Unreal Engine 5.8 is a major audio release, despite Epic staffing cuts

Epic layoffs in March cut deep into the audio and music teams. But there’s hope that their work will live on in Unreal Engine and MetaSounds, via what is arguably the most innovative sound work built into any game engine. Unreal Engine 5.8, now in preview, features a bunch of powerful tools for working with sound, one of the biggest sound releases yet. Here’s a look at what’s in that roadmap.

Editor view of a MetaSounds patch for dynamic music and sound in Unreal Engine

Don’t miss these great sound and music tutorials for Unreal Engine

Unreal Engine’s sonic powers are extraordinary and free of cost – both in games and audiovisual environments but even powerful enough to consider Unreal as a music tool in its own right. The challenge is navigating the deep interface. The Sound FX Guy is one of the must-have learning resources for Unreal sound and music.

Peter Kirn - August 13, 2024

Fortnite gets a modular synth and custom music engine: Patchwork + UE

Every once in a while, the kind of cool thing you’d imagine does happen. So Harmonix, the music game dev, is still thriving at Epic, and they’ve got a surprise. They’ve built a full-blown modular synth that runs inside Fortnite, thanks to Unreal Engine and MetaSounds. And it’s capable of everything from letting creators add their own interactive music engine to multiplayer music, concerts, and more.

Peter Kirn - October 27, 2023