Adobe Aero

Adobe Aero is a visual, fairly intuitive way of creating AR experiences that can be experienced on iOS and developed using macOS or Windows (both in beta).  It allows creators to place, scale, and rotate existing or stock 2D or 3D objects directly into virtual space as well as programming basic action sets for user interactivity.  

While it is an easy way to create interactive AR experiences, users have to have an iPhone or iPad to experience them and the desktop creation apps are still fairly buggy.

COST:

  • Free (no Creative Cloud subscription required)


AltspaceVR

AltspaceVR is a social VR platform created by Microsoft that is capable of running on most common VR headsets as well as without a headset using the desktop application on either MacOS or Windows. Users are represented as 3D avatars from the waist up and worlds can be customized either starting with base assets or from scratch by importing a scene from Unity.

COST: Free


Asana

Asana is primarily a project management tool that allows for collaborative lists and timelines. While it is useful just for personal use, it really excels at project and team management. Users can be assigned various tasks and subtasks with options to view deadlines in different forms such as calendar or Kanban lists. Like most modern project management tools, Asana supports a wide array of integrations with other pieces of software.

COST:

  • Free tier missing some features

  • Premium at $10.99 / month

  • Business at $24 / user / month


Audio Hijack

Audio Hijack is best used with loopback but can be used as a standalone program as well. Like Loopback it was developed by Rogue Amoeba and is based around capturing audio internally. One useful function of Audio Hijack is that it can be used to refine and effect audio streams using its built-in library of effects and then send them out to whatever program you want (or if using loopback to a virtual device). Audio Hijack is particularly useful for podcasters as well as anyone who wants to record audio with some customization but doesn’t have the time to tackle larger programs. New to version 3.7 Audio Hijack allows streaming directly to RTMP servers making it a good option for streaming audio-only performances.

COST:

  • Free trial with limitations

  • 59USD Perpetual License

  • Discount on bundle with other Rogue Amoeba programs


Cleanfeed

Cleanfeed is an online sound recording studio designed around virtual audio production. Cleanfeed provides high-quality, low latency audio in an easy-to-use interface. Whoever is mixing the session logs into a Cleanfeed account and is then able to send invites to guests, monitor levels and choose who should be recorded. Cleanfeed’s free plan doesn’t have any limitations but the pro version comes with more features. Features available in the pro version include multitrack recording, advanced invites (with expiry times), soundboards, live audio repair (such as if the guest doesn’t have headphones), additional local sources, a more robust channel mixer, higher bitrates, and the ability to route each guest to their own aux output. The last feature is one that can be extremely useful if paired with a utility such as Voicemeter Potato or Loopback in virtual performance scenarios. In that case, Cleanfeed can be used as the backbone to get audio from one performer to another (with video handled by another program if necessary) and whoever is receiving all the feeds is still able to isolate each feed individually and route it to where it needs to go.

For example, a virtual production where four people are performing in their own homes and their vocals are supposed to trigger audio-reactive Touchdesigner visualizations which are streamed to youtube.  Whoever will be running Touchdesigner installs a virtual audio device such as loopback and creates the Cleanfeed studio session.  In the studio session, they create and send links to their 3 other collaborators.  Those artists merely need to open the link in their web browser and enable their microphone.  The studio session lead now has access to their audio feeds and can route them from Cleanfeed to loopback virtual devices.  Touchdesigner can then take the virtual audio devices as audio input.  

COST:

  • Free for regular account

  • 22USD/month for premium features


Discord

Discord is a messaging and voice/video chat platform where users are grouped into communities referred to as servers. Discord is available on Windows, MacOS as well as most smartphones and browsers. Similar to Slack but not as business-facing, Discord is a great way to organize messages and thoughts by project and department. The built-in voice and video chat system has robust controls where users can mute or turn off the video for any participant for themselves (great if multiple users are joining a call from the same room).

COST:

  • Free with optional boosts for more features starting at $9.99 / month


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