Maximum number of simultaneous sounds

#1 It is limited by Torque, your soundcard drivers and the soundcard itself. But it also depends on what you consider a unique sound. The most common defination is that of a hearable sound and in this case the limit of hearable sounds is the limit of your hardware.

It's possible that Torque has a hardcoded limit somewhere, but it's a matter of changing one define if so.

Anyway. Hearable sounds and playing sounds are two different things, and a few sound API's out there use virtual sounds. These are playing sounds, but they are not processed by the hardware and won't be hearable. This is useful when sounds are shifting in and out of range fast (as in games) and means that virtual sounds will get hearable if they get important enough (based on range, volume, bla bla). When a virtual sound gets hearable, it switches with a real sound (on the hardware) and goes un-virtual and is heard by the listener. The previously real sound that was switched with will now be virtual, still playing but not hearable.

This is not part of OpenAL though which is why the existing implementation only can play as many sounds as the hardware.

I realize this post is a mess and I need to log off, but that's the basics of it.

#2 So as a developer and sound designer using Torque, I should just throw everything I've got to it, and not worry about it? And that the limitation (probably) lies within the hardware, and not Torque?

#3 I can't promise you that there are no limitations in Torque, because I haven't been into the OpenAL implementation lately (I use FMOD). I don't remember seeing any limiations relating to maximum amount of channels available, though.