This page details the setup panels in the Metacorder window.

Metadata is a fundamental part of Metacorder operation. Apart from informing recipients of your media about the content, project, roll, scene and take all form the folder hierarchy and filenames for the recorded files. The Metadata panel is the one you will be looking at for most of the time when you are recording. It allows you to enter scene and take (or slate and take, or prefix and count - depending on the slating mode), and notes for the next, or current recording. If your scene / take protocol uses leading zeros, simply enter this format into the field. So for example if you start off with Take 001, Metacorder will automatically increment to 002 when you stop. Conversely, if you entered 01, Metacorder would increment to 02. Numbers of leading zeros can be extremely important for any workflow which relies on exactly matching scene and take numbers as text. Also, it will help sorting order in some file systems, since scene and take are used to form the filename. The Active metadata is where you enter information for the pending take, you are about to make (when in stop). You can also amend the data in this field during recording (the data is comitted to the file, only when you press stop). During recording, you can prepare more data for the _next_ recording by entering into the Next Metadata fields. When you stop recording the current take, the next metadata is moved across into the Active Metadata fields. If the metadata you have chosen would lead to a file naming conflict (for example if you decrement the take count, after just recording a take), you will see the metadata turn red, to indicate a potential name conflict. At this point, you can either adjust the metadata, or you can press the 'enforce' button which will appear, and this will automatically rename the conflicting files already on disk with a [RN] tag in the name.

Setup A Panel

There are various parameters which you may need to set in Metacorder to configure it for your setup.
Slating Mode - this controls the labels on the Scene / take fields in the Metadata panel, and also the behaviour of the up and down buttons next to the field. For example, in the US System, of scene and take, the Up scene button will increment from Scene 10, to Scene 10A. In UK System, up button which increment Slate 10 to Slate 11. Generic mode uses a free text prefix and an incrementing count. Generic mode also affects some of the metadata - for example the BWF description field will ONLY contain the Notes data, not scene and take information , as it would in UK or US system modes.

File Mode - this controls whether you record a single BWFp (polyphonic - multichannel) file, individual BWFm (Monophonic - single channel) files, or a pair of Dual Polyphonic files. Generally, you should use Polyphonic for Avid projects, and Monophonic for Final Cut or Lightworks Projects. Your choice of file mode is crucial to the overall workflow, so you MUST consult the people who will receive your files to confirm which mode to use.

File Format - this controls whether you record Broadcast Wave or SD2 Files. In general you should use Broadcast Wave files, unless you have a very good reason not to.

Naming Protocol - this controls how files are named, according to the template shown in the menu choice. Roll-Scene-Take[_chan] is the default.

Overload Alter Tone - this enables a loud alarm tone whenever an overload condition occurs. It allows you to be alerted to a digital over, without needing to monitor the meters visually.

Input Device - This is where you will select your chosen Core Audio hardware interface. If the device you are looking for does not appear, check you have installed the drivers for that device, and then call the device vendor for advice. If the device has been installed correctly, it WILL appear in this menu. If you dont see it, then it probably has not been properly installed, or connected.

SampleRate - This is where you set the desired sample rate for the recordings. This can be 44100, 48000, 88200, 96000, 176400 or 192000 depending on whether your chosen input device reports this as a supported rate. Note that with some Core Audio devices (such as mLan), the hardware sample rate is set in the devices own setup application, and only the current sample rate will appear in the Metacorder SampleRate menu.

File Bit Depth - This is where you set the desired bit depth for the recordings. Even if your hardware is 16-bit you can still record a 24-bit file.

Primary / Secondary Record Drive - This is where you set the target volume for your recordings. You must always have a primary record drive selected, and on this you will find a hierarchy 'yourdrive : MFR_Recordings : ProjectName : RollName : ' then the audio files, named according to your selected mode. If you additionally select a different drive as the secondary record Drive, everything written to the primary drive will be written exactly the same to the secondary. This happens in real time as the recording progresses, like a RAID Level 1 Mirrored drive. You might want to work like this for example, using your built in hard drive as your primary volume, with an external Firewire drive as the secondary. When your shoot ends, you can turn over the external drive to picture, and you still have your own copy of all the recordings. The Refresh button rescans for mounted volumes in case you have been ejecting or inserting removable media whilst Metacorder is running.

Mixer Mode - Metacorder includes a basic monitor mixer for confidence checking, and headphone monitoring. The Mixer has 3 modes for different situations:
Full Mix Stereo - All Input channels are mixed down to outputs 1 & 2, using the channel's pan, mute and solo controls.
Disk Mix Stereo - Only Input channels which are record armed are mixed down to outputs 1 & 2, using the channel's pan, mute and solo controls. You will only hear what you plan to record.
Input Loop - Each input channel is looped to a corresponding output channel. This is useful for monitoring on an external console like Yamaha 01x. Since playback in Metacorder defeats input looped audio, this make monitoring very simple, with no need to reconfigure the mixer during playback.

Source Decode - Metacorder's mixer can also perform M-S decoding for monitoring. You can selectively enable M-S decode for channels 1+2 or 3+4.

Setup B Panel

Pre Record - Metacorder is always capturing audio. It has a large RAM buffer and sound coming into your audio interface is constantly captured into a circular buffer. This is to ensure that you never miss the start of a take, since Metacorder has the ability to write audio to disk from _before_ you pressed record. So, next time you hear 'Action !' and you have a donut in each hand, fear not. Just finish your donuts and press record within the next 30 seconds, and you will not have missed anything. You can set the pre-record duration from 1 to 30 seconds. Be aware that playing back recordings made with a long pre-record will have alot of audio before the take starts, so be careful what you say into the microphones before the Action starts.....

Timecode Source - Metacorder reads LTC through a sound input. This can be a dedicated stereo audio additional input device, (using channel 1), or it can use one of the inputs of your main Input device. Select the source of your timecode with the pop up menu. If you have no timecode source available, the Use Mac CPU clock option will give you coarse time of day timestamps from the Mac clock.

Slate Mic Input - Metacorder can also designate one of your main audio inputs as a slate mic. This allows you to record a spoken comment on to every track in your recording. This menu allows you to select an input channel as the slate. Speak into the slate mic and press the Slate button in the transport section, and your mic will be routed across all tracks whilst you hold down the button. if you want to lock the button down, you can click on the Slate button with the mouse, then slide off the button before you release. Click it again to unlatch the slate function.

Broken Timecode Analysis - Metacorder is very useful for loading audio material originating on linear tape. For example a shoot made with traditional devices such as DAT or Nagra D, can be 'upgraded' to a full non-linear workflow, using MetaCorder to load the takes. To assist this, Metacorder can be made to automatically break the recordings (and increment the take count) whenever it detects a timecode break. This functionality is enabled with the 'Break Recording on LTC breaks' check box. This also has a parameter 'Settling Time' which tells metacorder how long to wait after the break before resampling the timecode for the new recording. This lets the timecode settle after the break and gives an accurate timestamp for the new section. The Intelli-Merge function will try to consolidate voice slates before each take (which are made as a discreet recording, including a pause) by merging a short broken timecode section before a longer one into a single take, using the timestamp of the second take. So if the recordist has recorded a voice slate, then paused, then later started the recording of the take, you _should_ end up with a single recording of voice slate and dialog, using the correct timestamp for the dialog section.

BWF User Bits - The BWF files written by Metacorder have space for User Bits metadata. This parameter determines the source of this information. You can freely enter and specific text here, or use one of the automatic modes:
[TC IN UBITS] - Copy the User bits from incoming timecode. Note that the user bits are sampled once, at the start of the recording. Incoming user bits are displayed to the right of the BWF User Bits field, for your reference.
[DATE] - Write the current date into the BWF User Bits. This is not terribly valuable, since the BWF header already includes a shoot date and time, and so does the Mac filing system.
[TIME] - Write the current time into the BWF User Bits. This is not terribly valuable, since the BWF header already includes a shoot date and time, and so does the Mac filing system.
[EVENT NUM] - This writes an incrementing event number into the BWF user bits field. This means that every recording made on a project can have a single unique number for overall reference. This can help with workflows.

Write Sound Reports - Once you are done recording a roll, Metacorder can assemble some additional reports which describe the group of files in the roll. These reports include a traditional Sound Report, written as a PDF File, which is customisable (see the section on Printing for details), and a Final Cut Pro XML file, which allows one click import of an entire sound roll into a Final Cut Bin, along with all the metadata for each recording. Both files will be written into the current Sound Roll folder.

Transport Control - Metacorder can be externally controlled by a range of devices. Amongst these are Midi control devices and this menu determines which external Midi control system to use. The Choices include MMC and Yamaha 01X. The MMC control includes basic record and stop, whilst the 01x mode includes sophisticated button control and LED feedback on the 01x control surface. See the section 'midi controllers' for more details. Metacorder automatically senses all Midi input channels so it is not necessary to identify the source of the control information.

SoundRoll Panel

Metacorder automatically maintains a list of the takes in the current soundroll, and presents them in the soundroll panel for your review. Here you can play back any take, and edit scene, take or notes. Each take may comprise numerous soundfiles, but Metacorder presents them as a single line in the soundroll list for your simplicity. If you edit the scene or take, Metacorder will also manage the renaming of the media files to match the changes made. if any rename conflicts occur, you will see the [RN] tag in the filename, and RENAMED in the notes field. To edit the metadata, click in the parameter you want to edit, and wait a second - the field should open up for inline editing of the data. Press enter to confirm your edited text. This panel is also where you select the current Sound Roll by entering manually (with optional leading zeros), incrementing or using the pop up menu in the button labelled 'SoundRoll' to select from existing soundrolls in the current project. As you change soundrolls the list will update to show the contents of that roll. Press the Create reports button to write the chosen report formats, eg Sound report PDF and Final Cut XML into the soundroll folder. The Goto Folder button opens up the current sound roll folder in the Mac OSX Finder. There is also a varispeed slider which allows you to alter the playback speed of the system. Option-clicking on the slider returns it to normal speed.

Mirror Panel

As well as recording to the primary and secondary volumes, Metacorder can also perform offline mirroring and burning to additional media. The real-time Mirror volume can be any type of mountable writable media, including DVD-Ram or Compact Flash, which may not be fast enough to be used as primary or secondary media. Since mirroring takes place in the background, after a recording has been made, at whatever speed the device is capable of, you can even recording 20 channels of audio on your primary drive, and have the recordings automatically mirrored to a DVD Ram for delivery, where it would not be possible to record directly to the DVD Ram disk with so many channels. Also, the files are written in a contiguous stream to the DVD-Ram, avoiding frequent locates on DVD Ram which can make the format perform very poorly. The contiguously written files are ideal for maximum speed copying off the DVD Ram into an Avid or other computer based system. To start the mirroring process, select a volume and press Start Folder Mirror. Initially, the mirror will try to 'catch up' with the soundroll status, mirroring everything it can find. Then it will become idle, and will wait for additional takes to be recorded, before mirroring them in the background after you stop recording. You can abort the mirroring process if you want.

You can also burn the finished soundroll to DVD-R or CD-R. Pick a recording device to use, then select the soundroll from the pop up menu. Make sure you have created any sound reports for this roll before you burn it to DVD/CD. Then press the CD/DVD-R Burn button to initiate the burn. Metacorder will prompt you to insert a disk, and show a status monitor during the burn. Although Metacorder is designed to simultaneously record new takes to a fresh soundroll during a burn, its probably a good idea to do one thing at a time whenever possible.

Project Panel

The Most important parameter in this panel is the Active Project field. This is the top level of the hierarchy and directs Metacorder to a specific project folder on disk. The other fields are user fields to enter various project based metadata which will be used for preparation of Sound Reports. See the Printing section for more details.