MOTUnation.com

Hey there guys,

I am Flo,
developer at Non-Lethal Applications ( the creators of Video Slave ).

First of all, thanks to Brian for his post here!!
I can confirm that he is not being paid for doing this

I would like to answer some questions here.
First of all scrubbing video :

Video Slave allows scrubbing by receiving MIDI Machine Control commands you can send from any DAW.( I think Brian is also using MMC with Video Slave so he might be able to tell you where to set the right checkbox to have DP output MMC ).

Next : importing audio and streamers and punches

I have not seen the necessity to import audio to a QuickTime yet.
But I do consider ( and Brian can confirm that ) all feature requests that come from potential users. I don't do this to sell more licenses but rather more to make Video Slave a complete toolkit many people want to work with. The version as it is now is just the beginning.
Brian asked me to include a balance pot and a volume slider and guess what's in the next update ( which will by the way be available very soon )?
What would you use that feature for? Importing a cue rendered out of the DAW into an existing QT?
Streamers and punches support is also being worked on already.
It will take some more weeks to integrate it completely though.

Hope that answered your questions.

Of course having the movie files within your DAW is ok, but in my opinion having a dedicated VTR has a lot of advantages. The most obvious is taking the load off of your main DAW machine. I have some 1080p files with a DNxHD codec lying around here that eat up almost 60% of CPU on my 2010 MacBook Pro. Organizing your movies in playlists and not having to re-encode video files anymore are also very convenient and time saving.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!
Feature requests are also always welcome!

Best regards,

Flo,
Non-Lethal Applications

bralston wrote: On the MacPro I have a built in OSX network MIDI port set up that will port over to the MacMini on the same network.

So is yours a wi-fi network or do you have an ethernet cable connecting the Mac Pro and the Mini??

Just trying to understand the actual connection method here...Thanks!

Hi Charles,

I hope you don't mind me answering your question.
As far as I know, Brian is not in town for a few days.

As flutemaker wrote ( previous page ), Video Slave also works flawlessly over WiFi.
But as the connection quality depends a lot on the router in use, I would recommend using a wired network connection.

If preferred, you could also use a MIDI interface instead of transmitting MIDI data over LAN.

Best,

Flo

Got it--thanks, Flo.
Best of luck with your program!

This is very interesting. In the past when I tried to do something like this I seem to recall that I could not get DP sync properly without using an actual MOTU MIDI timepiece and other expensive hardware. Is it true that this will work 100% between two macs over a LAN without any other hardware for the frame accurate sync, such that, as others have said, when you scrub in DP, the slave video machine will follow forward and back with SPMTE frame accuracy?

I would definitely say so!
Just download the demo version from http://www.non-lethal-applications.com and try around with it.

It has a 5 minute demo timeout which will be sufficient to see if you are content with it.

There's an update coming out by the end of this week ( code is already written, just need to update the documentation ) which has a revised UI, some bugs fixed, minor improvements and new features.

Best,

Flo

bralston wrote:

rpmusic wrote:bralston

Any chance of explaining your set up to the MacMini - how that is synced to DP, etc.

Would really appreciate it!

Thx

Sure Rob. It is really simple. On the MacPro I have a built in OSX network MIDI port set up that will port over to the MacMini on the same network. In DP, you can set in the sync preferences to output MIDI timecode via that network MIDI port. On MacMini, select the same network MIDI port in VideoSlave to sync to MIDI timecode on that same network port. All of this can also be done via MusicLab's MIDI-over-LAN or even a hardware MIDI In/Out solution.

VideoSlave syncs in less than a second to that MIDI timecode and it is all done.

On the same MacMini I also run other Vritual instruments hosted in Plogue Bidule (with their MIDI channels coming in via other network MIDI ports) and it all just chugs along handling it all.

Excellent - thank you for the explanation. With the video issue with DP8 this looks to be a viable alternative!
r

Just tested the demo version. Very impressive and easy to use. About video scrubbing, does it really work via network MIDI? It didn't work for me.

Hi PJ,

yeah, it works with MMC and network MIDI.
BUT : the problem is that DP isn't able to send MMC over LAN.
Brian got in touch with "Magic Dave" at MOTU to make sure.
Emails found below :

I am trying to send MMC out from DP 7.24 (running Lion 10.7.5) over a network MIDI port setup using Apple's Built in OSX network MIDI ports to a MacMini slave machine where I run video separately. MTC transmits just fine on this network port and my video on the MacMini will sync and play perfectly. But there is no video scrubbing because there is no MMC. In order to scrub video, I need to also send MMC out that same network MIDI port. Because there is not a MMC checkbox in the OSX Audio/MIDI Setup for network ports...DP does not seem to see any network port as an option in the MMC setup window. Is this correct?

BUT...to throw a wrench into this, the current Logic and ProTools will send MMC commands over those same OSX network ports just fine. ...(shortened)

Is there any way you know of to send MMC from DP 7.24 out to an OSX network MIDI port? Or will I have to currently do this with hardwired MIDI cables on my MIDI Timepiece AV only?

And finally...if there is no way to send MMC over a network MIDI port...is there any way to put that on the request list to implement that in the future?

Brian,

You are correct that DP does not generate MMC messages via the network port. You can send MMC via any standard MIDI interface. I'll forward your request for MMC over the network port to our design team.

Best,
Dave

Video Slave does not support MTC and MMC coming from different MIDI inputs, so you should also send MTC over a wired connection in this case.

Best,

Flo

Thanks for your reply. I have to try this later when I have more time.

So this latest update finally made the demo workable for me. It was great to see that the fullscreen stays even after switching onto the next video (although with a slight twitch). It was this feature that I desperately need that DP doesn't provide. It would be great if it would be seamless going from video to video though.

I can't add timecode to movies that aren't .mov, is this correct? I tried mp4 and avi but it wouldn't allow me.

The video also wasn't consistently smooth, not sure if it was because of the 30fm TC I layed down (should that have anything to do with existing video?). I used motu MIDI interfaces to connect the two laptops (SSD drives).

Any advice is appreciated, hoping to make this work for me.

I wonder... could I revive my old G5 and use that as my video host?

...gotta check the spec...

I'm sorry, but you can't.
Video Slave is OS X 10.6 Intel only.

Best,

Flo

Yeah, them old G5 were hot in their day, but they're not gonna cut it for more technical aspects. Too bad. I guess I'll send mine to my niece.

Sergievsky wrote:So this latest update finally made the demo workable for me. It was great to see that the fullscreen stays even after switching onto the next video (although with a slight twitch). It was this feature that I desperately need that DP doesn't provide. It would be great if it would be seamless going from video to video though.

I can't add timecode to movies that aren't .mov, is this correct? I tried mp4 and avi but it wouldn't allow me.

The video also wasn't consistently smooth, not sure if it was because of the 30fm TC I layed down (should that have anything to do with existing video?). I used motu MIDI interfaces to connect the two laptops (SSD drives).

Any advice is appreciated, hoping to make this work for me.

I'm sorry. I totally missed your post!
Going from video to video seamlessly is really hard to achieve as the QuickTime engine needs some time to start playback.

Adding TC tracks does not work with MP4 (and AVI I suppose, too) as the container doesn't have a field to hold that information. So QuickTime is the preferable format.

Well, the TC rates should match on the video, the TC master (e.g. your DAW).
You should make sure that those are equal.
So with a 29.97 fps video, create a 29.97 fps TC track for example.

Also, H.264 (either in MP4 or the QuickTime container) is not the best choice for videos to be played back with Video Slave (or any other application like it) as it is not possible to precisely sync to it. Pro Res, DNx, Motion JPEG or DV would be better.

Please let me know if you need further assistance in setting this up!
Just drop me a message : flo at non-lethal-applications.com

Best regards,

Flo