NT / MAC Cross Platform File Services
 

Just a friendly advance warning thought for Digidesign. I strongly suggest that Digidesign develop Intranet compatible technology for previewing and downloading Sd2f sound files.

The .L and .R are troublesome for resolving file types. It would be great to have a browser plug in that recognized .Sd2, .L,
.R, and .M (Sounddogs.com uses .M for Mono).

There are no out-of-the-box solutions for this right now. If you have one let me know. Thanks.

Rob
[email protected]

Re: NT / MAC Cross Platform File Services
 

Have you looked at the Pro Tools NT import audio dialog?
I t doesn't rely on extensions to determine file types.
It can also audition and import SDII files from servers which support multi-fork files.

Paul Greyson
Software Developer
Digidesign

Re: NT / MAC Cross Platform File Services
 

Paul, thanks for the reply. I am sure that PT NT is awesome, but the problem we have is this.

All our client computers are MAC PT's, and our server(s) are NT running Services for Mac. We can see the sound files in within Pro Tools (Import and Convert), and in the Finder, but auditioning sounds and copying them to your local drives is not smooth.

We have a database that we need to audition the files from using HTTP commands, and then if we like the file copy it to our drive. This works for AIFF and AU, as supported by Quick Time 4, but the Quick Time 4 plug-in will not allow the Sd2f files to be played through the browser (there is a damaged file error).

I have written Apple to resolve the difference between AU & AIFF and Sd2f, because I was surprised that this issue existed between two supported formats.

Enough rambling.
Rob

Re: NT / MAC Cross Platform File Services
 

>>All our client computers are MAC PT's, and
>> our server(s) are NT running Services for
>> Mac. We can see the sound files in within
>>Pro Tools (Import and Convert), and in the
>> Finder, but auditioning sounds and
>>copying them to your local drives is not smooth.

Could you be more specific? Don't know what you mean by "not smooth." I do this frequently.

>>We have a database that we need to
>>audition the files from using HTTP
>>commands, and then if we like the file
>>copy it to our drive. This works for AIFF
>>and AU, as supported by Quick Time 4, but
>>the Quick Time 4 plug-in will not allow
>>the Sd2f files to be played through the
>>browser (there is a damaged file error).

SD2 files are "multi-fork" files. The descriptive information (sample-rate, bit-depth) is stored in the resource-fork. I don't think that HTTP has any protocol for transferring multi-fork files. ie., I'm not sure there's a solution for auditioning sd2 files through a browser.

Re: NT / MAC Cross Platform File Services
 

Hi. If you install the "Mac Opener" (by DataViz) application you can then attach a HFS formatted drive to the NT system (Adaptec SCSI chain), download SDII files directly to the drive and play or audition the files in PT|NT without any file conversion necessary. There is a 15 day trial version of Mac Opener on the PT 4.2.5 or 4.2.6 installer disk. I hope this is helpful.

Tom S.

Re: NT / MAC Cross Platform File Services
 

Tom - have Dataviz, it's great.

Paul - "Smooth"

Library is on a network server of 100,000 sound files, 360 Gbs. Need to audition and copy to target folder from server to local drive.

Import Audio - has level control and create folders but can not copy and / or convert to local drives.

Convert & Import - no audition level control, can not make new folder, and can not do a straight 1:1 copy (no conversion). But does the ability to convert (slowly)

We use Turbo Morph which is awesome and fast, but it lacks auditioning. Turbo Morph also allows you to make folders.

Convert & Import is much SLOWER than Turbo Morph.

Process.
1. (Import Audio) Audition with Pro Tolls
2. Convert to local drive with Turbo Morph
3. Import Audio, go to new files and import into session.

This is not a streamlined process as you can tell.

I think the mods to Pro Tools would be easy.

Rob

Re: NT / MAC Cross Platform File Services
 

SD2 files are "multi-fork" files. The descriptive information (sample-rate, bit-depth) is stored in the resource-fork. I don't think that HTTP has any protocol for transferring multi-fork files. ie., I'm not sure there's a solution for auditioning sd2 files through a browser.

Quick Time 4 has problems with Sd2f files from an NT Server run Services for Macintosh. We have no problems with WAV, AU, or AIFF files, but for some reason we get cracked Sd2f files when we attempt to play them through the IE browser using QT.

Maybe (just a though) Digidesign could develop a browser plug-in that eliminates these problems? A smart or assignable browser plug-in.

Rob
Sounddogs.com

Re: NT / MAC Cross Platform File Services
 

Quick Time 4.

I find it amusing that Digidesign supports Apple, and continues to develop products for the Apple platform, but Apple Quick Time does not handle Sd2f sound files.

Quick Time 4 recognizes Sd2 files, and can be used to save files, but it can not be used to export files through the QT plugin. Phil Harrellson, here at Sound Dogs, said that it may be a licensing issue.

So, what does Digidesign think. Make a plugin for Sd2 files, or give it to Apple so that we don't have to jump through hoops to use the format.

Now, I understand also that Digidesign is moving to AIFF and WAV as the native formats next year. Is this true? Maybe I should just convert my entire library to AIFF and move on.

Your thoughts please.

Rob

Re: NT / MAC Cross Platform File Services
 

Hmmmm. I guess Apple doesn't think it's a priority to support sd2 files via their plugin. Really, they should just for completeness sake, but I can see why they've blown it off - when was the last time you were browsing the web and the server tried to send you an sd2 file? They do support the file format in quicktime player on the mac side.

I would imagine their reason for not putting it in the plugin would be to discourage anyone from using sd2 on a website. As far as I know, windows boxes are unable to play back sd2 files since the header info is in a mac-proprietary fork. I guess if there aren't any plugins that will play sd2 files in a mac browser (and I'd imagine there's probably some obscure one somewhere), you could always set your browser to have an app play the files. For searching/importing/converting, have you checked out Samplesearch by gallery? And here's a silly question: why are you using an NT server - wouldn't it be easier to connect to one running MacOS or OSX?


Mike

Re: NT / MAC Cross Platform File Services
 

Digi-dudes:

Is Pro Tools moving to two native sound file formats? AIFF and WAV. What about AAF and OMM which use a file similar to AIFC. Will that be included in the native formats that Digidesign will use.

Based on your feedback, I have concluded that I will just conform now to your future standard, and take advantage of Windows Media Player or Quick Time 4.

NOISE FLOOR:
Windows NT 4.0 Server is what SOUNDDOGS.COM runs on, therefor that's what Sound Dogs editorial uses. The NT services for Macintosh is truly awesome, and we find the cross platform usability excellent.

We also plan to move to PRO TOOLS NT in order to take advantage of network hardware and software availability and better pricing.