You can add sound effects to your models and Live2D items in VTube Studio.

Sound effects (SFX) can be triggered by the following:

1. SFX triggered manually by hotkey activation.
2. SFX triggered automatically by parameter values or parameter movement/speed.

Various sound parameters, such as volume, pitch and pan can be customized. You can also set things up so a random sound effect from a list is used or add echos/reverb, and more.

Using this system, you can add fully dynamic sound effects to your model that are played depending on how you move.

VTube Studio supports .wav, .mp3 and .ogg files. If you want to use a sound file for a certain model or Live2D item, it must be in the model/item folder or any subfolder within that model/item folder.

Files are loaded into memory (in the background) when a model/item using them is first loaded or when a individual sound file is first played back. So depending on the situation, there may be a very slight delay when a sound is first played, especially if the sound file is large.

All loaded sound files are kept in memory until you restart VTube Studio. This may cause memory buildup over time if a lot of sound files are loaded, but this will not be significant unless thousands of large sound files are used.

In the general settings tab, you can control the playback volume and global sound playback settings. The VU decibel meters should roughly match what will be received in OBS and shown on the OBS UI.

In the global sound settings (”Config” button), you can set things like the VBAN sender port (must match OBS, default is 6980), VNet sound send/receive settings and more.

There are two ways to get the sound into OBS. These two ways can also be used at the same time, if required.

The two ways are:

• Normal desktop audio playback through VTS:
  • Turn on the “Play in VTS” toggle.
  • You will hear the sound played by VTS, so you will hear it in your headphones.
  • You can then use an “Application Audio Capture” source, “Desktop Audio” or “Audio Output Capture” to receive the sound in OBS.
  • On Windows 10/11, you can also select VTS to send the sound to a specific audio output device, like a virtual audio cable, which you can then select as audio input in OBS. That way, you will not hear the VTS audio playback in your headphones. This can be set up in the Windows “Volume mixer” settings.

• Send audio directly into OBS via VBAN:
  • Turn on the “Send to OBS” toggle.
  • VTS will now directly send sound data to OBS over your local network via VBAN without playing it through OBS. It works in a similar way as Spout2, just for audio. This is the recommended way.
  • To receive sound in OBS, you need to install the OBS VBAN Plugin.
    • Download link: https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/vban-audio.1623/
  • After installing the plugin, you can create a “VBAN Audio Source”, which will receive the sound from VTS.
  • Make sure the receiver port in the VBAN Audio Source is set to 6980. IP can be empty.
  • Optionally, you can also set a sound stream name filter here. VTube Studio sends sound data with the stream name VTubeStudio (case-sensitive) for the first VTube Studio instance. If you start VTS multiple times, subsequent instances will use the stream names VTubeStudio2, VTubeStudio3, and so on. Leaving the stream name filter empty will make OBS receive sound from all VTS instances.

VTS can play sound effects when a hotkey is activated. This works for all hotkey types.

This supports setting sound parameters like delays, volume, pitch and more. You can also set ranges for all sound parameters, so a random value within that range is used. This makes it sound slightly differently every time, which feels more natural.

You can set a list of sound files. VTS will randomly select a sound from that list for each playback. For each selected sound file, you can also set a base volume and pitch.

Also, one hotkey can play up to 10 different sound effects, each with their own sound list, delays, … This is done by selecting a “Sound Slot” at the top left. A Sound Slot is shown as “active” on the UI if at least one sound file is selected for it.

This is useful for when you have an animation hotkey that should play multiple sounds at different times in the animation.

VTS can automatically play sounds when parameters are moving, depending on their value or parameter speed.

For example, a sound can be triggered whenever a certain Live2D parameter value of the model enters a certain value range.

That way, you can create dynamic sounds for your model, like a ringing sound when a bell on your model moves, or a wing flap sound for models with wings, and so much more.

It is also possible to automatically modify sound playback parameters such as volume and pitch depending on how fast the parameter moves.

The following triggers can be set up (max. two of each):

• Value Trigger
  • Triggers sound effect each time the Live2D parameter enters the given range.
  • Example: Play blink sound effect each time the EyeOpen parameter goes below 0.1.
• Speed Trigger
  • Triggers sound effect each time the speed of the Live2D parameter enters the given range.
  • Speed is normalized between -1 and 1, irrespective of the actual Live2D parameter value range.
  • Example: Play wing flap sound effect the moment the WingUpDown parameter speed reaches 0.5 or higher or -0.5 or lower (to capture both up and down wingbeat).
• Direction Change Trigger
  • Trigger sound effect each time the direction of movement changes.
  • Speed is normalized between -1 and 1, irrespective of the actual Live2D parameter value range.
  • This can be used to play a sound effect each time the direction of a movement changes, only if the speed of the direction change falls within a certain range (rapid direction change vs. slow direction change).
  • Example: Play jingle sound effect when BellLeftRight parameter changes direction and the speed of the direction change is 0.5 or higher or -0.5 or lower (bells generally ring the moment they change swing direction).
• Value Pass Trigger (→ and ←)
  • Trigger sound effect each time a certain value is passed, in one direction only.
  • Left to right or right to left.
  • This can be used to play a sound effect each time a Live2D parameter value crosses a certain value in one direction.
  • Example: Play straw slurping sound effect when the parameter DrinkFull of a cocktail with a straw falls below 0.1 during an animation.

Sounds are played back the exact frame a value enters a trigger range. The same trigger range will only be able to trigger the sound again once the value has left that range again.

All Live2D parameters can be used as inputs for triggers, including Live2D physics parameters.

You can set up a list of sound effects and VTS will randomly select one from that list every time a trigger is triggered.

If you want the sound effect trigger to only be active when a certain secondary Live2D parameter has a certain value (for example when a certain expression is active), there is also an option for that.

There are some general settings that can be set exact or as random value within a range:

• Volume
• Cooldown
• Delay
• Pan (left/right)
• Pitch
• Echo count, echo delay, echo volume, …
• …etc.

Additionally, you can set up dynamic modifiers for volume and pitch:

• Speed → Volume Modifier
  • Increase or decrease volume of the sound playback depending on how fast the parameter is moving.
• Speed → Pitch Modifier
  • Increase or decrease pitch of the sound playback depending on how fast the parameter is moving.

By combining these advanced settings with small pitch/volume randomization and slight sound effect variations by providing multiple similar sound files, you can create fully dynamic sound playback based on Live2D parameter value movement.

Live2D items can also have “Hotkey Sounds” and “Parameter Sound Triggers”.

You can set them up normally by loading a model, setting everything up and then running “Load current Live2D model as Item”.

Or alternatively, you can open the Item Settings for a Live2D item (by long-clicking it) and select “Parameter Sound Triggers” to directly set up parameter sound triggers for a loaded Live2D item.

You can set a volume value for:

• A single sound effect
• All sound effects of a given sound trigger or hotkey sound
• The model/item
• VTube Studio globally

When a sound effect file is played, all these volumes are multiplied together and the resulting value is used as volume. For example: If a sound is played and the per-file volume is set to 80%, the model volume is set to 50% and the VTS volume is set to 50%, the resulting volume will be 80% * 50% * 50% = 20%

You can also modify the volume of sounds sent/received via VNet in the VNet settings.

Spatial audio adjusts sound based on your item or model's on-screen size and horizontal position.

Maps the model's scale to a volume multiplier between 0% and 100%. You set a min and max size: at min size, volume is 0%, at max size, volume is 100%.

Shifts stereo panning based on the model's horizontal screen position. You set a min and max X position: at min, pan is -1 (left), at max, pan is +1 (right).

Both features are independent. If neither is enabled, sounds play at full volume with centered panning. If no model is loaded, spatial audio has no effect.

When setting up “Parameter Sound Triggers” for a model or Live2D item, there are two special settings called “Item load sound” and “Item delete sound”.

When these are turned on, the sound effect will (also) get triggered when the model is loaded or unloaded as an item, regardless of the actual triggers.

Live2D items/models with sounds are fully supported by the Steam Workshop. You can share and download models and items that include sound effects.

All sound playbacks are synced via VNet. To do this, VNet synchronizes all sound files in loaded model/item folders between clients. This is done when a model/item is first loaded, so you cannot add more sound files to a model/item after that.

You can mute/unmute individual participant sound effects in the VNet collab participant list during collabs.

When using a model/item with sound effects in VNet, be careful about the number of sound effects. If a model has a lot of different sound effects (like 50+), uploading it could take longer since files are uploaded individually.