Separate music + LTC import
Some venues and production houses deliver each song as two mono files: one with the music and one with nothing but LTC. LTCast plays and chases from a single file that carries the LTC beside the music, so the two have to be matched and merged first. Doing that by hand for thirty songs is sixty files; this dialog does the pairing for you and tells you about every pair it is not sure of. A step-by-step version with screenshots is in the guide.
Opening the dialog
Click the two-arrow button (⇋, Import separate music + LTC) in the setlist header, next to the + button.
Step by step
- Choose files… and select everything in one go — music and LTC together, in any order. You do not sort or pair them yourself. LTCast analyses each file (Analysing n / m).
- Review the pairing. Each row shows the two files that were matched and a badge. Anything doubtful is listed first. The summary says how many songs are ready and how many need a look.
- Merge N songs and add to setlist. Pick a folder for the merged files. LTCast writes one ordinary WAV per pair and adds them to the setlist (Merging n / m). Your original files are not touched.
How pairs are made
LTCast tells which file is LTC by listening to it, not by its name, and pairs by the exact length in samples — two files from the same render agree to the sample — so the files can be named anything. The badges are:
- paired — identical lengths. Safe to merge.
- padded — lengths differ slightly; LTCast pads the shorter file with silence when merging, and flags it.
- pick one — more than one candidate fits; LTCast will not guess.
- no partner — a music or an LTC file with nothing to pair with.
- already merged — a multichannel file that already carries LTC beside its music.
Only pairs that have both an LTC and a music file are merged; the button says how many that is.
What you get
The merged file puts the music channel(s) first and the LTC on the last channel: mono music plus LTC becomes a 2-channel file, stereo music plus LTC a 3-channel file. LTCast finds the LTC channel in it by content, so you do not set LTC Track by hand, and chase can find the song through its LTC (see Chasing external LTC). Merged files are new files, so plan for roughly the same disk space again — about 1.5 GB for a thirty-song show.
If some files fail to merge, LTCast says how many songs were imported and how many failed; the rest are in the setlist. If it finds no pairs at all it tells you so.