RollOffMaxDistance. This causes an audible “pop in” and “pop out” as you move in and out of reach of any given sound.

As seen here, InverseTapered would be the most desirable default setting and something I find myself changing every time I add a new sound object, if I can remember. To this day I still find sounds in Jailbreak that we missed and are still set to Inverse. InverseTapered allows sounds to fade out to silence and fade in to being audible. Additionally it has the closest profile to Inverse.

As a RobloxDev, this change would bring great peace of mind to my projects while also making future experiences on Roblox sound better.

[Polyhex]

Not much to add here, but this is the truth. The first thing I do with Sound objects is change them to InverseTapered.

[apenzijncoolenleuk1 (Apenz1)]

Would save two clicks for devs that know about it.
Would save a ton of headaches for devs that don’t know about it.

Only advantages, no disadvantages. Minor QoL changes like this really make a difference to the overall experience of using studio.

[PeZsmistic]

I genuinely don’t understand why inverse exists at all - completely useless; I struggle to imagine a use case for a rolloff mode with an ugly pop out.

[Denit100 (Denit)]

I strongly agree with this. Sound design is one of the most immersive aspects of an experience, so it only seems natural that sound objects should be InverseTapered by default, especially for new devs that don’t know about RollOffModes yet. It’s one of the easiest ways to enhance realism without sacrificing performance. This would also tie in nicely with the VolumetricAudio property Roblox is experimenting with. It’s crazy how they chose to change every material by default before they changed this.

[baackup_1st (Backup)]

inverse exists because it is technically the most realistic roll-off mode it pops because sound doesn’t have a maximum distance it can be heard from and sound max distance therefore shouldn’t effect the sounds roll-off so it just pops

[baackup_1st (Backup)]

inverse tapered is just 1 divided by distance multiplied by a linear roll-off (its a mix of linear and inverse) making it slightly unrealistic but eliminating the pop

[TheRealANDRO (ANDRO)]

Didn’t even know this option existed, but now makes sense why the sounds create a pop-in and-out effect. I strongly agree with this, would save a lot of time and confusion.

[RaterixRGL (Raterix)]

It would be nice if Inverse itself was just fixed so that there’s no pop.

[MagmaBurnsV]

I think Inverse should be both corrected and InverseTapered set to default (For Instance.new and inserting from studio).

Tapered’s roll off sounds more natural and it would be nothing but beneficial for games that don’t utilize it.

[Tanks_altNum1]

I literally never knew any of this thanks for brining my attention to this

[be_nj (benjj)]

Thanks for making this thread and thanks to all those who have contributed to it! We agree with the sentiments shared here and have queued a change to address this point in the upcoming Studio release about two weeks from now (assuming all goes to plan ofc)

Sound objects inserted with the Studio Insert Menu will have the default updated from Inverse to InverseTapered as suggested.

Sound instances created at runtime with Luau will continue to respect the current default, Inverse, to maintain backwards compatibility.

Engineers will be taking this feedback into account as Roblox continues to improve the engine audio system.

I’ll circle back to this thread when the flag is flipped and the change is live.

[be_nj (benjj)]

I’ve recently enabled the change that should have new Sound instances inserted from the Insert Menu in studio use this new default.