Arrow Switch

Automatic multicam podcast editing for Adobe Premiere Pro (2022 and newer). Website and download: https://erinuckuzular-ai.github.io/arrow-switch/ Arrow Switch syncs everyone's mic to the cameras, listens to who is talking, and cuts between their cameras — with wide shots for cross-talk and long monologues. It is run by a talking microphone, and it will be rude to you (there's a nice mode).

Set up + sync	Cut	Dark mode	Multicam

For users

Install (Mac, recommended): paste this into Terminal. It installs the latest release for your user and needs no admin password:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/erinuckuzular-ai/arrow-switch/main/install.sh | bash

Or download Arrow-Switch-<version>.dmg from the latest release and run Install Arrow Switch, the app in the disk image: one button, no admin password, and it quits Premiere for you. Install Arrow Switch.pkg is still there for a system-wide install (it does ask for a password). Everything is signed with a Developer ID and notarized, so nothing is blocked by Gatekeeper.

Restart Premiere Pro, then open Window → Extensions → Arrow Switch.

Updates arrive in the panel: when a new version is out, a bar at the top offers Update. It downloads and installs the new panel; restart Premiere to use it.

Set up a new episode (Set up tab)

1. Drop in the camera files (with their master audio) and each person's mic file. Arrow Switch works out which is which; set the wide shot and who each camera shows.

2. SYNC & BUILD: it syncs every file by audio, imports them into a bin, colour-labels each person's clips, mutes the extra camera audio and builds the sequence ready to cut. With Also make a multicam edit on, it also nests that sequence with Multi-Camera switched on, ready for 🎛 Multicam.

   Cameras and mics are matched by name, not the order you add them: a file called wide/WS/master is the wide, and Susie.wav goes with CamSusie.mp4. Check the guesses in the list.

Cut it (Cut tab)

1. Check who's who (it guesses from the tracks).

2. Pick a preset (Sleepy / Chatty / Chaotic) or tweak the knobs and save your own.

3. Pick how you want it:

   • ⚡ Fast cuts: rebuilds the edit in one import. Real cuts, unused angles gone. Seconds.
   • ⚡ Fast hide: same speed, every angle kept, split at each switch and disabled when off screen.
   • 🎛 Multicam: for multicam (or nested) sequences. Cuts the multicam clip at every switch and sets the real angle on each piece, so they stay live multicam clips you can re-switch. Premiere can't set angles from a script, so Arrow Switch saves the project, writes the angles into the project file (a backup copy goes to ~/Library/Caches/Arrow Switch/project-backups) and reopens it — you'll see the project close and reopen for a second.
   • 🐢 Classic: the original razor + disable inside Premiere. Same result as Fast hide, slower.

   Arrow Switch never cuts to a camera that has no footage at that moment (late-starting or early-stopping cameras): those shots use the wide, or whichever camera is rolling.

4. Extras (all optional):

   • 🎭 Reaction shots: a quick cut to whoever laughs or goes "no way" while someone else is talking, then straight back. You set how often at most.
   • ✂️ Trim dead air (Fast cuts / Fast hide): removes silences longer than your threshold from every track, keeping a breath either side. Nobody's words are ever trimmed.
   • 🔥 Best clips: finds the liveliest 30–75 s stretches (reactions, quick back-and-forth, energy) and lists them. Click one to jump there; they're also added as markers on the new sequence.

5. LISTEN!, check the preview (gold = best clips, dark = dead air, notches = reactions; click it to jump there in Premiere), then CUT IT!

Arrow Switch always saves your project first and works on a new sequence (<name> – Arrow Switch); your original is never changed. ⌘/Ctrl+Enter does the next step. Theme (auto/light/dark) and tone (mean/nice) are the two buttons top right.

Windows: download Arrow-Switch-<version>.zxp from the latest release (it's also in the disk image's Everything else folder), install it with a ZXP installer and put ffmpeg.exe in the extension's bin folder.

For developers

extension/            the CEP panel that ships to users
  CSXS/manifest.xml   extension manifest (bump ExtensionBundleVersion to release)
  index.html, css/    panel UI
  js/engine.js        speaker detection + edit decisions (pure JS, unit tested)
  js/audio.js         ffmpeg decoding -> loudness per window, caching, media probing
  js/sync.js          audio sync: finds each file's offset against a reference camera
  js/xmlcut.js        Fast cuts: rewrites an exported FCP XML sequence into real cuts
  js/prproj.js        real multicam angles: sets SelectedTrackIndex in the project file
  js/presets.js       built-in + saved presets
  js/copy.js          everything the mascot says, mean and nice
  js/update.js        in-panel updates: checks the latest GitHub release, swaps in its .zxp
  js/main.js          UI logic; runs in demo mode when opened in a normal browser
                      (?state=empty|analyzing|result|done|setup|syncing|synced, &theme=dark, &mc=1, &tone=nice)
  fonts/              Lilita One + Nunito (SIL OFL), bundled so it works offline
  jsx/host.jsx        ExtendScript: reads the sequence, clones it, razors, disables clips
installer/app/        the installer app (SwiftUI, built by scripts/build-installer-app.sh)
installer/art/        background and icon artwork, rendered by scripts/make-installer-art.sh
installer/            pkg scripts, installer pages, uninstaller, read me
docs/                 the website (GitHub Pages, served from main /docs) + README screenshots
test/                 node --test suites
build.sh              tests -> universal ffmpeg -> signed ZXP -> .pkg -> .dmg

Accuracy benchmark

node test/bench/accuracy.js

Generates synthetic podcasts with known answers (mic bleed, a quiet guest, rumble, backchannels, cross-talk, a two-channel recorder) and scores the engine: time on the right camera, wrong shots, missed turns, cut timing and listen speed. Pass a folder holding another engine.js + audio.js to compare versions.

Build the DMG

./build.sh

Output: dist/Arrow-Switch-<version>.dmg. The first run downloads a static universal ffmpeg and Adobe's ZXPSignCmd into .cache/, and creates a self-signed ZXP certificate in certs/ (keep it; reuse it for updates).

Signing and notarizing the release

Releases are signed with a Developer ID and notarized, so macOS opens them without a warning. Without these variables build.sh still produces a working but unsigned build that users must right-click → Open. Store the notary credentials once (an App Store Connect API key avoids app-specific passwords):

xcrun notarytool store-credentials arrow-switch-notary \
  --key ~/Downloads/AuthKey_KEYID.p8 --key-id KEYID --issuer ISSUER-UUID

Then build:

INSTALLER_SIGN_ID="Developer ID Installer: Your Name (TEAMID)" \
APP_SIGN_ID="Developer ID Application: Your Name (TEAMID)" \
NOTARY_PROFILE=arrow-switch-notary \
./build.sh

Apple's notary service takes a few minutes per file; build.sh waits and staples the tickets, so the DMG and .pkg validate offline. Check a build with spctl -a -vvv -t install dist/Arrow-Switch-<version>.dmg (expect source=Notarized Developer ID).

Test inside Premiere without clicking

scripts/harness/install.sh installs the real panel as a hidden extension that starts with Premiere (bring Premiere to the front once) and exposes it on the CEP debug port 8089. node scripts/harness/es.js '<ExtendScript>' runs ExtendScript in Premiere and node scripts/harness/es.js --js '<panel JS>' runs code in the panel, e.g. clicking its buttons. Remove it with rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Adobe/CEP/extensions/com.arrow.switch.harness. scripts/dev-install.sh installs the working copy as the normal visible panel (signed, with remote debugging on port 8088).

Develop live inside Premiere

Enable unsigned extensions once, then symlink the source folder:

defaults write com.adobe.CSXS.12 PlayerDebugMode 1
ln -s "$PWD/extension" ~/Library/Application\ Support/Adobe/CEP/extensions/com.arrow.switch

Restart Premiere. Debug with Chrome at http://localhost:8088 (see extension/.debug). Preview just the UI in a browser: python3 -m http.server -d extension (demo mode).

Licensing note

Arrow Switch's own code is MIT licensed (see LICENSE). Bundled third-party parts keep their own licenses:

The bundled ffmpeg is a GPLv3 build. Arrow Switch runs it as a separate program, and every release ships licenses/ (GPL text + FFMPEG-NOTICE.txt) in the extension and the DMG. build.sh also drops the ffmpeg source and its build scripts into dist/: attach ffmpeg-9.0.1.tar.xz and ffmpeg-build-script.tar.gz to every GitHub release next to the DMG.

Also attach Arrow-Switch-<version>.zxp from dist/: the panel's updater installs that file, and Windows users download it. Tag releases v<version> (the updater compares that tag with ExtensionBundleVersion). If you swap in a different ffmpeg build, update FFMPEG_VERSION in build.sh and the notice.

Fonts: Lilita One and Nunito, SIL Open Font License 1.1 (extension/fonts/FONTS-LICENSE.txt).