Elias vs Meta XR Audio SDK

Elias 4 is game-audio middleware and a sound engine for interactive soundscapes and adaptive music. Elias Studio gives composers and sound designers visual scripting for sample-perfect audio graphs combining logic, game parameters, playback, and DSP. Its music system supports instrument and track rules, motifs, stingers, automatic loops, random segments, and musical transitions. Spatialized 3D audio and processing such as filters, compressors, and reverbs are included. While a game runs, users can edit patches, replace sound files, and mix without rebuilding or using sound banks. Unity and Godot integrations are provided, and custom or other engines can be integrated. Listed runtime targets include PC, Mac, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, iOS, and Android. Elias is written in C and C++, supports Python tooling and automations, and offers source-code access by separate agreement at higher license tiers. Licenses are per game; console releases cost extra per platform, while same-game DLC is covered. Explorer Standard costs €5,850, paid once, and Colonizer Premium costs €15,000, paid once. A free evaluation version is available by request.

Meta XR Audio SDK is a free development SDK for adding spatial audio to immersive VR and MR applications. It runs on Windows and Android, including Meta Quest development targets, and supports Unity, Unreal Engine, FMOD, and Wwise. HRTF-based object and ambisonic spatialization helps listeners locate sounds in three-dimensional space. The SDK also models room acoustics through reflections and reverberation for spatialized audio. Meta documents plugins for each supported engine or middleware. The Unreal plugin works with the Unreal Audio Engine independently of the Meta XR Plugin. Unity packages are distributed through the Meta Horizon Developer Center and Unity Asset Store. Version 85.0 is the final release, and development is feature-frozen. Compatibility with future engine and middleware versions is not guaranteed, and acknowledged bug reports may not receive fixes. The Wwise plugin is supported through Wwise Launcher and Audiokinetic, while Meta’s Wwise documentation will no longer be updated. The listed plan costs nothing.