BFG Alternative Workflow In SS64?

[Dave Labrecque]

It has finally come to pass. I moved to SS64 a while back, and I finally have another VO project that will require a zillion output files. BFG (JMS' Batch File Generator) was a godsend under SS32. Does anyone here have a work-flow in SS64 that he/she is happy with that reasonably imitates the utility of BFG?

The obvious answer is to simply do the project in SS32. Alas, staying current with UAD updates has forced their nowadays-64-bit-only paradigm upon me. And I sure don't feel like reinstalling an old UAD software version.

Wait... I think Jbridge is supposed to able to bridge 64-bit VSTs into a 32-bit host. Eureka?

Before I go there... anyone have an elegant solution in SS64?

Many thanks.

[TotalSonic]

It has finally come to pass. I moved to SS64 a while back, and I finally have another VO project that will require a zillion output files. BFG (JMS' Batch File Generator) was a godsend under SS32. Does anyone here have a work-flow in SS64 that he/she is happy with that reasonably imitates the utility of BFG?

The obvious answer is to simply do the project in SS32. Alas, staying current with UAD updates has forced their nowadays-64-bit-only paradigm upon me. And I sure don't feel like reinstalling an old UAD software version.

Wait... I think Jbridge is supposed to able to bridge 64-bit VSTs into a 32-bit host. Eureka?

Before I go there... anyone have an elegant solution in SS64?

Many thanks.

This is the exact reason why I haven't upgraded to SAWStudio64 yet - I need the JMS Batch Generator and Cue Sheet Generator, along with some other Sonoris and JMS automateable native plugins, for my standard work flow in my mastering jobs. I was in contact with both Jon Marshall Smith from JMS, and Pieter Stenekes from Sonoris a few years ago when SAWStudio64 first came out, and they both were agreeable about updating their plugins to the new 64bit API, but made it clear they needed documentation from Bob on how to do this. I was also in touch with Bob around that time, and he stated that he would try and get them documentation within a few months of our communication, but unfortunately it seems this documentation was never provided to them.

The one third party plugin developer that seems to have been able to port their plugins for both SAWStudio 32 and 64 bit is Elements - http://elements.byethost3.com/plugins_sawstudio.html?i=1
Perhaps we could contact him to see if he could develop a 64bit replacement for the JMS BFG - if he is up for the task I would be willing to kick in some cash towards its development for sure. The email I have for him is elementsplugins@gmail.com

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[Dave Labrecque]

Perhaps we could contact him to see if he could develop a 64bit replacement for the JMS BFG - if he is up for the task I would be willing to kick in some cash towards its development for sure. The email I have for him is elementsplugins@gmail.com


Worth a shot. I will if you will.

Anybody else want to jump in? It was a darned useful tool, BFG was.

UPDATE: I've sent him an email explaining our plight and asking if he'd consider it. It'd be great if others did, too. Please and thank you. :cool:

[TotalSonic]

Worth a shot. I will if you will.

Anybody else want to jump in? It was a darned useful tool, BFG was.

UPDATE: I've sent him an email explaining our plight and asking if he'd consider it. It'd be great if others did, too. Please and thank you. :cool:

I sent him an email today as well. Here's hoping that he is interested.

I guess we could also try and contact JMS and Sonoris once again, to see if they would still consider doing the work towards updating their plugins, as well as try and get Bob to provide the documentation to update the SAW64 plugin api's to them.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[Angie]

Worth a shot. I will if you will.

Anybody else want to jump in? It was a darned useful tool, BFG was.



I would jump in if we can get cue sheet generator in the sites also!

[TotalSonic]

I would jump in if we can get cue sheet generator in the sites also!

For that then we are perhaps better with trying to contact Jon Marshall Smith and Bob Lentini to see if Jon would still be amenable to updating the JMS plugins, if Bob could provide the documentation for the SAWStudio 64 plugin API to him. Think I might try to do that again, starting with Bob Lentini.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[Dave Labrecque]

I heard back from (the other) Bob at Elements. He's looking over BFG and asking some really good questions about it's functionality. Fingers crossed...

[TotalSonic]

An update to this - Bojan (Bob) from Elements has sent me an early alpha version of his "SFE" (Sound File Extractor) for 32bit SAWStudio, which he is confident could be built for SAWStudio64 as well, as proof of concept. The basics of it are working, with it able to output 24bit AIFF at this point, but it needs a bit of additional work adding features, getting bugs out and making the gui more functional. It is a promising start!

If folks would like to send Elements some words of encouragement, or any cash in appreciation of his coding time to date his email and PayPal are both at elementsplugins@gmail.com

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[Dave Labrecque]

Following many weeks of alpha and beta testing, our good friend Bojan with Elements Plug-ins has reached what he feels is a releasable version of his Sound File Extractor (SFE) native plug-in for both SAWstudio 32- and 64-bit versions. This plug-in has many of the same features as Jon Marshall Smith's venerable Batch File Generator, allowing us to define and output multiple sound files from a single SAWStudio session, only now for SAWStudio64 as well!

Bojan has generously put SFE up on his site as donationware. As a SAWStudio fan, he's put in many, many hours over the last couple months developing this software for our benefit. If you find SFE useful to what you do (I do!), PLEASE show him our appreciation by contributing what you can for this very welcome addition to the SAWStudio tool box. (I don't see a donation link on his site, so, TFN, you can use his email address, which Steve says will work with Paypal: elementsplugins@gmail.com).

http://elements.byethost3.com/plugins_sawstudio.html

NOTE that there are also a bunch of other very useful native and VST (2 and 3) plug-ins available on his site.

[In its current state SFE requires that the included "Output Files" folder live in SAWStudio's Native_Plugins folder. My suggestion is to point one of your session's Library Views to this folder for easy access from within SS.

There are also currently some focus issues which can result in certain pop-up functions (Output Folders and SFE (help file) buttons) remaining "behind" the SS interface. Recommend using Alt+tab or the Windows task bar to get to them. FYI.]

[Ian Alexander]

Hey Dave,

Please remind us of how you use BFG and on what types of projects.

Thanks.

[Dave Labrecque]

Hey Dave,

Please remind us of how you use BFG and on what types of projects.

Thanks.

For me it's just the thing when I want to read many slides-worth of VO onto a track in the MT, then slice and dice. In SS32 I'd use BFG to then define each slide's specific bit of the timeline, then output all the files at once using the Build Mix to FX Modules feature. There are a bunch more features, though. It increments each new entry according to your defined base file name. You can change channel count and bit depth on a per-entry basis. And more.

How do you handle multiple-output-file projects, Ian?

You can read the full poop here: https://www.jms-audioware.com/bfg.htm

SFE does much of the same stuff in SS64.

Steve B. uses it differently, I imagine. Maybe he'll chime in with his specific application. IIRC JMS created BFG because he'd have SAW session with a bunch of audio to create instrument samples, but then if he went back to tweak or change anything, it was a PITA to do all those individual renders again. With BFG he could re-output them all (or a subset thereof) at once.

I had come up with a work-around using Sound Forge, and it wasn't horrible, but it wasn't as slick as BFG. And now, SFE.

[Ian Alexander]

I can't remember who suggested it here on the Forum, but this is how I cut narration into multiple files.

Record everything in one file on Track 1.

Edit the track, with first audio at about 0:00.5 and leave 1.75 - 2.0 seconds between the segments that will become the final files.

Add compression and EQ to taste.

Mix the track down to Track 2.

Mark Track 2 to cover from about 0.5 second before first audio and 1.5 seconds after last audio.

Remove silence on Track 2, using settings on the gate to leave 0.25 second of silence at the beginning of each segment and 1.0 second of silence at the end. This seems to make slide transition timing feel just about right.

Rename the regions on Track 2 to match the script. If the filenames increment by 1, you can get pretty close with the SS Rename Regions function. If they are named Welcome, Introduction, etc., you can get a pretty good rhythm going with Tab, Tab, click, U to rename each region individually.

Highlight all the appropriate regions in the Regions View, using click, scroll, shift-click.

Export Regions to Soundfiles.

If needed, ReName4All is handy for changing spaces to underscores and eliminating extra leading zeroes, etc.

Typically, create a Zip file of the audio files for a one-step download for the client, upload to their folder on the website, and email them a link.

Upsides:

Never have to mark B and E for individual segments (until revisions happen).

SS is as fast as your processor to mix, eliminate silence, and create the output files.

Filenames on Track 2 make it easy to find the right spot for revisions on Track 1.

Downside:

The mix to Track 2 adds a file to the folder (but these days, storage is free)

[Dave Labrecque]

Thanks for posting that, Ian. Questions:

1) How does SAW's gate know to discriminate between silence between slides and silence within slides?
2) How are you getting SAW's gate to open 0.25 seconds before a triggering event?

Why not try out SFE? I'd be interested to hear you compare/contrast it against your method.

[Ian Alexander]

Sorry for the delay - was out of town.

I should have been more clear. I'm not using the gate itself. The gate settings are used to tell the Remove Silence function what to do. Recall that there are spaces of about 2 seconds between audio segments on Track 1 and it gets Mixed Down to Track 2. I set the Gate Threshold on Track 2 to one step above -inf, I think it's -79.75dB, and it distinguishes perfectly between the noise floor of my recording chain and the parts of Track 2 that have no regions above them in the "source" track - Track 1. But the Gate button is NOT pressed.

Then, from the Help File:


Remove Silence From Track (Or Marked Area) - Automatic

This option will strip silent sections of audio from solid tracks of data, immediately splitting and removing the silent regions. This option also respond to selected tracks and will perform the operation on all selected tracks at once. You may also mark an area on the MultiTrack to limit the range of the operation. These options use default settings for the Attack, Release and Threshold settings applied to the algorithm. These may be set and saved with the preferences. If you activate the Gate on any track, you may override the settings for that track by adjusting the Gate settings.

The Attack uses a positive value to set the length of the silence (.250) included at the head of each new region being created. The Release sets the length of the silence (1.0) included at the end of each new region. And the Threshold sets the level defined as "silence" (anything below -79.75dB.)

Then I right click in the Track 2 label area and choose Remove Silence Automatic.

My default Preferences file in SS has all of this set up before I even begin recording.

When using BFG or SFE, do you have to mark the B and E of every intended output file?

Using my method (which, again, was suggested by another SS user, but I can't find the thread or I'd give credit), I only have to mark the entire track from .5 second before the audio begins on Track 1 to 1.5 seconds after the last audio ends before mixing to Track 2. This makes the resulting region on Track 2 long enough to allow Remove Silence to include the 0.25 second head on the first region and the 1 second tail on the last region.

I have downloaded SFE and will give it a try.

Thanks.