SSL Pro Convert – Move sessions between DAWs

Wow, this looks like some people could really use it:
Sonic State - News WNAMM08: Move Sessions From One DAW To Another, SSL Pro-Convert Universal Project Translation Tool is now available

thumbsup

[digiman]

I remember seeing something like this last year and the big problem with is was it didn't seem to "effectively" and easily convert file formats that we'd really be looking for. Like being able to take a cubase, sonar, or logic file and easily convert it to protools and vice versa. If they've been able to get that piece working, they may be on to something here... Anyone want to weigh in on this?

[vixapphire]

seems to be working now, but doesn't move midi; only audio and events like markers etc. from what i understood the fellow there to say.

[noiseflaw]

Does it work on Macs yet?........(without using Boot Camp).

Or Convert to Logic Pro Studio 8?

[ProducerBoy]

If it will translate my Logic sessions into a Pro Tools session, it will be a godsend. (Plus, I may actually use Pro Tools again!)

[peacenik]

Hmmm?...
When one looks at the 'detailed format table' view linked here
SSL
it says under the 'Track' list that it will convert 'volume Curve' & 'Panarama Curve' (s)
but NOT 'Volume' & 'Panarama'...
So what does that mean??
I'd expect my basic track volume automation would translate (as well as plugin fx automation?)
otherwise what the hell would this convertor 'really do' for me that omf wouldn't?
Rand

[lukejs]

I was thinking of buying pro tools, just so I could open up projects done at other studios, exporting the audio , and then using a real DAW....Sonar 7 ! I'll have to pick this software up...... This is a Godsend !!

[Vertiges]

This soft was know as "EDL Convert pro" made by Cui Bono Soft.

SSL bought them and the price of this software just double !

So for upgrading from my EDL CONVERT PRO 4 I have to pay the price I paid for the full version 4. That not very nice...

Anyway... This soft works great. (I'm talking about the version 4). I've been able to transfer the sound design of a complete 90 minutes movie from Nuendo to Protools. If I well remember there was a problem when the "session source" had stereo files (when converting to Protools format) and only the main volume automations were transfered (not the automations inside the parts, for the people who know Nuendo). About the fades, they are all converted into linear ones. I used it between other softs as well. I repeat : I'm talking about the previous version ! fuuck
There should be more features with the new version 5... (as the did double the price )

And a last thing : Protools his probably the worth program to convert to because Digidesign doesn't want to share their codes. It's not in the interest of Digidesign to be compatible with something which is not sell by Digidesign...

eD

[digiman]

Originally Posted by Vertiges

This soft was know as "EDL Convert pro" made by Cui Bono Soft.

SSL bought them and the price of this software just double !

So for upgrading from my EDL CONVERT PRO 4 I have to pay the price I paid for the full version 4. That not very nice...

Anyway... This soft works great. (I'm talking about the version 4). I've been able to transfer the sound design of a complete 90 minutes movie from Nuendo to Protools. If I well remember there was a problem when the "session source" had stereo files (when converting to Protools format) and only the main volume automations were transfered (not the automations inside the parts, for the people who know Nuendo). About the fades, they are all converted into linear ones. I used it between other softs as well. I repeat : I'm talking about the previous version ! fuuck
There should be more features with the new version 5... (as the did double the price )

And a last thing : Protools his probably the worth program to convert to because Digidesign doesn't want to share their codes. It's not in the interest of Digidesign to be compatible with something which is not sell by Digidesign...

eD

If that doesn't work as advertized, what good is it? What I want to be able to do is take a session I've tracked in Cubase, Logic, Nuendo and and convert it to a Protools format when I need to have it professionally mixed/mastered since most commercial places are going to have PT's and PT's engineers. Can I do that? If so, it might be worth it.

[theother]

Originally Posted by digiman

If that doesn't work as advertized, what good is it? What I want to be able to do is take a session I've tracked in Cubase, Logic, Nuendo and and convert it to a Protools format when I need to have it professionally mixed/mastered since most commercial places are going to have PT's and PT's engineers. Can I do that? If so, it might be worth it.

Well, I want to use it the other way round. I run a big SSL equipped studio with Nuendo/PC. To be able to play back PT sessions with Nuendo would be interesting.

[Jim@SSL]

ProConvert starts shipping next week. While it does directly convert some DAW sessions directly, it needs XML exports and the like from some others.

The good news for many of you 'slutz is tat it can read and/or generate .otf files and turn them into sessions your computer can handle!thumbsup

Lots of FAQs online.

Also, lots of improvements over the old CuiBono V4 software... one of which is PT7 support.

[peacenik]

Hi Jim@ssl...
Please can you clarify my question posted earlier??

"When one looks at the 'detailed format table' view
it says under the 'Track' list that it will convert 'volume Curve' & 'Panarama Curve' (s)
but NOT 'Volume' & 'Panarama'...
So what does that mean??
I'd expect my basic track volume automation would translate (as well as plugin fx automation?)
otherwise what the hell would this convertor 'really do' for me that omf wouldn't?"

BTW, I couldn't find the FAQ regarding ProConvert at your site...
Thanks jim!
Rand

[klaukholm]

Merging is nowhere to be found on the format list.
Are there any plans to include Pyramix?

[lukejs]

Do you mean to tell me that.... another studio can save their pro tools session on a cd or DVDr, and if I have this software, it could convert it to a cakewalk Sonar 7 project file ? That simple ?? I would just, convert.... and then open in Sonar ? No joke ?

[plush2]

Sorry, I'm not Jim but I have a guess as to why this is. I've owned and used the predecessor to this software for many years. On some DAW software the 'volume Curve' & 'Panarama Curve' (automation lines) are connected directly with the actual volume and pan level so to translate these separately would be problematic. This is true of PT anyways unless you're using the trim or turning off automation read altogether.

There are certainly pitfalls to converting from one DAW to the next but in the end I've found this software does as good as or better than the alternatives (which would be several similarly priced products to match the variety of conversions this software covers).

Originally Posted by peacenik

Hi Jim@ssl...
Please can you clarify my question posted earlier??

"When one looks at the 'detailed format table' view
it says under the 'Track' list that it will convert 'volume Curve' & 'Panarama Curve' (s)
but NOT 'Volume' & 'Panarama'...
So what does that mean??
I'd expect my basic track volume automation would translate (as well as plugin fx automation?)
otherwise what the hell would this convertor 'really do' for me that omf wouldn't?"

BTW, I couldn't find the FAQ regarding ProConvert at your site...
Thanks jim!
Rand

[solidstate]

What about Logic 8/leopard support?!

[zenmastering]

Hi Kjetil,

As far as I know, yes, there will be support for Pyramix. This was discussed at the last AES Show in New York. It may be that Pyramix is one of those apps that will use XML - not sure, though. XML support in Pyramix is rather well done.

Best,

Graemme

Originally Posted by klaukholm

Merging is nowhere to be found on the format list.
Are there any plans to include Pyramix?

[klaukholm]

Graemme, as always you are the bearer of great news!

Fantastic!

[Jim@SSL]

Back again! I was having email nightmares at my hotel in Anaheim, and I've just got off the plane at Heathrow.

While ProConvert may not be all thing to all people, it is a very very useful thing to have about. It will directly read or create .ptf ProTools7 files, works happily with Apple XML and Steinberg XML, along with OMF for pretty much anything else (and Sadie, Sony Vegas, and a who;e bunch of others).

Should begin shipping next week.

[peacenik]

I still don't know if it will translate basic volume and pan....
Sure seems like the most useful feature that I don't already have with OMF.
Jim??? OK... take a few days off first...
Thanks !

[Jim@SSL]

Depending on the to/from applications, either the absolue volume/pan data or the volume/pan automation data is translated.

As for the FAQs, go to
SSL
and click on the "ProConvert" pages. Lots of info posted up there...thumbsup

[drew]

Originally Posted by solidstate

What about Logic 8/leopard support?!

Yeah, a product that is supposed to bring down barriers and it's PC only? WTF?

[noiseflaw]

In the end it all boils down to workflow...

For a Mac user who is constantly swapping and converting sessions, continually booting into windows is going to be a pain - but it has all been discussed before.

I guess it is a very difficult thing to get some kind of 'One solution for all DAW's' software that can adequately address the many anomalies thrown up in cross daw/platform translation.

Perhaps we should not be so harsh, I mean it's a start and some users are going to benefit. It would have to be some pretty involved software to deal with all the different DAWS now on the market.

[Andrew Kinsey]

Originally Posted by klaukholm

Merging is nowhere to be found on the format list.
Are there any plans to include Pyramix?

Pyramix can already import AAF, and OMF files from PT & Logic. I cant see the need for ProConvert software for Pyramix users unless it does a better job of translating those sessions. Or am i missing something?

[klaukholm]

I think there is room for improvement in the export process.

[reidc]

Does anyone know how to actually get support for Pro-Convert? I bought it and mostly it does what it's supposed to do, but I'm having issues converting Pro Tools v7.x sessions. I tried emailing to the address on the support page weeks ago but no response.

Reid C

[scoring4films]

If you're just looking to get ProTools sessions into your non-PT DAW (e.g. Cubase, Logic, etc.) there's a much less expensive way to do it: buy a used Mbox and run PT LE. With PT LE you can open a session and export the tracks. You can get a first generation Mbox on Ebay for ~$100. No need to worry about the Mbox's entry level-quality preamps and AD converters, just use the Mbox like a dongle to get PT up and running on your machine. Works for me.

[Dode]

Since end 2008, the product just has not been updated. I asked the SSL support, and i'm waiting for an answer, as many major DAWs have been updated since then (Pro Tools 9, Pyramix 7, Nuendo 5, etc.).

Anyone has any news about this ?
I hope it's not another dead product i paid a lot for...

Bye.

[John L]

Originally Posted by Dode

Since end 2008, the product just has not been updated. I asked the SSL support, and i'm waiting for an answer, as many major DAWs have been updated since then (Pro Tools 9, Pyramix 7, Nuendo 5, etc.).

Anyone has any news about this ?
I hope it's not another dead product i paid a lot for...

Bye.

I too paid for EDL convert then Pro Convert, great programs but now sadly out of date.
I used to get feedback from SSL, it typically taking 1-2 months to get a "yes bug you reported confirmed, thank you, we will pass this info to the developers"

There is another conversion program
AATranslator - Home Page

Unlike Pro-Convert it Can handle Pro-tools till ver 9, Steinberg XML, track archives from Cubase as well as Nuendo. Adobe Audition XML & CS5.5 SESX format. Samplitude later than V9. Reaper, Tracktion, Ardour.& Studio1.(.Capture)

The reason AATranslator came into being was my desire to use Adobe Audition 3 for it's spectral editing & click/noise reduction on a Film I was working on, this was in early 2009.
The Film was to be mixed in a PT equipped facility so I wanted to be able to convert AA3 to a reasonably data rich format ProConv could actually read. AA1.5 being the last vers Pro Convert understands.

I managed to persuade Michael Rooney into programming a "little app" to convert from Audition AA3 to Sam-edl & AES-31-3 (or ADL). BTW this is the reason for the name AATranslator.
Since then it has pretty much taken up all our time.

I think I know why SSL may have slowed updates to glacial speed.
1) It is insanely complicated to do. There are huge variations between different vers of what may seem to be the same format, this is particularly true for anything from Avid or digidesign {RIP} I mean Avid Audio.
BTW, my dictionary defines "avid" as rapacious & greedy, Hmm.
2) It's probably impossible to make any money doing this. I'm doing it because I want DAW/NLE users to be able to use any "tool" they want to, & not be enslaved to just one system.


Pro-Conv is painfully slow at times. I recently had an Ex PT9 Referenced OMF that took over 2 hours to display the contents; AATranslator took 30seconds to open & convert.
In some ways this comparison is a little unfair the 2 programs have different design ideas & goals.
We give the option to not copy media right at the beginning of the process. I didn't have the media, so after the conversion I was given a list of all the media & where the OMF said it should be located & that none of it was found. We think this is a sensible option, it means say a Mac user can do conversions on a humble PC (the office PC say) take the new session file to their Mac & link to the files on the Mac.

ProConvert seems to me very frustrating to use at times, it insists on finding all media files or making dummy files but gives no idea at all how long these should be, and if too short the session info will make the clip out of sync, agrhhh. So when one does locate a "missing" file it is not just a matter of re-linking.
Seems to me P-conv is so insistent on finding media files & it has quite deep "recursive" searching it [a] can take a long time searching places outside where the file is specified as being [b] suggest the wrong files.

Anyway a kinder better comparison is where both apps can find all the media files,without having to look outside where the source session says they should be.
In that case, AATranslator is only about a 100 times faster than Pro-Convert.

Hey Pro-Conv can handle PT6 format, Sadie (native), Sonic Studio, Soundscape (native v4/5) & Discrete Edit (which we can't.

But what is a worry is that a really simple to fix issue like Pro-Convert not understanding Samplitude -EDL v1.7 files has not been done.

Sam-edl v1.7 is not a perverse format, the new additions are simple to accommodate.
The fact they have not done this makes me think digi may have killed their will to go on, this is very far from a comforting thought
John L