Pulp audio volume issues on device

This is a bug report regarding audio playback on device (and simulator). As far as I can tell, the non-noise channels are much quieter than they sound in the browser, which results in music and sound effects sounding overly quiet or loud or appearing distorted. The noise channels appear to be the correct volume, relative to audio in season 1 games.

You should be able to hear the difference in the attached videos of my unreleased pulp game.
Pulp audio bug.zip (21.0 MB)

I’ve noticed this in other games, such as Life’s Too Short. Kleist has also reported their games are affected it.

I understand there was a complex bug involving the ADSR envelope logic that was solved a few weeks ago. Unfortunately this issue appears to be separate and unresolved.

Thanks very much for reading this bug report, and for Pulp in general!

6 Likes

Not doubting you, but this could be due to the different physical characteristics of the hardware involved. The Playdate's small speaker will have an easier time with high frequencies (including noise) than lower ones (your music channels). Have you tried comparing the output over headphones?

Hi, Pulp dev with a Playdate here. It’s definitely not a speaker thing. The noise channel on console is about triple the volume as in the simulator or on the browser, as well as distorted, and all other channels are nearly inaudible. It effects every pulp game with a soundtrackI have played on console, including my own.
There appears to be no way to fix it without a bunch of tedious trial and error, and even then the sound would simply be screwed up in browser and on simulator from then on.

We could make two versions of the game, but it’s odd to me that this issue doesn’t seem to be on the radar of Panic already when everyone in the community seems to be experiencing it.
I just checked with headphones, same issue. Definitely on the software side.

1 Like

OK, fair enough, it does sound like something isn't right. We'll take a look asap.

3 Likes

Thank you Dan! Y’all’re the best

The latest update addresses these issues:

  • changed: reduced overall volume to reduce clipping at max hardware volume
  • changed: reduced noise volume to better match editor/web player
3 Likes