Intuem

Intuem 3.5 Released
Tuesday, September 13, 2005

The most beautiful music doesn't often come from a sequencer, it usually comes from the heart of an artist and is captured directly to tape. It has long been the problem that a sequencer cannot easily accommodate dynamic, free flowing, beautiful music that respects a sequencer's bar and beat boundaries so looping tools and rhythm machines keep in sync. Intuem 3.5 puts an end to that.

It's easy to record a beautiful performance to an audio file with a computer, and MIDI can be groove quantized, but to record a truly natural, free flowing MIDI sequence and be able to notate it and play it on any MIDI device and still have it sound as beautiful as it was originally played, that's something else altogether. Accomplishing that requires a variable-tempo system and a simple way to transform a real, human, performance into a sequence where bars and beats actually have meaning. We know many of our customers use Logic, Cubase and Digital Performer, and we know they enjoy AppleLoops from time to time. But wouldn't it be great to have a flowing dynamic, beautiful, performance, and all those things as well?

Intuem can bring together its uniquely simple yet powerful note refitters to transform a sequencer-unfriendly performance, and its variable-tempo system to control other sequencers. Intuem 3.5 can drive other sequencers like Apple's Logic Express and Soundtrack Pro or any sequencer that responds to MIDI Machine Control (MMC), MIDI Clock or MIDI Time Code (MTC). If the sequencer has specific MIDI devices, audio effects or AppleLoops or a special feature, they all can be made available in a hybrid environment. Since Intuem can create and maintain a beautiful dynamic sequence that lines-up exactly with bar and beat intervals and can control other sequencers, our customers can have a sequencer environment that does everything.

Intuem now plays with others via its new MIDI synchronization features. Working not only with external synchronizable MIDI devices, but with other applications like Apple's Logic Express and Soundtrack Pro, with two-way communication to control Intuem, or be controlled by Intuem. Now every studio can add Intuem's exceptional tempo handling facilities and ease of use to their existing sequencers and MIDI hardware devices.

Many existing features have been enhanced from note-refitters that not only squeeze and stretch notes, but can now shift notes in time and automatically quantise the notated appearance of music making the tool even more powerful than before. The Inspector has been enhanced to provide a filterable list of all of a track's events showing each event in a single row and giving all events a specific editor (Even SysEx can be edited, and with a new two panel Hex/ASCII editor.) allowing access to all aspects of an event at a glance so they can be edited with more precision than through other methods. The Mixer has been enhanced as well with the addition of a new mode: "Set Levels" permitting controller levels to be set through the length of the composition instead of inserting short changes over time. The mixer now also updates itself on screen much, much faster then before making it even more handy.

Other important changes include: the ability to use AudioUnit music effects as MIDI devices; the option of hiding (and removing from processing) tracks that are no longer needed; flexible channel specific recording from external MIDI devices; support for pitch-specific after touch; and quick access to the Inspector.

What's new in Intuem 3.5.0:

Intuem can now synchronise and control other applications and external MIDI hardware via MIDI Machine Control (MMC), MIDI Time Code (MTC), MIDI Clock and MIDI Song Position Pointer messages. These new synchronisation abilities allow you to take advantage of Intuem's sophisticated tempo management and at the same time enjoying the features of multiple sequencers at once. With synchronisation of external MIDI hardware, including record punch-in/out, you'll have an environment where your devices work together as an ultra sequencer. Synchronisation is a two-way street: other applications and MIDI hardware can control Intuem too.
AudioUnit Music Effects can now be put to much more effective use. These AudioUnits take input from MIDI tracks and now Intuem gives you full access to these capabilities. When an AudioUnit of this type is added to an audio track, the AudioUnit becomes available as a MIDI device for your MIDI tracks to send to, and Intuem remembers these connections in saved compositions so your working environment stays predictable between sessions. Furthermore, Music Effects are edited separately in Intuem's Preferences to make it easier for you to distinguish them from other AudioUnit effects, and you can choose a preferred MIDI controller for each effect. It is also possible to send synchronisation messages to Music Effects to fully integrate them into your work.
The note refitters have been enhanced to allow movement of a block of notes as a group forward and backward in time to allow you to position them exactly where you want them before stretching or compressing, and they automatically snap around a selection when you bring them on-screen. What's more, as you refit notes their notated appearance is automatically quantised, saving you another step.
MIDI Device preferences are now easier to use and setup with more options and categories.
Recording from a MIDI Device can now be made channel-specific through the preferences panel. If you want to record multiple MIDI tracks at once with the same MIDI controller, you can have Intuem route the incoming events to the right tracks.
MIDI Keyboards now have a new play-through mode. Instead of playing through only to record enabled tracks, you can now also play through to a focussed track--simply click in the track you want to play through to and the MIDI events will be routed there, whether Intuem is playing or not.
You now have more control over a MIDI Device's controllers in the device description so your devices in Intuem even more closely resemble how they were engineered making it easier for you to get the most from them with the least trouble.
Supporting the new synchronisation abilities, you can now indicate what kind of synchronisation events a device can receive and send, and Intuem will take advantage of those features of your devices when you use them in a composition.
When selecting all within a track using Command + A Intuem now only selects those types of events that are displayed. For example if showing notes, and volume, only those two types will be selected across the duration of the track, other events not shown, such as pan, will not be selected.
Tracks can be hidden in a composition to remove them completely from Intuem's audio and MIDI processing pathways freeing up resources for more tracks. This is especially helpful in temporarily removing a number of tracks after freezing them into one audio track.
The mixer has a new mode: "Set Levels" that allows you to set controller levels over an entire track or section.
Changing modes in the mixer can now be done across all tracks at once by holding down the Option key when selecting a mode on a track.
The mixer, in Standard window style, updates much, much more quickly than before, from controls and audio levels right down to quick updates when reordering tracks.
Added full support for poly after touch (note-specific after touch.) You can now record these events and edit them on-screen just as easily as any other MIDI controller.
Intuem now as full capability to present a track's events in a list view. To make viewing easy you can filter a track's events down to the types you want, even the events for an AudioUnit. Provided also are dedicated editors for each event type. All event types are supported, from tempo changes, control changes, including note-specific after touch, AudioUnit parameter changes including bypass, registered and non-registered parameter events with immediate button increment/decrement or data entry, text events, and note events to SysEx with a dedicated and uniquely easy to use Hex editor, and even audio clips with the ability to position a clip on the time line by bar & beat, time in seconds, or time in sample frames at any supported sample rate and more. All functionality previously available in the Inspector for SysEx and audio clips remains accessible.
Audio clips can now be forced to play at a different sample rate allowing you to fix incorrect sample rate settings in audio files.
When you double-click a track's name in the document the inspector will appear if not on screen already. When you double click within a track's display area Inspector will appear and show the Events tab so you can quickly get at your data.
Supporting the new synchronisation abilities, you can now provide a SMPTE time offset for a composition allowing you to relate the start of a composition to an external time line.
Audio tracks outputting to more than two channels can be made mono so each channel receives the same signal.
When a composition shares a MIDI device with the Metronome, the channel the metronome uses appears in Inspector making it easier for you to avoid conflict and confusion with your metronome sound and your composition.
Intuem now treats AudioUnit effects and instruments better, bringing greater stability to Intuem. AudioUnit panels appear without strange artifacts on-screen and it is now impossible for an AudioUnit or a DLS/SoundFont file to cause Intuem to crash at startup. Furthermore, AU's and DLS files that are incompatible with Intuem are identified, isolated and are kept away from use.
Fixed problems using external audio interfaces at other than the default system sample rate and added support for audio play through from one audio device through to another--even when the input and output sample rates are different.
Intuem stops previewing audio and MIDI files after choosing one to open more quickly than before.
Instrument tracks are now better handled so you won't have to experience the "incredibly loud MIDI track" problem anymore and instrument tracks are saved and remain within a composition even when the actual device may be temporarily unavailable.

System Requirements
Minimum: G3 Macintosh (preferably 500MHz or faster) with 512Mb RAM running Mac OS X version 10.2.8 (Jaguar) to 10.4.0 (Tiger). We recommend testing the performance of a G3 system with the free Try Out version of Intuem.
Recommended: Dual Processor G4 Macintosh with 512Mb RAM running Mac OS X version 10.3 (Panther). USB MIDI Interface MIDI Keyboard with on-board sounds.

Availability
Intuem 3.5 is only $79USD for first-time buyers or $49USD as an upgrade from versions 1, 1.5, 2.0 or 2.1 and is available now from our secure online store at http://www.intuem.com by electronic download or on CD-ROM. Intuem 3.5 is a free upgrade to owners of Intuem RW and can be obtained by following the re-download instructions given in their original order confirmation eMails.

Logic Express, AppleLoops and SoundTrack Pro are products and trademarks of Apple Computer Inc. Cubase is a product and trade mark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. Digital Performer is a product and trademark of MOTU, Inc.