Pro Tools For has moved from Blogger

Hi folks, I am posting this here because some of you subscribing via the RSS feed may still be getting the old feed from this blog.

Just to confirm the blog has moved to our own site at One Stop Digital (OSD) Ltd

Pro Tools for Media can now be found at http://www.osd-uk.com/protoolsformedia

If your RSS feed doesn't have posts after 9th Jan 2010 about Brent Heber and Pro Tools for Media moving then I am sorry but you will need to point your RSS reader at the new blog.

The main feed is at http://feeds.feedburner.com/ProToolsForMedia

The comments feed is at http://feeds.feedburner.com/CommentsForProToolsForMedia

Again sorry for the inconvience but hopefully this will sort it.

Mike.

Pro Tools for Media is moving

Hi folks,

I am moving my blog to my own domain at One Stop Digital (OSD) Ltd

The new place for the Pro tools for Media blog will be at...

http://www.osd-uk.com/protoolsformedia

Anyone using the rss feed shouldn't have any problems as I am using Feedburner to re-route.

I hope the transition will go smoothly but please bear with if it doesn't.

Thanks,

Mike

Command Focus keyboard shortcut part 2

Continuing this look into the inner working of the command focus keyboard shortcuts from my first post in the series.

Play to, or from, an edit point by the pre, or post, roll settings - alpha keys 6 to 9
When you have a potential edit highlighted this group of commands allow you to
Play up to the selection using the preroll setting – alpha key 6;
Play from the start of the selection by the post roll setting – alpha key 7;
Play up to the end of the selection by the preroll setting – alpha key 8;
Play from the end of the selection by the post roll setting – alpha key 9.
This is very useful for checking whether you have included or excluded a particular element of audio from an edit selection.

Timeline and edit selection commands
These work only when you are working with the timeline and edit selections separated. You can do separate the timeline and edit selections by clicking on the ‘separate’ button that is to the right of the keyboard focus button so it isn’t highlighted.

Copy Edit selection to Timeline selection and vice versa
This is a pair of commands that enable you to copy a selection from an edit on a track up to the timeline – O (letter); and to copy a selection from the timeline onto an edit on a track – alpha key 0 (number).

Play Edit selection - [
This will play the selection made on the track (The highlighted section in the Region A)
If the Timeline and Edit selections are linked then either command will play the highlighted section

Play Timeline selection - ]
This will play the selection made on the timeline (The highlighted section in the Time Ruler above Region B) Using the Space Bar will play this option.

Sound Effects library Soundsnap release their first video

I received this email yesterday from Soundsnap...

Happy new year!
All the best for an inspiring and creative 2010.
We just completed our first Soundsnap video.
Its a peak into the world of Hollywood sound designer (and Soundsnap contributor) Frank Serafine.
Check it out here
I hope you like it!

More special offers extended from McDSP, PSP and Elysia

McDsp extend 30% special offer to May 2010

To start the New Year off right, McDSP has extended all their specials until May of 2010, allowing customers to purchase anything and everything for up to 30% off! That's right we said everything and we mean everything - all bundles, individual products and upgrades are on sale now!

Once McDSP releases Audio Unit (AU) compatible versions in May 2010, all prices will increase. Existing customers may simply upgrade their plug-ins at that time to receive AU support. Visit the McDSP Store today to make sure you take advantage of sale prices before they go up!

Don't forget, you can still upgrade an LE plug-in to Native for only $69 each!

Learn more...

PSP extend winter offer to January 17th 2010

We have also decided to extend our Winter Squad offer until 17th of January.
Until 17th of January 2010 you can buy PSP sQuad bundle at the special price of $99*
Starting from 18th January 2010, the regular price of $249* will be applied.
(*all prices exclude taxes)

To celebrate the New Year we have re-released and super sized our PSP sQuad bundle.
The new edition is the PSP McQ which is the most versatile track equalizer in the PSP sQuad bundle.
If you are still hungry for new EQ plug-ins, give it a try. You're going to like its taste.
You can get PSP sQuad at an even better price if you already own plug-ins from our processor pack
(discount rate depends on the quantity and specific plug-ins you already have).

To see your price for the PSP sQuad bundle log-in to your user account here.

Elysia mpressor TDM version out now. !! 25 % discount in January !!

After the successful release of the mpressor plugin in the native formats, the TDM version is now available, too!
We are starting sales with a 25 % discount on the full TDM license and the upgrade from an already purchased native license to TDM.

This means that until 31 January 2010 you can buy TDM at the regular price of the native version or upgrade at the reduced introductory price.


Want to try before your buy? A free 14 days trail version is available on our website (iLok required). Test the mpressor now!

Get your 25 % discount now! Offer ends Jan 31th.

Now just 290 €/440 $ for the full license and 70 €/110 $ for the upgrade from native to TDM.
(Prices plus VAT if applicable).

Sound demo: here.......... Free trial: here.......... Buy now: here

Flux extend their winter holiday promotion

Flux have extended their winter holiday promotion with up to 50% discounts until January 17th 2010. Go and get yourself a bargain will you can.  (special offer has finished now- Mike).

Fade window bug update

Following on from my post on the Fade window bug, the other person who posted on the DUC post "mrsticks" - Mark Bensi emailed me over the Christmas break.

I'm a music editor for film, TV and music libraries. I discovered the fades dialog box bug after upgrading to PT 8 on my PPC G5. As I wrote in the DUC, I use the fades box for every fade I create because of the precision that it gives me. I realize that a lot of editors do not use this feature very often. That's evidenced by the fact that virtually nobody else-to my knowledge- has brought this bug to Digi's attention. 

Now I just discovered that my PT8 version 8.0.1 will be the last and final version for my PPC Mac. It seems that the flaw will not be addressed for my particular computer. (And who knows when they will even get around to fixing this bug anyway) My only solution now is to buy a new Intel based Mac. I'm very frustrated at the idea of having to do that.

Mark, thanks for the comments. I feel your pain. When Pro Tools 8 came out I was still running a G4 Dual 1.42Ghz machine that I had bought second hand when the G5 Power Macs changed their slots and Digi went over to pci-e cards. My solution was to buy the fastest G4 I could find which I bought second hand on Ebay and run it for as long as possible. You can read more about this in my Sound on Sound article here. I knew its days were numbered when I reviewed PT 8 for Sound on Sound as it went very very slowly but I had got a couple of very good years out of my second hand G4. So I bite the bullet and got a very good deal on an 8 core Mac Pro for around £1600 new and crossgraded my pci-x cards to pci-e cards too. However as I earn my living from this I budget for these kind of eventualities as this isn't the first time this sort of trap has been laid. We had the same problem when PPC Macs came in.

I would suggest you might want to look around on Ebay for a second hand Mac Pro, even a Quad core machine will be fine, and will future proof you for a good while. After all Apple are dropping PPC support from Snow Leopard as well.

You are right, very few people use the Fade dialog box now. With the Smart tool I have the default fade shapes set the way I like them and I find I can deal with most issues with that, effectively auditioning the fade on the track. Very occasionally I will go into the Fade dialog box, usually if I want the start and finish of the fades to be in different places, but it is extremely rare. But even then I don't tend to use the audition in the Fade window as in the early days in PT 4 it was very shaky as it used the Mac audio path to route the auditioned audio and tended to fall over so I tended to avoid it by setting the fade shapes, hitting OK and auditioning it on the track and that workflow has stuck!

Thanks again Mark for your comments.

6EYQXA3FCD8M

Eleven Rack Update for All Pro Tools 8.0.3 Systems to fix bug

When I posted on the Pro Tools v8.0.3 I referred to a problem with the Eleven plug-in...

Late Breaking Technical Alert — Eleven Rack with Pro Tools LE 8.0.3
We are investigating a late breaking issue found with the initial release of Pro Tools LE 8.0.3 for Windows. On Windows systems (XP, Vista, Win 7) with Eleven Rack and Pro Tools LE 8.0.3, a Runtime error can occur after creating a new session. In some cases, Pro Tools quits without saving the session. Given the possibility of losing session data, we recommend that Eleven Rack users on Windows DO NOT update to Pro Tools 8.0.3 until we are able to resolve this issue and make a fix available.

Digidesign have worked late and have released a new version of Eleven...

Eleven Rack Update for Pro Tools 8.0.3 — Downloads & Details

Who Should Use This Update?

Even if you do not use an Eleven Rack, this update is recommended for all Pro Tools HD, LE, and M-Powered version 8.0.3 users on Mac and Windows to provide session compatibility with other users that may have an Eleven Rack.

What's Fixed in This Update?

Runtime error, access violation, crash, and possible session corruption with Pro Tools 8.0.3 and Eleven Rack (Item #121196)

• The Eleven Rack Update for Pro Tools 8.0.3 resolves an issue in which Pro Tools 8.0.3 (HD, LE, or M-Powered) with Eleven Rack could experience a Runtime error, access violation, or crash after creating a new session. In some cases, Pro Tools would quit without saving the session.
• On Mac, problems with the appearance and use of the Eleven Rack user interface window in Pro Tools were also seen in some cases.

The Eleven Rack updates for Pro Tools 8.0.3 systems require previous installation of Pro Tools 8.0.3 HD, LE, or M-Powered on Mac or Windows:

Pro Tools 8.0.3 — Downloads & Details

Merry Christmas and thank you

Hi folks,

I would just like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and all the best for 2010. I may drop in the odd post over the holiday season but normal service will be resumed around 4th Jan 2010.

Thanks again for your support and I look forward to hearing from you in the new year.

Mike.

Pro tools 8 fade window waveform bug

I have just received an email from Will Holiday...

Hi Mike,


I read your pro tools blog a lot, it's one of the best. I noticed a bug in pro tools 8. When in the fade dialog, and the fades are unlinked, the waveforms are drawn incorrectly when you start moving the fades lines around. (Pic attached). I can't find anything on the web about this. I wanted to see if you or anyone else knows about it, and if there was some kind of solution. Thanks, and keep up the awesome posts.

and here is his picture...

Thanks Will for this. So I did some checking both on line and on my own system and sure enough on my HD rig I found this...

I also did a search on line both in the DUC and the Anwersbase and only found two references, one from Will flagging it up on the DUC here and also another user mrsticks also flagging it up...

 

The fades dialog box allows control and manipulation of crossfades. In PT 8 the views of waveforms do not correspond to the movement of the fade lines when unlatched. (This is a feature I use often.) The "B" side of the fade actually decreases visually while you try to increase it. The audio is not affected but it makes creating the fade more difficult because the visual is incorrect.

It will be interesting to see what develops...

Command Focus keyboard shortcut part 1

Keyboard shortcuts have been with Pro Tools from the start. The number of shortcuts in Pro Tools has grown as the software has developed. Obviously the more shortcuts you know the better, because the less you move your mouse and so the more productive you become.

The Keyboard Focus commands are a real step forward for single-key operations when the [a...z] focus mode in the Edit window is selected by clicking on the a-z button just below the zoom buttons in the Edit Window in Pro Tools 7 or at the top of the Edit window vertical scroll bar in Pro Tools 8.

These are available to use on all Windows and Mac based Pro Tools systems with only a few timecode related limitations on the LE systems. Good news for those who work with both Windows and Mac based systems that unlike some other shortcuts the Keyboard Focus shortcuts are the same for both Mac and Windows systems.

You may find it helpful to have at least sight of a qwerty keyboard as you read this as the commands are grouped together in areas of the keyboard to make them as intuitive as possible.

Alternatively if you like what you see here you may want to buy a Pro tools keyboard with the shortcuts on it or alternatively a sticker set to go on your existing keyboard...





There is a ‘pain barrier’ to go through to get the Keyboard Focus shortcuts into your way of working but rest assured it will be worth it. Perhaps go through the learning curve with a project where the deadline isn’t too pressing.

So lets start the series with some Zoom Functions...

Zoom Level 1-5 - alpha keys 1 to 5
By using the numbers 1 to 5 above the letter keys (not the number pad) you can access the 5 preset horizontal zoom settings that are 5 buttons just below the zoom buttons in the Edit window (see fig 1). To set these presets adjust the horizontal zoom to suit and then Command+Click on the Mac, or Control+Click on Windows, the appropriate button to save the preset.

Zoom Toggle - E
This will zoom an edit selection (Highlighted selection on a track not a timeline selection) to the width of the edit window. If you press E again it will take you back to the previous zoom setting.

Centre Edit Selection Start – Q
This will put the start of an edit selection in the centre of the edit window.

Center Timeline End - W
This will put the end of an edit selection in the centre of the edit window.

Zoom Out Horizontally – R
This is the same as going up to the toolbar and clicking on the zoom out button.

Zoom In Horizontally – T
This is the same as going up to the toolbar and clicking on the zoom in button.

Source Elements release Source Zip

Source Elements  the makers of Source Connect have released a file compression app that is specifically designed for audio files and session....
 

Source-Zip solves a specific problem: you need to send your audio session to another location, but you don't have the time it takes to send such a large file.
Source-Zip compresses your audio session and all its accompanying files for quick and easy transfer over the internet. Source-zip creates a self-extracting file that you can email or ftp to someone quickly, and once unzipped it recreates your session files exactly as they were - including all meta-data that applications like Pro Tools need to recognize the files, and any other files that were zipped along with your audio. Here is the demo video...

There is a fully functional demo downloadable from here and when you can't live without it after the 7 day trial is up then you can buy it for $48.