What is eVirtualStudio?

eVirtualStudio is an easy to use companion product for Pro Tools, Cubase, and Cakewalk's SONAR recording software. It enables users to share their music projects with other users over the internet.  It works with the Home, Studio, and Producer Editions of either Pro Tools 7.x, SONAR 5.x to  8.x, or Cubase (See system requirements). To see a demo of eVirtualStudio, click here.  Best of all, there is no charge to use the eVirtualStudio beta and you get 5GB of free disk space to get you started.

What do you need to use eVirtualStudio?

  • Windows XPSP2, Windows Vista, or Mac OS X 10.4 or 10.5 computer with at least 1GB of RAM

  • Your favorite version of Pro Tools, SONAR, or Cubase to view or edit projects. (optional)

How does eVirtualStudio work?

In essence eVirtualStudio is a project management tool for Pro Tools sessions SONAR projects, or Cubase projects.  Your sessions or projects are stored on a central file server managed by the Amazon Storage Service. Other users access sessions or projects over the internet using the eVirtualStudio client software.  Any time that you want to edit a session or project, eVirtualStudio automatically launches Pro Tools, SONAR, or Cubase for you. When you have finished editing your session or project in SONAR or Pro Tools, eVirtualStudio automatically synchronizes changes that you made with the version on the server.  Other eVirtualStudio users that you invite to share a local project will automatically receive a copy of your updated session or project the next time they log onto eVirtualStudio. 

You need an internet connection to share songs in eVirtualStudio, but you can still view your projects in off-line mode while you are on the road.  You can check out projects for up to 24 hours.  You only need to be connected to the internet when you check out a project for editing or check it back in to copy new media files to the Amazon Storage Service.

Here are the basic steps to share a project in eVirtualStudio:

  1. Start the eVirtualStudio Client software.  In Windows, click on the desktop shortcut or choose Start/All Programs/eVirtualStudio. 
  2. Log onto eVirtualStudio using your eVirtualStudio username and password.  Click here to create a new eVirtualStudio account.
  3. Click Add and select either a Pro Tools, Cubase, or SONAR Project (change the project type to reflect the package in the Add Project dialog box).
  4. From the project details screen you can invite other users to share your project (see below).
  5. Click Publish to copy all the project files to the server.

As shown in the picture below, the main eVirtualStudio Project Management screen shows two lists.  The top list is the projects you have created.  The bottom is a list of projects that other eVirtualStudio users have shared with you.

 
eVirtualStudio Project Manager

 

You can access your projects either through the eVirtualStudio Project Manager or the Windows Explorer. All sessions or projects are stored locally to optimize performance. You can browse your projects by clicking Organize or Find Users in order to search for other users to share projects. The refresh button checks the eVirtualStudio service to see if any projects have changes that need to be synchronized.

To edit a specific session or project in either Pro Tools, SONAR, or Cubase, click the Edit button.  To view the project details screen, click on a project name.


 

The Project Details area let's you select how long a project can be opened for editing (Check-Out).  Only the project owner can change this.  The range is 1 to 24 hours (default).  You can also view or edit the log for the current version.  The Synch files check box allows you to temporarily suspend downloading updates to a project.  Click here for more information.

Each time someone edits (checks out) a project, eVirtualStudio assigns a new version number to the updated project. To view a previous version of a project, select it from the dropdown list.  You can then click View to open the session or project in Pro Tools, SONAR, or Cubase.  Project Owners also have the option to click Change which will make the selected session or project the current (newest) version of the session or project. This feature let's you  revert back to a previous version of the session or project.  eVirtualStudio simply makes a copy of the previous version and assigns it a new version number.





You can invite other members to share your project by either typing in their username or by using the Find tool to search for other users by skill, geography, or musical interest.




When you create or edit a session or project, eVirtualStudio provides a version log that lets you document changes made to each version.  To view a history of the version log or edit the version log, click on the Version Log button.  You can also edit project notes and store song lyrics in the version log screen.



The project details screen also lets you:

  • Remove a project: This option removes the project from the storage service.  All users will no longer have access to the project.  The deleted project files are placed in a folder called "Deleted Projects" in the eVirtualStudio folder.

  • Archive a project: The Archive feature removes all members from the project and marks the project as archived.  Archived projects are still backed up on the server but they are hidden on the Project  Manager screen.  You can select "Show Archived Projects" on the Project Manager Screen to view archived projects.   Archived projects can be un-archived if desired.

  • Repair a project if for any reason eVirtualStudio is unable to copy all project files to the storage server.