[Announcement] Beatmeter Generator 0.3.0

[Iridescence]

Also the issue where near the end of the track when you zoom in and it doesn't center on the play head. usually shoots your further back to the left. if there's also any way to fix that, would be amazing.

A thing you can do to reduce that is to put a single beat far past the end of the loaded audio, on a track that won't render.

Edit: Another thing you can do is use the play head to move the timeline. Rapidly unpause with spacebar. Another is zoom with CTRL + mouse wheel while the play head is moving.

Thanks for the tips ! my solution was your last one, zooming while its moving but I will definitely try the others. Can't believe I didn't think about the extra beat at the far end. Cheers!

Sorry to jump in here at noob level but...hey! I tried back in like 2014 to get involved making CH videos, and it's taken this long to finally figure out my best workflow - and, right at the last, I've discovered I can actually have BMG involved (tried a couple of years ago, couldn't get my head round it).

So, quick question for the pros on here: I have always used Corel (brilliant, inexpensive, has covered all my needs so far) and would like to continue, but importing the beatmeter video using Corel's stop motion feature needs to be done in pieces as 6000+ frames seems too many at a time. Does DVR not have this issue? I'd probably take a look at switching (though moving over projects will be a pain) if that part was a seamless one-click thing.

(Also, is the free version all that's needed?)

Thanks! Excited to finally get releasing some editions.

I'm quite new to this whole process as well, wanted to get into it probably from before 2014 like you, but only near the end of the year was I finally able to. No previous editing experience but I like to think I can be a quick learner when I throw myself into it. No idea what Corel is but DVR has been surprisingly fairly user / beginner friendly. with all the tutorials you'd probably need on youtube. still a lot for me to explore and learn. But basically the free version would be all you would need, until you wanted to get a little fancier with things. certain effects and special tools they have are really all you miss out on with the free version. I personally went with a torrented/cracked version of the paid one, only thing is you can't update it thru the software and have to redo the cracked install when the newest becomes avail. It does crash occasionally so I've been considering purchasing it when I can because it would be worth it. But I think the free version would be good enough.

[3xTripleXXX]

Another vote for DVR here. I switched to it from Premiere Pro/After Effects, and so far it does everything I need, and the free version has been plenty sufficient so far. And even if you were to buy it, it's a one time fee that's pretty reasonable. I haven't done a really long project in DVR yet, but so far I haven't had any troubles with importing an image sequence from BMG.

[masperturbator]

Does DVR not have this issue? I'd probably take a look at switching (though moving over projects will be a pain) if that part was a seamless one-click thing.

Resolve free version is nearly identical to Resolve Studio (The paid version, which is worth buying.) I used Free for years, and my purchase was mostly a thank you. There are some improvements technically in how well the Studio version performs its internal work, so Studio calculates some things faster than Free does.

Resolve doesn't have the issue you described. My longest Beatmeter Generator export comes in at >58,000 frames, which Resolve took in as one 40 minute video clip, which I manipulated and sequenced like any other clip.

Another vote for DVR here. I switched to it from Premiere Pro/After Effects, and so far it does everything I need, and the free version has been plenty sufficient so far. And even if you were to buy it, it's a one time fee that's pretty reasonable. I haven't done a really long project in DVR yet, but so far I haven't had any troubles with importing an image sequence from BMG.

I've gone past one hour on multiple timelines. My first timeline, a never-released fuck about in Resolve 12, is more than two hours.

My current project started as a BMG+Resolve, but I've gotten into some repetitive work that can't be automated on that workflow, so I'm looking at doing with Reaper what the past CH creators did in Vegas and Premier. What I've found is great, but I would still recommend the BMG+Resolve pairing for new creators, until I/we make and document something as easy.

Thanks for the tips ! my solution was your last one, zooming while its moving but I will definitely try the others. Can't believe I didn't think about the extra beat at the far end. Cheers!

No problem. Also note that BMG needs a past-end beat on every rendered track. BMG 0.3.1 will prematurely end the flying beat animation for the last beat on a track, so you need a past-end beat that you will later cut away in the rendered clip.

Corel

Corel

Corel software is worth playing with if you happen upon it, have a professional need for it, or catch something like a Humble Bundle deal. Nothing that it does is necessary or necessarily better than Resolve for sequencing audio and video. If you have it, then its best use here would be some artistic effect. You should still be switching to Resolve for what it does better.

[princeofswing]

Thanks for the replies guys. Yes Corel VS Pro - I'd recommend it to anyone if it weren't for the fact DVR seems to be perfect for what we're doing here, I'll make the switch myself once I finish the projects I've been doing in Corel.

My current project started as a BMG+Resolve, but I've gotten into some repetitive work that can't be automated on that workflow, so I'm looking at doing with Reaper what the past CH creators did in Vegas and Premier.

Shout out to Reaper! Found it more than ten years ago now and never looked back - for anything I've needed to do, it easily matches the top industry programs and, for example, costs in total less than what the likes of Pro Tools does for two months. My CH workflow involves Reaper, FL Studio, and currently Corel, which can all be put together for about $250 without any of the frequent discounts.

And now I'm really happy to have got BMG involved. I had figured out a different way of doing things but I don't think it was going to look as good.

[masperturbator]

Shout out to Reaper!

Then you will be ahead of me on this part, because you're already comfortable with tempo mapping and Reaper in general. I'm getting there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UviAikw8aQ4

You can replace BMG with Reaper and Resolve. You will need your own beat animation clips, which will probably get you into doing Fusion animations in Resolve, because Resolve will handle the animation timing better than if you used a prerendered meter. I've already moved away from producing beatmeter clips for now, so I'm using this method to get click tracks and accurate markers for video cuts.

[thebassist]

Hey all.

Wasn't sure if I should start a new topic or post here, but I just have two quick technical questions about beatmeter generator.

1. I'm confused about exactly how the snap function is supposed to work. I was under the impression that if the "s" on the base track was pressed, all beats placed in the beat track would automatically snap into place with the nearest beat on the base track when moved. This is definitely not the case when I'm using the program, as moving the patterns in the beat track never snaps them to the beat whether or not the "s" button is activated on the base track. So... am I misunderstanding what snap means or am I missing something?

2. The part of the snap function that DOES seem to work is the "Audio Snap Forward/Backward" buttons in the navigate menu, but I can't figure out the keyboard shortcut. It says it's "Ctrl+Meta+Arrowkey", but I have no idea what the "Meta" key is supposed to be. A quick Google search claims on Windows the meta key could be alt, escape, or the windows key but none of these work. Honestly this is the only function I really need to be able to make the beat track that I want to, but it will take FOREVER without the keyboard shortcut.

Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

[kerkersklave]

I'm confused about exactly how the snap function is supposed to work.

How you described it is exactly how it should work. It only snaps of you get close to a beat though. Maybe you have to zoom in a little to notice it more.

Also, the meta-Key on Windows should be the Windows Key (or at least one of them). It is possibly though that something else is capturing that shortcut.

[thebassist]

I'm confused about exactly how the snap function is supposed to work.

How you described it is exactly how it should work. It only snaps of you get close to a beat though. Maybe you have to zoom in a little to notice it more.

Also, the meta-Key on Windows should be the Windows Key (or at least one of them). It is possibly though that something else is capturing that shortcut.

Hey I really appreciate your reply! Thanks for the suggestion of zooming in, after doing that I was able to tell that the snap function was in fact working. I was just confused because I thought it would always snap to the nearest beat, not just if you got close enough.

Knowing this I think I'll be able to get started, but if anyone has advice on how to get the keyboard shortcut for "Audio Snap Forward" to work on Windows it would be very helpful.

[myrryl]

Well, I'm just working out my first BM clips. However, any time I click on "Generate Video" nothing happens at all (no dialog windows opens). I have no issues with "Generate Audio". I tried several projects with different audio files followind the readme.md guide on Github. I would be glad if someone can help me with this?

[kerkersklave]

Well, I'm just working out my first BM clips. However, any time I click on "Generate Video" nothing happens at all.

Did you select a track for video output? That is a different button on the left than audio output.

[myrryl]

Did you select a track for video output? That is a different button on the left than audio output.

Good question, I selected the messages for (D)isplay. Did I miss something?
I attached a screenshot, maybe this is more of help than any descriptions.

[kerkersklave]

Good question, I selected the messages for (D)isplay. Did I miss something?
I attached a screenshot, maybe this is more of help than any descriptions.

You have to mark a track with some beats as well. You should be able to mark multiple tracks with "D". If a track only contains messages it might not work.

[myrryl]

You have to mark a track with some beats as well. You should be able to mark multiple tracks with "D". If a track only contains messages it might not work.

I sent you a PM. However, on Github there is an issue with the same description. (just a single and not even a new one).

[armobit]

Not sure if I'm really bad at all this, but the links to both the Windows and platform independent versions in gitlab is bringing up a 404, and I'm not exactly sure what to do with the source code that I downloaded lol.

[kerkersklave]

Not sure if I'm really bad at all this, but the links to both the Windows and platform independent versions in gitlab is bringing up a 404, and I'm not exactly sure what to do with the source code that I downloaded lol.

For some reason Gitlab had deleted all the build artifacts. I reran the build and they are back now.
I'm not sure when and why that happened. If it happens again I have to investigate.