Cue Playback

Streamers 3 incorporates a very specialized sequencer, allowing you to define cues in your Streamers document, and use them to automate the scheduling of visual events in sync with MIDI timecode.

There are two document views, each designed for a different type of workflow: Scoring, and ADR/Foley. These can be selected using the "View Mode" toolbar item (by selecting the conductor icon for scoring, or the microphone icon for ADR/Foley). Note that these two views use the same underlying data model, so it is possible to switch views and alter existing cues in ways that may have unexpected results.

ADR/Foley Cue Setup

The ADR/Foley document view is set up such that each cue to be recorded has its own cue in the Cues list (the top portion of the left sidebar).

Each cue has a title (or cue number), a sync point, an optional association to a specific reel, and optional overlay text.

The Cue Start section of Transport Preferences allows you to define a streamer and/or beeps that can be triggered automatically in relation to the cue sync point. (For ADR and Foley purposes, it is recommended that the Countoff and Cue End streamers be left unchecked.)

Importing CSV files

The "Import CSV" function allows you to batch import cues from a tab-delimited text file. Each line should contain the following fields:

Cue title/number (required)
Sync timecode (required)
Overlay text (optional)

Note: EDL import is not currently supported, but is planned for future releases.

Text overlay

The optional text overlay field allows you to define text that will be displayed in the Cue Text overlay (which you can enable by pressing X or selecting Display -> Toggle Cue Text). If no overlay text is defined, the cue title/number will be displayed instead. The text size will automatically be reduced to fit horizontally in the window; you can add line breaks to prevent the text from becoming too small.

Scoring Setup

Each scoring cue has the following parameters:

Cue title
Optional association to a reel
Sync point (bar/beat and timecode)
Bar number offset
A sequence of events
Transport options

Bar/Beat Counter

Hit B (or select Display -> Toggle Bar/Beat Counter) to add a counter overlay to the streamer window. You can then drag that counter to any location in the window, and drag its lower right-hand corner to resize it.

Sync point

This defines a particular musical location in the cue that is always locked to a specific timecode. All tempo and meter changes made to the cue will adjust the timing of the cue around this sync point.

Bar number offset

This option can be used to renumber bars. If a cue starts with bar 0, for example, the bar number offset should be set to -1. Changing this offset is not the same as inserting bars before the downbeat; to insert bars, use the "Insert Bar(s)..." item in the event options pull-down menu.

Transport Options

In the scoring view mode, the left side of the transport bar allows you to define where the downbeat of the current take will occur, and how many countoff beats there will be into it. This allows you to quickly set up for a pickup; simply hit T (or click in the transport start time field), enter the new starting time, and hit Return.

There is no need to add the traditional yellow countoff streamer and green downbeat streamer manually. The Transport Preferences allow you to define how these events are added automatically in relation to the current transport settings.

Note that Streamers does not yet generate a click track on its own; that is planned for the near future.

Manipulating Events

Use the "+" pull-down menu in the Events list to add tempo changes, meter changes, standalone streamers and punches, and cue end events to a cue.

Each event can be locked to a beat, to a bar number, or to a timecode. By default, most events are locked to beats. Locking to a bar number makes an event independent of any meter changes, and locking to a timecode takes the event out of the tempo/meter map entirely.

Meter change events can only be locked to a bar number.

The Cue End Event

Each cue can have one optional cue end event. This event tells the bar/beat counter to stop counting, and triggers a streamer if you have one set in Transport Preferences. Traditionally this is a red streamer.

Importing Standard MIDI Files

Use the "Import SMF" button, or go to File -> Import -> SMF..., to select a MIDI file to import.

At the bottom of the Open dialog are fields where you can choose how many bars of preroll should be dropped from the MIDI file, as well as what bar number the cue starts with. The "Cue start at bar" option determines what the bar number offset will be; this can be adjusted later. The "Preroll bars to drop" option actually removes the first bars from the MIDI sequence; this cannot be changed later.

Streamers will import only relevant events from a MIDI file. Ordinarily this simply includes any tempo and meter information. Additionally, if the file contains a track named "Streamers", it will analyze this track for any note events or sysex messages that match the triggers defined in MIDI Preferences. If it finds any such events, it will add them to the Events list.

It is not necessary to time-shift any events occurring on the "Streamers" track in the MIDI file. If you need a streamer into bar 12, simply place the corresponding note event on the downbeat of bar 12.

Previous: Movie Playback in Streamers

Next: The Free-Time Clock

This documentation is also available within Streamers under the Help menu.