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Hands-on with the new TouchEdit NLE for iPad

A retro interface, lots of editing tools and the app's creator Dan Lebental answering some questions

By Scott Simmons | February 17, 2013

Random observations from using TouchEdit

This article isn’t meant to be a how to on how to use TouchEdit as the tutorial videos are great for that. It’s not really a review of the app either so I thought that it might be useful just to list some random thoughts and observations that I had while working with the app over the weekend.

• TouchEdit isn’t completely stable as I had several crashes over the weekend of working with it. Of course both iMovie for iPad and Pinnacle Studio seem to crash more often than they should as well.

Keep an eye on the little toggle lights at the top of the Source and Record monitors as they tell you which side of the edit you’re working on. I think they should be more prominent as that little blue dot is what tells me I'm working in the Record monitor / timeline.

.mov files will carry timecode metadata and that’s what the arrow above is pointing to. I assigned code to all of these test clips that I was using such as the 16 hour code above.

• I was able to load both an AIFF and an MP3 into the TouchEdit iTunes sharing but only the MP3 showed up for importing.

• You’ll most likely need to really study the tutorial videos as there’s a number of places where you’ll use long taps or double taps or two finger taps to achieve a certain task. I had to rewatch some of them several times. Hopefully we’ll get some kind of written manual or a gesture cheat sheet to leave up while learning the app.

That mini-timeline at the bottom will be your best friend for a longer edit as it’s much faster to navigate there as opposed to scrolling the filmstrip. Also in the image above you can see both a piece of splice tape that represents an edit as well as the yellow OUT mark.

If you’re in grease pencil mode a double-tap on a shot will give you an IN to OUT duration next to the monitor.

• There’s an Undo button but it seems to sometimes become confused and either not work or it takes a couple of taps for it to actually happen.

You can save different edit sequences and they are represented in the Media bin with a filmstrip around their icon. I found it best just to name them with ‘edit’ in the name as they can be hard to identify.

What’s next for TouchEdit?

That’s exactly what I asked Dan.

Any future plans for TouchEdit you can share with us?

Many more features are on the way and some in the next few weeks. These include FCPXML Input which will allow us to send cuts into TouchEdit which then gives us the ability to communicate iPad to iPad. Also dropping in the next few weeks is Audio Paperclips which could be used by a Director to send audio notes attached directly to a point in a clip or sequence. We have a few important editing enhancements in the next version as well as a major lift in the Audio Mixing functionality and a Title tool. AAF will show up mid-march along with transitions and effects and an In App Store for purchase of Add-ons and sfx. So you can see we are pretty busy. Down the road there are plans for advanced trimming and multi-cam but the sexiest stuff will be in the area of collaboration. We are also in talks with plugin manufacturers. But again and most importantly, will be the users who will inform us what direction to ultimately take this.

That’s a very ambitious development schedule so it really looks like they’ve got big plans for TouchEdit. I sure hope Apple is able to get the updates approved quickly. Many will think that the $50 price tag is too high considering the cost of iMovie but TouchEdit is aimed at a much different market. While if feels like FCPX is the target desktop NLE companion for TouchEdit I suspect that was by far the easiest thing to support for interchange. Dan probably isn’t going to be cutting his next feature or television show in FCPX. Expect some videos to come online on the TouchEdit website with details on how to encode for the app with Compressor, CatDV and Resolve Lite. I look forward to those.

Dan also said this, which I think is a good final thought:

If people do support this app by mid-April it will be quite robust. My goal is not to try to fit an Avid into an iPad but to have an easy to use device that takes advantage of mobile technology with an emphasis on communication and collaboration.

I think that sums TouchEdit up pretty well at this early stage in its life. It’s not perfect and has a few bugs but for professional editors there’s nothing quite like it on the iPad. If it continues down its ambitious development road it could add something to the editor’s toolbox that we’ve never had before.

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Comments

Scott Simmons: | February, 18, 2013

I do think the real value of TouchEdit will come in future upgrades and functionality. I applaud Dan for being honest about why designed it the way the did as there are quite a few who don’t link the retro design.

As for the price ... in the iPad app world it is expensive but in the real world $50 isn’t much if it can provide some true usability. If it indeed can be an in-your-lap offline tool then $50 isn’t too much to pay for that.

Toby Angwin: | February, 19, 2013

I have had that XML error in FCPX importing a graded XML from Resolve. Think it might be to do with the removal of reading the ‘old’ QT metadata like reel numbers etc from FCPX’s functionality but that is just a guess.

I really like that it is a straight up editor, not trying to do what a modern editing app does.

lin2log I honestly don’t thing you understand the purpose of this app or who it was built for. It’s a pity you have nothing to offer the discourse apart from negativity.

Rustysclpl: | February, 19, 2013

PLEASE NOTE - FCPXML does not support spaces in file names (as shown in Scott’s Screenshot above). This has nothing to do with TouchEdit. I know that sounds crazy. It is Apple after all and they always were friendly with naming. But not in FCPXML. They should try to change this but that is were we are at today.

lin2log: | February, 20, 2013

Well gee, Toby. I’m so sorry that I’m not all starry-eyed and dare have a different take on the matter than you. If I can’t find anything positive about it should I just make **** up to make others happy? Or how does that work?

Fact is, to make this thing useful in a “pro” environment as it’s supposedly intended, say for example for dailies on set? You’re looking at a maxed out iPad to have enough headroom to stay half-way flexible and make the whole thing feasible. Only THEN you’re at a price-point where it has nothing but disadvantages in comparison to, for example, a MacBook Air with FCP X on it! (iPad+app+adapters for input etc. ... because if you already have a full fletched computer on set (for Wifi or USB transfers), why would you opt to use THIS?) Or even an iPad with iMovie on it, which by the way offers seamless transfers to FCP X without a potential error ridden transfer via XML, titles and more for just a few bucks.

I personally find the notion that someone is actually going to attempt an eight-track audio mix of sorts on this thing absolutely ridiculous. At best you’re going to do some roughs for later finishing in a desktop NLE. And again, I can get that with iMovie or any of the other iPad NLEs already for far less.

At least Dan admits to really making this for himself, since he’ll probably have to get used to actually being its only real user if you ask me.

Fact is no matter how super-duper the app itself may be, we’re simply not at the point yet where this can be seen as more than a cute experiment or proof-of-concept. Aside from finding it unbearably ironic if not hypocritical for certain people to embrace an app that insists on going new (but utterly superfluous) routes e.g. with left to right transport(?!!), but at the same time can’t whine enough about how they were somehow “completely screwed” by Apple for introducing a new paradigm with X. The major difference being tho, that Apple’s changes actually make perfect sense for the modern production environment. The nonsensical left to right thing for example is just some cutsie thing to appear especially clever and let the ol’ seasoned “pro” hang out for no apparent reason IMHO. It clearly serves no constructive purpose, only unnecessary confusion, say what you will.

And then liking that it’s “not trying to do what a modern editing app does”??! LOL… yeah, the number one thing I look for in an app: a retro effort and LESS functionality and possibilities. That’s totally sensible and a big ++ for the app, right? Apparently the *only* + you can even come up with for that matter, which speaks for itself.

Thanks for making my point.

filmfreak3000: | February, 24, 2013

Hey Scott,

I got the relink to work.  I need to do some more tests, to be sure, but so far, I’ve been able to relink as long as transcodes are made off of the native file.  So, by that, I mean if I import footage into FCPX, and don’t optimize or proxy, but take the media in the original media folder, compress that for TouchEdit, cut, send back to FCP, and then relink to the media in the original media folder, I’ve had it work.  Twice so far.  If that’s not completely clear, let me know.

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