Complexity

[Bill Davis]

[James Sullivan] “I like that the new Mac Pro laptop is freaking tiny and light weight, but if that were my only system it would be too clunky to work at for 12 hours straight without building it out with a monitor, full keyboard, tablet etc. “

Would it?

I would have “imagined” so as well, during all those years when I sat at a Cinema Display all day long.

Today I have a nice 15 inch external display suspended directly above my laptop that I can turn on anytime I want, yet I very rarely do.

What I “thought” I’d need to create my content effectively, turned out NOT to be what I actually needed. It just took me a surprising amount of time for me to realize that.

Oh well.

Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery.

[Neil Goodman]

I simply could not do my job on one screen especially a 15′ one at that.

I need to be able to see all my audio tracks, sometimes in the excess of 24 or more, and need to have bins, audio mixer, and whatever finder windows, and external 3rd party apps like soundminer open as well. Just isnt possible on a laptop – even in FCPX.

[Bill Davis]

I’ll just note that in Thomas Grove Carters NAB Supermeet presentation (the later commercial edit, not so much the music video) – looks like he had the equivalent of 24 track in play too (or far more if you count the subroles hidden inside the roles he had revealed) – and didn’t seem to have the slightest issue with mixing anything.

But I completely understand that it doesn’t fit into the way you conceive your editing today. So I understand that it wouldn’t make you as comfortable.

That was actually my point. I too was quite uncomfortable when I first started transitioning from my 30″ Cinema Display to a 15″ laptop screen – in my mind, it was just supposed to be a trial while I learned the software and before I switched back to a bigger desktop system.

Then, somehow, a few weeks later, I literally just stopped thinking about it.

And it’s been YEARS now, and I haven’t felt the loss of a bigger RIG even a little.

I think part of it is how much better screens now are in general. Resolution, response, dependability, colorimetry – etc, etc. All of them are a VERY long way from the low-res, expensive, and super expensive CRTs of my youth.

The industry marches on.

Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery.

[Robin S. kurz]

[Neil Goodman] “I simply could not do my job on one screen especially a 15′ one at that. “

Is working on a larger screen or having a second one nicer? Pretty much a no-brainer, duh. But can one work professionally on a 15″ MacBook Pro (in FCP X)? Heck yeah. I do it almost full-time and absolutely love it. I just love it that much more when I’m stationary and have a second (or even third) screen. But X is in fact optimized for use on a small screen and I’d say that really shows. Especially since v10.3. I have to have a mobile machine and am very glad to not have to buy a desktop just to be able to work comfortably.

[Neil Goodman] “I need to be able to see all my audio tracks, sometimes in the excess of 24 or more”

So, like, maybe 26?

Unless of course one shifts the goal posts, otherwise I don’t see the issue. But if that still isn’t enough, then yeah, you might not want to buy a laptop. Obviously. But that still doesn’t mean that there are a LOT of others that are perfectly content (at least with X) with that setup, me included. Horses for courses.

– RK

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[Andy Patterson]

[Robin S. Kurz] “Unless of course one shifts the goal posts, otherwise I don’t see the issue.”

I think he might want to see the waveform.

[Robin S. kurz]

Yeah, so? One single keystroke.

Helps to actually know the app.

– RK

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[Andy Patterson]

[Robin S. Kurz] “Yeah, so? One single keystroke.

Helps to actually know the app.”

I know FCPX can show waveforms but you are probably not going to easily see 26 tracks with wave forms that well on a 15″ laptop. That is probably what the original comment by Neil was referring to. See my point?

[Neil Goodman]

Sure you can achieve that timeline view in any NLE, to get in and do editorial work on such a condensed timeline tho seems counterintuitive to me. It’s not even about waveforms which would be useless at that size. It’s about haveing a bigger canvas to paint with and being able to see everything clearly and accurately.

[Robin S. kurz]

[Neil Goodman] “It’s about haveing a bigger canvas”

Again: then a laptop simply isn’t for you. So? That still doesn’t mean it’s not a perfectly fine solution for many many others (that don’t use their NLE as a DAW). Having three monitors when I’m stationary does not make me any more efficient or give me more options that I don’t otherwise have as well. It’s a convenience and luxury. Nothing more, nothing less. The compromises are completely negligible. At least, for me, in the context of FCP that is. It may well be far worse with others. If the situation demands it (e.g. client review) I’m one cable away from monitoring etc. etc. All without sacrificing mobility and various other advantages that a setup like that grants me.

I can most certainly “do my job” on that screen, even with 26+ tracks. It lacks no accuracy whatsoever compared to any other display options or NLE. Unless you can name something? I can turn waveforms on and off as needed (even JUST for the audio group of primary interest if I want) with a simple keystroke, making it exponentially easier to focus on the actual task at hand, thanks to massively reducing visual clutter. AND I can move whatever audio, be it dialog, music, fx, VO, whatever to the top, bottom, middle as it suits my needs and current focus with one simple swipe of the mouse. That on the other hand being something you most certainly can NOT do with any other NLE and something I don’t want to have to do without ever again either.

Oh, and btw… if I were to hide the “Audio Lanes” (only had them showing for demo purposes), as I usually do, then the amount of vertical space needed would be reduced even more (potentially down to just a few “tracks”), since we (thank god!) are not tied to the painfully inferior concept of TRACKS and everything can scoot together automatically if a space opens up. Again something that no other NLE (or even DAW) can offer… unless I missed some massive recent update of some other NLE.

Horses for courses, like I said.

– RK

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