DEV505 / API REFERENCE

Owners and groups of sounds

Group plays by an object or an explicit owner token.

An owner groups plays so you can stop or change them together. It also lets the event respond when the owning object is destroyed. Following a position and owning a play are separate choices.

Shared or separate ownership

Operation	Result
`service.OwnerOf(target)`	Reuses a shared owner for that exact Unity object, creating one on first use. A missing/destroyed target gives a default token.
`service.TryGetOwner(target, out owner)`	Looks for that shared owner without creating one. False means there is none.
`service.CreateOwner(target = null)`	Creates a fresh, separate owner on every call. A live target binds its lifetime; no target means you must release it.
`service.ReleaseOwner(owner)`	Removes the owner record. A later service update applies each play’s owner-loss policy.

Get service from SoundServices.Current and check for null. These operations belong on Unity’s main thread. They do not register an event. Tokens from another service session cannot control this service’s plays.

Stop an object’s plays

SoundBus.Play(Sounds.Campfire, transform);
// Later:
int stopped = SoundBus.StopAll(gameObject);

This excerpt belongs in a component with Campfire registered. The Transform overload owns the play by transform.gameObject, so the stop uses gameObject. StopAll(this) would look for the component’s owner instead and would not find these plays.

For an explicit context, pass service.OwnerOf(gameObject) to At or Following. This also makes object-wide bus calls reach the plays. SoundRequest.Play(key, context, source) is another way to provide a source; an owner already set in the context takes precedence.

Use a separate group

var owner = SoundServices.CreateOwner();
var context = SoundPlayContext.At(transform.position, owner);
var result = SoundBus.Play(Sounds.Campfire, context);
// Later, when this group is no longer needed:
owner.StopOwned(0.1f);
owner.ReleaseOwner();

This illustrates the lifecycle inside a component with an active manager. In real code, keep the token in a field between the start and cleanup calls and handle a refused result. Do not release a shared OwnerOf token while other components still rely on that group.

StopOwned(owner, fade = 0.1f) returns the number of plays that accepted a stop. SetParameterOwned(owner, parameter, value) returns the number accepting the value. SendSignalOwned(owner, signal) counts plays that accepted the signal. The active service exposes all three; SoundServices provides extensions for stop and release. It does not provide parameter/signal owner extensions.

SoundOwnerToken

Session and Id identify the issuing service and owner record. IsValid means both are nonzero, not that the record is still alive. The constructor stores these numbers; normally use the service’s owner creation methods instead. Both Equals overloads compare session and ID; GetHashCode uses the same identity.

public readonly uint Session
public readonly uint Id
public SoundOwnerToken(uint session, uint id)
public bool IsValid { get; }
public bool Equals(SoundOwnerToken other)
public override bool Equals(object obj)
public override int GetHashCode()

SoundOwnerLoss

Stop
Detach

Stop starts the ending flow of a started play. Detach keeps it playing at its last known position with no owner or follow target. Both an owner being lost and a follow target being destroyed use this event setting. Disabling a component alone is not owner destruction; write OnDisable cleanup when appropriate.

The moving bee guide demonstrates an explicit owner and a separate follow target. Exact owner method signatures are in SoundServices and ISoundService.