Archive translation. Specifications, services and availability reflect the original publication date in 2001. Verify current compatibility before production use.
FAST Multimedia launched its long-awaited blue editing system at IBC 2001. Ali Adelstein, the company’s executive responsible for development, discussed the thinking behind the product, its intended users and the technical ambitions that shaped it.
When did FAST decide to develop blue, and what shaped the concept?
Ali Adelstein: The idea emerged quite early. FAST had already built expertise in real-time linear and nonlinear video editing while developing VideoMachine. The next goal was an ideal computer-based editing tool, one that users would genuinely enjoy working with. Existing systems tended to be too complex, too expensive or both. Adelstein cited the Media Composer from Avid as expensive and FAST’s own VideoMachine as complex. Further historical coverage is available in the Avid archive.
The vision was an open, independent tool covering the full post-production process: efficient and ergonomic, but also stable and reliable. It also had to work comfortably alongside third-party audio post, animation and networking tools. In Adelstein’s phrasing, post-production needed to move away from compromised monocultures and towards combinations of the best available systems.
Who was blue designed for?
Adelstein: Professional editors, post-production facilities and broadcasters. The product was intended for people whose editing systems generated revenue and who needed high technical quality. Adelstein described blue as a mature, modern NLE for that market.
Where did FAST place it in the market?
Adelstein: blue targeted the high end. FAST considered its combination of format support and performance unusual at the time. In terms of features, Adelstein regarded Avid’s Composer line as the closest comparison, though he noted that the systems were not directly equivalent.
What was blue’s defining feature?
Adelstein: Different users would choose different highlights, but his was “Every In, Any Out”. The phrase covered both physical connections and established media-file formats. blue could work natively with files captured on Matrox or Pinnacle hardware, without a conventional import step.
The system could combine DV, DVCPRO 25 and 50, MPEG-2, MPEG IMX and uncompressed material natively in one timeline, then output the formats in real time through the available connections. Adelstein argued that this saved both time and image quality.
What did the workflow offer the editor?
Adelstein: FAST sought higher efficiency, a clear workflow and an interface that did not distract from picture and sound. Rather than relying on conspicuous controls, blue aimed for a transparent front end that faded into the background as the editor became familiar with it. Users could reduce the interface to the controls needed for their individual working style.
Beyond the interface, blue offered network-oriented media management protected by InstantSave. Its DVE used 16-bit precision per component, YUV processing, sub-pixel positioning and InTime background rendering. New functions included real-time primary colour correction, selective secondary colour correction and a TimeWarp editor for dynamic-motion effects.
Why had blue acquired a certain mystique?
Adelstein: It represented the dream of an optimal editing tool and an unusually ambitious technical concept. That ambition also delayed development. Some planned functions depended on standards or technical foundations that did not yet exist, including SDTI-CP and mixed formats in one timeline.
Adelstein said the company had stayed with that difficult path. By the time of the interview, blue had reached commercial availability and FAST believed it met the promises made during development.
What would come after blue?
Adelstein: He expected evolution rather than an immediate successor. blue hardware was already in its second generation, and FAST had further product ideas. He also pointed to developments such as HD and 24p, describing the wider FASTstudio line as young and likely to have a long future.
