Wwise Music Tutorial - Branching and Layering with Transitions

In this video, I will show you how to build an adaptive music system in Wwise that combines two powerful techniques: branching and layering, while using transitions to smoothly switch between music tracks.
You can hear the system in action at 00:55:51.

The Tutorial is structured as follows:
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:05 Music System Overview
00:03:17 Wwise Project & Work Unit Setup
00:04:51 Setting up the State Groups and States
00:07:02 Setting up the switch containers and playlists for layers
00:11:32 Importing the Audio Files
00:12:45 Playlist Container Setup
00:14:58 Music Sequence Setup & Loop Setup
00:27:02 Music Switch Association Setup
00:28:55 Sound Caster Setup
00:29:32 Change all the Any to Any Transitions
00:31:34 Transition Logic Setup
(00:32:31 Fixing the Playlist Container Setup)
00:32:38 Transition Setup for Stage 1 Combat Versions
00:39:04 Progression Transition Segment Setup and NoCombat to Combat
00:41:03 Transition Setup for Stage 2 Combat Versions
00:42:05 Setting up the SwitchTrack Transitions for the Combat Intros and Endings
00:45:30 Setting up the NoCombat to Combat Transitions for Stage 2
00:46:17 Progression Transition Setup (Stage 1 to Stage 2 and back)
00:48:23 The System in Action
00:50:00 Final adjustments
00:55:51 The System in Action (finetuned)
00:57:49 Soundbank Setup
00:59:27 Final thoughts

This video requires basic knowledge of Wwise - if you are new to Wwise or game audio programming in general, I highly recommend you check out the following videos and resources first:
Wwise 201 Video Material (about 1 hour altogether):    • Wwise 201-01 | Preparing and Importin...  

I’ve built the exact same system in FMOD and made a tutorial about that too: in case you want to compare the two tools 🙂    • FMOD Music Tutorial - Branching and L...  

The example you can hear in this video is from Albion Online - it’s free to play, so you can hear the music in action on your own if you look for a corrupted dungeon there if you like: www.albiononline.com (or on steam)

If you saw my Talk at GACO in 2021 or at Soundtrack Cologne in 2022 - this is the system I was showcasing there.

This is my first video tutorial and I did not have enough time to do all the parts again that are a bit wonky, but I thought it’s better to have it out there a bit rough, rather than not having a tutorial on it at all! I hope it is still helpful!

Note: This Tutorial was made with Wwise Version 2021.01.10 - In Wwise 2022 the workflow changed a bit - for example, the Interactive Music layout has been removed since all of the music-related editors are accessed in the Designer layout's Object Tab in that version.