What is Audiovision?

(Compared to ProTools & The Others)

by Robert Moore

Robert owns three Avid AudioVisions, including 3.6, the latest software release, and Jerry Campbell of DigiDesign provided him with ProTools 4.0 for this article.

As of this year, DigiDesign will also be selling AudioVision, as an option or upgrade to ProTools. When AudioVision 4.0 becomes available later this year, if you purchase an AudioVision from DigiDesign you get both AudioVision and ProTools. I personally look forward to dealing with DigiDesign in Palo Alto, rather than Avid Technology in Tewksbury.

Which DAW to Learn or Buy?

When deciding to learn or buy a system two major considerations are 1) Avid now owns DigiDesign, this means, with the release of AudioVision 4.0, both ProTools and AudioVision will run on the same hardware and 2) Avids dominate picture editing in Hollywood and the AudioVision is compatible.

AudioVision and the Mac

AudioVision and ProTools are Mac based. The WaveFrame is IBM PC based. The FairLight is a turnkey system. I think the Mac is easier to use than a PC, in terms of the user interface and getting hardware or new applications to work. All of the Sound Ideas and Hollywood Edge CD's are in FileMaker Pro format for Mac. I have several other programs online, including "Track-It" for automated cue sheets direct from the AudioVision - Track-It will run simultaneously and use whatever you named your sound elements.

AudioVision Vs. ProTools

There are three big differences between AudioVision and ProTools: 1) AudioVision has digital picture; 2) with AudioVision you can create an instant-access sound library, with a separate "Bin" for each category; 3) price. AudioVision will cost you around $15,000 more than a ProTools system.

AudioVision Features:

• An amazing feat of the Avid AudioVision is its ability to play back digitized video with 8 tracks of digital audio, all off one hard drive. This is accomplished using a Quadra 950, with only a 33mHz CPU. And there is a 16 track AudioVision!
  
  
• Capture Tool - for digitizing all of the video and audio elements. They can be digitized simultaneously along with SMPTE timecode synchronization, which are saved as a "Master Clip" or a "Clip". A Clip can contain one track of video and 8 tracks of audio. A typical sound file might be a stereo clip, which appears in the Bin window as a single icon.
  
  
• With ProTools, each side of the stereo element is displayed and you cannot audition a stereo element easily. With AudioVision it is a simple matter of double clicking on the clips icon and up to 16 tracks of audio along with video will be played.
  
  
• Clip Editor - used to prepare sound files for use in the Timeline. Within the Clip Editor, In and Out points are marked for looping a sound and sync points are programmed. Sync markers allow you to program peaks of a sound (or anywhere else) for easy drop into the Timeline. You can also create "sub-clips" which are saved to a Bin for later use. Sub-Clips point to the master clip and allow you to keep several versions of the same sound element, without using more hard disk space.
  
  
• Digital Picture - This is the feature that separates the AudioVision from all other systems. The AudioVision contains a scaled down MediaComposer, the picture editing system. You can actually use the AudioVision to cut picture as a cuts-only, single video track system. As a matter of fact, something Avid would never admit to me is that MediaComposer software will work on an AudioVision.
  
  
• I use the Kensington 4-button, TurboMouse trackball on my system. The two bottom buttons are programmed for single and double "click". The two top buttons are programmed for plus or minus single frame nudge. The trackball itself works incredibly well for scrub. The picture with sound "scrub" on the AudioVision is smooth.
  
  
• Timeline - This is the window in the AudioVision where all the work gets done.
  
  
• AudioVision does not have an automated mixer, which ProTools does. AudioVision only allows setting the volume of each separate sound element. For music production, ProTools is the winner here.
  
  
• Loop Replace - you might have a two-minute stereo background clip that is to play over 20 minutes. With Loop Replace, you simply mark the In and Out points, double click within the area you want to fill, drag and drop your clip/sub-clip/sub-sequence and AudioVision repeats your 2 minute BG to fill the entire 20 minutes. Not only that, but your sound file could contain up to 24 tracks of audio and the associated video!
  
  
• Locators - the AudioVision allows you to mark any number of points in the Timeline for easy locating. You can write comments into the Locators window for easy identification of any point. It's an incomplete feature of the AudioVision - there is no way to print out the Locators window! I use the Locators window for spotting and it would be nice to print out the results for clients.
  
  
• Project - the Project window is where all of the Bins names are kept. For each show I create a Bin named after the show and a Bin for each sound category I've created. ProTools doesn't allow separate Bins for a library.

SMPTE Universalizer - The Miracle Worker

I have actually had shows come in with no SMPTE timecode in the audio tracks, but the picture had a SMPTE window burn. I digitize the picture and, using the SMPTE window to find the first frame of picture, I can program the timecode start in the AudioVision. Amazingly, the entire one hour show is in sync. I don't recommend this, but in a pinch it has come in very handy!

ProTools can't do this, nor any other system. The SMPTE synchronizing of the AudioVision with MicroLynx is incredibly versatile and stable. I never have any problems with sync, unless it comes from another source.