NAB Roundup
Page 8 of 9
Why don't Mac fanatics realize this? I think it's because they won't even bother to look at any other editing systems, or notice that those "pee-cee" applications' host computers' bargain-basement PC hardware and software performance passed anything on the Mac long ago. We can only hope that Apple will finally abandon those overclocked Motorola cell-phone chips under the hood of their beautiful (yet vacuum-cleaner noisy) workstations, and the notoriously unreliable and failure-prone motherboards to which they are attached. Oh, you haven't had any problems with your Mac's motherboard, you say? Consider yourself one of the lucky ones. Ask around here at DMN, and more often than not the motherboard has failed on a Mac G4, usually right after the warranty period has expired. Further, all the rampant rumors notwithstanding, I am disappointed that Apple had no announcement at NAB that might signal that the company is at least making an effort to solve this processor problem. I'm not the only one who feels this way, either. Highly respected Avid engineers and developers -- on a profound roll this week with scintillating triumphs of their own -- confided they have been struggling with Apple hardware for the past year while implementing it into Avid's powerful new line of HD and uncompressed SD editing systems (DNA). All agreed that Apple's hardware is simply left in the dust when it comes to high-bandwidth professional video production. This hardware deficiency is particularly glaring at a venue like NAB, where we're tantalized by Apple's software but constantly disappointed by the ubiquitous limitations of its hardware.
That said, the software is as innovative as it is useful. New for version 4 is the ability to customize a lot more of the interface, including just about any hot-key trick you've ever heard of. A favorite usability enhancement of mine is the new ability to place icons representing your favorite functions all the way across the top of the time line. I've already thought of a few ways I'd like to use this new feature. You're also able to adjust the size of the video and audio tracks, either individually or as a group. Another new enhancement is the ability to tweak your keyframes right there on the timeline, using the highly adjustable rubber band paradigm, without having to open any other dialog boxes. That's a welcome addition for fast adjustments when you're on the run.
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Earlier in this article, I've already gushed about LiveType, the application written by a company Apple acquired called Prismo. It lets you animate text in as many ways as there were people packed in the convention center this week (maybe around 89,000 according to the often-exaggerating-about-attendance NAB). So now it's time for me to rave about Soundtrack, a music composition tool that lets even non-musicians create custom tunes. I think it's better than any other loop-based sequencer I've seen. It reminds me of Sonic Foundry's Acid Music, except much smarter, easier to use and more musical. And, it comes with a powerful search engine strapped onto it that lets you search for loops by instrument, mood and tempo. This results in lots of options -- letting you put together great-sounding tunes with your video sitting right there, showing you where the big shot changes are. It's simply brilliant. I could goof around with this all day. I also encountered a tidbit of information about the Soundtrack development team that explained at least some of its similarity to Acid Music: One of Acid's key developers, Chris Moulious, left Sonic Foundry and joined Apple a couple of years ago. His influence is noticeable in this great now companion application to Final Cut Pro 4. The rest of the audio section has been beefed up as well, with 99 tracks of real time audio mixing now at your fingertips. One of our DMN reporters pointed out, though, that it would be nice if FCP would let you gang together multiple tracks for a situation where, for example, you have a group of tracks with a drum set that you'd like to control as a group. Since mousing around is like being one-handed, it's not too easy to grab two faders when you're doing that real time mixing. Apple told us that an oft-requested item with Final Cut is an outboard hardware-base audio controller, something that would be especially nice in this real time context, where automation allows fader actions to be remembered on the next pass.
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