Q&A
This page will be updated soon with your FretBoard 3 queries. Here's a few things you might want to know:
Fretboard 3 is fully compatible with FretBoard 1 and 2 .
FretBoard 1 was a Fixed BPM effect, FretBoard 2 was an Adjustable BPM effect and Fretboard 3 offers the advantages of both, Fixed and Adjustable BPM on the FCPX timeline.
Many of the new features in FretBoard 3 like doubling up the strings for a mandolin or highlighting open strings or string bends that affect all the adjacent strings were ideas born out of correspondence with you. The FretBoard user. Our sincerest thanks to all of you, from all of us at BearDogFx!
Service Update 1.1.2 for FretBoard has removed the requirement to create a compound clip to adjust tempo for the 6 Instrument effects. Now you can adjust the tempo of the FretBoard effect on the FCPX timeline by adjusting its length, just like you do with the Strummer effects.
A massive boost to render time and workflow is realized by reducing the length of the FretBoard effect to 16 frames when editing, so each Beat interval is exactly 1 frame apart! It's also easier to check your composition using the arrow keys to navigate the timeline, 1 frame or 1 Beat at a time.
Q Is there a way to turn off the timing/progression, so that I can just add notes to my own keyframes?
A Just turn the Animation selector to “OFF”.
The animation presets are mainly used for scales or to display chord progressions or patterns.
In the OFF position you have 64 notes at your disposal to drag to the fretboard. Adjust the length of the individual instances of FretBoard to match your keyframes. That’s how I use it!
If you want more colours just stack effects by putting a "just notes" effect on top of an empty fretboard effect. The empty FretBoard effect can contain your stylized look that you can pull to match the full length of the composition
Once you get used to it, it’s really easy and fun to use. There is definitely a bit of a learning curve though.
The tutorial that FxFactory did is quite good considering how short it is. It’s definitely worth a look.
Our next update will focus on replacing the build-in animation FretBoard currently uses, so you will be able to change the BPM of the animation by just adjusting the length of the FretBoard effect. Just like how you change the BPM in our new Strummer effects.
Recent Service Update for FretBoard has removed the requirement to create a compound clip.
Q Let's say I want to lay dots on top of a freetbord in a video. The space between the dots are equal, but the space between frets are not!!! So, in order to compensate, I'll have to move the dots, so they no longer fit the Fretboard diagram, but the real fretboard in video!?
A We quantized the dots to make it easier to land exactly in the middle of the frets and also to a make it easier for the labels to land exactly in the middle of the dot. The dots will rarely land in the middle of a fret on a real fretboard but you can get close.
put 1 dot on each corner of the FretBoard fretboard
check Hide Fretboard and Hide Template
use the Distort tool in the viewer to line up the 4 corner dots with the real fretboard
use the On Screen Controls to drag the dots to the real fretboard.
click on the angled double arrows in the viewer to work in full screen mode
The basic idea is to just use the dots and ignore the FretBoard fretboard.
For the next update we will try and include a "Free Dots" option specifically for overlaying notes on a real fretboard.
Q I was labeling each note in a steady scale and I could not label anymore because I ran out of P and H.
Is there a way to create more items in the P and H sections?
A As far as extra labels go you have a couple of options.
You can stack a new instance of FretBoard above and check Hide fretboard and turn the Dot Opacity down to zero so you only see the labels The labels should line up perfectly.
If it’s an animated sequence it definitely gets more complicated. Just pair the labels with the dots. I realize you loose 2 dots per beat interval.
We added an extra row of labels in our first update. It should have probably been 2. There are workarounds as stated above but as you have pointed out extra labels would be a benefit to workflow.
I’ll see what we can do about adding another row.
I will get back to you.
I hope this is something you can work with for now.
this YouTube video might help - HOW TO add extra dots
Q Is there is a chance to create a fretboard with more than 15 frets, say 20 or 22?
A You are asking all the questions we struggled with when we put FretBoard together.
Because we couldn’t control the size of the OSC circles used to move the dots around we were limited to how many frets we could add.
We did have room for 1 more fret but are saving that space for an update.
Not all bad news.
It’s fairly easy to join 2 fretboards together for extra frets. You will loose the natural simulation of bending a string but everything else should remain the same.
HOW TO join 2 fretboards for extra frets
Create a new Custom Project with a Dual Monitor Aspect Ratio HD 3840 x 1080 or for 4K use 7680 x 2160
Add a FretBoard effect to the timeline and rename it Nut.
Check Hide Template.
In the Video Inspector change the X Position to -624 for HD or -1248 for 4K. We are shifting the Nut fretboard 6 frets to the left.
Copy or add another FretBoard effect to the timeline and place it on top of the Nut fretboard and rename it Bridge. Make sure Hide Template is checked.
In the Bridge fretboard UI move the SLIDER slider all the way to the right for a value of 100 to scroll the fretboard to the max 27 frets.
In the Video Inspector change the X Position to 624 for HD or 1248 for 4K. We are shifting the Bridge fretboard 6 frets to the right.
In the Video Inspector for HD under Crop / Left enter 1462 for HD or 2924 for 4K to crop the Bridge fretboard at the 15th fret. This can also be done in the Viewer by choosing the Crop icon and pulling the left edge of the Bridge composition to taste.
Add a new instance of FretBoard on top of the other 2 FretBoard effects and name it Dots.
Check Hide Template and Hide FretBoard to show only the Labels and Dots.
NOTE: For a 22 fret fretboard Replace Steps 6. and 7.
6. In the Bridge fretboard UI adjust the slider for the Bridge layer to show only 22 frets or enter 58 in the SLIDER number field.
7. Enter 104 for X Position in the Video Inspector to shift the fretboard to the right by 1 fret. Enter 208 for a Dual Display 4K project.
NOTE: To add extra frets to the Banjo fretboard follow the same process above but instead use the 5 -Bass+ fretboard as the Bridge layer.
Other than exporting your project that’s pretty much it. With the Dot layer selected and the Hide Template checked you won’t see the dots until you drag the OSC circles to the fretboard area. The 2 text elements “H”and “P”are just above the dots. You can work in fullscreen mode by clicking the double arrow at the bottom right of the viewer.
If you need to shift the dots left or right on the fretboard use the SLIDE guide as reference or enter 104 per fret for HD or 208 for 4K in the X Position field of the Video Inspector. If you need more dots just add another Dot only layer.
Once you’ve added all the dots the final step is to Export your composition. Choose Share / Export File and under settings change the Video Codec to Apple ProRes 4444 or Apple ProRes 4444HQ to enable the alpha layer. You can now import this clip into any project!
That’s it!
check out this YouTube video - HOW TO join 2 fretboards
Q I have purchased the full version of Fretboard, but do not seem to be able to re-time for tempo adjustment.
CMD R does not work and the re-time option does not give access to slow/fast unless I turn the clip on the timeline into a compound clip, but then you lose the player/viewer options.
Am I missing something here?
A No, you are not missing anything!
All of the FCP generator and title effects with Build-in and Build-out animation require you to create a compound clip in order to use the re-time option.
The Build-in animation sequence for FretBoard is exactly 5 1/3 seconds. The full length of the effect. So if you extend the FretBoard effect to match a 10 sec video clip on the timeline the Build-in animation sequence will not change and will remain 5 1/3 seconds long.
And yes, to answer your question when you commit to a compound clip, you loose all the plugin options.
We just released Update 1.1 for FretBoard a few hours ago. It has a lot of new features and improvements to the interface. It contains a couple of new 8 and 16 beat Strummer effects that don’t utilize any build-in or out animation.
Those effects will behave like you want them too.
The update is definitely worth downloading! If only for the extra row of labels!
Sorry D____, I wish there was an easier way to get the results your after with fewer steps.
check out this YouTube video - HOW TO control tempo
Our next update will focus on replacing the build-in animation FretBoard currently uses, so you will be able to change the BPM of the animation by just adjusting the length of the FretBoard effect. Just like how you change the BPM in our new Strummer effects.
Recent Service Update for FretBoard has removed the requirement to create a compound clip.
Q How do you retime the fretboard element so that it matches what’s happening on the clip/timeline?
Is that a restriction of the demo version? I’m struggling to map the fretboard changes to what’s happening in the clip.
The only way I can see to retime anything is by making it into a compound clip, which requires prematurely locking it to the timeline...
Figure it must be a simple solution that I’m just not seeing?
A It’s really simple. Just use the retiming feature in FCP (Command/R) or better yet use a separate instance of FretBoard for each chord or note with the Animation selector turned to OFF and adjust the length of each FretBoard effect to line up with your markers on the timeline.
So if you were to show a 10 chord progression there would be 10 FretBoard clips on the FCP timeline.
What I do is drag a Fretboard effect to the full-length of the song or composition to use as a base with no notes. Then I just stack "note only" FretBoard effects on top. This way if you want to make any changes to the FretBoard style or look such as color or inlays you only have 1 effect to deal with.
check out this YouTube video - HOW TO control tempo
Our next update will focus on replacing the build-in animation FretBoard currently uses, so you will be able to change the BPM of the animation by just adjusting the length of the FretBoard effect. Just like how you change the BPM in our new Strummer effects.
Recent Service Update for FretBoard has removed the requirement to create a compound clip.
Q I don’t seem to be able to retime any effect (Fretboard or other) that I put above the timeline though - am I missing something? the only thing I can retime is the actual timeline clip.
A No, you’re not missing anything! You need to create a compound clip to use the retiming feature. A compound clip also allows you to scale and rotate your composition and add masks and effects.. There are no drawbacks to using them other than the extra space the compound clips take up on your hard drive.
We just did some vertical 9/16 Shorts and Reels for uTube and Facebook.
Here’s an example.
We used 8 separate instances of FretBoard 1 for each chord. We needed to create a compound clip in order to flip the fretboard 90 degrees. Which is no biggie because you can always go back and edit the contents of the compound clip to make changes.
You have to be careful working with compound clips though because if you use more than 1 instance of the same compound clip what ever changes you make to 1 will be reflected in the other.
check out this YouTube video - HOW TO control tempo
Our next update will focus on replacing the build-in animation FretBoard currently uses, so you will be able to change the BPM of the animation by just adjusting the length of the FretBoard effect. Just like how you change the BPM in our new Strummer effects.
Recent Service Update for FretBoard has removed the requirement to create a compound clip.