PULSE PEN

[Richard Hamilton]

Ok, so you've created shows and you know it isn't easy to get the show choreography to come out the way you want it the first time. Often it takes repeated live viewings to note and change timing mistakes, fix channel assignments, or just improve some effects. It's something you can't easily do it in the editor, even if you use the animator.

What I used to do was sit out outside with my laptop to play music sequences and make notes about what I need to change. If I'm not freezing to death and no one is around watching, I can make changes on the spot. That was before using the PULSE pen. If you don't know what the PULSE pen is, then I'll just point you to a link rather than explain it here. I'll just mention how I use it.

As I watch the show on my house, I start an audio recording session on the pen and write down the name of that song in the notebook as each song sequence starts. While recording the song and watching the show, I make audio comments about things I want to change as I watch. I also write an "X" beside the song name in my notebook to indicate I need to later change something in that part of the song. Thus, I make an "X" for each change I want to make. The "X" is an index into the audio recording.

After watching my show, I go back inside to made the changes. I click on each "X" in my notebook beside a song. That takes me to the exact audio location in the pen music file where I need to make a change. I can hear my audio voiceover comment and also see the timing index into the song. Then I simply go to that same timinng index in my seqencer to make the change. This process is a LOT faster than the old approach. I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier.

PULSE PEN: http://livescribe.com

It's not worth buying a pen for this purpose, but if you have one, then this is a really good use for it. I have the pen mainly for lots of other uses.