Posted
We are updating some of our older videos with new narration and subtitles. The robotic voice of the old Kim was funny back then, but it's really awful and off-putting now. Where necessary, we record new takes. After this process is finished in a couple of days, we will upload the new tutorials.
As I mentioned, I've spent the past several weeks developing a tool that allows for interactive voice-over production with drag-and-drop functionality. It's much faster and more productive. The tool is also a proof of concept and preparation for a framework for future Cognitone products.
The agony of choice—which topics to cover first—still looms large. If you have a suggestion that hasn't been covered before, let us know.
Di., 28.04.2026 - 15:28 Permalink
Technical data center obstacles are causing a delay. The servers need urgently an OS upgrade; its lot of unpleasant sysadmin work but we are making progress. Has been long overdue; we cannot risk waiting longer. Thanks for your patience!
Di., 09.06.2026 - 17:31 Permalink
As an insider who is blind to the big picture, it’s a struggle to adopt the perspective of a completely new user and not distract them with too many details. Viewed from a distance, the current videos are far too detailed and chaotic. Unfortunately, we can’t delegate this to third parties, because the first generation of videos must lay the groundwork for future user-generated videos. So this initial set if videos is up to me.
On the topic of “Containers, Structure, Tracks,” (Synfire 3.0) I’ve already discarded several attempts so far because they were still too detailed. I was tearing my hair out.
So I’ve now set up a comprehensive Claude project for this, which has since learned all available information about Synfire and the target user group. His suggestions alone regarding headings, metaphors, and narrative style are worth their weight in gold. Especially regarding what’s best to leave out so the central theme isn’t lost.
This streamlining will, of course, result in significantly more—but shorter—videos. Overall, however, the total runtime should remain similar.
Di., 09.06.2026 - 18:07 Permalink
Here's an example of what Claude contributed to the brainstorming. Of course I knew all of this already (and the parameters Claude suggested won't be convincing), but the insight what to focus on, how to frame it, and what to leave out is a helpful guideline to keep the video short and effective.
The one idea the video has to land
Everything tempting to explain about Containers — nesting, the tree, priority, aliases, loops — is downstream of a single conceptual shift, and that shift is the whole video:
A container doesn't hold a copy of everything. It only states what's different for the span of time it covers. Everything you don't override just keeps playing.
The docs say this almost perfectly in their own tip, and I'd make it the spine of the video, repeated as a refrain: "When you place a container, ask: what do I want to change for the duration of this container?"
This matters because your audience is DAW-native, and their instinct will be to pattern-match a container to a clip, region, or folder track. That mapping is mostly right and dangerously wrong in one place: clips contain everything explicitly; containers contain deltas. If you let them keep the clip model, nesting will look like pointless bureaucracy ("why would I put a clip inside a clip?"). Break the clip analogy early and the rest falls out on its own.
Why the tree should not be the headline
You named the trap exactly. "Containers form a tree" is the technically-true framing that makes eyes glaze over. Lead with override instead, and the tree becomes a consequence rather than a topic: changes have scope, and scopes naturally nest (a verse that's generally quieter, with one bar inside it that swells). The viewer should arrive at "oh, so they nest" as an obvious conclusion, not be told it as a rule up front.
A demo arc that does this:
- Start where they already live — a flat arrangement, all phrases in the root. Looks DAW-ish, comfortable.
- Pose a problem DAWs solve badly: "I want the chorus a bit louder and rhythmically busier — but only the chorus." In a DAW you'd duplicate-and-edit or change the clips destructively.
- The Synfire move: drop a child container over the chorus, override just Velocity and Step. The reveal: everything else keeps playing because you only stated the difference.
- The payoff: drag that container elsewhere — the change travels with it. Delete it — the change is gone. Nothing was destroyed. This is the moment that sells Synfire's entire "explore before you commit" pitch.
- Only now: name sections (Intro / Verse / Chorus) as the everyday use, and stop.
Di., 09.06.2026 - 23:48 Permalink
Interesting use of ai, seems to have "hit the nail on the head". The only thing I would add is an example of bringing in a new instrument (one that already exists but is silent) just for a short time by adding a new container and I'd show this before repeating the exercise with the velocity/step changes. This reinforces the method and also demonstrates you can change anything not just notes. I know technically there is no difference between a container with a new step and velocity parameters, and a container with a new instrument playing, but to a beginner they are more likely to want a chorus with different notes and they might not 'get' that it is the same in synfire.
Mi., 10.06.2026 - 11:28 Permalink
Good point. I also had a conversation with Claude regarding the "Tracks" view and how building a song in that view causes lots of single-phrase containers to pile up in "Structure", which runs contrary to the purpose of a container structure. In fact, this conundrum was the reason I looked for a neutral outside perspective in the first place.
I (not Claude) came up with a diagram that summarizes the insights:
The Tracks view is a trap for DAW-native users who will happily start building songs there and then wonder what the weird growing pile of boxes in "Structure" is actually good for. From the outset, they need to understand that Structure is where a song is built, while Tracks is where its contents can be navigated, edited and refined in a perspective similar to a DAW.
All this needs to go into a single short video. The details can be left for another one.