Stop, pause, and clean up.

When you start a loop, save the handle returned by an accepted play. A handle identifies one play, even if that play uses several recordings.

Check whether it is still running

handle.IsValid only checks that the handle contains a nonzero session and generation. It can stay true after the sound has ended. Use SoundBus.IsAlive(handle) when you want to know whether that play still exists.

A stale handle is one saved from a play that has ended, or from an older manager session. It cannot accidentally control a new play that reused the same internal slot. Do not construct handles yourself or save them as long-term game data.

Ask a sound to end

In these excerpts, fire is a handle saved from a successful Campfire play:

Stop one play · excerpt

SoundBus.Stop(fire, fade: 0.15f);
fire = default;

The fade argument is in seconds. It must be finite and at least zero. A started play runs On Stop, then any existing voices not already stopped by that graph branch receive the requested fade. A graph node reached through its own Stop port uses its authored fade-out instead. New voices started by On Stop can finish as the ending sound.

Campfire uses its own 0.3-second ignition fade and 0.6-second crackle fade, plus an extinguish recording. Changing the API fade alone does not change all three. Stopping a queued play before its graph starts cancels it without running the normal started-play ending.

Stop returns true when the stop is accepted. It returns false for a finished play, an already stopping play, a missing manager, or an invalid fade. A stop requested while the service is already processing work is applied on its next update.

Pause one play

Pause and resume · excerpt

SoundBus.SetPaused(fire, true);
// Later, resume:
SoundBus.SetPaused(fire, false);

A paused play keeps its handle, voices, and graph progress. Its graph timers and fades stop advancing. Resuming continues that play. It does not restart the ignition. A paused play still occupies capacity.

Pause the game’s sounds

Service-wide pause · excerpt

SoundServices.Paused = true;
// When leaving your pause menu:
SoundServices.Paused = false;

This affects the active manager’s plays except events whose Ignore pause setting is enabled, such as menu sounds. It is separate from Unity’s Time.timeScale and AudioListener.pause. Setting Time.timeScale to zero alone does not pause Sound Manager’s clock. If your menu uses it, also set the sound pause explicitly.

An explicit per-play pause still pauses an event that ignores global pause. Resuming one play does not override a global pause that still applies to it. handle.IsPaused() queries per-play/service pause; do not use it as a complete report of Unity’s separate listener pause.

If an interaction uses two plays—such as both tracks in a crossfade—pause both retained handles or use the service-wide setting.

Stop an object’s group of sounds

Play(key, transform) owns its play by transform.gameObject. Use that same GameObject with SoundBus.StopAll(gameObject). Despite its name, this method stops that object’s group, not all sounds in the game. It returns how many plays accepted the stop.

For explicit owner tokens, use owner.StopOwned(). When you created an owner yourself, release it once you no longer need it. Shared owners returned by OwnerOf should not be released by one component while other components still use the same group.

Clean up when your component stops running

Put cleanup in OnDisable for components that should be silent when disabled. Stop saved plays and dispose notification subscriptions there. Keep the manager running if you want an ending cue to finish; destroying the manager shuts down all playback immediately.

See the complete Campfire component for a small example, or signals and notifications for cleanup that also removes a subscription.