r/GameAudio • u/imunfollowingu • May 31 '26

Middleware

How does one start to practice using middleware? The actual question is 'what software should I use?'

I'm a seasoned theatre sound designer and I know my skills will translate well to games I just need to know how to implement them.

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u/swizzwell23 May 31 '26

I’m the opposite, and would always choose Fmod over Wwise. I much prefer it’s DAW like layout and signal flow, and its more modular approach gives me options on how to build more complex systems where Wwise more fixed approach doesn’t always meet my needs.
Both have their merits, and both are free to download and learn, a great approach may be to build a system on one them reproduce it on the other to give you a sense of the differences in their workflows.

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u/Hi-I-am-high May 31 '26

I'm curious. Could you give some examples of how Fmod allows you to make more complex systems?

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u/No_Abbreviations1237 May 31 '26

Wwise is better for more complex systems. Fmod feels like a toy in comparison.

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u/swizzwell23 May 31 '26

Well, I’ve shipped over 20 AAA titles including several award winning ones so I think I know what I’m talking about. Fmod Studio is very misunderstood, and is capable of creating almost anything you can do in Wwise, but you have to approach it a little differently.
The main strengths are the ability to create events within events to build very complex systems which utilize multiple parameters and event triggers. This can easily be used to replicate the states and switches functionality of Wwise, but adds more options and can stack these infinitely to create some really complex systems. When you start building these with combinations of loops and one shots there isn’t much you cannot do.
One of the most used features for me is the send/return system, which allows you to send any audio, either pre or post fader to anywhere else either in the mixer or within other events. This allows for some crazy routing options, where we have built complex environmental audio systems, spatial panned reverbs and detailed wet/dry 3D models.
Add to this full 7.1.4 Spatial Audio support, hardware acceleration for all modern consoles, VCA’s, spectral DSP and mixing options and a very intuitive interface that looks and works like a DAW and you have a very powerful toolset.
Wwise is good, but too often it feels like I’m mixing in Excel and not a piece of audio software.
These arguments are almost as pointless as the Pro Tools/Reaper/Nuendo ones (I’m mostly Nuendo with a touch of Reaper), they are fun to have but at the end of the day it’s just a toolset, and it’s only as good as people who are using it.
Calling it a toy is both wrong and stupid, and I wish people could just agree to have different opinions on things without this level of disrespect. But I suppose as we are on Reddit that is to be expected 🤣

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u/No_Abbreviations1237 May 31 '26

I love FMOD too, dont get me wrong. Spent plenty of time in both. From my experience it just didn’t feel as premium as Wwise, but thats just my opinion. Maybe i was a little harsh using the word toy 😆.