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The obvious – and the not-so obvious: |
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Pro Tools 11/12 Optimizations All sorts of modifications and add-ons for compatibility with ProTools 11 |
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Full interleaved support on transfers for protools 10+ (correct channel mapping, re- ordering) |
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Pro Tools 11 support for network drives has also been optimized |
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New 64 bit Rewire engineWith the arrival of Pro Tools 11, rewire has had to move to 64 bit. The Soundminer rewire engine has been re-coded to now work in this mode and channel count has been expanded to 8 streams. It still instantiates the same way. |
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iZotope 64 bit transfers.In keeping with our HDplus product and our friends over at iZotope, v4.5pro gets their industry recognized 64 bit sample rate conversion algorithm. Faster, better, and fully 64 bit! |
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New More Robust Embedding CodeEmbedding code now includes additional diagnostic and repairs that can fix bad or corrupted files, validate before writing, and tells you if something has gone wrong. |
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New Scanner, Mirror CodeThe scanner can ingest files many times faster. It’s now threaded and can take advantage of multi-core technology. When batch converting out the mirror and transfer code has been improved for much faster multi-threaded performance. |
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Recorder markersRecorder markers added now are the ability to read markers incoming from field recorders. |
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The New right pane:The Right Pane now has two modes which can be enabled at the top right: The 'finger' mode allows you to kick off a 'find same' search by clicking the content of any field. The 'Search' mode allows you to do a quick search inside of any field. The right pane by default shows the Metadata Info window(pictured). Apart from any viewable artwork, the Metadata info pane contains the salient metadata for the selected file. The scroll bar in this pane allows a user to view all the attached metadata. When in the 'finger' mode, mousing over any of the content will light up and visually confirm that a search link is possible. Clicking a lit link will do a search for all files that match that field's criteria. Like the field headers in the Browser, the fields can also be dragged into any order desired by the user. In this way a user can now easily customize the metadata pane. The Metadata Info Pane is also capable of displaying Lyrics if such data exists and because of the nature and size of lyrics, it is collapsible to make the most of the limited space in the pane. Search in MetaPane - As noted, in addition to being able to search for files that share the same content by clicking on their links in the Metadata Pane, a user can also initiate a keyword search in any field in this same pane. By putting the Pane in Search mode(magnifying glass), a user can then click on any field and do a keyword search just within that field. This escapes the standard boolean logic and does a character match contains search. |
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Search by Date PRONew search routine allows librarians to better manage items by scan date or when modified. You even have a calendar view. |
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iXML SupportSoundminer V4.5 Pro now supports the iXML metadata format, which is used by many recording devices. iXML data fields as used by field recorders contain much information, such as track designations that help with the identification of multi-channel recordings. If you work as a sound engineer but have never heard of iXML before, well, then you better remedy the situation as soon as possible. iXML contains a multitude of information that can be used during the editing process and post production to make the workflow a lot easier (given that it is used correctly). Soundminer V4.5 Pro now allows you to crate databases with iXML metadata fields. Original sound recordings from the set of a movie will be correctly labeled and displayed in Soundminer. |
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Key/BPM detection PROAs part of the growing DSP built into v4.5pro, automatic key and BPM detection has been added. Select your files and engage the auto-detection and these metadata fields will be filled in... |
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Waveforms inlineFor those times when you need to see all the waveforms at one time, the inline view gives you the ability to not only see them all in the returns field, but clicking begins playback right from the click point. Hit the waveform icon symbol to switch it on and off. This does impact speed! |
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Support for new audio formats |
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Over the years, new audio formats have been introduced. Some of them (e.g. MXF or FLAC) are of interest to Soundminer users and are now compatible with V4.5. Some of them (e.g. FLAC Lossless) offer very exciting possibilities and deserve to be looked at in detail. But not just the new formats deserve our attention—the old ones are still of interest too. V4.5 breathes new life into the old Sounddesigner II audio format. A note of caution, however: if you still have Sounddesigner II audio material, you should definitely transcode it into a current format as soon as possible. The technology for this is here, so there are no more excuses! |
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MXF Playback PROATOM MXF audio import (production dialog) MXF, the preferred Avid file format, has been added for audio playback. MXF can be converted to WAV or AIF from within V4pro. |
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CAF (Apple Loops)V4pro Reads CAF (Apple Loops) format - |
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MPEG4 with MetadataAAC or mp4 has been supported for playback for some time in V4, but now it has been updated to hold our metadata wrapper. |
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FLAC Lossless Format PROFLAC file is a Free Lossless Audio Codec file. It is a codec (compressordecompressor or coder-decoder) which allows digital audio to be losslessly compressed such that file size is reduced without any information being lost. Digital audio compressed by FLAC's algorithm can typically be reduced to 50– 60% of its original size and decompressed into an identical copy of the original audio data. FLAC support on Mirror, playback and embedding. If you're interested in FLAC in general, click here to read more about this. |
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Sounddesigner IISound Designer II - This format was a legacy format that's been around since the OS 7 days. It uses a thing called "resource forks" to store playback and metadata information. It was great in its time, but when Apple moved to OSX, Sound Designer 2 was dead. Soundminer is now using the last Software Developer Kit(SDK) that Apple provided to make these calls. Its just a matter of time before we have to move to a newer SDK, and lose these functions all together. If you have a lot of SD2 files, before upgrading you should run Soundminer's mirror command to create new (broadcast wave) files with extensions. This will ensure your files will work fine going into the future(it'll also allow you to store the files on other file systems that Apple formatted drives!) |
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Transfer Functions |
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IQ Transfers - intelligent transferring PROIQ Transfers looks ahead and sees if you have already transferred it and tries to use what you already have to spot! |
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Mirror Updated PROThe new Mirror pane allows for support of FLAC lossless compression format as part of v4.5pro along with AIF and WAV as before. In addition new folder structure can be built using the expanded options here. More can be added with input from users. You can also determine to make copies that strip all metadata as well. And you can use the Mirror feature to update an existing set of files' metadata without having to make new copies. Batch transfer with MirrorFor those not familiar with V4pro's Mirror feature, its an advanced batch converter that allows one to create a duplicate set of files in any of the supported formats while keeping all the metadata and either using the existing folder structure of the original set or creating a new structure from the metadata. |
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New Soundminer Sound Design Tools |
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Pitcher Percent/Musical DemarkationNew in 4.5 is the pitch option to go from '%' to musical demarkation by clicking the toggle button to the left of the pitch fader. |
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Live Scrubber PRO
Soundminer V4.5 Pro Live Scrubber: 4.5pro also adds a reverse/forward live scrubber and a new Time Domain mode: The Reverse/Forward audio scrubber allows you to play with the direction of the file in real time. |
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Time Stretch/Compression PROTime stretch/compression along an X-Y grid gives a user to the ability to vary the time stretch versus the pitch and direction all at the same time! The REC button even allows you to record any of your design work to a new file. |
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Re-Record PROThe new interface will allow users to re-record their performances. This is ideal for sound designers using the new MIDI features to control plug-ins and DSP functions within v4.5pro to create new sound files, have them immediately added to the RAM database and instantly usable in their project. |
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New VSTRack PROBetter organization! The plugins are allowed to be searched, and nested. |
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New Media Player Tools |
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Multi-Channel WaveformsThe singular v4 waveform has been replaced by a multi-channel waveform with version 4.5. All legs of a multi-channel file are now separately visible and colours are on a gradient to subtly help distinguish them as are the leg names if recognized. 
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Picker Tool PROV4.5pro has the ability to select individual legs within a multi-channel file and transfer them independently. |
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Picker channel tag PROAll multi-channel audio files come with a picker tag carrying the channel designation. The description used is from the 'Channel Layout' metadata field.
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Picker channel tag from iXML fields PROWhen Soundminer databases are created with the 'Build iXML Fields' option, the iXML fields of the audio files are also imported. iXML fields are used mainly by sound recording devices and contain a multitude of information about the recording location. If available, the information for the designation of the picker tag will be used in the 'ixmlTrackLayout' data field. This is particularly helpful when you are working with audio material that originated on movie sets. A correct description facilitates the quick and easy identification of the channels.
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Sampler Support: independent transfer to Iris PROSoundminer V4.5 now allows direct transfers to sampler software like iZotope's Iris. This works just like a drag-and-drop function, except that it is now compatible with the sampler. |
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New Metadaten Tools |
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Multi Metatag Editor PRO |
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Script Engine PRO |
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