How to test Audio Reactive SDK components directly in the Unity editor

To speed up the creation of environments, it’s important that some of the more complex features of the Vinyl Reality SDK can be tested directly in the Unity editor, without needing to build the scene and loading it in the Vinyl Reality application.

The Audio Reaction Emulator prefab emulates sending audio analysis data to the audio reactive components in the scene (without playing any actual audio) and allows users to test the following audio reactive SDK components directly in the editor:

• Audio Reactive Material
• Audio Reactive Material Renderer
• Audio Reactive Animator

The following components are NOT supported:

• Audio Reactive Light Controller Array

The Audio Reaction Emulator has several properties which can be set at run-time for testing:

• BPM (Beat-Per-Minute)
• Energy Level
• Lighting Color Scheme

To test the audio reactive components in a scene, follow these steps:

1. Add the AudioReactionEmulator prefab (Assets/EntroPi/SDK/Prefabs) to the scene
2. Enter Play Mode by pressing the Play button in the Unity editor
3. Use the UI displayed in the Game window to adjust the BPM, Energy Level or active Lighting Color Scheme

The AudioReactionEmulator prefab does not need to be removed from the scene before building, as it uses the Editor Only tag and is automatically removed during the build process.

The Audio Reaction Emulator emulates a simple 4×4 beat pattern at the BPM set by the user. A real music track will have a lot more intricate rhythms and details, so this emulation is only meant to give a rough idea of how the audio reactive components behave. Final testing of an environment and its audio reactive components should always be done in Vinyl Reality itself!

In Vinyl Reality the active Energy Level and Color Scheme will change depending on the audio that is playing, but during testing they need to be changed manually.

Only the first element in the Material Renderer Program Configurations list will be rendered while using the Audio Reaction Emulator. When the scene is build and loaded in the Vinyl Reality app, the program configurations will change when the energy level changes, but this functionality is NOT emulated when testing in the Unity editor without building!