Darn near every amateur podcaster is using GarageBand for making their podcasts. I’m no exception as I use it for the ‘Dashboard Minute’ heard on the MyMac.com podcast. It isn’t a perfect solution and there are things I wish it could do better. There are work-arounds for almost every dilemma, but sometimes the solution is just a clunky as the problem itself.
Enter a new player into the field. A company going by the name of PleasantSoftware, is announcing a product called Ubercaster. It is supposed to be the answer to all the prayers of podcasters the world over. If you go to the site (http://www.ubercaster.com/), you’ll see some half-screen shots from this software and it does look intriguing. Unfortunately no real information is available as it’s still in the beta phase. So is this product going to revolutionize podcasting like the iPod and GarageBand did? Not a clue, but I’ll tell you some of what I’d like to see in a podcasting suite.
1. The ability to use several different USB and direct external input sources at the same time. Essentially, GarageBand allows you to select what audio input device is going to be used in a particular session. Unfortunately, only one input can be used at a time. Wouldn’t it be nice to have several active external inputs (different microphones or instruments, all editable and scalable in a live session) available at once? Maybe GB does this and I’m just ignorant about it. I’m sure someone will tell me.
2. On the same note (A GarageBand joke, but not a very good one), it would be nice to have several different outputs available too. Plug a bunch of USB headphones in and have them all active with different volume levels (for the comfort of different users).
3. How about being able to select input sources internally as well? Have Skype (if you have to ask what Skype is..yadda yadda) or another VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocal) service open as an internal source with the ability to adjust the volume or turn it on or off as needed in some segment of the podcast. Of course this can be done using Audio Hijack Pro or some other software, but it involves using different computers connected together.
4. Editing your podcast to include sound effects can be a pain in the neck as well. If, like me, you’re just doing a segment that is being added later, these effects can be put in as you do your post-production. Also you can set up a MIDI to generate these sounds on the fly, but this is yet another piece of hardware that needs to be added for something that should be simple. Why not have a separate window or windows open that is each assigned to a track, with buttons that are customizable as shortcuts to small mp3/wav/aiff sound files. You name the button with the sound or effect you desire, hit that button at an appropriate time and viola! Your sound is generated on the fly within the time frame that is relevant to what you’re doing. No more have to go through the whole podcast to find just the right spot to drop it in.
These are just a few of the things I thought of after going to the site that announce Ubercast. I’m sure Tim could come up with any number of other nice to have features that haven’t occurred to me. Will Ubercaster have any of the things mentioned? Not a clue, but it sure would be nice if it did.
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