World

A World is created by createWorld() and is the factory for sources, audio nodes, reflection buses, and reverb buses. It also owns the acoustic scene and the listener.

`createWorld(options)`

async function createWorld(options: WorldOptions): Promise<World>

Creates and initializes a world. This function loads the Steam Audio WASM module, fetches the AudioWorklet processor, and adds it to the provided AudioContext.

`WorldOptions`

audioContext : Required. The AudioContext that all audio nodes created from this world will use.

maxSources : Maximum number of sources that can exist simultaneously. Default: 32.

frameSize : Number of samples processed per audio frame. Default: 1024.

simulationRate : How often direct simulation runs, in Hz. Default: 60.

reflectionRate : How often reflection simulation runs, in Hz. Default: 10.

quality : Quality preset that affects maxOcclusionSamples. One of 'low', 'medium', 'high'. Default: 'medium'.

reflections : false to disable reflections, or an object with upper bounds:

maxRays — default 4096
maxDuration — default 2
maxOrder — default 1
diffuseSamples — default 32

simulation : Advanced simulation settings, including maxRays, maxDuration, maxOrder, diffuseSamples, maxOcclusionSamples, rayBatchSize, and pathingVisibilitySamples.

moduleFactory : Optional custom factory used to instantiate the Emscripten module.

Properties

world.audioContext : The AudioContext passed to createWorld.

world.listener : The world’s Listener.

world.scene : The world’s AcousticScene.

Methods

`createSource(settings?)`

world.createSource(settings?: SourceSettings): Source

Creates a new source. Throws if maxSources would be exceeded. See SourceSettings.

`createNode(source)`

world.createNode(source: Source): SteamAudioNode

Creates an AudioWorklet node for the given source. The source must have been created by this world.

`createReflectionBus(settings?)`

world.createReflectionBus(settings?: ReflectionBusSettings): ReflectionBusNode

Creates a bus for rendering per-source reflections. Requires reflections to be enabled for the world.

`createReverbBus(settings?)`

world.createReverbBus(settings?: ReverbBusSettings): ReverbBusNode

Creates a bus for rendering listener reverb. Requires reflections to be enabled for the world.

`setReflectionSettings(settings)`

world.setReflectionSettings(settings: RuntimeSimulationSettings): void

Tunes reflection simulation at runtime. All values are clamped to the maximums declared in WorldOptions.

settings.rays : Number of reflection rays to trace. Must not exceed maxRays.

settings.bounces : Maximum number of bounces per ray.

settings.duration : Simulation duration in seconds. Must not exceed maxDuration.

settings.order : Ambisonic order. Must not exceed maxOrder.

settings.irradianceMinDistance : Minimum distance for irradiance sampling.

`step(delta)`

world.step(delta: number): void

Advances simulation by delta seconds. Runs direct simulation and, if enabled, reflection simulation according to their configured rates. Returns early if the AudioContext is not running.

`dispose()`

world.dispose(): void

Releases all native resources, audio nodes, buses, sources, and scene geometry.

`SteamAudioError`

class SteamAudioError extends Error {
  operation: string
  status: string
}

Thrown when a world, source, or audio node operation fails. operation identifies the function that failed, and status contains a short description of the failure.