I have a question about embedded multiple audio in one slide. I created a course with a slide that has 5 audio sample recordings. I added 5 objects (images) and added a trigger to each object. My problem is: how can I make the audio stop playing when the learner decides to click another object? It comes out multiple audio recording playing simultaneously. I can't seem to find another trigger that will stop the previous audio when the new object is played. Help ASAP. Thank you so much!
I think I would put each audio file on a separate layer. Keep your objects on the base layer. Then, use your triggers to show layer [correct layer] when user clicks on [object]. This should play your audio for that object.
Then click on the little gear icon by the layer name for the layer settings. Check this option: "Hide other slide layers." That will prevent other layers from playing while this layer is playing. Do NOT check this option: "Prevent user from clicking on the base layer." That way, the user can click on another object for another audio file.
Meryem's solution is the easiest approach and I recommend it.
For future reference: If you want to focus on using triggers with your audio all on the base layer, here's how you'd do it. So let's say you have 5 buttons with each one playing a piece of media...
Button 01: Trigger 1: Play media 1 when user clicks. Trigger 2: Pause media 2 when user clicks Trigger 3: Pause media 3 when user clicks Trigger 4: Pause media 4 when user clicks Trigger 5: Pause media 5 when user clicks
Button 02: Trigger 1: Pause media 1 when user clicks. Trigger 2: Play media 2 when user clicks Trigger 3: Pause media 3 when user clicks Trigger 4: Pause media 4 when user clicks Trigger 5: Pause media 5 when user clicks
And so on and so forth for the next 3 buttons. Lots of triggers, and it will work...but Meryem's approach is much less intensive!
Posting for the first time after a lot of head scratching. I'm fairly new to Articulate as the company I work for has just moved from Captivate to this software. I much prefer Articulate apart from the seeming difficulty of controlling audio easily.
I have a slide with 13 buttons. Each button shows a layer, which shows a sentence and audio that reads the sentence. This works fine.... as each layer is set to hide other layers so the audio never over plays each other...BUT because the audio is on separate layers.. the ability to pause the audio using the slider bar at the bottom of the player is lost, as this only pauses audio on the base layer.
SO....I have started going down the route of triggering audio to play using button clicks or state changes of the 13 buttons and all audio is on the base layer. This allows the user to pause using the pause in the slider at the bottom of the player, BUT the only way I could stop the audio overplaying each other.. that I can see... is to have 12 extra triggers per button to stop each of the other possible audios that could be playing.. as the user can click any of the 13 buttons in any order. This would mean I would need to create 169 extra triggers if I did it as Mike Enders suggests here.
Ideally what I need is a stop ANY audio that is currently playing and then play the audio associated with the button I clicked.
I think a solution to the audio on layers issue would be to allow seeking on the audio layers. This setting allows the seekbar to control the layer content similar to the base layer. As a result, the play/pause button will then control the audio.
I realise this is an old thread, but I've just come across your post regarding audio on layers and hope you can help me. I have 7 audio clips on my base layer. I have triggers on each to play audio, and reveal a layer when clicked.
I was having problems with them all playing simultaneously but did as you advised, and created triggers just like you advised in your post (but I have used stop media, rather than pause media).
Button 01: Trigger 1: Play media 1 when user clicks. Trigger 2: Pause media 2 when user clicks Trigger 3: Pause media 3 when user clicks Trigger 4: Pause media 4 when user clicks Trigger 5: Pause media 5 when user clicks
Everything is working fine in preview, and I have tried to 'break' it by not clicking buttons linearly etc. However, I have discovered that when I publish my course, the audio is acting erratically. Sometimes audio plays simultaneously, even though I have set the triggers up so that one audio should stop once another audio object button is clicked. I have played the published version in both Edge and Chrome, but am getting the same result in both. I would love some help on this, as I have to submit my course as a college assignment next Monday.
I was wondering if it would be better to create a true/false variable instead? However, I'm an articulate newbie and I haven't had much success with a 'playaudio' variable, so I'm hoping there is a simple solution.
Welcome to the Articulate community. We're glad you're here!
Would you be able to share your file (or just that slide) so I can take a look? I'd like to see if there's something else afoot, or if a bug is mucking up the works.
I have actually done all of the individual triggers to keep the audio from playing simultaneously, and it works. However, I was wondering if there is a way to add a condition or variable to one trigger that allows me to: Stop playing media Audio 1 when user clicks layer/object 1 OR layer/object 2 OR layer/object 3... So that I don't have to create so many triggers? I'm sure there is an OR option on triggers, but I haven't figured it out yet as an Articulate Storyline newbie.
I'd recommend adding Pause or Stop Media triggers for each audio file.
I've recreated a similar Storyline course that seems to be what you're hoping to create. Would you mind taking a look at it, and letting me know if this does the trick?
Thank you Lauren. I was able to get slides with layers to work with audio, although I haven't tried adding music to those. Many of the slides have a voice over artist speaking. However on the opening and closing slides and maybe some of the section dividers, I wanted to have the audio fade in to full volume then drop volume when the speaker is speaking, then volume back up before moving to the next slide. I won't mention other tools, but some I've used in the past have the ability to add background music across the entire project, or specific slides, and the volume will adjust automatically when it detects that there is competing audio, such as a speaker.
Meanwhile, to finish up my project I edited the audio manually by lowering the volume in certain sections and timing it to match the slide. Which was a lot of work! So I limited myself to the opening and closing slides.
For what it's worth, here's a way to stop all audios with a minimum of triggers. Trigger 1 opens a layer with nothing on it.
Layer has triggers to stop each audio when timeline starts. Layer has trigger to hide when timeline ends at .01 sec. Layer is set not to hide other layers, so it can be used any time.
Trigger 2 opens desired layer, or plays desired audio.
Thank you for the response. I think the trigger that's needed is the option to increase/decrease the volume by a percentage. It seems quite abrupt at times to just kill the music. Sometimes it's more appropriate to lower the volume and have it continue to play in the background. I do think a trigger would be best as it would recognize that something else is happening rather than changing to a different layer where the scene may have changed. Music should also have a loop option so short snippets of music can continue to repeat.
Thank you for sharing the changes you would like to see in Storyline. It helps us understand the need, and I've documented your request for more options when working with audio files. We'll be able to update this discussion if we make any changes!
In regards to looping audio, an idea that I hope will help is to apply these two triggers:
Add a trigger that will play the audio when timeline starts
Add a trigger to play the same audio when the media completes.
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I think I would put each audio file on a separate layer. Keep your objects on the base layer. Then, use your triggers to show layer [correct layer] when user clicks on [object]. This should play your audio for that object.
Then click on the little gear icon by the layer name for the layer settings. Check this option: "Hide other slide layers." That will prevent other layers from playing while this layer is playing. Do NOT check this option: "Prevent user from clicking on the base layer." That way, the user can click on another object for another audio file.
I know this is from 7 years ago, but this seemed to work with the least amount if fuss - even with 15 markers on a slide. The addition that worked for me was a new state for the marker - call it "Complete" - when the audio is complete, the marker icon changes (thumbs up, check, etc.). When all markers are "complete" that triggers the next action - another audio file, a new slide, etc. The trigger fires too early when it was set to visited, so this fixes that issue.
20 Replies
I think I would put each audio file on a separate layer. Keep your objects on the base layer. Then, use your triggers to show layer [correct layer] when user clicks on [object]. This should play your audio for that object.
Then click on the little gear icon by the layer name for the layer settings. Check this option: "Hide other slide layers." That will prevent other layers from playing while this layer is playing. Do NOT check this option: "Prevent user from clicking on the base layer." That way, the user can click on another object for another audio file.
Vince,
Meryem's solution is the easiest approach and I recommend it.
For future reference: If you want to focus on using triggers with your audio all on the base layer, here's how you'd do it. So let's say you have 5 buttons with each one playing a piece of media...
Button 01: Trigger 1: Play media 1 when user clicks. Trigger 2: Pause media 2 when user clicks Trigger 3: Pause media 3 when user clicks Trigger 4: Pause media 4 when user clicks Trigger 5: Pause media 5 when user clicks
Button 02: Trigger 1: Pause media 1 when user clicks. Trigger 2: Play media 2 when user clicks Trigger 3: Pause media 3 when user clicks Trigger 4: Pause media 4 when user clicks Trigger 5: Pause media 5 when user clicks
And so on and so forth for the next 3 buttons. Lots of triggers, and it will work...but Meryem's approach is much less intensive!
Mike
Oh! And welcome to the Articulate family Vince! Great to have you here on the forums.
Thank you so much!!!
Posting for the first time after a lot of head scratching. I'm fairly new to Articulate as the company I work for has just moved from Captivate to this software. I much prefer Articulate apart from the seeming difficulty of controlling audio easily.
I have a slide with 13 buttons. Each button shows a layer, which shows a sentence and audio that reads the sentence. This works fine.... as each layer is set to hide other layers so the audio never over plays each other...BUT because the audio is on separate layers.. the ability to pause the audio using the slider bar at the bottom of the player is lost, as this only pauses audio on the base layer.
SO....I have started going down the route of triggering audio to play using button clicks or state changes of the 13 buttons and all audio is on the base layer. This allows the user to pause using the pause in the slider at the bottom of the player, BUT the only way I could stop the audio overplaying each other.. that I can see... is to have 12 extra triggers per button to stop each of the other possible audios that could be playing.. as the user can click any of the 13 buttons in any order. This would mean I would need to create 169 extra triggers if I did it as Mike Enders suggests here.
Ideally what I need is a stop ANY audio that is currently playing and then play the audio associated with the button I clicked.
Any ideas would be gratefully received.
Hi Matthew and welcome to E-Learning Heroes :)
Sorry to hear that this is causing you some frustration, but it does seem like you understand how all of this works.
You did not share your file, but my first question would be could you use slides instead of layers? Then you could control your audio.
If you need layers, I think you'll need triggers as you mentioned.
Hi Matthew!
I think a solution to the audio on layers issue would be to allow seeking on the audio layers. This setting allows the seekbar to control the layer content similar to the base layer. As a result, the play/pause button will then control the audio.
I hope this helps!
Mike
Awesome! Thanks Mike!
Here's to teamwork and remembering to think simple :)
Hi Mike,
I realise this is an old thread, but I've just come across your post regarding audio on layers and hope you can help me. I have 7 audio clips on my base layer. I have triggers on each to play audio, and reveal a layer when clicked.
I was having problems with them all playing simultaneously but did as you advised, and created triggers just like you advised in your post (but I have used stop media, rather than pause media).
Button 01: Trigger 1: Play media 1 when user clicks. Trigger 2: Pause media 2 when user clicks Trigger 3: Pause media 3 when user clicks Trigger 4: Pause media 4 when user clicks Trigger 5: Pause media 5 when user clicks
Everything is working fine in preview, and I have tried to 'break' it by not clicking buttons linearly etc. However, I have discovered that when I publish my course, the audio is acting erratically. Sometimes audio plays simultaneously, even though I have set the triggers up so that one audio should stop once another audio object button is clicked. I have played the published version in both Edge and Chrome, but am getting the same result in both. I would love some help on this, as I have to submit my course as a college assignment next Monday.
I was wondering if it would be better to create a true/false variable instead? However, I'm an articulate newbie and I haven't had much success with a 'playaudio' variable, so I'm hoping there is a simple solution.
Thanks, Toni
Hi Toni,
Welcome to the Articulate community. We're glad you're here!
Would you be able to share your file (or just that slide) so I can take a look? I'd like to see if there's something else afoot, or if a bug is mucking up the works.
Thanks,
Mike
I have actually done all of the individual triggers to keep the audio from playing simultaneously, and it works. However, I was wondering if there is a way to add a condition or variable to one trigger that allows me to: Stop playing media Audio 1 when user clicks layer/object 1 OR layer/object 2 OR layer/object 3... So that I don't have to create so many triggers? I'm sure there is an OR option on triggers, but I haven't figured it out yet as an Articulate Storyline newbie.
Hi Christina!
I'd recommend adding Pause or Stop Media triggers for each audio file.
I've recreated a similar Storyline course that seems to be what you're hoping to create. Would you mind taking a look at it, and letting me know if this does the trick?
Thank you Lauren. I was able to get slides with layers to work with audio, although I haven't tried adding music to those. Many of the slides have a voice over artist speaking. However on the opening and closing slides and maybe some of the section dividers, I wanted to have the audio fade in to full volume then drop volume when the speaker is speaking, then volume back up before moving to the next slide. I won't mention other tools, but some I've used in the past have the ability to add background music across the entire project, or specific slides, and the volume will adjust automatically when it detects that there is competing audio, such as a speaker.
Meanwhile, to finish up my project I edited the audio manually by lowering the volume in certain sections and timing it to match the slide. Which was a lot of work! So I limited myself to the opening and closing slides.
For what it's worth, here's a way to stop all audios with a minimum of triggers. Trigger 1 opens a layer with nothing on it.
Layer has triggers to stop each audio when timeline starts. Layer has trigger to hide when timeline ends at .01 sec. Layer is set not to hide other layers, so it can be used any time.
Trigger 2 opens desired layer, or plays desired audio.
Walt,
Thank you for the response. I think the trigger that's needed is the option to increase/decrease the volume by a percentage. It seems quite abrupt at times to just kill the music. Sometimes it's more appropriate to lower the volume and have it continue to play in the background. I do think a trigger would be best as it would recognize that something else is happening rather than changing to a different layer where the scene may have changed. Music should also have a loop option so short snippets of music can continue to repeat.
Regards,
Christina Bayma
Hi Christina,
Thank you for sharing the changes you would like to see in Storyline. It helps us understand the need, and I've documented your request for more options when working with audio files. We'll be able to update this discussion if we make any changes!
In regards to looping audio, an idea that I hope will help is to apply these two triggers:
Thank you. I'll give that a try.
Hey Christina,
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I know this is from 7 years ago, but this seemed to work with the least amount if fuss - even with 15 markers on a slide. The addition that worked for me was a new state for the marker - call it "Complete" - when the audio is complete, the marker icon changes (thumbs up, check, etc.). When all markers are "complete" that triggers the next action - another audio file, a new slide, etc. The trigger fires too early when it was set to visited, so this fixes that issue.
Hi John!
Thank you so much for returning with a solution! I know this will be helpful for others who come across a similar snag with markers and audio!
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