SYNC
Sync
How BEATFORGE places every take against the reference audio, how to read the sync map, and how to overrule any of it.
Sync puts every take from every camera and recorder at its exact place on one timeline, measured against the reference: the audio source marked REF on MEDIA.
Running a sync
Press SYNC ALL SOURCES. The sync dashboard opens and shows each camera as it lands, with its offset and how confident the match is, plus the time elapsed and remaining. You can close the dashboard and carry on working. The progress in the status bar brings it back, and CANCEL is the only thing that stops a sync.
When it finishes, the dashboard says how many cameras are flagged for review. Press APPLY & CONTINUE.
Measurements are cached. A second sync of the same files, or opening the project again later, is much faster than the first.
What sync uses
- The sound. Every take is matched against the reference by what it heard. This is what places a take to the sample.
- Timecode, when a camera recorded it. It settles which place is right when the music repeats, places a take the sound alone could not, and measures how far the camera stood from the PA.
- File numbering. A camera writes C0001, C0002, C0003 in the order it recorded them. A take placed before one that was recorded earlier is flagged for review.
- Clock drift. Camera clocks run slightly fast or slow. Over a long take BEATFORGE measures the difference and plays that camera’s sound at the matching rate, so it is still in sync at the end of the set.
Reading the sync map
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| OFFSET | Where the take’s first sample sits on the timeline, in seconds. |
| CONFIDENCE | How clearly the take matched in one place. |
| ALTERNATIVES | Other places in the set the take also fitted well, if any. |
| VERDICT | Confident, Review (placed, but worth a look) or Rejected (left out of the cut). |
| PA DIST | How far the camera stood from the speakers, where timecode made it measurable. |
| CLOCK | How fast this camera’s clock runs against the reference, in parts per million. |
Overruling a placement
Every offset is yours to change:
- Drag the offset: one millisecond per pixel.
- Scroll over it: one millisecond per notch, or ten with Ctrl held.
- Double-click to type an exact figure.
A corrected offset turns violet and stays put through a re-sync. The × next to it puts back what sync measured. Moving a camera marks an existing cut as stale, so the timeline and the cut never disagree.
Choosing an alternative
When the music repeats closely enough that a take fits in more than one place, ALTERNATIVES lists the other places, with how far each would move the take and how good a fit it is. Pick one to move the take there.
This matters most for a Rejected take. A take is rejected when two places fit equally well. Choosing between them places it, and it goes back into the cut.
Clock rate
Scroll or double-click the CLOCK figure to set a rate by hand. Type 0 to stop correcting that camera. The × hands it back to the measurement. A take shorter than about four minutes is too short to measure a rate from, so it uses the rate measured on that camera’s longer takes, or one you set.
Re-syncing
RE-SYNC measures everything again. Offsets and clock rates you set by hand are kept. When a re-sync moves a camera by more than a frame, the session log says which camera and by how much, and its row pulses once. The whole re-sync can be undone with CtrlZ .