Click tracks are becoming more and more common in the world of musical theatre, and as a sound designer I wasn't content with the current software that is available to make them. Click Builder is the result of two years of design and development on several projects to deliver a feature-rich, complete solution to building click tracks efficiently and accurately. Click tracks are mapped using a very simple script language. The screenshot below is from a working production of Hairspray, where 36 click tracks were mapped and built in under an hour.
Click Builder was designed to work closely with Figure 53's QLab, most notably making the use of vamps and devamps incredibly easy.
The Professional version adds features typically used for inter-department automation such as syncing music with lighting or projections. Click Builder has the ability to generate measure maps (text files that contain timings for every measure and optionally every beat in a click track), linear timecode in a variety of SMPTE formats, and measure counting audio files so other departments can easily follow songs in the score.
The Click Builder main form contains the list of all of the click tracks associated with a show, a text box where the click tracks are defined, various properties associated with the click tracks, a log window, and notes field.
The Properties form is where you set default properties for all of the click maps in a show, and defaults associated with click tones (accents) and other files used by Click Builder. The Music Director doesn't like the click tone you used for all of the click tracks? You can change that for the entire show and rebuild all of the click tracks in seconds.
Click maps (called songs) that define the click tracks are very easy to build. Translate the information provided by the music department into complex click tracks using the intuitive and simple script language.
Measure Maps (available in the Professional version) provide timing of every measure and optionally every beat in click tracks. Measure maps also provide timings relative to the end of vamp regions.
Once the data has been entered, Click Builder can generate a complete show of click tracks in a matter of seconds.
Click Builder was engineered for musical theatre sound design and contains features to integrate directly with QLab.
Click Builder is the result of several years of building click tracks for various musical theatre shows of varying complexity.
Vamps markers are automatically created that translate to slices in QLab. All you have to do is set the loop count.
Click Builder can generate text files containing the timings of measures and optionally beats in a variety of time and SMPTE formats.
Click Builder can generate linear timecode as an additional channel or separate audio file in a variety of SMPTE formats.
Click Builder can generate audio files containing voice counts of measure numbers so designers can easily follow along in the score.
Click Builder comes with stock metronome tones and count-off voices. You can easily change the metronome tone for every click track and rebuild an entire show in seconds.
A majority of click tracks can be built knowing 3-4 simple script commands. Entire shows of click tracks can be (and have been) designed in under an hour.
Click Builder is available in 32 and 64 bit versions. If you aren't sure if your computer is capable of running 64-bit applications (even though nowadays most are), we recommend downloading the 32-bit version. The program can be used as a trial for an unlimited amount of time with full access to the Professional features to get familiar with how the program works and see if it's a good fit for your needs. Click tracks built with the trial version occasionally insert a random amount of space between clicks that throws off the beat and have some limitations on the professional features.
$79
$129
Many commercially available products on the market can generate click tracks such as Logic, Pro Tools, and Ableton Live. Those products are also designed for music production, can be more expensive, and can have a steep learning curve. Buying one of those programs when you only need to build click tracks is a bit overkill. Click Builder was designed with only one task in mind, and to do that as quickly and accurately as possible. We also designed Click Builder to work closely with Figure 53's QLab for playback and automation. Therefore, our features such as automatic vamp regions and measure maps make integrating with QLab and using it for automation via MIDI or OSC easy and fast. The trial will allow you to test out the workflow and feature set. While we don't have a Mac version, Click Builder has been used in Parallels in a production environment with complete success.
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