Possible new feature for PTE?

[Ed Overstreet]

Bear with me on this one, it isn't as far-fetched as it sounds.

Thanks to JRR, who called this to my attention, I think there’s a germ of an intriguing new dimension to AV and maybe to PTE, if Igor’s team and/or other software engineers on this forum can be convinced to pursue it. Please forgive me if someone else has already spotted this idea, posted it, and I missed the post.

There’s a new product by an Irish tech company called Muse 2, see this link

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/5887...o.html#features

The current version works only on a Mac OS system (sob). It will take a Quick Time video input and generate, with user intervention if desired, royalty-free music to match what is going on in the video, presumably using some of those algorithms that are used to generate some of the “skin” effects one gets on some digital music players. The software outputs the result to WAV or MIDI format.

PTE (and some other Windows software too) can generate AVI files from AV shows. If the developers of Muse could be convinced to come up with a Windows product that takes AVI input, instead of or as well as MOV input, then consider the possibilities. I could generate an AV show, with my own choice of dissolve effects and timings. I could then get this nifty program to generate some music for me to match my images and my image timeline stream, export it then into a format that I could then patch back into my original show. Boy would that be fun, or what? Even if the music weren’t exactly at the level of Bach or Mozart, hey it would be a lot easier and faster than trolling through websites or my CD collection looking for some good music that sort-of matches the mood of my images and show.

Any chance someone else on this forum, or at PTE, who knows a lot more about software development than I do (I know nothing about it) could contact the developers of this product and explore the possibilities here? (I’ve sent their customer support line an email asking if they’d consider a Windows product that would take AVI input, will see what they say.) Or is this a nice pipe dream?

From the web link it looks like you can do this sort of thing NOW, with a movie in Quick Time, if (alas) you run a Mac platform. Why can't this also be done with stills-based AV shows too, on Windows? To my simple-minded view of technology, if they can do this already on a Mac, why not on a PC and using AVI format, which PTE already generates for DVDs?

Afterthought -- seems to me the main stumbling block is getting a Windows version of this new software. A Google search reveals scads of AVI to MOV converters, so if I could lay my hands on a Windows program that did what Muse 2 does, I could TODAY generate an AVI file from a PTE show and then generate my very own sound track from my image stream.

Seems further to me it's only a matter of time before some AV software developer picks up this idea and runs with it. PTE should be first!!! I think there could be a lot of interest and excitement around this feature, even if not for every user. I'm sure eager to try it out!

[deskjet1uk]

Hi Ed,

It was interesting reading your post.

Personally I like the freedom of using music I chose. I think by the time you have input your own choices to this software you could easily chose from your own cd library, I for one have an idea anyway of the music I think would suit my sequences, like you say "quality of Bach", I think that the time it takes to put a quality sequence together one needs that quality, the "Icing on the cake" so to speak.

But as I have never heard music that this software has generated I cant totally dismiss it, so i look forward to hearing some, if you know where we can listen to some please post a link, it would be great to hear some then I for one would be able to judge better.

Below is a description of the sofware.

"The software works by analyzing the color content of the video and using an algorithmic process to provide the musical basics. Further manipulation of the output is achieved via an advanced options section where tempo and complexity can be specified, along with compositional methods (melodic or freestyle) and drum types.

A time code based timeline is where the real creativity takes place. "Color Marker" and "Tracker" key frames allow the user to change tonality (major or minor), transpose the melody up or down and implement volume and panning of the various tracks. Color Tracking allows the various colors in the video to be used to create things like melodic harmony or for adding emotional effect.

The sound library included with Muse consists of nearly 2GB of sound samples from the Garritan library. On completion of the soundtrack, the resulting audio and video can be output as a QuickTime movie. The software will also export the music as an AIFF or WAV file, as well as multi-channel MIDI files for further editing and sweetening in any digital audio workstation."

For now ill trawl through my music collection, sometimes its the words and not the music thats the main criteria for choosing a piece, there are many great sequences around that have had lyrics specially written for them, so it would fail in that area, but who am i to judge without having heard what it can produce.

Like I said, very interesting and I hope we read more views on this subject, great topic.

Ralph

[deskjet1uk]

Hi Ed,

sorry forgot to mention that the price and specification do not read well also.

ralph

[Ed Overstreet]

The software developer's web site is www.abaltat.com. I can't find any samples of music output there; they do have a couple of tutorials, but for some reason I can't get them to run on my system. One hopes the tutorial comes with sound and a sample file, but I don't know.

I already got a reply from the developer's info link kindly thanking me for my interest and telling me they are planning to release a Windows version of their product "later in 2009." So this is coming. I look forward to it. In the meantime some of us can check out AVI to MOV converters, assuming the developer is still wed to MOV input. However I'd feel a lot happier and more comfortable if Igor and team could somehow integrate something like this into or with PTE a little more elegantly than that, hint hint

This certainly won't replace music that has already been composed and that the show producer has in mind from the get-go (which has usually been my case so far), though of course there is always the thorny issue of copyright for those of us who might want to sell a show or display it publicly without the expense of getting a license, but who also are not talented enough to compose our own music from scratch or blessed with friends or associates who can compose music for us. In that case, or in cases where one has a sequence of images but is truly stuck for a good piece of music to go with them, I think this could be promising, especially if the user can play with some settings and have some effect on the direction of the music without needing a conservatory education in music to do so. There is already software out there that lets non-musicians take a stab at composing music with software after inputting some general preferences for music style, etc. (one of my sons-in-law plays around with a couple of those products), but this is the first product I've heard of that tries to integrate the music "composition" algorithm to a video track. I'm not good at creating music (nor at vocalizing or playing it) but I'm pretty good at image sequencing and I love music, so this concept has a very strong appeal to me. Whether the reality of the software will match my vision of that concept is another issue, but we'll see ...

[Barry Beckham]

Audio Visual has two main ingredients that give it the charm and interest and that wow value. Are we sure we really want to hand over 50% of what makes a great show to a random setting?

[Ed Overstreet]

Audio Visual has two main ingredients that give it the charm and interest and that wow value. Are we sure we really want to hand over 50% of what makes a great show to a random setting?

Not every producer is going to want to use that option, nor would every producer likely want to use it all the time. However there is already talk in other threads of a function that would display some or all of the slides in a random order, so in fact "handing over 50% of what makes a great show to a random setting" is already being contemplated by some on this forum for the other 50%. Not that I'm advocating that nor would ever want to use that feature (but like any other feature, it would be an option and not a requirement). For some users, and some shows, either or both options might be very attractive, however -- with emphasis on the words "option" and "some."

BTW my understanding from the website I refer to above is that particular software does allow the user some latitude in influencing the music that it creates, so the creation isn't exactly random in any case.

[davegee]

The way I look at this and other suggestions is that I would hate to see the developers wasting precious time on what I see as "frivolous" requests at the expense of more meaningful improvements to the basic PTE program.

It might be a time for re-grouping, consolidating and making what we already have more intuitive rather than adding bells and whistles which will appeal to only a minority.

A "POLL" might be warranted, but remember guys - a poll, like an election, is only meaningful if EVERYONE takes part.

DaveG

[JEB]

Dave,

I'm with you on this.

"time for re-grouping, consolidating and making what we already have more intuitive"

John

[Barry Beckham]

Well, lets be honest.

Who has seen a slide show with randon generated images or music and said. Wow that really captures a mood ?

Might be OK for ProShow Gold, but not the Rolls Royce of AV software.

Well, not for me anyway

Might as welll send me camera out on it's own too

[deskjet1uk]

Im definately with BB on this one, two elements that make a great show plus the fantastic PTE software.