4 Channel Audio Capture & XL-2
 

I am trying to find a time and cost effective way to capture 3 or 4 channels of audio from my Canon XL-2. All of Premier's products including the Pro version will only capture 2 at a time. The XL-2 does not have a selective means of sending channels 3 and 4 only through the firewire connection. This results in only being able to capture channels 1 and 2 to Premier from the XL-2. Is there a better PC software to use? Any other solutions? Premier's expert support cannot help me and Canon's only suggestion was to capture with their $500 Console software, then edit in Premiere. Help!!!

I know the feeling! I use a Casablanca Machine, you can't, mix the audio, through firewire, either, I have to go through the RCA Cables to do that. It's not too bad once you stop trying to do something, that's not possible!
You never know, upgrades, sometime happen.
Regards, Mike.

These forums are filled with posts on this specific topic. Using the Search function will give you many such hits. The general consensus as far as I have been able to tell is that if you are using a Windows machine, you will be able to do what you are asking by using an applications called Scenealyzer (sp?).

This app will allow you to capture the 4 channels of audio from the XL2 all in one pass via firewire, and allow you to retain the track independence of each channel.

Hope this helps.
-Jon

Actually, most everything will do it but as far as I know, they all require 2 passes. I use FCP to capture a mix down of the 4 channels for my assemble edits, then recapture the 4 tracks seperately for the final sound mix. Scenalyzer requires 2 passes as far as I know but it is automated.



ash =o)

Scenalyzer captures all 4 channels in a single pass. 2 channels are in the AVI file with the video stream, the other 2 are in a WAV file with a related name. The WAV file is the same length as the AVI, and starts from the same point. You just need to line them up in an NLE and they are in sync.

The main advantage of using Scenalyzer is this single pass capture, because it is so easy to sync up the separate audio clip.

Richard

Interesting... wonder why Final Cut 5 (which can handle 8 audio track capture) can only capture 2 at a time...



ash =o)

Can't speak for Steve Jobs, but wouldn't be surprised if it's due to the 12 bit audio in DV 4-track mode. Many apps don't seem to know what to do with this.

Richard

You can set FCP to 12bit audio and 32khz... the 4 tracks will still only show up as a mix down.


ash =o)