[Michael Gissing]

The problem with hard data is very few editors do proper benchmarking so there is a lot of anecdotal evidence and opinion. Typical benchmarks are not much use for actual edit scenarios plus all it takes is a single bottleneck to change performance. All the chain of data needs to be beyond capable of moving modern codecs from drive to CPU, GPU and RAM. A single stumble like insufficient GPU RAM can bring a powerful system crashing down as can hard drive speed.

[Michael Gissing]

In a normal year BM would be running with Resolve 17beta and possibly a new camera. Maybe they have taken the shutdown period to take the foot off the accelerator and make sure software is closer to release and hardware can be manufactured and delivered. They have been criticized in the past for jumping the gun with product and not supplying or software that was a bit raw.

Perhaps these new panels have eager broadcasters waiting for them. BM tends to know their market.

[Michael Gissing]

Have a look at the preset menu on the Fairlight page. It has the ability to save everything from EQ to complete mix console layouts.

[Michael Gissing]

You can export tracks as wav files which Audacity can import. However, given Fairlight in Resolve is vastly more suited to audio editing and mixing, I’m perplexed as to why you would use Audacity? I regularly help people learn to make podcasts and I recommend they use Fairlight in Resolve and not Audacity which for me is an ordinary edit tool. I do use Audacity occasionally to make an mp3 file.

Fairlight is an amazingly powerful editor, with heaps of built in plugins, plus you can use VST plugins. It has very powerful EQ, processing and full automation including being able to sub bus signals to create stem mixes. Having track based, bus based and clip based processing, it really is the best audio system of any NLE

[Michael Gissing]

Personally I use PC and WIN OS and yes I have a reasonably powerful graphics card. Resolve is said to work better with NVIDIA cards but in terms of comparison on Macs, I have been told by other editors on Cow forums that FCPX is best on Mac followed closely by Resolve and Premier is coming last at this stage.

Bear in mind also that Resolve is doing incredible processing during Color grading. But in terms of just plain editing with the same codecs, it is not far behind FCPX which makes sense as FCPX is written for Mac hardware and has the home advantage. Resolve has improved so much in the past two version (15 & 16) that I have been able to postpone the upgrade of my GPU.

iMacs and their GPUs are under powered for editing 4k with modern codecs.

[Michael Gissing]

[Winston A. Cely] “Anyone else had that?”

All the time. I grade & do sound post so it is typical that I send a grade pass with the editors original rough audio or a mix with ungraded pics depending on the workflow. Half the notes will be about work yet to be done. No matter how many times I say in notes that it is “only the grade – audio is temp” I often get copious misdirected notes. I am beginning to wonder if there is a generation of directors and producers that have zero imagination and need everything in a finished state to make any decisions about anything.

[Michael Gissing]

[Tim Wilson} “Sure, there are advantages to integration, but every single day, people opt out of integration in favor of *preference.*”

I would love to switch to the integrated Fairlight in Resolve but I still prefer to use my stand alone version of Fairlight, even though Resolve is my integrated post tool of choice. And I don’t lecture anyone about their preferences in software unless their choice breaks or makes difficult a post workflow that I am part of.

Your observations about preference make it so much more important that we can take timelines between different software vendors which is why I have been critical of NLEs in the past that make this needlessly difficult. Recent discussions about HitFilm reminded me that the last time I looked at it, they didn’t support XML, AAF or OMF export so it was a “please don’t edit with this and ask me to grade in Resolve”.

[Michael Gissing]

[Mike Thomas] “And compounding works the same way then?”

I presume so. I’m not familiar with Vegas but the ability to compound a group of clips is very similar to the old Final Cut Pro 7 nesting.

[Michael Gissing]

Nesting in Vegas is compounding in Resolve.

[Michael Gissing]

I feel your pain Herb, even though I have long moved on from Apple hardware & OS. I still look at the dead 2009 MacPro sitting in the corner and wonder if I really got value for money before I switched back to self made WIn boxes.

From everything I have read, Apple have been planning this switch for at least two years after having a lot of issues with Intel Skylake processors so they developed and sold the new MacPro line knowing they would switch away from Intel. However, for the big iron grunt, don’t expect them to have an ARM machine to replace the MacPro soon so I don’t think you have tanked resale. I’m sure you are safe for five years and may drag longer out of what you have. Unless Apple force you out by making an OS that just won’t run on your machine before then and you need to keep playing the OS shuffle.

I’ve just ordered parts to make my next 5 year PC. Same monitors, rack boxes and power supplies. New Mobo and CPU. I already have the current NVIDIA GPU. So much cheaper and flexible.