Tools: Software, hardware, and resources to produce Digital Cinema.

Welcome.

Tools are what make the ideas go.

Hephaestus knew that. Being blacksmith to the gods, he would know that, wouldn't he? Tools are what take Digital Cinema from an idea and make it a tangible project.

What does it mean to vulcanize something anyway?

The Digital Cinema Tools Page is multi-platform in orientation. For that matter some tools found here may not even be computer tools. Like camcorders, compressors, microphones, and lights. But all the tools featured here will help make Digital Cinema. Try them. You will like them.

The current focus is on audio.

Audio.

We see with our ears as much as our eyes. Sound is half the experience. Change the sound accompaning the picture and the meaning of the picture changes too.

Here are some tools that create soundscapes for your next Digital Cinema opus.

Samplitude Pro ($199 list price). For Windows. Sampling with hard drive recording, sample editing, looping, multimedia support. Synchronizes with AVI video files. multi-track recording using up to 4 sound cards, non-destructive editing with undo. Delay, reverb, surround sound, vocording, time compression and expansion, equalization, auto loop optimization, loop crossfade. Program syncs with smpte, mtc, and midi clock sync. For more information contact Soundspiration Systems, 9704 White Ash Rd., Dallas, Texas, 75249, USA. They can be reached by phone and fax at 214-298-3472. If you are calling internationaly use the appropriate country code.

Sound Forge ($495 list price). For Windows. Audio post-production, multimedia development, sound design, and music development app. 16 and 8 bit sample rates. Correct flat vocals, remove gliches, EQ unwanted noise, normalize levels, apply fades, cross platform format and compression support. Chorus, delay/echo, noise gate, flange, limiter, mixer, and more. Push, pull, stretch, distort, correct, analize, and generate sound. Optional noise reduction and spectrum analysis plug-in support. Sonic Foundary, 100 South Baldwin St., Suite 204, Madison, WI 53703 USA. They can be reached by phone at 608-256-3133. Their fax number is 608-256-7300. Their BBS can be accessed at 608-256-6689. If you are calling internationaly use the appropriate country code.

Interpreter ($295 list price). Lets the Mac browse, read, and write Akai S1000 data on cd-rom to AIFF or WAV formats. From Invision Interactive, 2445 Faber Pl, Suite 102, Palo Alto, CA 94303-3316 USA. They can be reached by phone at 415-812-7380. Their fax number is 415-812-7380. If you are calling internationaly use the appropriate country code.

Toolvox (List price unknown). For Windows. It's a voice processing tool with up to a 100:1 compression, pitch shifting for perfect pitch. It's a Warp-it tool for time compression and expansion, and Morph-it tool for voice transformation. From Voxware, 172 Tamarack Circle, Skillman, NJ 08558 USA. They can be reached on the Internet at vox@voxware.com . They can be reached by phone at 609-497-1212. Their fax number is 609-497-2490. If you are calling internationaly use the appropriate country code.

DART-Digital Audio Reconstruction ($399 list price). For Windows. It's a noise reduction program to remove pops, clicks, surface noise, hiss, and continious distortion from WAV files. It has 8 band equalization, cut and paste editing, both high and low band pass, notch filtering, audio and visual markers, a mixer with gain adjust. There is an audition mode. From Tracer Technologies, Box 188, Dallastown, PA 17313 USA. They can be reached by phone at 717-747-0200. Their fax number is 717-741-6790. If you are calling internationaly use the appropriate country code.

CyberSoundFX ($129 list price). A digital signal processor filter plug-in for Premiere and Deck II. Mac only. 15 post production audio filters are included. 3 reverbs, 2 equalizers, compression, chorus, flanging, phaser, delay, multitap delay, pitch shifting, dynamic filter, normalize, and tremolo are included. From InVision Interactive, 2445 Faber Pl., Suite 102, Palo Alto, CA, 94303 USA. They can be reached by phone at 415-812-7380 or 1-800-468-5530. Their fax number is 415-812-7386. If you are calling internationaly use the appropriate country code.

Soundstream ($99 list price). Audio plug-in filters for Premiere. Mac only. 17 audio filters are included. You will find volume, reverberation, graphic EQ, balance, low/highpass filter, stereo to mono, digital delay, chorus, waveform generator, swap left/right channels, noise generator, pitch shift, tremolo, ring modulator, notch filter, flange voice, robot voice. From Carillon Media Corp., Box 1446, Los Alamos, NM 87544 USA. They can be reached by phone at 1-800-487-8501.

As a final note,

Ideas need tools to realize them. However tools need ideas in order to be something more than a demo.

To help get your audio tool using beyond the demo stage, check out "Audio Vision" by Michel Chion. It's published, in paper, by Columbia University Press, 1994. ISBN number: 0-231-07899-4. Chion is the first substantial theorist on sound since Serge Eisenstein and his work before and during World War II. While presenting provocative and insightful observations on sound, Chion is creating a comprehensive and modern theory of sound on screen. Inside these pages, the Digital Cinematist will find much to think about and act upon. Walter Murch, the sound designer for "Apocalypse Now" has written an outstanding 20 page forward to the book.