A Build: Escaping Final Cut Pro
Published May 30, 2026 · 4:16 · 18,868 views
About This Video
Van Neistat builds a mobile mixer cart to escape Final Cut Pro: six cameras, two mics, and an iMac wired into a Blackmagic Mini Pro switcher so he can cut live with buttons, not software. The clip runs about 4 minutes and is a build segment from Long-Form Episode 1.
The cart comes first. Weight the base so it doesn't flip. A mounted cord reel so the rig rolls anywhere in the studio. A box to pull the buzz out of the mic, a ceramic bowl for the cord caps, small rig clamps to keep the cables tidy. Van narrates the mistakes in real time: a surge suppressor forgotten under the deck, a part screwed on the stupid way that should have gone the other way. As he says, sometimes you do things the stupid way.
The hard part is not the cart. It is getting six or seven cameras, a sound mixer, a wired mic, a wireless mic and its receiver, and an iMac to all talk to a Blackmagic Mini Pro switcher that writes straight to a single SSD with sync sound. He flashes firmware into three GoPros for a clean HDMI signal and routes them through an Atomos Ninja to sidestep the GoPro menus. The Ninja is the output. The Ninja is the truth. Terminal, Homebrew, GitHub, QR codes, keyboard shortcuts, hours and days of it, done alongside ChatGPT Pro at two hundred dollars a month. The question he keeps asking on camera: how many hours is this going to cost me, and how many is it going to save me.
The payoff is the channel thesis stated as hardware. No SD card, no syncing in post. Camera one, camera two, camera three, switched live on physical buttons and written in real time to a drive the size of a stick of gum. One man band, just like Abner Jay. The closing line is the whole point: he used AI to set up the process, and now it is more analog. Buttons over computer. Just cables and buttons.
What Van Uses: A custom mobile mixer cart, a Blackmagic Mini Pro switcher writing to a single SSD, three GoPros flashed with new firmware, an Atomos Ninja as the clean output, a sound mixer with wired and wireless mics, a mounted cord reel and rig clamps, and the software layer behind it: Terminal, Homebrew, GitHub, and ChatGPT Pro at $200 a month.
Related: the full Using AI to Live More Analog episode this build belongs to, Giving AI Another Chance, and more builds under The Build and the analog living thread.
FAQ
What is Van Neistat trying to escape from Final Cut Pro?
Editing in software. Instead of importing SD cards and syncing footage in Final Cut Pro afterward, he builds a live switching rig: six cameras and sync sound cut in real time on physical buttons and written straight to one SSD. No SD card, no post-sync.
What gear does the live switching rig use?
A Blackmagic Mini Pro switcher at the center, three GoPros flashed with new firmware for a clean HDMI signal, an Atomos Ninja as the output, a sound mixer with wired and wireless mics, and an iMac, all mounted on a custom mobile cart that writes to a single SSD.
How did Van use AI in this build?
He configured the whole hardware pipeline alongside ChatGPT Pro at $200 a month, working through Terminal, Homebrew, GitHub, firmware flashes, and keyboard shortcuts. His framing is that he used AI to make his process more analog: buttons and cables instead of menus.
Transcript
I mean, building the cart is not the problem. Weight the base so it don't flip over. I forgot to put the surge suppressor under here. Hey,
don't fit. Oh, script it. I screwed this on the stupid way. I should have done it like this and then done it like this.
Sometimes you do things the stupid way. Ideally, the rig would be this wide because I'm using this mixer for the sound. It's going to be about 14.
It looks terrible, but I'm going to clean it up. This is just all the wiring I need.
configuring the switcher, the six or seven cameras, and the sound to all talk to each other and relying on the iMac to make it happen.
That's my dream. It's my nightmare. Configure six cameras, a sound mixer, a wired mic, a wireless mic, a wireless mic receiver, and an iMac to all talk to the Mini Pro video switcher so that it writes everything to [music] this SSD drive. Configure the Mini Pro, too.
Configure a keyboard shortcut to optimize the output from the iMac for the mixer, not the iMac. And then back again. Terminal, Homebrew, GitHub.
Create three QR codes and install firmware into the three GoPros to get a clean HDMI signal. And to sidestep the GoPro menus, configure the Ninja. The Ninja is your output. The Ninja is the truth. Hours and hours and days. You and Chat GPT, the Pro one. Two bills a month. How many hours is this going to cost me? My god, how many hours is this going to save me? One, two, three cameras, four buttons, one SSD drive. No more menus. No more menus, just cables and buttons.
Just cables and buttons. One man band just like Abner J. I just want to work. I don't want to play with you. How many hours is this going to save me? I'll tell you in the end.
The mixer cart is mobile, so I can set it up anywhere in the studio. That's why the mounted cord reel.
This box takes the buzz out of the mic, which is plugged into the mixer, which I can also plug a wireless mic into.
Monitor [bell] ceramic bowl for the cord caps. Small rig clamps keep the cords tidy. But the whole point is buttons over computer. Camera one, camera two, camera three, camera one, camera two, camera three.
Just buttons and cords, real time, all written onto this teeny tiny solidstate drive with sync sound.
No SD card, no syncing and post. And there you have it. I've used AI to set up this process and now it's more analog.
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Products & Tools Mentioned
- Blackmagic Mini Pro video switcher essential — central hub; writes everything to one SSD
- Atomos Ninja recommends — "The Ninja is your output. The Ninja is the truth" — clean HDMI, sidesteps GoPro menus
- GoPro (x3) uses — firmware flashed + QR codes for clean HDMI signal
- iMac uses — runs the pipeline; the dream and the nightmare
- SSD drive essential — live recording target, sync sound, no SD card
- Sound mixer uses — wired + wireless mic inputs
- ChatGPT Pro uses — "the Pro one. Two bills a month" ($200/mo); used to configure the rig
- Terminal / Homebrew / GitHub uses — command-line layer of the build
- Mobile mixer cart essential — custom rolling cart with mounted cord reel
People Referenced
Abner Jay ("Abner J")