PlaySound2D — play a non-positional 2D sound

2D sound — no world position, good for UI sounds and music. Use PlaySoundAtLocation for world sounds.

Metasound

UE 5.0+ next-gen sound system — node graphs for procedural audio. Replaces Sound Cue for new projects.

Sound Cue

A graph that mixes and routes one or more Sound Waves — fades, randomizes, attenuates. Older but battle-tested.

Sound Wave

A raw audio clip (.wav). Imported into the project, then wrapped in a Sound Cue or Metasound for playback.

PlaySoundAtLocation — play a 3D positional sound at a world location

PlaySoundAtLocation — play sound at world location

UGameplayStatics::PlaySoundAtLocation.

PlaySound2D — play sound not spatialized

Sound manager singleton for playing music and SFX with volume control

Pattern: Put in GameInstance for persistence. Variables MusicVolume(float)=1.0, SFXVolume(float)=1.0, CurrentMusic(AudioComponent). PlayMusic: IsValid(CurrentMusic) → Stop → SpawnSound2D(MusicAsset, MusicVolume) → store ref. PlaySFX: PlaySound2D(SFXAsset, SFXVolume). SetMusicVolume: SetVolumeMultiplier(CurrentMusic, NewVol). Save volumes to SaveGame.

Attenuation

Distance-based volume falloff. A Sound Attenuation asset defines the curve and falloff radius.

Create a Blueprint Actor that plays a sound and spawns a particle effect at its location when destroyed