OMF or AAF to export from Pro Tools to DP

[ironchef_marc]

Have had limited success using OMF in the past. Now there is OMF 2 and AAF format. Can anybody recommend a preferable way and save me the hassle on troubling shooting? My friend uses the latest PT 7.X, I've got the latest DP 5.12

thanks,

-icm

[jarok]

Hi

I would first just merge all tracks to get exactly same starting point for all SD II files in the Project.
And then I would import those files into Pro Tools.

SD II files from Pro Tools to DP I would transfer same way.

I would not use OMF 2 or AAF format for file changing
between Pro Tools and DP.

jarok

[desolation row]

Hi,

I have been tracking and editing in PTLE 7.1 and mixing in DP 4.61 for most projects over the last few months. I prefer OMF transfers over AAF because the soundbites retain their proper names. To do either OMF or AAF import or export Digitranslator is required on the Protools side and DP always defaults to 16 bit when opening an OMF. Just reset it to 24. Volume and pan info is not retained although a volume automation breakpoint will be. All tracks have to be renamed as well. The method mentioned in the post above seems to work best for some folks but I prefer OMF because it's faster for me and I like retaining the editing info. Digitranslator is insanely overpriced though...

Oh yeah, I have to open OMF files from the drop-down file menu in DP, not from a dialog box or DP crashes. I can't think of anything else at the moment. I hope that this is helpful in some way.

Best,

[jarok]

Yes if you want to pay 495$ for DigiTranslator be my guest:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DigiTranslator/


jarok

[Mr_Clifford]

Yes if you want to pay 495$ for DigiTranslator be my guest:

True, but shouldn't the person that owns Pro Tools be the one to cough up for Digitranslator. After all DP imports & exports OMFs fine. It's Pro Tools that's the problem here.

[martian]

well if you don't use protools you could always borrow an mbox or similiar and try installing it on your system - digitranslator demo will work fully functional for a month after you first install onto a system that's never been used with protools before.......

[currie]

If I am moving a session from PT 7 to DP 5 and editing (like beat detective) was done in PT ... then do I assume that the editing will be lost if I consolidate all the PT files to start at the same point and then drag them into DP; whereas, the editing is preserved if the PT file is converted to OMF with digitranslator 2 and then imported to DP?

I am new to this but I have a project that was recorded in PT and I have been brought in to finish it off and I use DP 5.

I did do the OMF transfer with digitranslator (my demo has now expired) and DP would conitually crash - half way through the song the CPU would red line and then a crash. The song was about 28 tracks and I often run 40 plus tracks as I have a mac quad so it should not be crashing.

It is also took about 8 minutes for DP to load the file OMF file.

Could OMF be much more CPU heavy (would seem odd)?

[Mr_Clifford]

If I am moving a session from PT 7 to DP 5 and editing (like beat detective) was done in PT ... then do I assume that the editing will be lost if I consolidate all the PT files to start at the same point and then drag them into DP; whereas, the editing is preserved if the PT file is converted to OMF with digitranslator 2 and then imported to DP?

The edits aren't 'lost', but locked into a single audio file, whereas, with OMF, you will still have all the audio regions so that you could still make more edits after you import (OMF can save handles of data either side of where your regions start and finish).

I did do the OMF transfer with digitranslator (my demo has now expired) and DP would conitually crash - half way through the song the CPU would red line and then a crash. The song was about 28 tracks and I often run 40 plus tracks as I have a mac quad so it should not be crashing.

It is also took about 8 minutes for DP to load the file OMF file.

Could OMF be much more CPU heavy (would seem odd)?

Once you've imported the OMF file into DP it's just a normal DP project, so it shouldn't be more CPU intensive. However, maybe some anomaly was created during the conversion process that is producing the red-line crash. Have a look at the point where it was crashing and see if there were a lot of fades at the one point or something. You could try trashing your fade folder contents to force DP to rebuild them.

[Stizz]

Looks like I am not alone here... I saved my Pro Tools HD 7.2 session as OMF with DigiTranslator - 24-bit WAV files, as that was the original format. No matter how I try to open it in DP 4.61, DP quits as soon as it saves the new project in a zero kB document.

I guess I will try again tomorrow with SDII, and hope that works. I don't want to consolidate all the files, as it is a 6 hour recording session. I was hoping to salvage it by importing the audio files into a new DP project, but I can't do that either as all the files have silly PT gibberrish names. Oh well, thanks for giving me a place to vent and perhaps find some help.

Steve

[matwell]

I've hardly ever done this (really just once as a test), but I *do* know a few things that are important here:

1) DigiTranslator 1 only deals with 16-bit files. You need DigiTranslator 2 for 24-bit files.

2) AAF is highly recommended for session interchange, rather than OMF.

Also, I only tested coming from PT into DP, and not the other way around. I definitely need to learn more about this!

Hope this helps (in some miniscule way).

[martian]

I did a few of these last year with no bother at all- think they were OMf 1

I did have some bother with some once and ended up using a program called avtransfer - which runs on XP

I' rather give the AVT guys 500 for a real swiss army knife rather than PT digitranslator.

AV transfer deals with way more formats and will convert a PT sessio (PT5 I think) to a usable OMF file...

[pcm]

I've been using DP for about seven years, and PT for about ten. I've been using Digitranslator for a lot of that time to move files back and forth. Believe me, it works, and is easily worth the $500. they ask for it. It is not a mere "save as" utility, there's a lot of settings that make all the difference as to whether or not things go how you hope. For example, when you take a DP session into PT, you can choose whether to stay in SDII, or convert the files to wav or aif. You can also change the sample rate, conversion quality, map new tracks to pre-existing tracks in your session, and lots more. Once the data is imported into PT, it just WORKS. I've imported countless DP sessions into PT, and there has never been one single issue. When importing OMF into DP, there are many pitfalls, and some of them will just plan leave you with a crash. Below, the main biggie to avoid:

When going from PT to DP, DP opens OMF files into a new 16-bit document. Even if your session is 24-bit. It will then crash when you try to play it. So, the very first thing you need to do is switch DP back to 24-bit operation. It's been that way for as long as I can remember. Now how weird it that? And sometimes an OMF session just won't work in DP, no matter what. Who knows why.

I always use OMF because it preserves regions and edits, and also tracks levels and automation. Well worth the $ to me.

[martian]

yeah but AVT does all that too!

and supports other formats as well as merely PT- OMF and back again....

I guess if you love digidesign you love digidesign...

Avid which owns digidesign - was reknown for tinkering with the OMF it outputs on a regular basis - trying to lock other manufacturers out - a bit like microsoft...

Not the sort of arrogance I will willing support... and lets not get on to the hobbledness of LE...

I am so glad I have learnt to use DP - it really can do what I want it to do

As you said sometime you get a crash from OMF exported from PT.

Me too!

the solution? Use AVT to "conform" the OMF to a "standard" OMF - no problems..

In which case why even bother buying digitranslator?

just use AVT to move from one format to another....

[spirit]

AVTransfer looks like indeed a swiss army knife that could be indispensible for a post house that deals with many different formats.
For someone whose only file transfer tasks ever would be PT to DP and back it would require a PC running windows in addition to the programs cost.
Also- to use AVTransfer to export from ProTools wouldn't the ProTools session have to be able to read on a PC? Which means using a PC/Mac formatted drive. And then doing a save as with enforce Mac/Windows compatibility. Which means .wav files- which would have to be retranslated for DP to read? Isn't this a fair amount additional work and diskspace/ copying time of the audiofiles if it's a large project?
Also the website says compatible with PT4 and 5, which are not exactly current versions of PT.

For 16bit Digitranslator II might not be needed. Maybe it might show up on ebay or somewhere occassionally.
If a user is a student or friends with a student or educator then M powered academic kit includes Digitranslator 2 - it appears to be under $200 with the m-powered software. What the requirements are to qualify for academic use you'd have to investigate ( as well as policies regarding upgrade paths).
http://www.bytewizecomputers.com/produc ... /900/13203

Regarding crashes from an omf imported file.

It is possible that some data that gets sent in the OMF is harder for DP to handle, maybe even is corrupt, but you might also consider the following possibilities:

If it has a lot of non-consolodated beatdetective files all the little segments can use a lot of CPU- a lot of jumping around for the harddrive. Such a file might have even been "pushing the envelope" even originally in ProTools and it is frequently recomended to consolodate all the little regions of a beatdetive split into bigger pieces. It might still be possible to keep the original split up files in another take or somewhere that the computer isn't trying to make the harddrive jump around to find them- play the consolodated tracks, then if further editing is needed switch takes, play just the tracks being edited until done, then duplicate take, consolodate into bigger segments and continue with the revised tracks.
Dp may be less CPU efficient on certain sessions, so switching from PT to DP could push DP over the edge. And even if plugins aren't using up CPU- the drive access conceivably could be a little different with DP and in some cases not handle what PT could-OMF or otherwise.

See if changing voice allocation, buffers etc. might help.


Also if the drive the omf is going onto is more fragmented, or fuller than the drive the PT session was on before the omf was made this may tax the computer further. On the same drive as it grows it probably has become more fragmented and a new filen omf file might possibly be more fragmented than the original session. You could do "save a copy as" to a unfragmented (new, freshly formated should be best) drive to see if that makes a difference.

[martian]

well you may be right may be the case in some aspects

jus throwing the options out there - always better to be aware?

AVT works under well under VPC ( i don't have a PC)

I guess I did save as pt5 from the original PT session....

it did make some new folders which you delete after making the OMF

So there is one more step....

dragging tracks around to the right order in DP is no big deal eh?