When a sound does not start.

Always inspect the result when starting a sound matters to your game. Accepted means the manager admitted the request. It includes Queued, where the sound is waiting for a later update or for clips to load.

An accepted request can still fail later. For example, its graph might need another voice when the pool is full. Notifications report those later failures.

Read the status first

Status	In ordinary language	First thing to check
Accepted	The play was admitted immediately, or a control command reached a target.	Save the play handle if you need to control it.
Queued	The play was admitted and will try to start later.	Clips loading, manager readiness, startup timeout.
NoManager	There is no active sound service.	Add or enable one Sound Manager. The request was not saved for later.
NotRegistered	This event or key is not available on the active manager.	Direct events, Libraries, and Event keys.
InvalidEvent	The graph is invalid or failed while running.	The graph’s diagnostic and Console.
NotReady	The service shut down, or an admitted play waited too long to start.	Manager lifetime and startup timeout.
MissingClip	A required recording is absent or could not load.	Wave Asset assignments and allowed clips.
ConcurrencyLimit	Too many plays of this event overlap, or this play was replaced.	Event Max instances and At limit.
CapacityExceeded	There is no free instance slot, queue entry, or voice.	Manager settings and overlapping/layered sounds.
InvalidContext	A supplied position, delay, owner, or parameter is invalid. It can also mean an off-thread dispatch.	Parameter type/name, finite values, owner session, and calling thread.
Cooldown	This event was accepted too recently to start again.	Event Cooldown (s). Wait before retrying.
NoTarget	A control request did not affect an eligible play.	Saved handle, ownership identity, parameter/signal name, and whether it already ended.

Control helpers such as SetFloat return a bool, while object-wide helpers return a count. Dispatch can return a status, but a failed control operation is commonly reported as NoTarget; it does not expose every underlying validation reason.

Understand the three manager limits

Create a settings asset with Assets → Create → DEV505 → Sound Manager → Sound Manager Settings, then assign it to the manager’s Settings field before pressing Play.

Setting	Built-in default	What it limits
Voice capacity	64	AudioSource playback slots. One play may use several.
Instance capacity	256	Live plays, including admitted plays waiting to start.
Startup queue capacity	64	Plays waiting to begin. The instance limit still applies.
Startup timeout	5 seconds	How long an admitted play may wait for its clips.

A paused or inaudible sound can still use capacity. Raising a limit may be appropriate, but first check for loops started every frame, missing stop calls, and graphs that stay alive unnecessarily.

Limit one event’s overlap

Select the .soundgraph asset and open Concurrency & priority in its Inspector. Max instances limits overlapping plays of this particular event. At limit chooses the response:

• ReplaceOldest ends the oldest eligible play of this event to make room.
• RejectNew leaves current plays alone and refuses the new request.
• ReplaceLowestPriorityEligible considers unprotected plays of this same event. It can replace one only if it is no more important than the incoming play. A smaller priority number means greater importance.

This policy does not provide cross-event voice stealing. A new event is not guaranteed to displace an unrelated sound when the global voice pool is full. Replacement also needs a free instance slot because terminal plays retain their slot until their ending notifications are delivered.

Leave time between repeated triggers

Cooldown (s) is measured from the last accepted request for that event, including queued requests. 0 allows immediate repeats. It applies across owners, so two objects asking for the same event can affect each other. Handle a cooldown refusal calmly; do not log an error every frame.

An accepted sound is still silent

Check that the graph reaches a Play Audio node, the recording is assigned, volumes are nonzero, and the game or play is not paused. For 3D audio, check the listener’s position, rotation, and distance. A graph can intentionally wait or remain alive without playing a recording.

Use the result and handle reference for exact types, or return to the first-sound checklist.