# Dear Steinberg... AAF, WTF?



## Jdiggity1 (May 9, 2018)

I love you, but why the flip does Cubase *PRO *not support AAF? This makes me sad.

If there's anybody here who might be close to the Steinberg team (anybody?), can you please give them a gentle nudge and tell them some guy from the internet is very cross about the lack of AAF, and considers it a standard format in the *PRO*fessional industry.
When I'm sent AAF files for cue sheets or what-have-you, I have to say "Sorry, my pricey professional DAW "Cubase" doesn't support such a standard format. Could you please re-open that project and export an OMF for me?"
Smooth.

Or maybe you could go and check in on the boss and make sure their calendar is working? I fear somebody calling the shots might be living in the past.


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## EvilDragon (May 9, 2018)

In the meantime...

http://www.aatranslator.com.au/


There are plenty of DAWs which don't support either OMF or AAF... OMF is such a trainwreck of a format anyways, and AAF also has quite different implementations, making it a different kind of a trainwreck. Best use dedicated software like this I reckon.


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## Jdiggity1 (May 9, 2018)

EvilDragon said:


> In the meantime...
> 
> http://www.aatranslator.com.au/


$199? Yikes.
Cool program, but in my case it's cheaper to get Pro Tools for a month. Good to know about AATranslator though.
Yeah, I guess programs like Sonar and Studio One don't do AAF.
But Logic, DP, and Pro Tools do, which I figured is representative of the 'top tier' professional programs that Cubase aligns itself with.


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## Gerhard Westphalen (May 9, 2018)

Nuendo supports AAF. And before anyone says that you shouldn't have to pay so much for such a basic feature - Pro Tools and surround support. Who uses AAF outside of post production work? Cubase isn't marketed as being for post production, it's for music so yes, it is still "pro" and has all features necessary for such work. It compares perfectly fine to Logic and DP but none of those are "top tier" DAW's so you can't expect everything from them. Top tier would be programs like Pyramix, Pro Tools HD, Nuendo, and Sequoia.

I recently had a lot of trouble importing either an OMF or AAF. I don't remember which one it was but the film makers were having some sort of issue on their end with exporting it. Eventually one of them worked but I don't remember which it was.


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## Jdiggity1 (May 9, 2018)

Gerhard Westphalen said:


> Who uses AAF outside of post production work? Cubase isn't marketed as being for post production, it's for music so yes, it is still "pro" and has all features necessary for such work. It compares perfectly fine to Logic and DP but none of those are "top tier" DAW's so you can't expect everything from them. Top tier would be programs like Pyramix, Pro Tools HD, Nuendo, and Sequoia.



Is music not classed as post-production anymore? Guess it depends on what medium you're writing/producing for.
You're right though, the majority of the time i don't care about it. It's something used by editors.
But when editors want to communicate with you (video OR music/audio editors) their standard now seems to be AAF.
So in my scenario.... I'm sent an AAF so I can produce a cue-sheet for a TV show. In my mind, this still falls within the realm of professional music production and thus a 'necessary' feature for my work.
I dunno, maybe I _am_ silly and expecting too much. But when Cubase's direct competitors all offer this feature, it's kinda hard to not throw my hands in the air with a frown on. Which i seem to be in a constant state of recently...


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## chillbot (May 9, 2018)

Jdiggity1 said:


> throw my hands in the air with a frown on



I can fix?


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## EvilDragon (May 9, 2018)

Gerhard Westphalen said:


> I recently had a lot of trouble importing either an OMF or AAF.



Which is exactly problems that AAT is trying to solve, because both formats are really not well standardized between DAWs at all unfortunately.


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## chrisr (May 9, 2018)

I mostly love AAT. Well worth the money and one of the tools that facilitates my using Reaper over PT.


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## Runaway (May 10, 2018)

Jdiggity1 said:


> $199? Yikes.
> Cool program, but in my case it's cheaper to get Pro Tools for a month. Good to know about AATranslator though.
> Yeah, I guess programs like Sonar and Studio One don't do AAF.
> But Logic, DP, and Pro Tools do, which I figured is representative of the 'top tier' professional programs that Cubase aligns itself with.


There is no such thing as a 'standard' AAF - send me your session and I will just convert it for you
[email protected]


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## Runaway (May 10, 2018)

Jdiggity1 said:


> When I'm sent AAF files for cue sheets or what-have-you, I have to say "Sorry, my pricey professional DAW "Cubase" doesn't support such a standard format. Could you please re-open that project and export an OMF for me?"
> Smooth.


The funny thing is that while Steinberg 'support' OMF they actually flaunt the OMF 'standard' and allow stereo media to be referenced - this is not only a big no no but it can really cause great confusion and distress for the uninitiated


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## lokotus (May 10, 2018)

Gerhard Westphalen said:


> Nuendo supports AAF. And before anyone says that you shouldn't have to pay so much for such a basic feature - Pro Tools and surround support. Who uses AAF outside of post production work? Cubase isn't marketed as being for post production, it's for music so yes, it is still "pro" and has all features necessary for such work. It compares perfectly fine to Logic and DP but none of those are "top tier" DAW's so you can't expect everything from them. Top tier would be programs like Pyramix, Pro Tools HD, Nuendo, and Sequoia.
> 
> I recently had a lot of trouble importing either an OMF or AAF. I don't remember which one it was but the film makers were having some sort of issue on their end with exporting it. Eventually one of them worked but I don't remember which it was.



You you give the pre-composed music to editors then you get a session back from them as aaf for further composing. So AAF / OMF is also tied to the composing work, not only sound post production. Likewise, you could exchange things with the sound designer, but that doesn't happen too often. Cubase not supporting aaf, but omf is just silly. is omf for the poor guys workflow and aaf for the advanced one ?
the workaround is easy, nuendo trail - import aaf - switch to cubase and open the same nuendo session. done. all this trouble just because they don't want to unlock the feature in cubase


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