This is mainly a bug fix update, as part of getting ready to take paying customers. Gobbler Version 0.9.7.1 Today we released our v 0.9.7.1 point release which addresses a number of crash bugs that some users were experiencing. Gobbler 0.9.7.1 Release Notes - November 28, 2011  Bugfixes and Improvements  Fixed a crash on Lion when handling Unicode in tags, Project names and Volume names. Fixed a crash on Lion when sending files and folders with Unicode characters in the filename. Fixed an issue that would cause Project or file names to appear blank in Leopard and Snow Leopard. Fixed a crash that sometimes occurred when closing and reopening the main Gobbler window. Fixed a graphical glitch that occurred when resizing the Send Files dialog Fixed a UI crash that would happen when quickly applying tags to projects. Fixed a crash when pausing or resuming file transfer. Don't forget that the deadline for getting 25GB of free space is running out. If you haven't signed up yet then I do recommend you sign up as soon as possible as the deadline is December 7th 2011.

iZotope have extended the $99 upgrade promo offer, for existing Ozone 4 customers like me, through to the new year.   This is what you will get....

  This is from their press release....   Flux:: Sound & Picture development release Elixir - Real True Peak Multichannel Limiter   French software company, Flux:: Sound & Picture Development, specialized in innovative software tools for the post-production and audio mastering industry, today announce the release of Elixir - The Premier Real True Peak Multichannel Limiter Plug-in

  As a nod to the American post-Thanksgiving Day ‘shop till you drop’ spirit, Sonnox has introduced their first Black Friday Sale.  Beginning at midnight GMT on Friday November 25, 2011, and continuing for 32 hours until 11.59pm PST (7.59am GMT Saturday 26th 2011), holiday shoppers will enjoy 50% Off List Price  on the following Native or TDM bundles - Sonnox Elite, Sonnox Essential, and Sonnox Enhance.   This offer is available from the Sonnox website only. Sales are limited to one bundle per iLok account.  This offer does not apply to Education Sales, and cannot be combined with any other promotion.   Any Black Friday purchase of native plug-ins will qualify for free updates to the new 64-bit versions planned for imminent release.      

If have done my calculations correctly that is 8:00 GMT. Looking forward to see what offers they will have....        

Although not strictly Pro Tools related but definitely Post related, there are a good number of sound effects collections  from  the likes of  BBC, Digiffects or Sound Ideas. But there is also a growing band of independent sound effects libraries that offer a very cost effective solution to purchasing sound effects. These are the ones I know about, if you know of any others then please do add them in the comments section at the bottom of the post.     Affordable Audio 4 Everyone Affordable Audio 4 Everyone was started in June 2011 by Daniel Gooding. The goal of this site is to provided SFX, with professional quality, and sounds that are unique enough for seasoned professionals to use and enjoy, but at the same time affordable enough for students interested in sound design to be able to purchase. Affordable Audio 4 Everyone donates any purchase over $5 to charities of those in need

I have been trying to decide which way to go with my Pro Tools rig.....   Do I keep my HD2/192 system on a Harpertown Mac and just upgrade to Pro Tools 10 HD software? Do I upgrade my HD2 to HDX? If so I will need to buy a new Mac and that isn't going to be cheap to get one that is as powerful as my current 8 core Harpertown. Do I cross grade my HD2 to HD Native?   With cash is short supply, option 1 would be the easiest but will leave me in a corner when Avid do the next upgrade. So at the moment the HD Native route is looking very interesting. I have been doing some research and the comments on the DUC have been very promising from those who actually have an HD Native system. There are alot of comments about latency performance of native systems but these appear to relate back to LE Native systems, rather than the HD Native system.

Back in April 2009 I posted about this and promised to produce a detailed guide… When making music documentaries iTunes has become such a convenient way to buy music but because of the consumer fair usage limits to get a track from iTunes into your Pro Tools session has involved burning an audio CD in iTunes and then ripping the CD into Pro Tools which takes time and wastes CDRs. However one of the upsides of the iTunes Plus format and Apple removing the DRM, is that it is possible to convert a purchased track in iTunes to a WAV file, export it, and import that into Pro Tools.   Recently Matt posted on comment asking when there might be an update on this, so for Matt, c-money and others, here it is….

Another one of our free help guides.   This guide is shows how to get your music out of iTunes and into a Pro Tools session.  

The guys at Gobbler are revving up ready to start taking on paying customers and today they have released a new version of their application, v0.9.7   New Features   Send To Public is here! Gobbler users now have the option to send files to anybody in the world, and they can download it without signing up for Gobbler.

The question of conforming and what is the best conforming software comes up regularly so I thought I would try and put together a compendium to help provide an FAQ on this subject.   Conforming applications do different things, and the confusion arises in the dual-use of the word "conform". For example,     Conform or Assembly  Titan handles the conforming (also known as "assembly") of production source multi-track audio to match the Avid/FCP audio cut from a rough mix guide audio track.  A number of people use Ediload to tidy up the EDL before putting it into Titan.   Since Pro Tools 7.2 the features under the 'Field Recorder Workflows' have progressively improved and people are using it in Pro Tools 9 for simpler smaller projects as long as the documentation is followed with best practice and the management of metadata.

I was scanning through the Post & Surround part of the DUC and found a post about mp4 codec recommendation question from Sparky3000...   Hey all, Forgive the question as I'm sure it's somewhere here, though I find me efforts with the search function at the DUC usually don't go well. (It's me, not the engine, I'm sure. :) )  Essentially, I've been working with DV vid for all of my mixes. (Longform shows.) I'm not getting stuff from out of town clients and converting from MP4 back to DV with Streamclip. Works OK, but seems to soften sync even more.  I've tried importing the MP4 directly, but it's always sluggish and choppy.  My system runs flawlessly with DV.  Any recommendations of a spec for an MP4 delivery that might work without converting to DV, or is this an "it is what it is" situation?   Thanks!  

As a way to say thank you to all the beta users Gobbler has a range of options.... All Beta users get a free year of Gobbler. Even though they will be launching price plans in February 2012, all beta users will pay nothing for the space you have, until 1st Feb 2013. On 1st Feb 2013 you will have the option to keep all that space for the lowest subscription rate of $7.95 as an ongoing thank you, no matter how much space you have acquired. If you choose not to subscribe to Gobbler then you will retain any bonus referral space you have earned.  So for example, if you were one of the early beta adopters and got 50GB and then through referrals you earned another 30GB, until 1st Feb 2013 you will have 80GB for free. On the 1st Feb 2013 your free allocation will drop to 30GB - ie the bonus referral space.   If as a beta user you find you don't have enough space for all your projects then you will be able to buy additional space at up to 60% off the planned pricing which Gobbler will announce in Feb 2012. Click here to get on the list and Gobbler will send you all the details.   But don't forget you only have until 7th Dec 2011 to sign up and get 25GB of free space. After 7th Dec when you sign up you will get 5GB of free space, so sign up soon.

Gobbler will be announcing today that from December 7th when you sign up for a beta account you will get 5GB of free space. So if you want 25GB of free space then you need to sign up before 7th December.   Existing users need not worry, you won't loose your existing space, this is a change for new accounts.       Gobbler will be announcing full pricing plans in February 2012 but there will be some great deals for users who need more space now. If you want to go go on a list to get details of these offers then sign up here.   There will also be deals and offers to say thank you to all the beta testers, more details on this very soon.  

This is what they say on their web site......   Our acclaimed radar display has long proven an efficient solution when upgrading audio production for broadcast, film and music from unsatisfactory peak level indicators to loudness-based metering. LM6 Radar Loudness Meter gives you direct access to this revolutionary meter whether you are using Media Composer, Final Cut Pro, Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Nuendo, Wavelab, Sequoia, etc. on a Mac or PC and whether your productions are in mono, stereo or 5.1.

BECTU are kicking off the seminar programme at BVE North on 16th Nov and I will be on the panel. The session is entitled "How to be a Successful Freelance". If you work in the North and you have registered for BVE North (16-17 November at Manchester Central) don't miss BECTU's seminar How to be a Successful Freelance. Our learning organiser John Crumpton has devised the session with the great help of panellists Christine Pyke, Mike Thornton and Faisal A Quereshi. The seminar helps to kick off the first ever BVE North; join the discussion at 10.00 am on Wednesday 16 November. If you have yet to take advantage of free registration, here's the link. For more info on this seminar go to the BECTU web site.

  The screen shot says it all. Apparently they have been inundated with requests from the pro audio community and as they have now got the transfer speeds up they are feeling confident that it is coming to the time where they can start charging for the service.  One interesting point. that it would be good to have clarified by Gobbler, it would appear that this scheme will be to purchase additional space over and above the space you have now, so early adopters with 50Gb and more recent adopters with 25GB, it looks like you will continue to have that space for free.     At the moment it is just a sign up list, no information, but as soon as I get any info I will bring it to you.          

So the two questions I posed back on Oct 28th, are still unanswered.   If as an Pro Tools HD user with TDM hardware I take the support/upgrade deal to get PT 10 HD now, what happens when in a little while I want to take advantage of the HDX upgrade deal which includes the PT 9 HD to PT 10 upgrade which I have already bought?   What about folk who want to consider going from Pro Tools 9 HD to Pro Tools 10 HD with an HD Native card instead of an HDX card. - Max is looking into this one.     But things have moved on since then.

I know it isn't an audio product, but with the recent events I thought it worth reporting.  Here are some excerpts from the press release....   Avid®  today announced new versions of its flagship video editing systems—Media Composer®version 6, NewsCutter® version 10 and Symphony® version 6.

Just over a week ago Russ Hughes sent Max Gutnik form Avid 5 questions which Russ had skilfully coalesced from loads of questions and concerns that were submitted to him on the AIR Users blog.   Well Max has responded with his answers to those 5 questions and you can see the answers in full here on the AIR Users Blog. So what do I think about these answers?   Well in a nutshell these come across as politicians answers. The answers are replies to a set of question but largely not the questions that were put to him, with the possible exception to the first one about the upgrade pricing because Max had something concrete to say with the offer of a 14 day free trial and this offer….