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A couple weeks back, in my winter NAMM report I introduced you to an amazing new utility from Audio Ease called Snapper. Snapper is an OS X helper application designed for anyone who frequently works with audio files in the finder. By simply selecting an audio or video file, users can perform a ton of useful tasks without the hassle of opening a dedicated audio editor. I have been working with Snapper since it was released at NAMM and have found it to be quite useful in my Pro Tools production workflow so I thought I would share some of my favorite Snapper tips, tricks and insights in this week’s corner.
Snapper Recap:
In case you missed my Snapper segment in the last installment of the corner, allow me to recap its basic feature set: Snapper is an inexpensive software utility designed to work seamlessly within the OS X finder. Simply select an audio file in the finder (or iTunes) and Snapper appears immediately beneath the current window, showing the file’s waveform and giving you access to useful playback, conversion, and editing utilities all with intuitive drag and drop ease. Because Snapper supports over 50 different sound file formats, including split stereo and multi-channel files, and can spot sounds directly into the Pro Tools timeline, it is the perfect compliment to any Mac based Pro Tools workflow, music or post.
Getting started:
Installing snapper was a snap, no pun intended, on my Intel Mac Pro running OS 10.4.11 (Leopard is also supported). As soon as the install was complete I could select audio files from the finder and Snapper would work its magic, no restart necessary. While snapper is not a truly transparent helper app (it shows up in your dock as a running application), it does install with the default option of automatically starting on login.
To play a file in Snapper:
Once installed, simply select an audio file in the finder and hit the space bar
Tip: to activate varispeed playback options, add the “playback speed” icon to the toolbar by choosing View>Customize Toolbar from Snapper’s menu.
Audio Output:
Now my one gripe with Snapper, and it really doesn’t have anything to do with Audio Ease, is the fact that when Pro Tools is running the finder cannot use the core audio driver to output sound to your Pro Tools hardware. Unfortunately while Pro Tools is launched, it is the only application that can use the audio hardware for I/O. After poking around the Snapper forums, it seems like Audio Ease is hip to this issue and is looking into a solution, possible a “Snapper Audition” plug-in for Pro Tools to act as an audio bridge. For now I get around this one of two ways: You can run the output of your computer’s sound card, either analog or optical, into your monitor control matrix (something like a Presonus Central Station, a Mackie Big Knob, or even a small mixer) effectively submixing the output of your Pro Tools hardware with the output of your internal soundcard before it hits your monitors. The Digi 002/003 have built in aux inputs that work great for this as well.
Another trick that has worked for me is routing the optical output of my MacPro into the S/PDIF optical input on my Pro Tools interface. After that I create a “listen back” aux track in Pro Tools with its input set to the optical in. This allows me to preview audio from my computer’s sound card through any plug-ins I am running on my master bus in Pro Tools (like IK Multimedia’s ARC plug-in, a room-mode correction software). Be sure to set your system’s audio output to “Digital Out” in the sound tab of your OS X system prefs. In Audio/Midi setup, set your Mac’s audio output to match your session’s sample rate (ie: 44.1kHz or 48kHz) otherwise you may hear some pops and clicks do to sample rate mismatch.
Obviously one could avoid all this by previewing audio in the workspace/volume browsers within Pro Tools, but I find the workspace to be extremely dodgy and slow most of the time and I personally move through the OS X finder much quicker.
Sampling in Pro Tools with Snapper:
In my workflow I always find myself using samples that I pick up from here or there. A snip-it of a drum loop, a sound effect, something from an mp3, whatever. What I would always do in the past was drag and import the entire sound file I wanted to sample into Pro Tools and work it down into smaller pieces for use in drum samplers, loops, etc. The problem that I have always had with this workflow is the leftover bulk that is created from the sample material that remains un-unused in your session’s audio file folder. Unless you perform a manual “compact” command in your audio regions list, these unused “import leftovers” remain with your session and waste space. So what is the solution you ask?
Because snapper allows you to view a files waveform in the finder and select portions of the file for direct import to pro tools it is un-necessary to import the whole file.
First, select a file from the finder and wait for snapper to build the waveform.
Hit space bar to first preview the audio or select the portion of audio you wish to import into Pro Tools. Hit space bar again and snapper just plays the selection.
Click the “Spot to Pro Tools Cursor” icon in Snapper’s toolbar. The selection and only the selection will be imported into Pro Tools, without any extra bloat or handle, directly to the current edit cursor location. If you desire a small handle for creating cross fades or trimming, make a slightly larger selection.
Note: You will need PT 7.4 CS 2 for the spot feature to work in 7.4, you can download this free from Digidesign’s site. Snapper’s spot function should work in older versions of PT 6.X through 7.3.X.
Hint: Snapper’s preferences allow you to customize the zoom commands to match that of your DAW, pretty cool huh?
Other Scenarios:
Now there are other scenarios where I am not looking to use the sample directly in Pro Tools but rather import it into a virtual instrument (like Native Instruments Battery, or Kontakt). In this case, I simply select the portion of the waveform I want to use and drag it off into the finder to create a new “snippet.” I can then load the new snippet into my sampler without having to perform any editing in Pro Tools (this is also great if you use a hardware sampler like an MPC).
Working with split stereo files:
One of my biggest annoyances when working in Pro Tools is dealing with split stereo files. It is fine when they sit nice and tidy in my regions list, but when I try to work with them outside of Pro Tools (ie: play them in iTunes, quicktime, etc) it is always a disaster. Snapper automatically recognizes both sides of a split stereo (or surround file) when you select the left or right side, to me this feature alone is worth picking this tool up. After selecting a split stereo file in the finder, you can then easily convert it into an interleaved file or even into an mp3, hurray! Now you don’t have to open up the session to preview or convert a split stereo bounce. And if you are a stickler about your dither algorithm, you no longer have to worry about Pro Tool’s auto-dithered “export region to file” process (when truncating from 24 to 16 bits). Snapper will handle all of your bit depth and sample rate conversion tasks, and my guess (seriously this is just a guess) is that it is using the same amazing sounding anti-aliasing filters as the acclaimed BarbaBatch software.
Other Snapper Tips:
- iTunes support is not turned on by default, enable it in the preferences.
- Snapper will not play/read itunes store m4a files with DRM.
- You can change the colors of the waveform display in the preferences.
- Snapper uses the LAME codec for encoding MP3’s. While it does not come with the installer, Snapper will direct you to the appropriate site to download the codec.
- Unfortunately you cannot encode VBR MP3s and you are limited to 3 quality settings (low 64kbps, standard 128kbps or high 192kbps)
- Snapper defaults to using the standard Apple Mail app for its “send mp3 as email command.”
PT Corner on MacMusic:
The fine folks over at MacMusic/440 Network have made me a VIP Moderator of their PC and Mac Pro Tools forums. Come on over and join the community!
PC Pro Tools Forum
Mac Pro Tools Forum
Pro Tools Tid Bits:
- Digidesign released Pro Tools 7.4.1 HD with Leopard support. The update currently only works with 8-core Mac Pros on OS 10. 5 Leopard.
- Waves released Version 5.9.7 with full Vista and Leopard support.
If you have a Pro Tools related question that you would like me to take a shot at answering or have any feedback, please send it to brian@audioMIDI.com. I will do my best to select the questions that seem to stump the most people.
As always, stay tuned to the audioMIDI.com eNews for the latest reviews and new product info.
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