[Bill Davis]

[Shawn Miller] “I guess we’ll have to see how these renderes run Metal vs Cuda, but for around $3k US, you can build or buy a very fast workstation for GPU rendering. If you’re doing CPU bound rendering, you’ll still have to pay a premium for high core count Xeon processors, but on Windows and Linux you can at least get dual processors.

Shawn
“

This WILL be interesting.

Word on the street is that the next Rev of FCP X (which everyone guesses will likely show up at the Creative Summit sometime in Oct/Nov.) won’t have many (if any) new features – but will be a massive effort from the dev team to re-write huge swaths of the core program code to be optimally Metal compliant.

The thinking is that this alone will yield massive benefits for ALL X users – and, of course – help the FCP X truly shine on the coming New MacPros.

We’ll see.

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

[Bill Davis]

[Andy Field] “for those of us who write and edit for a living, a useful keyboard is essential – when you’re just typing how great FCP is, it may not be as important.
“

Then please point out for me the keyboards that have not been “useful” (your word, not mine) that have shipped with ANY NLE including laptops in the past 10 years.

I’ll wait.

My point is that the level of silly carping about insignificant details has risen to insane levels lately.

Don’t like the “feel” of a particular keyboard? Bring your own. ALL computers have USB ports that accept ALL keyboards. This is NOT that difficult. Period.

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

[Bill Davis]

You folks are incredible.

You have the option to own a one inch thick 3 pound device that now contains ALL the power of a $150,000 video editing suite from thirty years ago – and that lasts all day on a battery, and all you can do is carp about how the keyboard maybe doesn’t “feel right” and how it doesn’t have EVERY SINGLE connection port you might possibly prefer?

Jesus. Entitlement much?. It’s embarrassing.

This era’s equipment is miraculous and consistently FREAKING AMAZING. Period.

And if you aren’t appreciative about where we are today — compared to where ANYONE wanting to edit video was for ALL OF HISTORY before this era — I”m sorry, but IMO people are starting to sound like a bunch of whiny loons.

Yeah, my laptop doesn’t type with the “feel” of my original Smith Corona Typewriter either.
I got over that pretty fast.

Just sayin’

????

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

[Bill Davis]

Well- IF the long anticipated new MacPro is hinted at or previewed – I would kinda consider that to be FCP X news.
It’s kinda inconceivable that the primary ProApp that could push the new hardware to serious advantage wouldn’t be somewhat tied into the new machine.

My bet (with NO reason beyond speculation) is some brief note about the long awaited MacPro, followed by something more focused on how it leverages FCP X coming at the Creative Summit nearer to year end when I kinda to expect to start to be seen in the wild.

As a higher end Cap Ex Type buy, something to whet the markets appetite and get the discussion rolling during end of year budgeting for 2020 purchase orders makes a bit of sense to me.

We’ll see.

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

[Bill Davis]

Yep.

But I’m reminded that I was on Craigs List earlier looking for a backup part for a little RoadTrip barbecue my wife and I bought because we’re doing so much more outdoor stuff here in California than we did in Arizona. And I somehow got backwatered into like 50 posts selling “earbud with a drop stick” that look EXACTLY like Apple AirPods – but really aren’t. Some were 1/3rd the price. Others 1/20th. I suspect none of them actually function like the originals.

That’s not saying they don’t play music well – OR that their features aren’t totally great for what they are – and that people who have them shouldn’t be very pleased that they do.

But sometimes, a thing that’s only “like” another – isn’t so much the same experience at all.

Just an observation.

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

[Bill Davis]

[Oliver Peters] “Remember that BMD is not afraid to completely upset things either. Look at the evolution of its audio tools from the few versions before Fairlight to now (after Fairlight). It’s been a complete rework (and therefore obsolescence of earlier versions) in how you deal with audio mixing and plug-ins within Resolve.
“

This whole post is quality analysis from Oliver, IMO.

All Resolve really needs to do to become a contender for me is to lose the “tracks” metaphor, license X’s magnetic approach, and do something like Roles.

Not holding my breath.

????

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

[Bill Davis]

[Michael Gissing] “None of us need reminding of your position on X but you specifically made the statement “And honestly, comparing ANY NLE with dedicated sound production tools is a bit like comparing a pocket knife to a full Chefs knife set”. Care to comment on what I was responding to? If you quote me and then give another testimonial rather than answering my post, it isn’t a debate.”

Clearly I articulated my position poorly.

It’s this.

While Resolve has GREAT color (and now sound tools) built in, the fact that it does NOT have the two editorial tools that have MOST impacted my editorial efficiency, makes it a non-starter for me.

Those being its keyword driven database and the magnetic timeline.

X’s color tools might not be quite as robust as those in Resolve, but after the 10.4 update brought it curves and the hue vs panes, it’s no longer that far back for most situations.

And as to sound, the Logic plugins have always been a decent start, but I understand that those with traditional expectations like virtualized mixers, patch bays and bussing will find it’s current state wanting in many areas. But I’ve been able to get my work done handily for 7 years now without major issues – and I hold out hope that SOMETHING may be coming to fulfill the promise of Roles – as they relate to new possibilities of manipulating sound inside X.

Time will tell.

Basically, my Chefs knife analogy was a way of saying that while Resolves Fairlight pane might be awesome – I doubt it’s turning many top level folk away from ProTools – at least not yet. In that sense, all the general purpose NLEs are just that. General purpose.

I’m probably weird in that I’ve now done a couple of hundred of my professional voiceovers directly inside X, using its Logic plug-ins and the VO tool – and nobody I’m delivering to has said a peep about the resulting AIFFs or Broadcast WAVs.

That still doesn’t mean I think it’s as good as a dedicated audio tool.

Just that it’s way more than good enough to do the work I need to do in it.

That’s all.

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

[Bill Davis]

[greg janza] “Once a project gets to the color or audio mixing stage there’s very little need for instantaneous clip call up so it’s a bit confusing as to why that’s a plus in your eyes.
“

We probably just have different workflows then.
I find that my first couple of passes kinda combine base grading, shot selection and proofing sound on the fly as my clips are selected and start to earn their way into my primary storyline.

And well into the edit, I may be touching sound and color for both existing clips and shot substitutions. So my need to search and substitute – or add and subtract content from my magnetic assemblies runs pretty deep into my process.

To each their own.

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

[Bill Davis]

[Michael Gissing] “To have something nearly that good inside a free NLE is astounding.
“

Oddly, I feel the exact same way about the full-fledged range based keyword database and Roles systems inside X.

And while I can purchase excellent grading tools for grading work via FCP X – (including porting my projects into a Resolve for grading!) – I cant really reproduce the instantaneous integrated “clip call up” magic of X inside anything else.

So it’s kinda a matter of where you feel the need for the extra strength.

I EDIT before I color. So for me. The stronger “assembly” approach of X wins that one.

Plus, for me the penalty of using Tracks again is simply too great a step backwards. I *think* magnetically now. So the idea I’d need to go back to disconnected assemblies of video, audio and text snippets that I can’t compose into magnetically aligned assemblies just won’t fly any more.

To each their own!

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

[Bill Davis]

No, that’s a produced piece.
At the LACPUG he did a live scoring session on stage using FCP X as a basic multitrack recorder. Throughout he discussed many of the reasons he likes working that way.

And honestly, comparing ANY NLE with dedicated sound production tools is a bit like comparing a pocket knife to a full Chefs knife set. You do full time food prep all day long – a full range of quality knives are considered essential.

But NOBODY carries a Chefs Set around on their daily errands – and you can cut, dice and cleve a pretty astonishing number of things if you have a good pocket knife with you when the situation arises that you need one.

That’s all I’m saying. ????

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