Sound Keys is a keyframe generator plug-in for Adobe After Effects 5.0 and higher. It allows visually selecting a range in the audio spectrum and convert the audio energy in the selected frequencies to a stream of keyframes. It is very handy for making extremely audio-driven animations. Watch Sound Keys in action! [flash] or download Sound Keys fundamentally differs from the keyframe generators that comes with AE. They (wiggler, motion sketch etc) have their own palette, whereas Sound Keys is applied as a regular effect and keyframes are generated into its own output parameters and then linked with an expression (or copied into place). An advantage with this approach is that all settings for the plug-in are saved with the project. Since Sound Keys was released After Effects 6.0 came out and included the handy new keyframe generator "Convert Audio to Keyframes". The main difference between the two lies in that Sound Keys can extract keyframes from frequency ranges rather than just the overall amplitude. This makes it possible to extract motion from only the kick drum, or only the voice for example. Another difference is that Sound Keys offers different falloff modes. Hosts Adobe After Effects 5.0 and higher (Mac OSX/Windows)

Advisory to users of Trapcode Sound Keys in the United States
The owner of U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 10/242,447 may consider connecting the output from Trapcode Sound Keys to the Time Remapping function in Adobe After Effects a potential infringement of his rights in the application - read more...

movie (222K)				movie (261K)
First, define the areas of interest in the audio spectrum.		Then press "Apply" to generate keyframes.		Then link the keyframes with expressions to desired parameters.

Reviews and articles

Paulo de Andrade at DigitalPostProduction.com tries three Trapcode products. Read the review.


Examples

falloff_none.mov (158K) info & project file		beat_explode (1.2M)   info & project file

Here are two examples where 3D Stroke's Path Time parameter is linked to the output of Sound Keys. In the first (blue) the audio was set up to control the amplitude of a sine that in turn controls Path Time. In the second (red) the audio controls Path Time directly.

airbase.mov (189K)    info & project file		drums.mov (653K)    info & project file

Features

• Available for Mac OS, Mac OSX and Windows
• Easy-to-use visual interface
• 32-band adjustable spectrum
• Instant, Linear and Exponential falloff
• Adjustable output range
• Extensive documentation: Manual and Tutorials
• Available for instant purchase on-line

Not convinced yet? Get the free demo and try it today! The demo is fully fuctional, but will only allow generation of 300 keyframes (AE can be restarted to get 300 new). This demo is unlockable, so if you decide to buy it you only need to purchase an unlocking key and you are set. The product is registered to your name only, so you can actually purchase the unlocking key right now without installing the demo first.