Audition Import / Export to/from other DAWs

[SuiteSpot]

Well its done!

AATranslator is finally finished.

http://www.aatranslator.com.au/ is where you will find it.

Its been 3 months in the making and as I mentioned previously its not donationware but it is a fully functional demo only limitation is the number of tracks and 'clips'.

Many thanks to John Lundsten from  the UK for the idea of this project, for his tireless efforts testing the application and for his insight as well as the user guide.  Thanks also to Adrian Connelly for additional programming efforts and the interface and also dstDean from this forum for additional testing and encouragement.

Those who have supported me in the past (as at the time of this post) through donating for any of my previous applications are entitled to $50usd off the price for every application they have donated to me in the past.  For some that equals a free copy!  Never let it be said that I don't appreciate your support!

This application is not for everyone but certainly for anyone who needs to move their projects from one DAW to another it is certainly worth a look.

It definitely the only application which currently allows you to import/export from Adobe Audition!

There are many other DAWS in our sights and significant work has already been completed interfacing to Reaper project files and OpenTL files.  These will appear in a free upgrade in the not too distant future.

Enjoy.....

[Guest]

Way to go, mate!!  Keep at it, but get some SLEEP first!!

[SuiteSpot]

Well we have just put up version 3.0 and no doubt there will be a 3.0.1 soon.

There are a range of minor things yet for us to address and no doubt in the rush we probably missed something obvious but then if it was too easy everbody would be doing this or impersonating Elvis (or both!).

BTW Thanks to everyone who went out of their way to test, support or just badger me into fixing things and of course thanks to JL for his doco and testing (someone please RTFM as he went to some effort with that).

We have already started on the next major release which will include a totally rewritten OMF import and possibly an OMF export function.  We actually linked up one of Ron's OMF efforts and things are looking promising.

We are also working on a couple of surprises but more about that later

Anyway lots more to come - enjoy

[SuiteSpot]

Ok its probably a little early but quite frankly I'm so excited I'm beside myself (and what an ugly pair we make)!

I have just received the first 2 omfs produced from AAT by Ron Novy.

One is a referenced and the other an embedded one.

This is exceptional news and means that we will very soon have a version that will cover both importing AND exporting of OMFs

Sorry I just had to share.

[SuiteSpot]

Our next release is taking a little longer than we had hoped. 
It was supposed to be a pretty minor release but is turning out to be much more than that.

JL has been working overtime finding all sorts of little annoying bugs for me to fix and at the same time improving the overall quality of each format conversion.
The rewrite of all export formats to dramatically improve conversion speed has meant more testing than first expected.
The OMF rewrite has been a double edged sword with many huge improvements and at the same time a couple of show stoppers however I have managed to find a couple of valuable pieces to the omf jigsaw puzzle which I'm hoping will make all the difference over the next couple of days.

Anyway, the next release will be worth the wait.

[SuiteSpot]

A new version (decided on v3.1.0 - didn't want to clash) has just been released and is now available.

Features:-
Dramatically reduced translation speed
Conversions saved automatically
Improvements in PT, Reaper, Vegas, FCP & AA session conversions
OMF to PT5 conversion now available
And lots more

Note OMF conversions:-
There are a number of 'rougue' omf dialects/flavours which continue to cause us grief. Some we have work arounds for.
This is not an exhaustive list but it is annoying at best
'Well behaved' omfs convert seamlessly but for example certain Steinberg omfs show no clip indent/offset, certain Avid omfs we have trouble associating the correct extracted media.  We continue to chip away at these omfs and will post fixes as they are completed.

While we continually strive to perfect AATranslator there may be conversions which we cannot yet do completely/satisfactorily so it is imperative that you try before you buy or at the very least ask.

[SuiteSpot]

I mentioned in my last post that we had been having problems with missing clip offsets/indents when parsing certain dialects of Steinberg OMFS.

Well I have finally stumbled upon where these are hidden. Naturally, this had to come just after the latest AAT release so be assured that we will have another release out probably within 24 hours.

I'm thinking that when these people get together to formulate how they will construct their omfs they try and come up with something that has never been done before - something like 'maybe if we put this value here no-one but us will ever find it' mindset.

Steinberg's Nuendo omfs are just fine - go figure!

Give me a break!  

[SuiteSpot]

Currently working on track automation across all daws where appropriate.

Its pretty amazing to see track auto (gain & pan) and clip env (vol & pan) moving between say Audition & Reaper and back again.

Beats omf any day but then I guess I'm easily pleased

[SuiteSpot]

Been far too busy to update this thread but for some insane reason feel that at 4:10am this morning I should

Another major break through!

Its now no secret that we have 'developed an understanding' of the method used to read & write ALL PT session formats from PT5 to PT8 but that was only the first hurdle.  We also came to the conclusion that the developers were either rat cunning in the subtle changes and ways of doing things or they were so backward that they took so many obtuse ways of doing the most simplest of things.

Anyway its taken a while but I have just now successfully parsed the PT7 index structure and created a number of conversions (ie PT7 to SES, RPP, EDL etc)

Ok there is still a fair bit of work to do but a basic conversion from PT7 sessions at least is pretty close.

Must get to bed before the sun comes up

[SuiteSpot]

A quick update:

We have now developed a pretty respectable PT7 conversion.  We can now convert:-

Clips/regions, fades, track automation (vol,mute & pan), BPM, session offset, FPS, track details (name, solo, mute etc), markers (absolute, range & beat) and probably a heap more that I have left out.

We are about to release v3.4 with many, many bug fixes and additional features as well as improved support for running under pc emulators as well as improved support for 'international' formatting (I really dont get that comma instead of a decimal point thing).

Too much more to remember

PT7 features will be in v3.5

Without saying too much if you are thinking about buying then now is probabably a good idea 😉

[puckerlips]

Well, someone should say this:  Thank You.

This is a big deal, and one hell of a lot of work, I am sure.

I tip my hat.

--

Alan

[SuiteSpot]

Thanks for that Alan - it means heaps

BTW we are so busy I forgot to mention that we are also right in the middle of trying to hook up and debug our OMF export functionality (thanks Ron Novy)

Too much going on to remember let alone keep up.

[N2it33]

I have both AA1.5 and AA3.0. I can import videos of various formats into 3.0, but 1.5 rejects every and all videos of any format, says it must be an unsupported format. This includes, AVT, MPG, MOV, etc. movies.

Any one have this problem, and know a solution?

Thanks!

JOhn

[SuiteSpot]

I now understand why the gun laws are so strict in Australia - its the government's fear that some crazy person might start delving into the inner workings of PT and OMF!!!

After about a month of sleepless nights we have made lots of progress - no thanks to Avid or Digi!

In fact we were able to translate just about everyone else's OMFs pretty much early in the piece - it's here we got a bit cocky.

Enter a PT omf and you would swear they were chalk & cheese!

Anyway its seems to be getting there - though i fear its a bit like a delicate flower - pluck one petal and......

Well for an 'industry standard' format IMO its a peice of - well you know what.

Give me AES31 any day!

Below I've cut and paste some analysis that JL over in the UK did which shows just how 'standard' OMF is - don't expect to move too much between daws using this format - oh I forgot PT uses it - my mistake it must be great

Here is a short list of what seems possible with various DAW's (or Digidesign Software)

Logic Mac & Logic PC
No vol envelopes,Pan envelopes or clip gain

Avid
has vol Pan & clip gain

DigiTranslator2
has Vol,Clip gain,No pan

DigiTranslator1
NoVol, No pan, has Clip gain

OMF Tool
No vol Pan or clip gain

Nuendo2, Nuendo3
Just clip gain

Digital Performer
has Vol, No pan NO Clip gain,

Sonar
No vol Pan or clip gain. Need to remove any overlaps

Ensonic Paris
No vol Pan or clip gain. Need to remove any overlaps

AMS Audiofile
no vol Pan or clip gain

So explain to me people, why is OMF such a "must Have?"

[RonNovy]

Maybe it has something to do with automation?  If you are just using automation on each clip it would be kind of redundant to have it in other places too so I can understand not having Vol and  Pan.  If so, could there also be a setting to turn on/off automation that could change the way those programs save OMF?  Just a thought though, I don't have any of those programs here to test...

Should we start printing "OMF Sucks!" T-Shirts?

[SuiteSpot]

Aahhh  you think they might be being clever?

No I think that you are giving them too much credit

As far as setting some give some minor options but nothing like these sort.

But the T-Shirt ide now that could be way more profitable and less stressfull.

Now where did I put my screen printing kit from the 60's........

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

I do like the idea of 'PT sucks - big time' teeshirts!

[RonNovy]

Ok... I couldn't resist... I made the T-shirt, but it just wasn't funny enough...  So for those of you who need it I give you the "PT TP" or "Pro-Tools Toilet Paper"

Go ahead... Put some neer your studio toilet...  Who cares if people use it or not, at least it's where it belongs

[SuiteSpot]

See this is why nobody takes you guys seriously

Picking on poor old ProTools - look PT'ts having a hard enough time as it is!

Attracting & keeping users is obviously a problem so they have to encrypt their sessions and give away a useless lite version & usb mic to school kids

And now you guys poking fun at this glossy mag 'institution' - shame on you both!!!

So where can I get some of that paper & a T-shirt

[ryclark]

I am having problems feeding my toilet roll through my inkjet printer. It keeps getting tangled aroung the feed roller.

[RonNovy]

Oh... Try the unused paper first.

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

Suite Spot wrote:

And now you guys poking fun at this glossy mag 'institution' - shame on you both!!!

So where can I get some of that paper & a T-shirt

Can't see a problem with poking fun at PT myself... and one of my sons prints T-shirts as a part-time job, so organising a few shoudn't be a particular problem either. I'll see what he can do. Maybe we should put my earlier  Lizzy B. Browning's ode to PT on the back?

[SuiteSpot]

Now as if this thread hasn't attracted enough attention from the likes of M$ and others I guess pretty soon I'll have PT all over me like a cheap suit

Me thinks their could be more money in anti-PT t-Shirts than this daw conversion stuff - certainly easier and more satisfying

[SuiteSpot]

Just got a big thumbs up from Daryl over in Canada who has been helping on some of the PT/OMF testing - so that is a very good thing.

JL has been going crazy with all his omf/TL testing and this is most beneficial.  He has also highlighted some of the deficiencies of OMF - which most people don't realise.

Industry standard - NOT!

The next version should also have some Vegas export/import additions (new cs scripts with track volume & track pan), omf import of course, Open TL export and ALE import.

Still a bit of coding to do to tidy up some things and maybe make the code a bit more efficient and lots of testing.

Still to decide (given the weeks of work on this one) but I'm pretty sure that the full omf capability will only be available in the 'enhanced' version of AATranslator.

[John_Lundsten-k7u7Co]

RonNovy wrote:

Maybe it has something to do with automation?  If you are just using automation on each clip it would be kind of redundant to have it in other places too so I can understand not having Vol and  Pan.  If so, could there also be a setting to turn on/off automation that could change the way those programs save OMF?

Guess it's not obvious just how limited OMF is. You don't get the possibility of clip based and timeline or track based automation. So in saying "Nuendo2, Nuendo3, Just clip gain"  I mean if you give Nuendo an OMF that has any dynamic level  changes or panning of any type it ignores it. To be fair it will recognize fades.

[SuiteSpot]

Version 3.2 is now available

Lots of improvements as well as track automation and support for the Ardour format.