AATranslator

News (v4)
Lot’s of work has gone into getting the best conversions possible to & from Pro Tools (now known
as, Avid Audio).
AATranslator can now read Pro-Tools (Native .ptf) format for PT Versions 7, 8 and 9.
PT5 format support has been enhanced too, not because we think anyone is still using PT5, clearly
ProTools 6-9 are better.
However .PT5 is in practice very capable as a DAW interchange format, far better than OMF, for
example. 1
PT5 does have very specific requirements that are far more strict than any other DAW. PT can
work really well, but it’s a very picky DAW, so make sure you deliver what it requires, this is very
very important. See the PT5 notes
New (v4)
OMF write, with option to make either referenced or, .
Either AIF or Wav files can be used.
Samplitude / Sequoia, VIP (Magix native file format), Import.
Import ProTools session files (ptf) for versions 7, 8 & 9
Improved fade type conversions across most formats
Improved conversions between Reaper, Samplitude & Audition. Specifically we now convert
routing (bus/aux), clip groups and fade types.
Stereo files in a Sonar OMF can now be split to dual mono.
v3.4) inc 3.4.xx revisions
More formats
Ardour, Tracktion & CMX 3600, 3400, 340 EDL & other
CMX’like files (eg Grass Valley 4 &7 & Cudos)
You can now specify a Reaper RPP as a session ‘template’ to be used when converting to Reaper
format.
Samplitude EDL, you can now choose to offset all clips by the Offset amount in the source session.
Extracted OMF info, media files & session data can be written back to the OMF source folder.
Much more detail is extracted from PT5 sessions, eg BPM, Beat markers, lists of Fx & plug-in’s
used; now listed in for example the Reaper notes section.
Recombine split stereo (.L&.R) files from for example, ProTools, to a sub folder called ‘Stereo’.
Pro Tools Import & Export has been enhanced considerably. Eg mute envelopes now fully
supported. (both read & write)
You no longer need to “unhide” hidden PT5 files originated on a Mac, AATranslator can now “see”
any pt5 files whether hidden or not.
Mac originated PT5 files with a .bin, .rsrc or .frk file extension can also be read.
PT5 export, can use either Clip or track/timeline based automation envelopes from all of the far
more capable source formats, that include both of these types of automation..
1
See latest “session capabilities--.xls”
http://www.aatranslator.com.au/ccount/click.php?id=7
www.aatranslator.com.au Page 1
There is now a Mac OSX export function for PT5 sessions.
The notes have been substantially re-written, much clearer & even more vital to read.
A Tab Delimited Txt file export of all media files in a session, is included for advanced data
processing or just as a printout.
Quick guide vers 4

Most options will be set automatically, when the info needed by the Destination format is contained
in the Source format. Options that don’t require user attention for a given translation will be greyed
out.
Select drive and the folder containing the project or

session to convert from. The Source Format
Select type (extension) of the file

to convert from. Note; for Adobe
Audition XML Apple FCP,
Steinberg track archive or Vegas
Script, the “Extension” is XML
Film/Video Frames Per Second; Used when this information is not in the Source file
IE [Audition XML, Steinberg Track Archive XML, Capture, Adobe/Syntrillium SES,
Samplitude EDL, CMX-EDL, Vegas TXT, or Ardour] And the Destination format
needs fps data [ADL, Apple FCP, Pro Tools, Reaper RPP, OMF, Vegas XML or
Open TL]
PT5 Read only; Used for fps rates not theoretically available in PT5 format like 23.976
that you can set in “FPS box”. Note this only effects the time “ruler” including offsets, not how the clips are
positioned.
Used when Source is Tracktion, Vegas Txt or CMX-edl.
Used when Destination format is Open TL, PT5, Vegas XML or FCP-XML And Source format
is [Audition XML, Steinberg Track Archive XML, Capture, Adobe/Syntrillium SES, Samplitude
EDL Or VIP, Vegas TXT, Tracktion, Ardour or CMX-EDL. Most Daws can use audio files with
any, or even mixed bit depths.
Suggestion; make copies if sending a conversion to someone else.

Don't if you just want to swap between programs on the one machine. This option must be used
if you want to extract files from an OMF, or to convert SD2 files to wav’s.
Makes Pro-Tools friendly dual Mono (.L&.R) files from standard Stereo
Interleaved Wav files. It is selected automatically if the destination session is PT5 or OMF (&
you have Generate File Copies On).
It’s an option if going to Open TL, Sam-EDL or ADL.
By default if you want any copies including splitting stereo to mono and the
files already exist in the location selected, then AATranslator doesn’t waste time overwriting
what is already there. This option changes that and allows you replace the media files on disk
with new copies.
Most people don’t want a load of empty tracks. But if you do (for example if
you have pre-labelled some tracks for later overdubs) this option allows you to do that.
This option strips out timeline Pan & Volume information and deals with the
reversed panning in Reaper compared to Samplitude. At present, Reaper doesn’t support Pan
or Volume envelopes/curves or level automation with an EDL import. They use this part of the
EDL to give an overall track volume gain/loss and give static track based panning.
Compatibility option for users of old software, eg EDL Convert v4.
If this item is unticked, AATranslator outputs in v1.6 (it reads all Samplitude EDL’s up to v1.7)
PT5 Read only Cures a very rare problem that tracks are sometimes read
in reverse order.
PT5 Read only Takes the sample rate embedded in a PT session
and sets the destination format to twice that rate. (see PT notes, for more details)
PT5 Read only Hides alternate playlists, hidden and inactive tracks.
PT5 Write only will create a pair of files, one the same as a standard
AATranslator PC compatible file & a 2nd file starting ._ You will need both of these files for use
with MAC OSX. (see PT notes, for more details)
PT5 Write only when selected clip volume & pan info will be converted
to PT timeline automation. If not selected the original sessions’ timeline automation will be used
EDL write only when selected blank space the length of the original
session offset is inserted before the 1st event.
If not ticked OMF’s created will be the Referenced type
Stereo Wav files conforming to the PT standard of xxx.L.Wav &
xxx.R.Wav will be combined into a single interleaved file and placed in a folder called “Stereo”.
We have 6 XML based Export formats available, select which one you
want here. See “XML Sessions” for more details
Import Logic XML; To Vegas XML files contain information about any layered takes. An
convert from a Logic Pro XML import into Vegas 9 will only put the top take on the time-line,
Apple- FCP-XML, tick this though the rest of the takes will be in the “pool”.
option Ignore Vegas Inactive Takes; is very similar; it filters out all non-
played takes in an AATranslator conversion. Not all destination
formats allow overlapped takes so for them this is the best option.
Mute Vegas Inactive Takes will only be usable where the
destination format can handle overlapped takes and clip mutes.
Leave all these ticked unless you have compatibility problems. [Eg switch off Pan
Many DAW’s & conversion programs use
List, if creating an ADL for AV-Transfer to read]
out of date versions of a given “standard”. In theory if a DAW/ app doesn’t
understand a particular chunk of info, it should just ignore it. But clearly this
“good practice” is not true in practice. If a host App complains, then these options
allow you to remove what may be causing it grief.
Select the type of file you want to create, the Destination format. To select which of the 6
different XML based types we support, use the “XML Output” drop-down box 1st
If you are converting to a Reaper

RPP session it is possible to use a template, to store aspects like Routing, plug-ins, custom
skins, in fact anything including tracks with media if you wish.
Where there is a conflict say you want to convert a 44.1kHz PT session & your RPP template is
48k the new RPP session will be 44.1kHz. In the unlikely event your “Template” has audio in it,
Reaper will just real-time sample rate convert it to be the same as the PT source session.
Currently this template capability is only available if going to Reaper RPP format.
If converting from OMF, (only), it’s possible to store your new
conversion, including media extracted, in the OMF Source folder.
Otherwise: you will Browse for, or create, a new folder via the open
icon, . This is where your new session file will go as well as any
copied / split or re-combined (2x mono → stereo) media files.
The Media Files Tab lets you see if all the files can be located.
A tick means AATranslator can find the files required.

Tip; If the Audio Files Tab shows files can't be found at say E\AATranslator\........ then use "A
Selected folder" option & point to E:\AATranslator\
The same method can be used if you see a "Volume Name" Eg Big_Disk\ rather than say, D:\
Click to export a list of the source media as a Tab separated Txt file. It
is automatically saved to “Send Output to…” location
When you are happy you have selected the options you need, click
“Generate Output”
File Menu; You can look at and if you wish, edit or printout the
output of your most recent conversion. (EDL in this example)
But only if it is a text based type. Eg ADL, Vegas Txt or Samplitude EDL.
The Append function is accessed from here too.
Click on “Append Session Files” in the

Append Session Files File menu and this screen pops up.
You can combine any 2 files with a file
extension listed in “File Types”.
Click on the boxes or select All, None or
Invert. In the example on the left Invert
would select all file types except XML &
TXT.
Note: the Session output format will be
the same as the 1st file you select. The
appended session will also inherit the
1st file’s Sample rate etc.
As usual, for a format like Vegas TXT
that does not contain sample rate or
FPS info these will be as you have set
them on the main page.
Notes
Where options are not relevant to a given source and destination format combination, they will be
“Greyed Out”
Context help tips are available by hovering your mouse over any option button or box.
Important Note: Media files will be left unmodified when converting from one format to another
(apart from options to convert SD2 files to wav’s and splitting Stereo to 2x Mono files) but in any case, we do not
change aspects like Bit & Sample rate. Or the Metadata within the files. And with video media we
never modify the source files.
So the readability of media files by the destination program is down to you the user’s knowledge of
the requirements and capabilities of the host.
There are further notes to help with these compatibility aspects.
We often allow the possibility to create output sessions that deviate from a supposed “standard”.
The reason is because in practice most Audio & Video editing software deviates massively in their
implementation of any “standard”.
This freedom allows you for example to have stereo files in an Open TL session that Logic can
read just fine and maybe way more convenient than having to deal with stereo as pairs of mono
files in Logic.
The downside of this freedom is that a TL conversion that works great in Logic will not work at all
on a Tascam MX2424 HD recorder.
Lexicon; The words used in these documents and equivalent words used by various DAW & NLE
manufacturers.
Words, as
we use Equivalent names
Meaning
them used by others
generally
Session File that contains "instructions" how media is Project, Song, Composition,
used on the timeline Arrangement, Sequence
Clip Piece of Media on the timeline; Region, segment, object, item, subclip,
this maybe a selected part of a file media event
or a whole file Master clip, whole file region
Event Clip, marker, automation point on timeline
Clip Fades, Eq, level, pan, Mute (& any DSP based alteration) information (meta
Automation data) attached to a clip.
Media Audio or video data (potentially MIDI, text, still Assets, Essence, raw data
images)
Timeline Events, clips placed on a track at specific time positions
Timeline Envelopes or value changes, that occur at
Automation specific time points with no regard to any clips
Point Envelope point in time indicating a specific Keypoint, keyframe, automation
value of a dynamically changing quantity point, bezier point
OMF Session where the "instructions" & the media Export all to one File,
Embedded are all in 1 file Encapsulated,
OMF The omf has "instructions" as to how to use External, Ref, Referenced,
Referenced media external to the omf Separate Audio, Linked
Envelope A value that goes up & down, over time (typical ADSR, Curve, dynamic
values are volume & pan) automation,
Dynamic A value (like volume) that goes up & down, over Automation,
time
It is vital you read these notes before using CMX-edl.

Note v4 of AATranslator converts Audio events only from cmx, all video events are ignored.
CMX.EDL formats come from the era of Video Tape Editing.

At their most basic they contain a list of events
event roll track(s) transition Timecode of Source In/Out & Destination In/Out
001 JAZYWA AA/V C 01:02:30:02 01:02:30:17 01:00:00:00 01:00:00:15
The above means the 1st event “001” is from a “roll” called JAZYWA”, these days this may well be
a notional roll, bin or possibly a file rather than a roll of videotape. “AA/V” means audio track 1&2
and the one video track is used, “C” means there is a cut (butt edit) to the next event.
There is the possibility of so called comments that were originally just human readable information
but now contain sometimes highly manufacturer specific info. And other info that is readable by
others including AATranslator.
Some examples (from Final Cut Pro v7)
* EFFECT NAME: CROSS FADE (+3DB)
* FROM CLIP NAME: IMPACT METAL HIT REVERB 01.CAF
* COMMENT:
* AUDIO LEVEL AT 00:00:00:00 IS -4.00 DB (REEL AX A2)
* PROBLEM WITH EDIT: CLIP HAD NO TIMECODE TRACK.
* AUDIO LEVEL AT 00:00:00:00 IS -4.00 DB (REEL AX A3)
AUD 3
Of the above
The CLIP NAME & the fact this is a mono clip on track A3 is used by AATranslator.
Note for the clip information to be useful it is important the file name is exported and not the clip
name. (more NLE specific info below)
As well as reading the most popular cmx format, CMX3600, AATranslator can read cmx 340, 3400
and also Grass Valley GVG4 & GVG_7. Sony5000 and ACE_25 can be read but the clip info will
be incorrect.
Where there is no “clip” info as in the example below,

AATranslator will create “virtual clips, consisting of the “roll” name/number & the start time code.
TITLE: 017 BREEL1
FCM: NON-DROP FRAME
001 BULWARSK AA/V C 06:38:04:09 06:38:10:05 01:00:00:00 01:00:05:21
002 BULWARSK AA/V C 06:38:11:06 06:38:14:08 01:00:05:21 01:00:08:23
So for the example above event 1 = BULWARSK_06.38.04.09

You can save a Tab Delimited Txt file by clicking on this button in the Media Tab.
This can be printed out or used in a spreadsheet for some advanced
data wrangling.
Options you need to set where cmx-edl is your Source format

Note very rarely cmx EDL’s will have a
.CMX file ext.
If so you will have to rename the file (Eg in
Windows Explorer) to have a .EDL file
extension.
Select drive and

folder containing Select EDL tab on
the CMX EDL. “Import from …”
You must supply this info. Note for either 29.97 DF or ND select 29.97.
For the rare 30fps Drop format choose 30. See “Frames per Second
help” below
You must supply this info.
Suggestion; make copies if sending a conversion to someone else

Don't if you just want to swap between programs on the one machine
Convert stereo Wav files to dual mono is selected automatically if
destination session is PT5 (& you have Generate File Copies On).
It’s an option if going to Open TL, Sam-EDL or ADL.
option to replace the media files on disk with new copies.
Frames per Second help

CMX EDL’s are plain text and are “Human Readable” but they do vary considerably in their layout.
They may contain “FCM: xxx” as below, that shows the use or not of DF counting & (very rarely)
the fps used.
FCM: NON-DROP FRAME
FCM: DROP FRAME
FCM: NON-DROP 24 FRAME
The In / Out points will be written like this

00:00:00:00 (Hours:Min:Sec:Frames)
Or possibly
00:00:00;00
The use of a semi-colon, not colon before the frames quantity (or throughout the timecode number)
is a way to indicate drop frame counting is in use.
Note Drop frame almost certainly means a frame rate of 29.97. Rarely it may be used with 30fps, but many
Daw’s & NLE’s Eg FCP, don’t support 30d.
All other fps rates are Non-Drop. Very rarely the actual fps rate maybe viewable in the EDL.
Limitations
EDL’s using Drop Frame counting; We do not support DF counting (and many EDL’s are
incorrectly written in this respect, too) but if you choose the correct fps rate all clips will start at the
correct time & start at the correct position on the Timeline. However the out points may be a frame
or so later than intended.
Some EDL’s contain multiple FCM entries. A single 29.97fps entry will be accurate for the clip
starts, but for ND material, the out points may be a frame or so later than intended.
Exporting from FCP

EDL Title; suggest you indicate which audio tracks you
are exporting
Format; CMX3600
Sorting; Master, Audio Merged
Target Video Track Only (v1); [tick]
Omit Transitions; [tick]
Video events are not used, but this will lessen the size of the
edl
Reel Conflicts; Generic Edits
EDL Notes; Select File Names [& tick] IMPORTANT the
other option here is clip names which is of no use!
Un tick all other “notes” options
Master; leave as set by FCP sequence
Audio Mapping; a cmx3600 edl can only have 4 audio
tracks. This option allows you to select which of the
possible 99 tracks on your FCP edit are export. Note
you can merge 2 or more FCP tracks to a single EDL
track. You can also set any FCP track to None, which
allows you to make multiple EDL’s each containing 4
tracks at a time. You would modify the “EDL Title” so
you know which EDL has what original tracks on it.
Media files in FCP may well be QuickTime MOV’s. AATranslator does not currently extract audio
from Mov files so either you must use a DAW/NLE that can extract audio from a mov, or use an
external program like Apple Quicktime Pro.
Premiere Pro (tested with v1.5 & CS3) stores the file names with file ext
Sony Vegas (vers 9) comes with an EDL export script but it is limited to 29.97df or 24fps nd & only
exports 1video & 1 audio event. And rather annoyingly the file ext is dropped. If there is any
interest I'm sure we could provide a better featured script.
OMF to Æ your format of choice

Important: If you have an “Embedded” omf you must select “Generate File Copies” if you want to
extract the Audio (& Video) within the OMF.
If you don’t want to use the media in an “Embedded” OMF, then select “A Selected Folder” &
choose the place where the Audio & Video you want to use is to be found.
This ability to source session data & media from different locations is particularly useful where:-
You have the audio on your system, but just need the latest “Version/edit” info. (this will save you
time & disk space)
You have “conditioned, tweaked or modified/improved versions of the original audio you want to
use.
Note: the session data will always be drawn from the OMF file.
Recommended settings when exporting from various applications
Avid (Digidesign) Pro Tools with DigiTranslator 2 Option

Export
Select the tracks you want to export
File > Export >Selected Tracks as OMF/AAF
OMFI/AAF Options:-
Export as; OMF 2
Enforce Avid Compatibility; do not select
Quantize edits to frame boundaries; only select if you want AATranslator to convert the OMF to
“Final Cut Pro”.
Note If this option is chosen you loose volume automation.
Sample rate options; ignore (unless you have good reason not to)
Audio Media Options:-
Audio Format & Bit depth; leave as per the session, (unless you have good reason not to)
Source media; you have 3 options

1) Refer To Source Media: - or “Referenced” Creates an OMF file that
refers to the original media.
2) Copy From Source Media:- Copies audio to another drive or folder.
3) Consolidate From Source Media:- Copies only the part of the files that are actually used by the
session. If this option is chosen the “Handle size” option is available. Suggest choose the max
amount of 5000ms, (5seconds).
The following are not exported; video files, pan or mute automation, markers, MIDI or plug-in info.
Fades & cross fades become separate files, fade data is not written to the OMF.
Pro Tools does export volume automation to OMF, but only if the Quantize edits to frames
boundaries option (Avid Compatibility Mode) is off. If Avid Compatibility Mode is on you are limited
to either 48kHz or 44.1kHz sample rate.
Avid Media Composer; Adrenaline

Export; Select range on timeline & the audio tracks to export. File > Export. Click “Options” in
“Export as…” pop-up.
Export Settings :
Export As; OMF 2.0
Include All Audio Tracks in Sequence; [tick]
Export Method; Choose Consolidate and Embed Media
Target Drive for Consolidate; choose a drive
Handle Length; enter a value of at least 100 frames
Include Rendered Audio Effects; [tick]
Convert Audio Sample Rate to; Project [tick]
Choose Convert Audio File Format to; WAVE
Click Save (you can use “Save As” to save the above as a template)
Ensonic PARIS OMF

Export: Failed or garbled PARIS OMFs can often be traced to corrupt audio files.
Fix; If you have access to the original PPJ, rebuild that and any other suspicious files from inside
the PARIS app: select "Duplicate file" and when complete use "reset file path" to change
references from the old to the new. Performing a dummy "convert sample rate" on the audio file will
also recreate a fresh header: leave the quality on "highest" and set the output sample rate the
same as the input; the "dummy conversion" leaves you with a virtually identical file with a fresh
header; use "reset file path" to change the old file's reference to use these new files.
Export: "illegal" characters in filenames, PARIS allows you to name things (or even named them
itself) in such a way that it can no longer export them correctly!
Fix: Don’t use Illegal characters like \ or / in either Audio file names or in “track names” (PARIS
uses track names while rendering). If necessary, delete names of problematic segments in the
Audio Bin (PARIS' OMF exports can choke on the "/ slash" that PARIS inserts to separate file and
segment names). To delete the names of segments in the Audio Window, right-click the name of
the segment (not the "file"!) and hit "backspace".
Thanks to KerryGalloway for testing AATranslator with PARIS, see
http://www.kerrygalloway.com/WikiPARIS/ for more Paris related info.
Final Cut Pro OMF (Apple)

Exports will have the following characteristics:-
Only audio will be exported.
All FCP OMF’s are of the embedded type (IE the audio & session data are in one file) this file can be a
maximum of 2gig-Bytes.
All fades are exported as linear type.
Any disabled audio tracks (Track Visibility control turned off) will not be exported. Disabled audio
clips are also ignored.
Speed change and reverse-speed effects will be rendered to new files.
Nested sequences will be combined and exported as a single sequence.
Audio filters (FCP jargon, for plug-ins) are ignored.
Level and pan information is exported.
To export audio from a sequence as OMF.

1 Select a sequence in the Browser or open a sequence in the Timeline.
2 In the Timeline, make sure that each audio track you want to export is enabled (make sure the
track Visibility control next to the track is green).
3 Choose File > Export > Audio to OMF.
4 You will then see the “OMF Audio Export” box
Select the sample rate & the Bit depth to be the same as your source material. (Or the highest
resolution source material if mixed rates are used).
Sound editors want “Handles” (extra material beyond the In/Out points chosen by the picture
editor), choose 1sec minimum. If in doubt ask the person you are sending your sound to.
The same advice applies to “Include X-fades”, “Level” and “Pan”. If in doubt tick all 3 “tick boxes”
AATranslator understands all these data types. (But not all destination formats do).
Then click OK, navigate to where you want to save your OMF, enter a name and click “save”.
Lightworks OMF
Video: there are references to the video clips used in a Lightworks session in their OMF’s, but
video is always external to the OMF, even if the audio is embedded. On a conversion we show the
video clips as empty sections but show the names of the video files that were used originally.
Limitations: Lightworks is one of very few programs that can create OMF’s with Multi-channel or Poly audio
files, AATranslator has limited support for audio files with more than 2 channel (aka Stereo) files, Eg a
conversion to Reaper RPP using Poly files is fine. AATranslator is developing fast, so this may change in
days/months rather than years – depending on user feedback. But for AATranslator v 4 please convert
Lightworks Poly files to either Stereo or Mono before conversion.
Premiere Pro CS4 & 5 (Adobe) OMF {export only}

Export; select a sequence, File > Export > Export to OMF
In the “settings dialog”; type in a Title, and set sample & Bit rate (see below).
File menu; allows you to make an Embedded or a Referenced OMF, called “Encapsulated” &
“Separate Audio” . Either is fine for AATranslator suggest, you choose “Encapsulated”.
Render menu; suggest “Copy Complete Audio Files”
Note Adobe have concentrated on producing an OMF that is accepted by Protools Digitranslator 2.
All audio files will be either 16 or 24bit (as you set in the settings dialogue) and there will be a
constant sample rate.
The OMF is sample not video frame based.
Stereo & multi-channel files are converted to mono files.
Clip gain & volume envelopes are exported for Mono or Stereo audio, for 5.1 to 16chan poly files
the clip gain of the 1st (Left) chan only is used for all channels, volume envelopes are not exported.
Clip pan is exported but not Envelopes. Track based automation in a Premiere Pro session is not
exported.
Any tracks with the output turned off will not be included in the OMF.
Mute & Solo settings are ignored.
Sonar OMF (Cakewalk Roland)

Export; File > Export > OMF
From “Export OMF” dialogue:-
Save as type; OMF 2
Audio Packaging; suggest you choose “Embed Audio Within OMF”
Split Stereo Tracks to Dual Mono; if you intend to convert to mono-centric formats like PT, Open
TL or ADL you could select this option. Note; AATranslator will split stereo Wav files during
conversion, but not Aif /AIFC.
Fades & X-fades will be rendered in Sonar OMF exports. No volume or Pan info is exported.
Steinberg OMF
The Export options, Nuendo & Cubase vers 3 & later. File > Export > OMF
Suggest you click “Select All”. Exporting only some of the tracks is known to give errors on
occasion. Exporting the range between markers is fine however.
OMF Version : choose V2.0
Export all to one File; this is more commonly

called “Embedded”, this is probably the best
option.
Export Media File References; commonly called

“Referenced”
Either choice is fine for AATranslator, bear in mind
no OMF or part of it, in the case of Referenced
OMF’s, can be greater than 2 gBytes.
Export Clip Based Volume;

Use Fade Curves;
Yes to both (note pan info is not exported)
Important Don’t select, Export Clip Names
Export Sample Size; Cubendo generally uses

32bit float. But if PT is your likely destination
format you will have to reduce this to 24 bit
Integer.
Quantize Events to Frames; don’t use
Write OMF
Select source session, and “Export to… OMF”.
Options that don’t require user attention for a given translation will be greyed out. The example
below is what you would see for a PT to OMF conversion.
FPS; will be read from the source session, where available. But you
will need to set this if coming from:- Audition XML, Steinberg Track
Archive XML, Capture, Adobe/Syntrillium SES, Samplitude EDL,
CMX-EDL, Vegas TXT and Ardour. A few OMF’s don’t carry fps data
either, but a pop-up info box will let you know when this happens. See
the PT notes for how to use Override (PT5)
Sample Rate; will be read from the source session, where available.
You will need to set this if coming from:- Tracktion,Vegas TXT, CMX-
edl.
OMF’s can have mixed sample rates, but many apps can’t read such
an OMF.
Bit Depth: Mixed bit rates are possible but best avoided for good
compatibility. Note if the OMF is to be read by Pro Tools only 16 or
24bit are acceptable.
Generate File Copies; this is the best option to use as standard
practice,
Eg: the Convert Stereo to Mono (and copy stereo original) option is engaged automatically when
you generate file copies, all “Linear PCM”, Wav stereo files will be split to 2 mono files. If you don’t
“copy”, all stereo files will remain stereo in the OMF. AATranslator created OMF’s with stereo files
can be read with no problem by Steinberg Nuendo, but generally OMF’s containing stereo files
have poor inter-Daw compatibility.
Create Embedded OMF; If NOT ticked a “Referenced” OMF is made. Note because of poor
compatibility of OMF’s with stereo media, the Generate File Copies & convert Stereo to Mono
options are engaged automatically when an Embedded OMF is made.
Open TL
Tascam format, used with the MX2424 HD recorder and a number of DAWs Eg Logic & Nuendo.
Converting From Open TL
[1] Select drive & folder containing the TL project you want to convert From
[2] Import from…. “TL”
All other options set as required for your destination format
Converting To Open TL
As soon as you select “Export to…” Open TL, the only options you may have to set are those you
can see in the picture below.
FPS: Film/Video Frames Per Second; Used when this information is not
in the Source file IE [Audition XML, Steinberg Track Archive XML,
Capture, Adobe/Syntrillium SES, Samplitude EDL, CMX-EDL, Vegas
TXT, or Ardour
Sample Rate: Used when Source is Tracktion, CMX or Vegas Txt format.
Bit Depth: Needs to be set when Source format is Audition XML,
Steinberg Track Archive XML, Capture, Adobe/Syntrillium SES,
Samplitude EDL, CMX EDL, Vegas TXT, Tracktion, or Ardour.
Generate File Copies; Files will always be copied for TL Exports (which
is why the option is greyed out but is “ticked”).
Convert Stereo To Mono; The TL standard specifies Mono tracks only,
so for a fully compliant Open TL file select “Convert Stereo To Mono”
However, an “Illegal” TL, containing stereo files can be understood by AATranslator, SSL
ProConvert & also Logic. And Nuendo too but stereo files are placed on Mono tracks. (To cure
this, just create new blank Stereo Tracks. Drag an entire tracks worth of “Stereo files on a Mono
Track” to a blank Stereo track)
Overwrite Existing Files; By default when copies of Audio files are made, as is essential for the
TL format, AATranslator doesn’t waste time overwriting what is already there. This option
changes that and allows you replace the files on disk with new copies. Note; only applies to
Audio files, the .TL & Track files will always be updated/overwritten if they already exist in the
chosen location.
A folder will be created having the name of your source session but with –
AATcvTL appended to the end. The location will as always be the “Send output to..” location.
Within that folder will be copies of Audio Files & Track files as per the special TL folder structure.
If you want a TL file (& supporting files) to be usable on a Tascam MX2424 HD recorder, aspects
like what Disk & Audio format you use is critical. Unlike swapping disks between a Mac & PC, or
easier still via a Network.
A disk you attach to an Open TL capable machine such as the Tascam MX2424. must:---
Use either Wav or SDII files; we only write WAV. The data needs to be written to a FAT32
formatted disk when using Wav files. If you have a session using SD2 files on a MX2424 you can
attach a FAT32 formatted disk and use “Smart Copy” to copy the session to have WAV files.
You must write a fully “legal” Open TL file. Ie only mono files and all having the same bit rate as
specified in the .TL file.
ProTools, pt5 (Rev for AATranslator V4)

The only reason we have added PT5 capabilities is because of it’s ability as
an interchange format !
it offers far more than the widely used OMF format can do. Which is a $500 - $700 additional
cost item for PT 8 & before. PT9 now includes OMF, yet to be tested by us.
Capability Example: PT to Reaper

Notes: codes used below.
~ = not available with this format. Note 2; all features except Session Bit Depth are supported by
the Reaper RPP format and are implemented in AATranslator.
no = potentially available but not implemented
** = Fades are rendered. So no information to pass to Reaper (or any other format)
Yes-! = It is possible (though hard) to create an “illegal” pt5 containing stereo files, which can be
read by Pro-Convert & AATranslator. But not by Pro-Tools.
? = don’t know yet, but probably not supported
Pro Tools session conversion to & from Reaper; using AATranslator v4

Extra Conversion software needed D’ T OMF
to export/ import from Pro Tools → Digi Translator 2 1 Tool AATranslator
Interchange/Session Type used → OMF2 OMF2 OMF2 PT5
Track Name no no no yes
Pan no no no yes
Solo no no no yes
Mute no no no yes
Volume no no no yes
TimeLine Pan envelope ~ ~ ~ yes
Vol envelope ~ ~ ~ yes
Mute envelope ~ ~ ~ yes
Clip / Region Mute no no no yes
Fade Render ** ? ? 6 fade types
X Fade Render ** ? ? yes
Pan no no no ~
Pan Envelope no no no ~
Gain no no no ~
Volume yes, unless in Avid NLE
Envelope compatible Frame edit mode no no ~
absolute, beat,
Session Markers no no no region
Video import only no no yes
Stereo Files no no no Yes-!
Tempo (bpm) ~ ~ ~ yes
Session contains Sample rate yes yes yes yes
fps yes yes yes yes
bits yes yes yes yes
Start Offset yes ? ? yes
omf only. Referenced, Embedded R, (till PT 6.9)
or Both B (pt7,8,9) R R ~
Mac Mac
OS9, OS9,
Features -Limitations -Notes Track names Dropped, 16 bit 16 bit
Avid DV x'press not readable only only
Note: AATranslator supports both Clip & Timeline based automation. OMF is clip based, PT
timeline based, Reaper does both. If converting to PT either (but not both) types can be used by
either Digi-translator or AATranslator.
After much testing we believe the above is true, if you have information to the contrary, please let us know.
Exporting PT5 files for use in AATranslator

AATranslator can make a reasonable job of converting any pt5 file, (worst case the result will likely
contain more from the original Session than going the OMF route) but for best results you should be
prepared to “save as” a vers of your Pt 5.1 till 9 session best suited or tweaked for PT5 capabilities.
PT5 file capabilities

Pro Tools version 5 had no Stereo Track type and the maximum session sample rate was 48kHz.
In theory pt5 exports from later versions will have these same limitations too, but in reality most of
these newer, pt5’s have considerably more information contained than Pro Tools version 5 ever
had.
What you should do, to get a GOOD pt5 export

Very Important; for AATranslator to read the Automation on a Stereo track use the “Split
Selected Tracks into Mono” command in the PT File menu. (this is applicable to greater than 2
channel tracks too, eg LCR, quad & 5.1, etc)
Region Groups and Region Loops {Highlight all regions & use Unloop command in the Region
menu and "flatten" regions}
Elastic Audio (thanks to Bill Blue for researching and writing this section and contributing to other sections too)
Any work you have done that changes track timing will be lost, but you will get the track as it was
before Elastic Audio had been added.
If you want to preserve timing changes achieved in PT, first transform them to the XForm mode
(which is not real time like rhythmic, monophonic and polyphonic modes are), then after the
transformation to XForm, commit the changes to the original track. If you were to commit from
one of the real time modes, it will still work, but with varying degrees of artefacts from ok to bad
depending on the track content. E.g., a bass track maybe ok in monophonic EA mode, rhythm
instruments (except cymbals) do pretty well in rhythmic, vocals can do well in monophonic too. But
guitars, especially acoustic, are pretty bad in any real time mode. The only problem with XForm is
that it takes about 10 minutes to render a 3 minute track, and sometimes when you commit it, PT
will render it again(!) So this step can be tedious but the results are good.
Inactive tracks will not be exported (in theory), if you want them included make them active,
assuming enough “voices”. If your version of PT does not have enough “voices”, do 2 saves or
more using different track sets.
Anyway even “Inactive tracks” will still be references to the media used & AATranslator will find &
place these orphaned, or not fully defined tracks after the main tracks on a conversion. These
tracks will be muted and “-Unused” will be appended to the track names.
Hidden but active tracks and alternate Playlists will also become visible once translated.
MIDI tracks with their original names will also appear but not the MIDI data.
To export MIDI data from PT, select Export Midi & save as a .mid file type 0. The PT session
tempo is read by AATranslator and for many destination formats, Eg Reaper, the starting session
tempo is set.
If you don’t want to have all this extra info transfer across to your destination format; then remove
alternate playlists, hidden and inactive tracks, MIDI etc, then “save as” before doing a pt5 export.
Other considerations (many re exporting from a Mac)
Important: any filename more than 31 characters (for some pt versions 33 char) total or 27 char +
3 char extension will be truncated. {Fix, trim all file names inside PT to be 27 char or less.
Saving a pt5 Export from Mac OSX: Important

It’s recommended (not essential {see later}) you save to a “disk” format like FAT32, that is
understood by both Macs & PC’s, we strongly suggest you make a new folder to contain your pt5
export(s), then zip the whole folder straight to whatever (Fat32, Fat16, NTFS) removable media
you are using. This is the safest way to guarantee the Mac Fork data will be readable on a PC.
For either Mac or PC

To Export to pt5 format; File > Save Session Copy in > Save as Type, choose PT5.
Do not change “Session Parameters” apart from adding Mac/PC compatibility & Audio File type =
wav, if possible.
Optional extra settings: Depending if you are exporting from a PC or a Mac different options will be greyed
out (not available). No matter, these are mostly bloat reduction suggestions.
Items to copy; Only Audio files & Movie/Video if used are needed, un-tick all the rest. If exporting
from a PC choose Wav files, on a Mac you have no choice, but no matter AATranslator
understands SD2 files.
File name; the suggested name will be “Copy of your orig filename.PT5”, you are free to change
this if you wish.
Suggestion; delete “Copy of” it serves no good purpose. (the fact your original will have either a
.ptf or less likely, a .pts file extension, will make it different & unique compared to a .pt5 file). And
Avid /Digidesign make you adhere to the old 27 char limit of Mac OS9, so you may not want to
waste 8 of the available characters.
In the event you hit export problems

To be through, check your pt5 export is good by opening it in PT.
Open/load the pt5 via the file menu, (drag & drop or just clicking on a pt5 to launch PT is known not
to work on some rare occasions, with pt5 files). If PT can’t load it’s own pt5, or the result is not
what you expect, try closing then re-opening PT and try again.
Limitations; We have found, the information retained in a pt5 export, will depend on the PT version,
& if it’s from LE, TDM or M-Powered & the Pt hardware used and also if the host machine is a Mac
or a PC.
This means there are an awful lot of possible variations and we have only tested about 25 of these.
We have programmed in adjustments for some of the variations we have found but there are an
awful lot of possible variations we may not know about (yet).
Don’t use “illegal” characters like / : \ in a filename. Note “\” to Mac OS, is just another character,
like a-z, but to a PC, it has a very special meaning, so if you are using a Mac don’t use this
character!
It is also recommended you avoid non-American characters like é ü î £ € etc.
If you plan to convert to Apple FCPro XML it is further recommended you avoid [ ] { } . , ( ) | < > ! *
?;“‘&^#
For ultra high compatible naming, which really should not be necessary, just use a-z 0-9 _ don’t
use spaces, a mixture of upper & lowercase is fine and should improve readability.
As track names will be used to name audio files recorded, bounced or rendered in PT you should
limit the tracks names too.
Importing PT5’s. General Options, see later for Mac, exceptions
← Select drive & folder containing PT
session to import from. Then select the PT5 tab
and the Source pt5 session ↓
Select one of these
There are 6 XML based output formats available, select the one you want via this drop down.
And choose the location where you want the new session file & any copied media to be stored.
Send Output to …
If you are converting to a Reaper RPP session it is possible to use a template, to store aspects like
Routing, plug-ins, custom skins in fact anything including tracks with media if you wish.
Where there is a conflict say you want to convert a 44.1kHz PT session & your RPP template is
48k the new session will be 44.1kHz. In the unlikely event your “Template” has audio in it, Reaper
will just real-time sample rate convert it to be the same as the PT source session.
Currently this template capability is only available if going to Reaper RPP format.
More info coming up about where you source the Audio & Video media from. The option selected
here is the most common though.
FPS; If you don’t tick the “Override (PT5)” box, the fps info embedded
within a pt5 file will be used automatically.
But the pt5 format does not include the 23.976 fps frame rate, so any
pt5 exports from later vers of PT that use this will be labelled as 24fps, the “override (PT5)” option
gets round this limitation.
This is only really relevant if you are using video with an hh mm ss ff ruler or you want to use
Timecode to an external device. Note you can force the fps output to a number of other rates too,
treat this powerful capability with caution!
Options you may need to set,
for a conversion from a PT session to an output format of your choice.
Any options not relevant to PT & your chosen destination format will be “greyed out”. Eg the
Reaper & Samplitude options will become “active” if Sam EDL was your destination format.
Likewise if you want to create a Mac OSX readable pt5 session from a PC pt5 session, the Mac
OSX PT Output option will be available.
Sample Rate & Bit Depth; these are greyed out because this info
embedded in a PT5 file is always used when PT is the source format.
Generate File Copies; This option must be used if you want to convert
SD2 files to wav’s. see Importing a PT5 (Exported from a Mac)
Overwrite Existing Files; By default if you choose to copy media and
the files already exist in the location selected, then AATranslator
doesn’t waste time overwriting what is already there. This option
changes that and allows you replace the audio & video files on disk
with new copies.
Show Empty Tracks; Most people don’t want a load of empty tracks.
But if you do (for example if you have pre-labelled some tracks for later
overdubs) this option allows you to do that.
Reaper EDL Output; This option strips out timeline Pan & Volume
information and deals with the reversed panning in Reaper compared
to Samplitude. At present, Reaper doesn’t support Pan or Volume envelopes/curves or level
automation within an EDL import. They use this part of the EDL to give an overall track volume
gain/loss and give static track based panning.
Samplitude v1.5 Output; Option for users of old software, eg EDL Convert.
If this item is un-ticked, output is v1.6 (AATranslator reads all Samplitude EDL’s inc v1.7)
Reverse PT Track Order; this is a “legacy feature” so you probably won’t need to use it, we used to
have problems with a very few PT5’s in that original tracks 1-9 would display as 9-1 after an
AATranslator conversion.
PT5 Sample Rate x2 Override; This takes the sample rate embedded in a PT session and sets the
destination format to twice that rate.
Combine Split Mono wav files; AATranslator will make standard stereo
interleaved files from pairs of .L &.R wav files and place these in a folder called “Stereo”. But these
will not be placed in the destination session, the reason being PT can have totally different
Panning, Volume and Mute automation on the 2 halves of a stereo track and it is impossible to
auto-merge this data to be valid for a single stereo file. So to preserve all the automation 2 mono
files will be placed in the destination DAW. If as is often the case 1 set of automation can be made
valid for a stereo track/file you can replace the 2 mono files with 1 stereo one, then delete the
redundant track.
How to use high sample rates for versions of PT that support a max of 48k
(an example using a 96k PT session originated on a PC & using Wav files)
1) Export your 96k session in Pt5 format as a 48k session (the 96k files will be sample rate
converted to 48k).
2) You will need access to the original 96k files later
3) Open the pt5 file in AATranslator and select PT5 Sample Rate x2 Override.
4) Use the “A Selected Folder” option
to select the location of the 96k
files
If the PT5 file were made on a Mac you will need to take account of the following:-
The files PT makes, will be (a) sample rate converted to 48k, (b) SD2 files & all references within
the session will be to SD2 files. The original 96k files will be either Wav or possibly AIFF. If they
are AIFF convert them to Wav, Wav is the current PT recommendation in any case.
So follow steps 1-3 as above, then select “original paths embedded in selected PT5 file” and get
AATranslator to convert the SD2’s to Wav files and make a new 96k session that refers to Wav
files.
But as the files AATranslator converted are 48k, you will want to replace them with the 96k
originals. For all destination formats, bar Open TL, AATranslator places the media straight in the
“Send To” location you have selected.
If you don’t want to keep the 48k down-converted files you can overwrite them by copying your 96k
files to their location. Or if you want to keep the 48k files, sort the files by extension and move the
48k wav’s to somewhere safe.
Hide PT Unused Tracks; Hides alternate playlists, hidden and inactive tracks.
MAC OSX PT5 Output; will create a pair of files, one the same as a standard AATranslator PC
compatible file & a 2nd file starting ._
You will need both of these files for use on MAC OSX. (more info in the Export to PT5 section)
Importing a PT5 (Exported from a Mac)

There will be a pair of .pt5 files one will start with the characters ._ this is the one to find and run.
(this assumes you saved to FAT16/32 or NTFS)
The way the various files and folders are organised varies a lot between different version of Pro
Tools.
Here is how they are arranged in PT8.0.0
The file shown here called “Copy of 4clip3MonoTr.pt5” is zero bytes long [this is used in Mac OSX,
but is useless to Windows] but if such a file is in the same folder as the wanted file, ._xxxx.pt5,
AATranslator will run the file it needs.
The folder “Renamed Audio Files” contains SD2 format Audio files. Later you will need to “tell”
AATranslator this is where the audio is located. There may also be a Fades folder, which is not
required by AATranslator, and a Video folder, which is.
But here is an example from Mac PT8.0.4

The “wanted” pt5 file is accessed via the folder called __MACOSX. But nothing
else in this folder is of any use at all to a PC {there maybe other sub-folders called “Fades”,
“Video” etc, all of them of no
use to a PC}. Likewise the
2nd instance of “Gerrit Mac”
is of no use to a PC, (it is
zero Bytes in length). But the
wanted SD2 Audio is to be
found in it’s sub-folder. If
there is a wanted Video file it would be here too, in a sub-folder.
There are a few variants of these 2 layouts; but to re-cap what AATranslator needs is
A .pt5 file starting with “._” {and this may well be accessed via a folder called __MACOSX}
A folder of .SD2 audio files (& possibly a Video file) that do NOT start with “._”
In any instance where there are a pair of ._ & plain files, in the same folder you can click on either
of these and AATranslator will know which one to use.
If you were to re arrange the files as they are in PT8.0.4 to be as they were in PT8.0.0
A Mac running Ver8.0.4 will be able to open the session just fine. Well you may have to re-link to
the audio files.
But if you have a pt5 “save” from a Mac that was NOT saved to a PC style disk you may have a
xxx.bin or even xxx.rsrc or xxxx.frk file. AATranslator can use these too.
1) if there is a xxx.pt5 file + a xxx.bin file pair, in the same folder, AATranslator will just open
this pair.
2) If you re-name a single xxx.bin, xxx.rsrc or xxxx.frk file to be xxx.pt5, then AATranslator will
be able to convert these too.
Choose your output format, Select “Generate File Copies” then “Generate Output”. This will
convert the SD2 files to Wav’s (In the very unlikely event you want the audio files to remain in SD2
format, don’t click on “Generate File Copies”.) .
If you had chosen “Look for Source Files in….Original Location”:-
1) This box will appear when you click Generate Output
Clicking “Yes” will take you

straight to the location of
your PT5.
2) Select the audio folder which probably will be close by, in the case of Ex PT8.0.0 files it will be
called “Renamed Audio Files”
3) The SD2 files will be converted to WAV,s and

you will see the information box below. Note the
FPS rate shown will be that in the original
session file and not a forced “Override (PT5)”
rate if you were to use that option.
Note as always the copied/converted files will go
to the “Send output to…” location you have
previously selected.
If at stage (1) you had clicked “no”

meaning use existing “Selected
Folder” Location, then when you
click on Generate Output you will
go straight to this “Details” box.
Export to PT5 using AATranslator
Important
ProTools has some simple but VERY Specific requirements, all files must be:-
1) mono (AATranslator will convert any stereo PCM wav files)
2) either all 16bit or all 24bit (you must check, AATranslator will not do this for you)
3) all the same Sample Rate (you must check, AATranslator will not do this for you)
Select source session, and “Export to… Pro Tools PT5”. The settings and options you may need to
set are the ones shown below, that are not “greyed out”.
FPS; will be read from the source session, where available. But you will need to set this if coming
from:- Audition XML, Steinberg Track Archive XML, Capture,
Adobe/Syntrillium SES, Samplitude EDL, Vegas TXT, Ardour. A few
OMF’s don’t carry fps data either, but a pop-up info box will let you
know when this happens.
Sample Rate; will be read from the source session, where available.
You will need to set this if coming from:- Tracktion or Vegas TXT.
Note all files in a PT session must have the same sample rate.
AATranslator does Not sample rate convert files.
Bit Depth: Note all files used in a PT session must have the
same Bit depth, either 16 or 24bit. (the32bit setting is for other
destination session formats). Beware PT is the only DAW with this
limitation, all other Daw’s allow multiple bit rates. AATranslator does
Not convert the Bit depth of source files. You will need to select a
(single) bit depth if coming from:- Audition XML, Steinberg Track
Archive XML, Capture, Adobe/Syntrillium SES, Samplitude EDL,
Vegas TXT, Tracktion, or Ardour.
Generate File Copies; this is the best option to use as standard
practice,
for a number of reasons.
Eg: the Convert Stereo to Mono (and copy stereo original) option is
engaged automatically when you generate file copies, all “Linear PCM”, Wav stereo files will be
split to 2 mono files. If you don’t “copy”, all stereo files will remain stereo, thus you will create an
“illegal” PT5 file that PT can’t open!
All files in a PT session Must, All be, either 16bit or 24bit, and “Linear PCM”, a mixture of AIF’s &
Wav’s is fine but no compressed Aiff or Wav files or MP3’s, WMA, Apple lossless etc.
If you know all files fit the PT requirements, fine, however if there are files PT takes exception to,
but the source app is happy with it is far better to have some copies to mess with, rather than your
precious original files.
Eg most DAW’s use 32bit float files, which are superior to what PT can handle, you would be very
ill advised to downgrade your original files.
Digital nerd note; one aspect of a “float” format is it allows volume values way above the max a
Integer format can handle, with an integer format as PT uses, as soon as you try to go beyond 0dB
full scale the audio clips & becomes unrecoverably distorted. So a better option would be to have
copies of these files, then “normalize” them to 0dB or a bit less, say -0.1dB, then batch convert to
24bit integer. A great program to do this sort of job is Adobe Audition, though there are other apps
that can do this too.
Overwrite Existing Files; By default if you choose to copy media and the files already exist in the
location selected, then AATranslator doesn’t waste time overwriting what is already there. This
option changes that and allows you replace the audio & video files on disk with new copies.
MAC OSX PT5 Output; will create pair of files, (dual forked in Mac jargon). The dual fork idea is to
be able to store or transport the information a Mac needs via disks that are not of the special HFS
or HFS+ format that are native to Macs. Eg using FAT32, FAT16 or NTFS (NTFS can be read in
OSX but not written to).
One of the 2 files AATranslator creates is the same as a standard AATranslator PC compatible file
& the 2nd file starting ._ (contains “resource fork” info Macs need).
You need both of these files for use on Mac OSX.
The recommended method is simply save straight to the removable media you will use on the Mac.
Or create a folder in your “Send Output to..” location and copy the whole folder. (this is assuming
you are running AATranslator on a PC)
If you are running AATranslator on a Mac using say Parallels or VMWare this will work the same
as if using a PC. The files will be saved to the Windows file system part of your Mac. When the
double fork files are run in OSX [eg by opening them in P’tools] the files are automatically
understood & the result can be saved on any disk on your Mac.
Using Wine for OSX to run AATranslator

You will need to run a “script” to glue the double fork pair into a form to save on a Mac native,
HFS+ disk.
How to install & use AppleDouble dot_clean.scpt

When you install AATranslator, “AppleDouble dot_clean.scpt” can be found in the same location as
the AATranslator program or “EXE”.
Browse your Mac hard drive for:-

/yourHD/Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts (or just search for the folder "Folder Action Scripts").
This folder will already have some scripts (.scpt files) in it. Simply add this new one to what is there.
Create a new folder, called say, AAT_PT5Conversions.
Later save all of your AATranslator pt5 conversions to this folder.
In OSX, control click (or right click) on that folder and select Enable Folder Actions.
Right Click on that same folder, select Attach a Folder Action
Select AppleDouble dot_clean.scpt
That’s it, now any 2 file, double fork pairs generated by AATranslator will be combined into 1 as
soon as they are written to that folder. Note the media files are not touched.
For more information see

http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/01/30/folder-actions-for-os-x-explained-with-real-world-examples/
For those used to writing Apple Script, the source code is at the end of this document.
Many (well almost all) session formats such as Reaper & Steinberg Track Archive can
have both clip (region) based and Timeline based automation envelopes. PT only has
timeline (track) automation. If you Don’t select this option the original timeline auto’ will be
converted to PT timeline automation.
If you select the option, then only clip/region based automation gets converted. (see
“Session capabilities searchable Table.xls”, for details of what data is supported by various
Daw’s & session formats.)
Housekeeping hints
Assuming you open a PT5 session in PT Vers 7, 8 or 9, ProTools will convert the .pt5 to .ptf
format, create a “Fades” folder and fade files from the fade info contained in the pt5.
At that point it’s wise to save your .ptf & very likely the media too. ProTools can happily transfer
files from a wide variety of storage “disks” even including really slow ones like CDR’s. The choice
of PT approved disk types for editing, recording, mixing etc, narrows considerably however,
particularly if you want to interchange between Mac & PC.
If you are running AATranslator via Wine for OSX, and you have created a single “X-fer folder” it’s
suggested you treat this folder as a temporary location. That is, having opened – converted to PTF,
you save the session +media, then clean/trash the contents of the “Temp” folder.
Though attaching a script to a folder is not that hard, so Wine for OSX users could use way more
than 1 destination folder.
Video and PT5

A pt5 session can contain a single video file placed at any point on the timeline. The whole file will
play there being no possibility to trim the start or end points.
AATranslator will look for the video file specified in the PT session, in a folder called “Video Files”
in the location of your pt5 file.
Note a limitation with AATranslator V4 when writing a PT5 file and copying media, is that all the
media including video will be sent to the “Send Output to “ location. You may have to re-link to the
single video file when you run your converted session. Or for most versions of PT you could create
a folder called “Video Files” in the location of your pt5 file and move the video file to there.
Video Notes
Apple QuickTime is the native format for Apple Final Cut Pro (FCP) & very common for exports
from Avid NLE systems and is the main technology used within Pro Tools and most video files
exported from PT will be xx.Mov files.
Essentially a QT “Movie” is a wrapper for a wide range of data types and this includes data with PC
origins like an AVI & for audio, a Wav or WMA.
Generally video formats will use some form of Data Compression such as DV, mpeg-4, H.264, and
these will require a suitable Codec and if the data is wrapped in a MOV “wrapper” and you are
using a PC the codecs will need to be specific QT codecs, IE none of the codecs available via the
MS operating system will be usable in QT for Windows.
An example; an AVI can in much the same way as a Mov use a wide variety of Codecs, many of
these come with the Windows operating system, or get installed when a video aware program is
installed on your PC and other Codecs can be downloaded for free & some more exotic types can
be bought. So on a PC if you want to play an AVI, the Codec required is specified in the header of
the AVI file and if it is on your system the file will play.
The same is true if an AVI is wrapped in a MOV wrapper, but now there will need to be a specific
Apple QT codec available. Again many come with either the Mac OS or in Quick Time for
Windows, a free download from Apple. Microsoft offer free downloads of QT codecs for WMA
(Windows Media Audio) and WMV (Windows Media Video) but other more exotic types like “Apple
Pro-Res” will have to be bought.
QT Mov support is clearly very important (Mac’s may be only 2% of the computer market but are
way more than 2% significant in Film/Video production). So realising this reality most of the latest
versions of PC based DAW’s do support QT. A slight downside is that QT for Windows performs
significantly less well than QT on a Mac (which works rather well).
Now if you have a very powerful PC this may not matter, if not it is probably worth converting the
video files into an AVI based format, that will likely run way better on a PC.
To do this one needs to buy the Apple QT Pro upgrade $29.99 in the USA, rather more in the UK,
but it enables the editing including export functions locked within the free QT player.
Then having exported as an AVI you can then use PC specific codecs.
There is a wonderful (and free) PC prog called Virtualdub, http:/www.virtualdub.org that can
convert & modify AVI files to the best format for a PC based DAW.
As to the “best format” the thing to bear in mind is for most users getting the data rate (IE bits/sec)
down to low value is really not that important.
Most computers can shift a fair amount of data with little problem. What you probably want to avoid
however, is very “clever” formats that may very well be able to deliver quite viewable images using
a bad Internet connection but are so complex they take a big CPU hit.
So for moving images with audio on a DAW, go for formats like DV that encode each frame
completely, regardless of the fact that a lot of detail may not actually change from 1 frame to
another (IE in a 24th to a 30th of a second).
“Clever” low bit rate but quite good looking compression systems like DivX say, work by fully
encoding a “key-frame” then only using some more data to update what has changed between
frames. Great if you hit play then watch, but rather bad if you want to “spot” or tie sounds to a
particular frame.
Sorry but this is a complex subject and I suspect these notes are already too long for many to
appreciate.
Limitations, or why isn’t a conversion from format “A” the same in format “B”?
1) Like all programs AATranslator is not perfect.
2) The way DAW’s & NLE’s handle essentially the same information varies so Massively, our
priority is to preserve as much vital information as possible. The downside of this is there
maybe duplicated or seemingly redundant tracks & clips on a conversion.
Eg. Track types

ProTools uses only mono files and in versions later than v5, place these in highly specific track
type “wrappers”. Mono, Stereo, 3track LCR, 4 track LCRS, 4 track L&R front + L&R Rear, and it
works well.
But no other Daw’s do it this way.

Reaper has NO track types at all. Any data can go on a track, Mono, Stereo or multi-channel/poly
audio up to 64 channels, MIDI or Video. You can mix data types on one track if you wish with any
sample or bit rate, and use compressed formats like MP3, etc.
Audition v3 is almost as liberal as this. It can have a mixture of mono and stereo files on one
track. And has four track types, Audio, Video, MIDI and Busses.
Sony Vegas has a very flexible way of dealing with mono/stereo file issues. And poly or multi-
channel files too.
Two channel or stereo files stay as interleaved files and when imported into the timeline behave as
a linked/grouped stereo pair, placed on a pair of tracks, so in many ways, appear very much like
PT does with 2 mono “grouped” files.
But L&R can be un-linked and then treated just as though they are 2 separate (mono) files. This
includes separate time positions, volume panning, the lot.
The way AATranslator deals with this, when converting to Pro Tools is the underlying stereo file will
be converted to a PT style .L&R mono files pair as is essential, but these will both appear twice, IE
what “looked” like 2 mono tracks in Vegas will become 4 mono tracks in PT. Sorry there seems no
way out of this, but the Vegas 2 “virtual” mono tracks will be panned hard L&R, and/or have the
correct Pan, Volume, mute etc automation applied to each half. IE it will play exactly as per the
Vegas original in PT.
To repeat, Vegas allows different level, pan & fades on each (mono) half of a stereo file, and this
will also be read & applied to an AATranslator conversion to PT.
Sorry, but when converting to some formats there may be duplicated tracks – please Mute/Delete
what is not wanted. [We would far rather have unwanted duplication than any omissions].
PT vers 6.4 & later allows for a maximum of 12dB of gain with the volume automation and versions
before v6.4, 6dB’s. AATranslator passes on any gain adjustments in the original session unaltered.
The way amounts of gain in excess of 6dB will be handled when a PT5 file is imported into various
later versions of ProTools & other PT5 aware software is very variable. You may need to trim the
volume after you have imported the pt5. Or if the conversion is rejected by PT modify the source
session to have no gain greater than 6dB.
Wine, AppleDouble dot_clean.scpt, source codeXML Session Files
on adding folder items to this_folder

do shell script ("dot_clean --keep=dotbar " & quoted form of POSIX path
of this_folder)
end adding folder items to
XML Sessions
The file extension XML is very widely used; for Session/Project files but also a whole mass of other
audio & non-audio related duties.
AATranslator version 4 can read and write 6 distinct types of XML based session files. And read
Mackie .tracktion files
When writing a new session file, the letters shown in the next column Added to
are added to the original file name → original
file name
Steinberg "Track Archives" from Nuendo or Cubase -AAT-S
Adobe Audition v3 XML session files -AAT-A
Sony Vegas XML; we can both read & write the less well featured Sony Vegas -AAT-V
TXT EDL format too
PreSonus Capture & Studio One -AAT-C
Apple FCP and Logic Pro (also Pyramix & Adobe Premier CS4 &5) -AAT-F
Ardour, Harrison X-dubber, Indamixx -AAT-R
XML Steinberg Track Archive

Note a Steinberg track archive is called “Selected Tracks” in the Cubendo Export menu & “Track
Archive” in the Import menu.
Export; Select required Audio tracks and Video track. File > Export > Selected Tracks. Note do not
select any Group, MIDI or the Marker track (it’s not included in an export).
Important; Any audio “parts” must be converted to “events”

Select all (Ctrl A on a PC) - Audio > Dissolve parts.
MIDI can be contained within a track archive but is not supported by AATranslator.
Do a separate export of MIDI data to the particular needs of your destination DAW.
Import; Track Archives must be added to an open Project, this can be an existing one, IE you can
append to a Project, or you can add an Archive to a blank project. It is important you choose the
correct Project Sample Rate, otherwise events will play at the wrong speed! You will also need to
set the FPS & offsets in the receiving Cubendo project.
To import; File > Import > Track Archive
XML Audition v3
Export; Go to File > Save session as and choose XML. Note if your
source audio is scattered all over your Hard Disks it may be a
good idea to use the “Save copies” option too.
AA XML is a native format, so contains all the considerable
amount of information that is in an Audition Session.
XML Sony Vegas Script
There are 2 script files, which are copied to the folder where you installed AATranslator.
Eg
c:\Program Files\Suite Spot Studios\AATranslator\Export AATranslator XML.cs
c:\Program Files\Suite Spot Studios\AATranslator\Import AATranslator XML.cs.
They need to be copied to your Vegas program

Eg if using Vegas Pro 10.0 & a normal install "C:\ProgramFiles\Sony\Vegas Pro 10.0\Script Menu"
These AATranslator scripts enhance the scripts that were included in versions of Vegas till V9
Not at all obvious; to Import or Export Vegas XML’s, go to

'Tools', then 'Scripting' in the Vegas menu bar.
Export; Tools > Scripting >Export AATranslator XML

Import; Tools > Scripting >Import AATranslator XML
Or for Vegas 9 & before

Export; Tools > Scripting >Export XML
Import; Tools > Scripting >Import XML
Will work, but with no track volume or track pan
XML Apple Final Cut Pro

Export from FCP; File > Export > XML (then OK)
If the suggested name is not to your liking Eg “Untitled” give it a sensible name.
You will have the option to save in various versions of “Apple XML Interchange Format, version n”.
AATranslator can (we believe) convert from any format from 1 till 5, though version 1 is
recommended and will contain all that is required.
Note currently we only support a Project containing a single “Sequence” not projects made up of
multiple or “ nested” sequences
Import; File > Import > XML (ok) This will use the default options which are probably the best
choice.
Import options
Format: default option is to “Create New Project”, you can also append to any already open
project via the “Destination” box.
The “Settings” box will show your FCP default setting, best leave this as is, unless you know the
video file(s) in an AATranslator export has different attributes.
Options: again the default settings should be fine. Consult your FCP documentation if you want to
do fancy stuff like linking to Hi-Res video files rather than a rendered QT Movie the sound
designers used. Hint for this untick “include sequence settings”
You may get a “Warning: Non-critical errors” message, they’re not critical so just ignore them.
Note AATranslator exports in vers 1 format so is (or should be) acceptable to all versions of FCP.
Tip: if the media is shown as “offline” you can use the function “Reconnect Media” to re-link the
files to where you have them on your Mac.
Export fromLogic Pro; Choose File > Export > Project to Final Cut Pro/XML.
Note: Audio Instrument tracks will be bounced to audio files. MIDI tracks are ignored, each track
will be rendered with Fades and X-fades to a single stereo or mono file as appropriate.
Import; to Logic Pro (7 to 9)

File > Import, then choose the file in the Import dialogue
Or select XML file in the Browser, then click Open.
These 2 File formats are XML based but don’t use the .XML file extension
PreSonus Capture & Studio One (.capture)

AATranslator can read & write the native format for PreSonus Capture. Though it is a type of XML
file it has a .capture file extension. The .capture format can also be read by PreSonus Studio One.
Files generated by AATranslator have “-AAT-C.capture” appended to the source file name.
.Adour Format
Ardour use an XML based native format, this time with a .ardour file extension.
Ardour files generated by AATranslator have “-AAT-R.ardour” appended to the source file name.
For more details of the Ardour DAW for Linux & Mac OSX, see http://ardour.org. Note
AATranslator works perfectly in WINE (Crossover pro 9 and WINE 1.2 that is packaged with
Ubuntu. It should run fine on any recent version of WINE for OSX as well.
Features currently supported

-Tracks and regions, placed exactly as they were in the original session.
-Gain
-Pan
-Envelope Gain automation
-track pan automation
-fades in and out
-Crossfades
Thanks to Peter Celentano for exhaustive testing of AATranslator’s Ardour functions.
General Considerations for maximum compatibility.

There are basic and fundamental differences in the way different DAW’s and Video editors (NLE’s)
work. Native formats (Eg Reaper’s RPP & Audition’s SES & XML) tend to be well defined and
predictable, at the other extreme OMF has huge differences between different manufacturer’s
implementations and even just different versions from the same maker. We have managed to trap
a large number of these differences but see later for more detailed info to help you understand the
issues involved.
“Illegal” characters in filenames

In practice you are only likely to have characters not be accepted when converting between files
made using different operating systems or an interchange format like OMF that has very differing
implementations between versions.
Eg apart from an OMF made in PARIS that can have a “/” in a name (a mistake on their part) it is
unlikely any Mac or PC DAW will allow you to have a / in a filename and if a filename is derived
from a track name like “B/voc”, the “/” will likely be auto-replaced with an underscore “_”.
But it can happen.
The ultra high compatible naming approach, which should not be necessary in most cases, is to
just use a-z 0-9 _ with no spaces, a mixture of upper & lowercase is fine and should make for
better readability.
/ : \ should be avoided at all times (they are basic to Mac OS 9, OSX and Windows)
If you have difficulties going to or from Apple XML or OMF it is further recommended you avoid [ ] {
} . , ( ) | < > ! * ? ; “ ‘ & ^ # and the space char. Note the Dot . char will as always be used to
separate the name from it’s extension but other than that use should also be avoided.
Some OMF’s can have a wide range of acceptable characters including spaces others will use
what are called “escaped characters”. Eg a space will be coded as %20% and it is often far from
clear what system or mixture of systems are in use.
The sure way to get round these particular issues is to use the ultra high compatible naming
approach. With probably the ( ) - and . being ok too.
It is generally advised to do some tests particularly if going between a NLE from Avid or Apple and
a DAW. And is absolutely vital if using OMF.
Stereo files
There are two approaches when it comes to dealing with two channel or stereo recordings.
1) Interleaved; the Left & Right channels become one WAV file (or AIFF, WMA, MP3 etc)
2) Dual mono; the L&R channels are two separate mono recordings.
With some cleverness it is quite practical to bind or link these within a DAW so they behave like an
interleaved file.
Eg a cut, will cut both channels & a fade will be applied to both the L&R halves & the two halves
stay in phase. This can be extended to surround formats too. An advantage is the basic audio file
is always mono.
A disadvantage is common media players such as Quicktime & Windows Media Player can’t
handle this format. Also whilst all DAWs can use mono files, having stereo as two mono files can
compromise operations on many DAWs. (or more succinctly, be a PITA)
The 18 formats AATranslator V4 can handle

XML Audition V3 Stereo Interleaved ** It's quite possible to have an ADL with
XML Vegas Stereo Interleaved interleaved stereo or even multi-channel
XML FinalCutPro Stereo Interleaved audio but the way this ADL will be
interpreted will be very dependent on the
XML Steinberg Stereo Interleaved
host DAW. Most assume mono files are
XML PreSonus Stereo Interleaved used.
ADL AES-31 Mono bar Nuendo/Wavelab which The safest option is to convert all stereo files
uses Stereo Interleaved ** to 2xmono L&R files.
EDL Samplitude Stereo Interleaved
EDL CMX3600 Mono, Stereo or Poly The same is even more true for OMF files,
RPP Reaper Stereo Interleaved which have huge variations between one
TL Open TL Mono {but “illegal” TL files with implementation and another.
Stereo audio can be used
sometimes –see below} There are a few methods used to indicate 2
TXT Vegas EDL Stereo Interleaved mono files are in reality a stereo pair.
PT5 ProTools v5 Mono Pro Tools (generally)adds .L or .R to a file
name
PTF ProTools 7-9 Mono
Eg if a stereo file called Drum.wav is
VIP Samplitude Stereo Interleaved imported into PT, 2 files called Drum.L.wav &
SES CEP/Audition Stereo Interleaved Drum.R.wav are created.
Ardour Stereo Interleaved
Tracktion Stereo Interleaved The AATranslator Copy & split function uses
OMF Stereo Interleaved possible but not the same method (or Syntax).
recommended or commonly used. Poly files not Avid use filename_L.wav, and there several
unknown (eg Lightworks) other methods in use.
If the coding syntax is understood by the host DAW or NLE; It becomes possible to audition files in
stereo and easy to place both files together on a Stereo track.
Otherwise they are just regarded as any other mono files. It is generally possible create empty
stereo tracks & place the appropriate L&R files in them, but this can be very laborious.
Because of this it is recommended that if possible splitting is done on the Mono centric machine,
before a conversion to another format is done.
Multi-channel or Poly Audio files
Note the following naming will be used when referring to a single audio file
Mono; 1 audio “channel” or track.
Stereo; 2 channels of audio, also called Interleaved Stereo, or by others, may be called a 2
channel Poly.
Poly; (polyphonic) more than 2 channels of audio in a single file. Also known as Multi-track or multi-
channel.
Sony Vegas
Audio tracks can contain mono, stereo or poly files but these can be displayed & used as though
they were mono or stereo tracks (poly tracks too but this is V unusual). The either mono or stereo
and perhaps “virtual” “source files” can be sent to either a Stereo or “5.1” output buss/mix.
Reaper
Audio tracks can contain mono, stereo or poly files (up to 64 chan). Stereo & Poly files can be
“exploded” which will create a “folder” containing n Mono tracks/virtual files. It is also possible to
“Implode” a selection of tracks to a poly.
A Vegas XML or EDL (.TXT) file imported into Reaper will ignore any channel selection done in the
Vegas session. Eg if in a Vegas session, chan 1&2 of a 6 chan wav, were selected to be track 1, in
Reaper all 6 channels would be in track 1.
Audition can handle a session with poly files, it will split them into n’ mono channels.
Track types
DAWs that use only mono files will place these in highly specific track type “wrappers”. Mono,
Stereo, 3track LCR, 4 track LCRS, 4 track L&R front + L&R Rear, etc. ProTools does this and it
works well.
At the other extreme Reaper has NO track types at all. Any data can go on a track, Mono, Stereo
or multi-channel audio, MIDI or Video. You can mix data types on one track if you wish.
Audition v3 is almost as liberal as this. It can have a mixture of mono and stereo files on one
track. And has four track types, Audio, Video, MIDI and Busses.
Sony Vegas has a very flexible way of dealing with mono/stereo file issues.
Two channel or stereo files stay as interleaved files and when imported into the timeline behave as
a linked/grouped stereo pair, placed on a pair of tracks.
But L&R can be un-linked and then treated as though they are 2 separate (mono) files.
The way AATranslator deals with this, when converting to other formats is;
the underlying stereo file will appear twice, on the 2 “tracks” as named in Vegas. So, you will see 2
stereo tracks on destination formats that have this possibility.
If the destination format allows track panning, the 2 tracks will be panned hard L&R, thus playing
only the left or right info. IE it will play exactly as per the Vegas original.
As in the above example, only either the L or R channel is used, with many DAW’s it’s V easy to
convert or just display/use part of a stereo file as mono.
Vegas allows different level, pan & fades on each (mono) half of a stereo file, and this will also be
read & applied to an AATranslator conversions.
.
For mono-centric formats like PT or wherever tracks are “split” during export, what started as a
single stereo “Vegas” track will become 4 mono tracks.
Sorry, but when converting to some formats there may be duplicated tracks/info – please
Mute/Delete what is not wanted. [We would far rather have unwanted duplication than any
omissions].
Nuendo, Stereo files & the AES31 format

There is a special use of the AES31, ADL that Steinberg use to enable stereo files to remain
interleaved.
The SSL Pro Convert program also uses the same method for handling stereo files for an AES-31
export. IE it can’t export standard ADL’s.
Otherwise I’m not aware of any programs that use this syntax, any corrections/additions/knowledge
is most certainly welcome, though.
AATranslator can recognize this method too, so unlike most programs and DAW’s it will
understand if there are Interleaved Stereo files in a “Nuendo” ADL. So you can use the “Safe” high
compatibility AATranslator option of converting all Stereo wav files to Mono if you wish. This
includes using AATranslator to do a Nuendo ADL to Standard ADL conversion.
Note AATranslator can only split PCM wav files.
It is possible with some workflows to….

Keep these Stereo Files Interleaved
If you started with a Nuendo session like this:-
Two Stereo tracks with Stereo files
Tr1 Body Stereo File on a stereo track
Tr2 Body2 Stereo File on a stereo track
The tracklist inside of an ADL exported from Nuendo (or SSL
Neuendo ADL
Pro Convert) would look like this
Tr1 Body-L
Tr2 Body-R
Tr3 Body2-L
Tr4 Body2-R
If you convert this “Nuendo” ADL using, AATranslator set to:- “Convert Stereo To Mono” = OFF
The result is:
track To AA-XML, EDL or RPP Result in Audition, So due largely to the fact that Reaper,
output Track names Samplitude or Audition, Vegas and Samplitude, etc are
Reaper etc equally happy with a stereo as against a
1 Body-L Stereo File mono WAV, on a track, this works well.
2 Body-R blank track
The names may look a bit odd and there are
3 Body2-L Stereo file
some blank tracks to delete though.
4 Body2-R blank track
Not quite so ideal, but usable
An ADL created using AATranslator from any source format using Stereo Interleaved files, [and
NOT using the “Safe” option of converting all Stereo files to Mono], will seem to load well in
Nuendo.
But:~
Stereo files will be placed on mono tracks. This can be resolved (or cured) by copying or moving
{Eg copy-paste onto a set of initially blank stereo tracks.
A better option here maybe to use Steinberg XML as your AATranslator export format.
Keeping Stereo Files Interleaved – from TL & OMF originals

The same idea of Reaper, Audition, Vegas and Samplitude not caring if an audio file is Stereo or
Mono, can be used with sessions sourced from Open TL or OMF.
Eg, an “Illegal” TL, containing stereo files can be understood by AATranslator, SSL ProConvert &
also Logic directly.
AATranslator used to convert such an “Illegal” TL will work very well if you are converting to
Reaper, Audition, Vegas or Samplitude, [and be odd or mess-up badly going to some other
formats].
OMF’s containing Stereo Interleaved files are rare but as above they can successfully be
converted to suitable destination formats.
Bit Depth (rate):

Audition, Samplitude, Reaper, Nuendo, Pyramix, Vegas v9/10 and others can all use 32bit float
files.
A few programs can only deal with a maximum resolution of 24bit. Most DAW’s can handle mixed
bit rates with no conversion.
Pro Tools is the only DAW that has to have all files at the same bit rate (either 16 or 24bit)
Ignoring 64bit, which some DAW’s can do, here is a table of the max sample rate used for the18
formats AATranslator V4 can handle
* Early versions of Vegas were 24bit Integer maximum. The SSL ProConvert program can export in
Vegas vers 3, to 5, with a maximum of 24bit output. V9/10 with 32bit float files can be imported and will stay
as 32bit for conversion to other formats. But Export to Vegas will be limited to 24bit.
AATranslator is 32bit capable on Vegas import & Export. But we just extract, convert or reference
to, what is in the source files, we leave it to the user to determine if what is there is suitable for the
intended destination format.
ProTools is the only DAW that needs all files to be of the same bit rate, 16 or 24bit integer. Audition
labels this as 24bit packed int (type1, 24-bit).
type Max Bit rate

** Logic can handle a maximum of 24 bit Int for a TL
XML Audition V3 32bit Float import.
XML Apple FCP 24bit Integer *** It is possible to have OMF files using 32bit audio, but
XML Vegas 32bit Float * these are not common or widely readable by most DAW’s
XML Steinberg 32bit Float or NLE’s.
Capture Capture 32bit Float
XML Ardour 32bit Float Truth is 16bit & 24bit integer are the dominant formats,
ADL AES-31 32bit Float eg as used in the most widely used DAW, ProTools. 32bit
EDL Samplitude 32bit Float Float type 3 is very widely used too, outside the PT
world, so may be a good choice for many, all other 32 &
EDL CMX3600 Any, not specified
64bit formats have patchy support. (they have their merits
RPP Reaper 32bit Float but are best avoided for easy interchange)
TL Open TL 32bit Float **
TXT Vegas EDL 32bit Float * 32bit throughout the production phase, then a conversion
PT5 ProTools v5 24bit Integer to 24bit for mixing, has a lot to commend it as a workflow;
PTF ProTools 7-9 24bit Integer particularly if there is a fair bit of modification of the
Tracktion Tracktion 32bit Float source files during the production process.
SES CEP/Audition 32bit Float
Inside a DAW all signal modification, (DSP, or Digital
VIP Samplitude 32bit Float Signal Processing) involves maths, algorithms, which
OMF Avid OMFI 24bit Integer *** may be quite complex. Inevitably there will be “rounding
errors”. [Eg 10 div by 3 = an infinite number! So in the real world the value will have to be
rounded, to an approximate value). Now the more bits you have the smaller will be these
inevitable errors. The advantage of seemingly stupidly high bit rates in a DAW is the sum total of
the quite possibly really huge number of (tiny) errors will not become audible. There is a good
augment that for high quality final replay 16bit is pretty near perfection, and anything > 20bits has
no real, audible advantage at all. So a 24bit conversion from 32bit production tracks for the final
mix will contain and maintain all the quality needed.
IE this is an ideal method for those who (for whatever reasons) choose to use a DAW other than
ProTools for their tracking, editing, processing work, but need to mix in PT.
Going the other direction, working in 24bit or far worse 16bit, then bumping up to 32bit to mix, will
work, but has very little to commend it.
Use PCM WAV files for maximum compatibility

The “Generate File Copies” option in AATranslator, will copy all the files in your project but will not
attempt to "understand" any of the files being copied.
AATranslator can split most stereo interleaved wav files but be aware that Audition is one of the
few apps that can understand a 20bit Wav and a 16.8bit wav is ONLY understood by Cool Edit
Pro and Audition. But the good news is, Audition has no problem converting these rare files to a
more regular 24bit Int format. Note the Batch convert facilities (EV page) in AA make this a simple,
fast and a very high quality option.
It is recommended for best compatibility, that all non PCM WAV files, eg AIFF files & MP3's etc,
are converted to standard WAVs before an export is attempted. This action will get the nearest
thing to a universally understood conversion that we or anyone else can come up with.
Correcting errors by editing a session file

Note ADL, EDL and Vegas TXT files can be edited via the File menu and notepad.
If you feel like editing any other formats we recommend you open them in a Hex editor.
Editing an ADL in Notepad (an example, for the brave)

Clip Mutes & Nuendo V3 and greater
Let us suppose that you may want to mute some clips; for example, for material that may be useful
in a mix but is to be temporarily silenced.
In all versions of Nuendo, an AES import with mutes works fine but on Export for V3 or greater any
muted clips are excluded from the export! This is a feature that some users like but others don’t.
It is quite easy using Notepad to remove all the mutes from an ADL.
1) open the ADL in Notepad.

2) Ctrl H will open the Replace function
3) type "M" in the find box & "_" in replace box. Do include the quotes, this is most important
4) click Replace All
5) Click Save As, enter the name with .ADL at the end and most important select “Save as type”
“All files” if you don’t it will be the same file but have an inappropriate .TXT extension, not the .ADL
needed.
You may want to “Save As” with a revised name.
Note if you are opening an already saved ADL file you can skip stage 5 and just click save, which
will overwrite the original ADL.
How to edit an ADL file with a “path” problem

Eg changing /E/ to be /E:/ This could unlike "a Selected folder” option cope with files at multiple
drive locations.
The section of the ADL where the file paths are stored starts with this:-
<SOURCE_INDEX> & ends with
</SOURCE_INDEX>
The 1st entry will start with something like this
(Index) 0001 (F) "URL:file://localhost/E:/QT Movies/greatest…………….wav”
if the 2nd entry had a path problem it may look like this
(Index) 0002 (F) "URL:file://localhost/e/AATranslator/…wav”
or this
(Index) 0002 (F) "URL:file://localhost/Big_Disk/AATranslator/…wav”
The problem is the Drive or the Disk Partition description. If there are only a few entries then
simply editing /e/ to become /E:/ will work fine. (Either upper or lower case letters can be used here).
Another problem for some programs (Not AATranslator) is if the “URL:” part is written as url:. This
can be corrected by the same methods.
If there are a lot of entries, use the Replace function in notepad. Copy paste into the “Find” box at
the least, /E/ [this will fail if you happened to have a folder called E], so a better method is to
copy/paste a few more characters, eg “localhost/e/AA”.
Paste the same copied text into the “Replace” box, then edit the replace value to be
“localhost/e:/AA” (in this example).
How to edit a Vegas TXT file containing Video to be compatible with Reaper & SSL
ProConvert import
Reaper and SSL ProConvert don't like "VIDEO" as an entry for "MediaType" in a Vegas .txt (EDL)
file, the video event both sound & picture is ignored. Sony Vegas & AATranslator, however, need
this entry.
If the entry ;VIDEO; is changed to ;AUDIO; Reaper will load the video file & extract any sound.
If you look at a Vegas .TXT file as produced by AATranslator (or Vegas) the section to change will
look like the following
"ID";"Track";"StartTime";"Length";"PlayRate";"Locked";"Normalized";"StretchMethod";"Looped";"On
Ruler";"MediaType";"FileName";……..
1; 0; 0.0000; 4320.0000;1.000000;FALSE;FALSE;0;TRUE;FALSE;VIDEO;"D:\JL
Documents\Family\Wedding\Video AVI vers\43_12Aug 16 19.AVI";….
2; 1; 0.0000;
4320.0000;1.000000;FALSE;FALSE;0;TRUE;FALSE;AUDIO;"E:\AATranslator\StereoWAV\Audio
for 43_12Aug 16 19.Wav;…………..
Use the “Replace” function in Notepad, enter ;VIDEO; in the find box & ;AUDIO; in the Replace
box. Note the semi-colons are vital!
"Clip based" as against time-line based concept.

In music production, historically speaking, back in the 1970/80’s & just about 1990’s SSL
automation was the best, surpassing all previous attempts at viable “automation”. As a 24 track
Analog recorder was then the “state of the art” standard, the automation was strictly "time-Line
based" as we would think of it in a DAW, ie all changes happen at a particular moment in time.
And for music this is still just fine a lot of the time.
In a post pro for Film/TV world this makes no/little sense at all. If you have a "clip" and EQ, level
change or whatever, to it - it makes more sense that what you have done is retained, so if you
Copy/Paste to another location it is a good idea the DSP style "instructions" stay attached to the
clip/region/segment - sure you can change them, but the Clip based approach means by default a
clip comes with any modifications you have made. Samplitude call this "Clip based" idea, "Object"
based editing and is central to their concept.
Most DAWs (well all bar Pro Tools) have clip-based features such as fades, gain/loss, Volume &
Pan envelopes and Mutes. One of the challenges we have faced is converting between clip based
& timeline {aka “keyframe”} based automation.
Audition is a good example of a clip-based DAW.
To change Clip values in Adobe Audition click on a clip and type Ctrl H (or right mouse click).
Notice how the envelopes (Volume light green and Pan Blue) are not the same as the clip values,
though in Audition these envelopes are also tied to the clip and not the timeline.
There is in addition entirely timeline based automation tracks as a 3rd means of altering level, pans
and mutes.
The clip values are shown on the clip however to let you know what is happening. As are lock
status and clip mute status.
When volume values are being modified by use of clip based

automation the Track volume control behaves as a constant
trim/boost control to all the clips on that track. Where timeline
automation is used either on it’s own or in combination with
clip based
automation the Track
volume control
behaves in the same
way if no dynamic
volume envelopes
are written. When
track Volume
envelopes are
written the Track
volume control will
vary to show the
level at the cursor
position.
Display issues using

Windows 7 (x64)
Fix: try running
AATranslator in XP
compatibility mode.
Data, info tables

Avid NLE’s Partial list
Year OS Name Ver Notes/Major Features

sion
1989 Macintosh Avid/1 First Avid. Mac based, becomes Media
Composer
1992 Macintosh Film Composer First true 24-frame capture, editing, and
playback system
1995 Mac OS 7.5 Media Comp 5.5 Last version to run on Macintosh 68K
hardware
1999 Mac OS 7.6 to Media Comp 7.2 Last version on ABVB hardware.
8.6
1999 Mac OS 8.5.1 Media Comp 8 First version based on Meridien hardware.
Uncompressed SD video.
1999 Win NT4 Media Comp 9 First Media Composer release on
Windows NT 4.0 (Meridien)
2000 WinNT/Mac OS9 Media Comp 10 SD 24p support for Meridien on Mac
2001 Win2K/Mac OS9 Media Comp 11 Support for Windows 2000
2002 Win2000 Media Comp 11 Marquee integrated (Windows only)
Feb-03 Mac OSX Media Comp 12 First version to support Mac OS X
May-03 Win2000 Adrenaline 1 First version of Media Composer
Mac OS X MC Adrenaline
Nov-03 Win2000 Media Comp 12 Last version of Media Composer on
Mac OS X Meridien hardware
Sep-04 WinXP Adrenaline 1.5 MXF support, Marquee on Mac
Mac OSX MC
Dec-04 WinXP Adrenaline 2 HD support, 10-bit video, SpectraMatte
MC keyer, AVX2
Mar-05 WinXP Adrenaline 2.1 P2 support, XDCam support
MC
Dec-05 WinXP Adrenaline 2.2 HDV support
MC
May-06 Win XP (Mac?) Xpress Pro discontinued 2008
Jun-06 WinXP Adrenaline 2.5 HD on Mac, Media Composer soft, Mojo
Mac OSX MC and Mojo SDI support, XDCam HD,
Tracker
Sep-06 WinXP Adrenaline 2.6 Interplay, Color Safe Limiter effect
Mac OSX MC
Mar-07 DNxHD36 DNxHD36, low-bandwidth HD
compression rate for offline editing
May-07 WinXP/Mac OS Adrenaline 2.7 MacPro (Intel) support, ScriptSync, P2 /
X MC XDCam writeout
Dec-07 WinXP Adrenaline 2.8 VC-1/MXF (SMPTE 421M) support
Mac OSX MC
Jun-08 WinXP Adrenaline 3 DX hardware support, new render engine
Mac OSX MC (better multi-threading and GPU support),
RT timecode generator, SubCap effect,
AVC-I codec support
Sep-08 WinXP Adrenaline 3.1 XDCAM 50mb format, DNA hardware on
Mac OSX MC MacOS 10.5.5, RED workflow support
Dec-08 WinXP Adrenaline 3.1.1
Mac OSX MC
Dec-08 WinXP AV Option ? 3.1 Video Satellite option for ProTools (Win
only)
Mar-09 WinXP Adrenaline 3.5 Avid Media Access (AMA) for better file
Mac OS X MC based workflows, FluidStabilizer,
Keyframeable Color
Sep-09 WinXP Adrenaline 4 Mix and Match frame rates on timeline,
Mac OSX MC Expert Decompose, AVC-I writeout,
Macintosh Video Satellite support,
1080p24 (not-PsF) output, HD Ancillary
data support on DX hardware, GFCAM
50mb/100mb support, Stereoscopic
enchantments, updated 3rd party software
bundle
Jun-10 WinXP Adrenaline 5 AMA support for RED, Quicktime and
Mac OSX MC Canon cameras, Matrox MXO2 Mini
output, New 'drag & drop' editing, HD-RGB
support, AVCHD import, SMPTE 436M
support, RTAS audio plug-in support
Quick guide vers 4 ............................................................................................................................................. 2
Append Session Files ................................................................................................................................. 4
Lexicon; The words used in these documents and equivalent words used by various DAW & NLE
manufacturers. ................................................................................................................................................... 5
Options you need to set where cmx-edl is your Source format .................................................................. 6
Frames per Second help ................................................................................................................................... 7
Exporting from FCP..................................................................................................................................... 7
OMF to Æ your format of choice ................................................................................................................. 8
Recommended settings when exporting from various applications ............................................................ 8
Avid (Digidesign) Pro Tools with DigiTranslator 2 Option ........................................................................... 8
Avid Media Composer; Adrenaline ............................................................................................................. 9
Ensonic PARIS OMF................................................................................................................................... 9
Final Cut Pro OMF (Apple).......................................................................................................................... 9
Lightworks OMF ........................................................................................................................................ 10
Premiere Pro CS4 & 5 (Adobe) OMF {export only} .................................................................................. 10
Sonar OMF (Cakewalk Roland) .......................................................................................................................... 10
Steinberg OMF .......................................................................................................................................... 10
Write OMF ................................................................................................................................................. 11
Open TL .................................................................................................................................................... 12
Converting To Open TL............................................................................................................................. 12
ProTools, pt5 (Rev for AATranslator V4) ............................................................................................................. 13
Pro Tools session conversion to & from Reaper; using AATranslator v4 ....................................................... 13
Exporting PT5 files for use in AATranslator..................................................................................................... 14
PT5 file capabilities ...................................................................................................................................... 14
What you should do, to get a GOOD pt5 export ....................................................................................... 14
Other considerations (many re exporting from a Mac) ................................................................................. 16
In the event you hit export problems ......................................................................................................... 16
Importing PT5’s. General Options, see later for Mac, exceptions ................................................................... 17
Options you may need to set, ................................................................................................................... 18
How to use high sample rates for versions of PT that support a max of 48k .................................................. 18
Importing a PT5 (Exported from a Mac) .......................................................................................................... 19
Export to PT5 using AATranslator ............................................................................................................. 21
Important .......................................................................................................................................................... 21
Using Wine for OSX to run AATranslator.................................................................................................. 22
How to install & use AppleDouble dot_clean.scpt..................................................................................... 22
Housekeeping hints................................................................................................................................... 22
Video and PT5 .......................................................................................................................................... 23
Video Notes ............................................................................................................................................... 23
Limitations, or why isn’t a conversion from format “A” the same in format “B”? .............................................. 24
Eg. Track types ................................................................................................................................................ 24
Wine, AppleDouble dot_clean.scpt, source codeXML Session Files ....................................................... 25
XML Sessions ........................................................................................................................................... 25
XML Steinberg Track Archive ................................................................................................................... 25
XML Audition v3 ........................................................................................................................................ 25
XML Sony Vegas Script ............................................................................................................................ 26
XML Apple Final Cut Pro........................................................................................................................... 26
These 2 File formats are XML based but don’t use the .XML file extension ............................................ 27
PreSonus Capture & Studio One (.capture).............................................................................................. 27
.Adour Format ........................................................................................................................................... 27
General Considerations for maximum compatibility. ....................................................................................... 27
“Illegal” characters in filenames ................................................................................................................ 27
Stereo files ....................................................................................................................................................... 28
The 18 formats AATranslator V4 can handle ............................................................................................ 28
Multi-channel or Poly Audio files .................................................................................................................. 29
Track types ...................................................................................................................................................... 29
Nuendo, Stereo files & the AES31 format ....................................................................................................... 30
Keep these Stereo Files Interleaved ............................................................................................................... 30
Neuendo ADL ............................................................................................................................................... 30
Keeping Stereo Files Interleaved – from TL & OMF originals ......................................................................... 30
Bit Depth (rate): ............................................................................................................................................... 31
Use PCM WAV files for maximum compatibility .............................................................................................. 32
Correcting errors by editing a session file .................................................................................................... 32
Editing an ADL in Notepad (an example, for the brave) ........................................................................... 32
How to edit an ADL file with a “path” problem........................................................................................... 32
How to edit a Vegas TXT file containing Video to be compatible with Reaper & SSL ProConvert import 33
"Clip based" as against time-line based concept. ..................................................................................... 33
Data, info tables ............................................................................................................................................... 34
Avid NLE’s Partial list ................................................................................................................................... 34

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News (v4)

Samplitude / Sequoia, VIP (Magix native file format), Import.

Import ProTools session files (ptf) for versions 7, 8 & 9

Improved fade type conversions across most formats

Stereo files in a Sonar OMF can now be split to dual mono.

v3.4) inc 3.4.xx revisions

Quick guide vers 4

Select drive and the folder containing the project or

Select type (extension) of the file

Suggestion; make copies if sending a conversion to someone else.

If you are converting to a Reaper

A tick means AATranslator can find the files required.

Click on “Append Session Files” in the

It is vital you read these notes before using CMX-edl.

CMX.EDL formats come from the era of Video Tape Editing.

Where there is no “clip” info as in the example below,

So for the example above event 1 = BULWARSK_06.38.04.09

Options you need to set where cmx-edl is your Source format

Select drive and

Suggestion; make copies if sending a conversion to someone else

Frames per Second help

The In / Out points will be written like this

Exporting from FCP

OMF to Æ your format of choice

Recommended settings when exporting from various applications

Avid (Digidesign) Pro Tools with DigiTranslator 2 Option

Source media; you have 3 options

Avid Media Composer; Adrenaline

Ensonic PARIS OMF

Final Cut Pro OMF (Apple)

To export audio from a sequence as OMF.

Premiere Pro CS4 & 5 (Adobe) OMF {export only}

Sonar OMF (Cakewalk Roland)

OMF Version : choose V2.0

Export all to one File; this is more commonly

Export Media File References; commonly called

Export Clip Based Volume;

Important Don’t select, Export Clip Names

Export Sample Size; Cubendo generally uses

Quantize Events to Frames; don’t use

Converting From Open TL

ProTools, pt5 (Rev for AATranslator V4)

Capability Example: PT to Reaper

Pro Tools session conversion to & from Reaper; using AATranslator v4

Exporting PT5 files for use in AATranslator

PT5 file capabilities

What you should do, to get a GOOD pt5 export

Saving a pt5 Export from Mac OSX: Important

For either Mac or PC

In the event you hit export problems

Select one of these

Importing a PT5 (Exported from a Mac)

But here is an example from Mac PT8.0.4

If you had chosen “Look for Source Files in….Original Location”:-

1) This box will appear when you click Generate Output

Clicking “Yes” will take you

3) The SD2 files will be converted to WAV,s and

If at stage (1) you had clicked “no”

Using Wine for OSX to run AATranslator

How to install & use AppleDouble dot_clean.scpt