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Two Audio Lines

Tue Mar 16, 2010 1:18 pm

Am I the only person who finds the audio interface to be cumbersome? Most other production applications have two audio timelines, with the ability to adjust and mix songs using volume markers. Studio, Vegas, Premier all have this, and I find it 100% more efficient and user-friendly than the audio interface in Producer. Anyone else agree?

Re: Two Audio Lines

Tue Mar 16, 2010 1:57 pm

Well, yes, but Proshow is a slideshow application with the ability to handle audio (you can do limited things with the audio and have multiple tracks "sort of" by having a clip on the timeline and another attached to a slide. While it would be nice to have better audio features, it works fairly well as it is (and you can always edit in Audition etc for more complex tracks). Don't forget that Vegas started out as an audio editor and has moved into the video realm (Vegas was started by Sonic Foundry ). Personally, I would rather that Proshow stays fairly simple with the audio side and does lots of good things with the slideshow side. I'll do any complex audio stuff in Audition, Vegas Pro or Acid Pro although the free Audacity works quite well for a lot of the stuff. Look at some of the stuff we can do in Proshow with captions, transitions and other cool things then go over to the Vegas forums and see how hard it is to do much of what we take for granted here in Producer.

mikey

Re: Two Audio Lines

Wed Mar 17, 2010 7:51 am

Actually - I find Producer's audio interface far more complex and cumbersome than a simple two-line audio system that I was referring to. I wouldn' look for complex audio editing features. I attempted to use Producers audio interface to do simple mixes between three or four songs. I frequently only use portions of songs, rather than the entire song. Using Pro Shows audio interface was a royal pain in the rear, and took a very long time to adjust. So much so, that I gave up, and render my shows to AVI files with no soundtrack, and drag the AVI into Pinnacle Studio so I can add the sound. Using studio's basic audio time lines, I can complete the sound in less than five minutes. The same task would take me over an hour with Producer.

Re: Two Audio Lines

Wed May 26, 2010 12:03 pm

Yes. This is the most frustrating part of using PSP for me to this point. Even having the ability to add keyframes to the audio track would be great. I often will fade out the soundtrack to allow the nat sound to be heard during a single video clip.

It would be nice to add keyframes to allow fades during a clip rather than just the beginning and end of the soundtrack.

Re: Two Audio Lines

Tue Jun 01, 2010 3:33 am

I also would like to see two tracks even though I never use more than one song. The reason I'd like to see it is that I I'm aware of how much easier it would be for those who have longer shows and multiple songs. How much easier it would be for them if they could overlap the end of one song and the beginning of another, fading out the first and fading in the second, thus making a really smooth transition from one into another.

Barbara

Re: Two Audio Lines

Tue Jun 01, 2010 2:28 pm

Barbara, it is already possible to overlap tracks and fade out the first and fade in the second. Just use the TAB key and awitch to timeline view and drag the second sound track to overlap the first and the little yellow boxes to adjust the fades. The first and second soundtracks appear in diferent colors (colors not colours, especially for you :lol: ) and the overlap in another color.

I do not know what can be done with a second audio line that cannot be done already.

Re: Two Audio Lines

Tue Jun 01, 2010 3:54 pm

Brian, I know the tracks can be overlapped, but I think it would be so much easier to have those two tracks separate and wholly visible so they could be slid into position, the fades also applied visually right there beneath the slides. It's awkward to edit in a separate screen, forcing what you might call the guess-and-by-gosh method. Actually, it doesn't force me to do anything other than scamper over to Audition. :D

Barbara

Re: Two Audio Lines

Tue Jun 01, 2010 4:03 pm

Having used Premier Elements for many years I can say without question that having the ability to have multiple audio tracks is easier and more precise. I absolutely love PSP but the single area where PSP comes up short is the audio. Yes, you can do things with it but to have multiple tracks with the capability of adjusting volume in and out precisely when, where and how much with the capability of precise overlapping would be a vast improvement. So much better, easier and intuitive with Premier Elements.

Barty

Re: Two Audio Lines

Tue Jun 01, 2010 4:12 pm

At the very least they need one for music and one for sound effects.

Robert

Re: Two Audio Lines

Tue Jun 01, 2010 4:21 pm

Well, the sort of have that - the main track and you can attach sound effects to a slide - not as nice as the typical NLE multitrack environment, but you can actually stack 4 or 5 audio clips on top of each other - attach one to each sequential slide then use the offset value to put them at the same time. Yeah, I know - multitrack. I have also suggested to them they add another of my favorite features where you can play the sound and tap a key ("m" in the case of Sony Vegas) to add "markers" at the beats you would like to change slides etc - the waveform is often tough to figure out visually. They have put it on their "wish list".

mikey

Re: Two Audio Lines

Wed Jun 02, 2010 12:01 am

Mikey wrote:I have also suggested to them they add another of my favorite features where you can play the sound and tap a key ("m" in the case of Sony Vegas) to add "markers" at the beats you would like to change slides etc


Now that I completely agree with. :D

Barbara wrote:It's awkward to edit in a separate screen


Not quite sure what you mean by a 'separate screen', Barbara.

When I press the TAB key and end up in timeline view, I find it very easy to drag soundtracks to overlap as necessary. Also as the slides and transitions are now scaled as to their time length I can adjust fades precisely to the lenth I require them. Also in this view sounds attached to slides can be seen and adjusted, but for time position only.

I have used twin audio in other programs, but find the above does every thing I need in PSP. I guess everyone to their own noose.

Re: Two Audio Lines

Wed Jun 02, 2010 4:51 am

Yes, Brian, you're correct about everyone to their own noose. My noose was built of having worked for quite some time in both sequencing and wave editors. Once used to their kind of precision, you end up like me: obnoxiously spoiled. :(

Barbara

Re: Two Audio Lines

Wed Jun 02, 2010 6:06 am

Which is why I have Audition and Acid Pro also on my system. Same thing with video - basic things Producer can do. More complex stuff with video, take it into another application (Sony Vegas in my case). On the other hand, if I want to create a nice slide show, I start with Producer, not Vegas - Vegas is a pain to create slide shows in - you can do it, but all the handy layers, captions, etc we are used to take quite a bit more effort to get to. The trick is to have a number of tools in the tool box, not just one hammer (if all you have is a hammer, the world looks like a nail :twisted: ) And if you try to create one tool that does it all, you end up with a "Swiss Army Knife" of epic proportions that does everything, but is impossible to use or work with since it takes over your system.

mikey

Re: Two Audio Lines

Wed Jun 02, 2010 6:30 am

Well said, Mikey.

Barbara

Re: Two Audio Lines

Thu Apr 25, 2013 7:45 am

Love looking at everyone's work so I took a few minutes this morning to visit Bart's Blog and stayed to watch one of his slideshows. Thanks so much for sharing your work Bart and your personal story on your blog :D You've given this 'old girl' a lot of insight not just in Proshow but in life itself...hope this finds you well.
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