Logic Pro 8 Online Collaboration

mk3

Logician
Hello -

Is it possible to collaborate online with Logic as follows:

- iChat audio chat (or video chat)
- ability to directly stream audio from Logic (or even iTunes) through the chat

It's strange that the iChat Theater option allows one to stream video from Final Cut Pro, but there doesn't seem to be any way to do the same for audio in Logic.

Hopefully this can all be accomplished without need for third-party software.

Any advice is appreciated.

mk3
 
Use Soundflower. You can download it for free from its google code page. Set Logic to use Soundflower as an audio out, set iChat to use Soundflower as audio in.

In practice, you likely also want local audio, obviously. You may want to use Audio MIDI Setup to create an aggregate device or similar so you are also playing sound out locally. Choose Open Aggregate Device Editor from the Audio menu in the Audio MIDI Setup app, create an aggregate device from your local audio interface + soundflower, use that as your audio device within Logic, have a separate bus in Logic that outputs direct to iChat, something like that. Or use a separate app for local audio out that plays from Soundflower or similar -- what turns out to be the right setup for you will depend on both your preferences, and your local audio hardware setup.
 
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Thank you for that info....I may try it out with SoundFlower, although I was hoping for a direct solution through the OS and Logic. Hopefully Logic will soon allow direct collaboration and streaming online as is done with Final Cut Pro.

mk3
 
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Anyone remember when Emagic tried their hand at getting the online collaboration thing together with their "Rocket" system. I think that's what it was called..... What a flop that was! But I agree that the time is ripe for it now. I think they were a bit ahead of their time when they tried it out - must be close to ten years ago now!
 
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Rocket Network was pretty cool, I participated in a couple of sessions. It wasn't Emagic, and worked with a range of DAWs.

Digidesign bought them I believe, and that now forms the basis of some ProTools' collaborative features?
 
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Rocket Network was pretty cool, I participated in a couple of sessions. It wasn't Emagic, and worked with a range of DAWs.

The main issue with Rocket Network (well, besides internal mismanagement, which is it's own issue) is Rocket Network set up their system to allow for either "open" collaboration or "proprietary objects"...but unfortunately every DAW (except, interestingly, for Emagic and I think one other) used proprietary objects. So you could only really use it with those who shared your DAW anyway. That and the fact that in the 90s, high speed bandwidth was not nearly as prevalent as now, so the reality of realtime collaboration was not nearly as achievable as it is now.

These days there are comparable technologies coming around, but the far more useful way to collaborate online is offline collaboration, sending songfiles and audio back and forth, setting up iChats and Skype sessions that are not used for live performance, but for communications before and after recording, etc.

Digidesign bought them I believe, and that now forms the basis of some ProTools' collaborative features?

DigiDelivery is what you are thinking of. It's both more and less than a PT collaborative feature. It's offline, not realtime. OTOH, it's an entire client/server delivery system, using Digi servers, almost like a cloud system for multimedia. We actually looked into it for our publishing company...it's expensive as all getup, mostly for multimedia houses which share ginormous files with film studios, game companies, and so on.

Orren
 
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I'm resurrecting this old thread in hopes of seeing if there's anyway to do this in real time "easily" using skype? I just got a call from a voice over artist who wants to do voice over while the client is listening remotely in real time. It sounds like a pain but maybe things are easier now. Thanks for any tips.
 
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Isn't it a Multi-Output Device rather than Aggregate Device which one should create in AudioMIDI Setup, at least if one just wishes to mirror the output to both places?

In fact, for simple mirroring, it seems one does not need to create either Device. One simply uses SoundFlower's menu to mirror the output, no?

SIMPLE METHOD (Audio Interface + iChat/Skype)
------------------
- install SoundFlower
- launch SoundFlowerBed → Flower menu appears
- Audio App or System Preferences: set audio output to SoundFlower (2channel)
- SoundFlowerBed menu (flower in system menu bar): set output to audio interface
- iChat or Skype: set microphone input to SoundFlower (2channel)
→ the audio is now mirrored (output to both the audio interface and iChat/Skype)

Aggregate Device Method (Audio Interface + iChat/Skype)
----------------------------------------------------------------
(any advantages to this method?)
- install and launch SoundFlower
- AudioMIDI Setup: open Audio Devices window
- "+" button: create Multi-Output Device (not Aggregate Device)
- check the audio interface and SoundFlower (2channel)
- SoundFlowerBed menu (flower in system menu bar): set output to None
- Audio App or System Preferences: set output to the name of this new Multi-Output device
- iChat or Skype: set microphone input to SoundFlower (2channel)

Does the latter method even offer any advantages?
 
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