Well known for their Mastertracks line of sequencers, Passport also have a also have an multimedia authoring program in Producer Pro, for the Mac. Ian Waugh gets interactive...

It's interesting, if not altogether surprising, to see music software developers Passport getting involved in the multimedia market. Adding graphics and interactive bits to a CD is all the rage nowadays. At least it gives you more than an album sleeve to fiddle with while you're listening to the music. Just as portastudios brought multi-track recording within reach of the average musician, so multimedia programs are giving us the ability to integrate audio and visual material — and at a price which won't break the bank.

A couple of years ago, Passport released a multimedia presentation program called Producer. Producer Pro has a lot of similarities, but it goes a step further by adding interactivity. Not all multimedia programs are the same, and my measure of a good one is the range of media it lets you work with, and how easy it is to put everything together.

On cue

Producer's operation is basically very easy. The cue sheet window contains a number of tracks like a sequencer, although they are arranged vertically rather than horizontally. To assemble a production you simply drag cues onto the tracks. A counter tells you the time position as you drag them, so it's easy to drop them in at the right place. In any event, you can easily adjust their position whenever you wish. Producer Pro's timing is based on SMPTE, so it's extremely accurate, and you can sync to SMPTE, too.

There are several different types of cue, and some, such as QuickTime movies, can be very large, so the program plays them directly from disk. You are not, therefore, limited by the size of your Mac's memory.

The program opens with eight tracks, but you can add as many more as you require. Theoretically, all cues at the same time position in all the tracks should play at the same time. However, if you ask the program to do too many things at once, you will experience hiccups, even on a fast machine. The computer's ability is still finite.

You can optimise performance by adjusting the timing of the cues, shifting ones which occur a little late to an earlier position in the timeline. The program gives priority to certain tracks and types of cue, so you can use this to tighten up playback, too. But one of Producer's strengths is its timing, so even if you do ask too much of your Mac, the program should still keep everything in sync.

The action takes place on a 'stage', essentially an area of the Mac's screen, and you can define its colour and size. If you highlight any of the cues and then go to the stage, you will see where they appear, and can alter their position by clicking and dragging them. The process is quite straightforward.

The cues have associated movement controls, which are selected from pop-up menus. For example, you can make them slide onto the stage from any direction. There are over 40 transitions which you can apply, such as wipes, dissolves, slides, curtains, zooms and so on. However, movement does not go as far as allowing you to move objects already placed on the stage — they have to zoom in from somewhere.

Producer contains editors which allow you to tart up the cues. Some of these are a little basic, but one nice feature is the ability to call up other programs to do the editing in. So instead of using Pro to edit a QuickTime movie, you could do it from Premier — providing you have it installed, of course.

Sound support

Producer has good support for MIDI files, which you can drop into a presentation just like any other type of cue. Passport's MIDI Mixer lets you select different sounds, adjust volumes, pan positions and so on. The set-up defaults to General MIDI, but you can create your own instrument set-ups if you want to use something else. Audio files can be edited, too, using cut, copy and paste functions. You can crop them in the cue sheet, which shortens them during playback but does not affect the files themselves.

The interactive aspects of the program revolve around creating areas of the screen — buttons — on which the user can click. This will trigger an action such as jumping to another part of the timeline. Buttons can be transparent, so you can click on a movie still, for example, to play the movie. Loops are easily created, so that a presentation will play through until the user takes part, and multiple-choice screens are easy to set up.

"if you ask the program to do too many things at once, you will experience hiccups"

There are two manuals — 'Getting Started', and a reference guide. 'Getting Started', commits one of my cardinal sins by listing all the functions before it tells you how to use them. Who the heck's going to remember all that? That apart, it contains an excellent tutorial introduction to the program. Spend a couple of hours with it, and you'll have a good grasp of Producer's functions.

The pack includes two CDs — QuickTimes and QuickMedia — containing music and images which you can use in your own presentations. Having created a presentation, you will doubtless want to give it away — or sell it. The pack includes a Player program, which allows you to do just that. Passport has also waived the licensing fees which were once attached to presentations developed with Producer. Nice one.

If you have a video output on your Mac, you can save the presentation to video tape. You can also save it as a QuickTime movie, but if it's for distribution, be aware that this can consume several Megabytes of disk space. The program does, however offer the choice of several types of file compression.

Going pro

Now you may be wondering if Producer will allow you to create the sort of interactive presentation which the big boys of the music world have been producing. I suspect most of these have been authored with Director, and I'd be willing to wager that specialist programmers were drafted in to do the job. Well, isn't being a muso hard enough, without having to learn programming too?

One of the nice things about Producer is that you can achieve quite a high degree of interactivity without having to resort to a programming language. In fact, it shouldn't be at all difficult to use it to produce a high quality musical presentation. Just allow yourself some time to become familiar with the program's operation, and don't underestimate the time you'll undoubtedly spend tweaking cues. It is quite easy to use — for the power it gives you — but there is an inevitable learning curve, too.

Don't forget that you have to create the raw materials for your production in the first place — the movies, the images and so on. You may well be able use some of the pieces on the two CDs, and many companies produce disks of images and sound which you may also wish to incorporate.

If you want to include video images of yourself or your band, you will need a video digitiser inside your Mac, plus a camcorder to take the pics. AV Macs are ideal for this sort of application. If your music is instrumental and based on MIDI files, it will be very easy to put text, images and movies in the timeline, in sync with the music.

In the frame

You've probably sneaked a look at the price by now. The original Producer is apparently no longer available, and the 'Pro' tag has added another £300 to the price. This puts it in almost direct competition with Macromedia's top-end multimedia program, Director.

However, whereas you need to get to grips with Director's Lingo programming language in order to implement interactivity, Producer Pro lets you do so by clicking and dragging. Pro's interactivity, it must be said, is not as comprehensive as Director's, but it is still accomplished, as well as a lot easier to handle.

The similar prices of the two products will undoubtedly work against Producer, as many people will opt to go with the market leader, even if it does cost a few more quid. If Passport shaved the price, it could have a real winner on its hands. As it is, I suspect it may have a bit of an uphill struggle to gain market share.

But don't let that put you off. If you want to build a presentation around your music, Producer Pro could be just what you're looking for. And it's especially attractive if you don't want to mess around with programming.