---
title: "Voices, priorities and virtual voices"
slug: /workflows/audio-voices/
markdown: /workflows/audio-voices.md
section: audio
tier: 2
summary: "Budget real voices, rank sounds by priority, keep frequent rows short and let endings ring out."
sources: ['https://docs.unity3d.com/6000.0/Documentation/ScriptReference/AudioSource-priority.html', 'https://docs.unity3d.com/6000.0/Documentation/Manual/class-AudioManager.html']
canonical: https://unityworkflowlibrary.dev/workflows/audio-voices/
read_first: /read-first.md
---

> Read first, on every prompt: [non-destructive rules](/read-first.md).

# Voices, priorities and virtual voices

> Budget real voices, rank sounds by priority, keep frequent rows short and let endings ring out.

## How Unity limits voices

- **Max Real Voices** is the number of voices that play at once; **Max Virtual Voices** is how many the system tracks,
  and must be larger than the number the game plays or the console warns ([Audio settings](https://docs.unity3d.com/6000.0/Documentation/Manual/class-AudioManager.html)).
- When active sources exceed Max Real Voices, Unity virtualizes the lowest-priority sources first, and the quieter of
  two equal-priority sources. A virtualized source is muted but keeps its playback position and resumes if it ranks
  higher again. Priority runs from 0 (highest) to 256 (lowest). WebGL has no channel limit, so the setting does not
  apply there ([AudioSource.priority](https://docs.unity3d.com/6000.0/Documentation/ScriptReference/AudioSource-priority.html)).
- **Virtualize Effect** in the Audio settings turns off effects and spatializers on culled sources to save CPU.

## Pooling

- Pre-create a pool of AudioSources sized to the voice budget per device class, configured from an authored asset
  (rolloff, mixer group, priority defaults), instead of creating sources per play.
- A row's priority is authored data on the row, not a constant in code.

## LONG-CLIP-ON-A-FREQUENT-ROW-IS-CUT

- A long clip on a row that fires often holds a voice in a small steal-oldest pool and is mostly cut. Measured: a
  6.8 s clip on a weapon row was cut 94 % of the time, and 27 % of all voice starts were steals.
- Frequent rows get short clips (under about 1 s). Steal by priority, then age; drop a new play that ranks below
  every busy voice; pick the voice budget per device class with the same rule the effects budget uses (12 / 10 / 6
  voices for desktop / high mobile / low mobile here). Measure steal share and pool-full share in a Play census
  before and after: 27 % to 4 % steals, 13 % to 1.1 % of samples with the pool full.

## END-OF-RUN-RINGS-OUT

- A results or defeat transition that stops every voice cuts the death sound it just triggered. Measured: the tower
  death sound was cut at the results switch (1.5 s); with ring-out it played to 2.0 s. On that transition disconnect
  gameplay audio (no new plays) and let playing voices finish; stop everything on reset, session end and scene
  unload.


## Related

- [Audio topic](/topics/audio/): every audio page in reading order.
- Next: [Music and adaptive audio](/workflows/audio-music-adaptive/).