Creating intro that 'cycles' at speed through clips - matched to the audio

Hi all! I'm new to editing - used to run Sony Vegas Pro, but found it an absolute pain! Bought a brand new iMac after I got back from New Zealand 2 weeks ago - and will never look back! Just wondered what the best way would be to create the above. Basically I want to create an intro for some of my motocross/MTB GoPro footage - that cycles through video clips in time with the audio track. For example - a heartbeat audiotrack that starts slowly, with each clip 'pulsing' in, before speeding right up - with the clips just being flashed up on screen as they cycle through them. Sorry if this is a really obvious question - I'm working my way through a couple of FCPX books - but thought I'd get a better answer on here! I'm wondering if it's just a case of having to zoom into the timeline, and edit each individual clip down to the desired length? Any help would be greatly appreciated

There are several different ways of doing this. One approach would be to put the soundtrack on the primary storyline (the primary can be audio-only, though this isn't obvious at first). Then play the track, and tap 'm' to add a marker wherever you want an edit to appear. Now make sure snapping is turned on, and add your video as connected clips. You should be able to trim the clips to the markers precisely and quickly.

While I sometimes work like this, at some point I usually find it cumbersome. In that situation I'll drop the audio off the primary storyline (command+shift+down arrow): it becomes another connected clip. Then I'll select all the connected video clips and hit the same key combination for them, to drop them onto the primary storyline. You have to edit with the Position tool (key 'p') to avoid the video going out of sync with the music track, but I find trimming edits quicker this way than having to trim lots of connected video clips.

If none of this makes sense - keep reading the manual! FCPX is a different sort of animal to normal editors, and it takes some time to become familiar with the way it works.

Or... select the connected video clips, create a secondary storyline, and edit them with the same magnetic ease as they'd get in the primary storyline.

Several ways to do it. Personal observation; with the audio track, you don't need to hit M to create markers, really. Cause you can clearly see the audio waveforms. Just make sure your clip height and appearance is set tall enough to see the audio waveforms very clearly.

I'd also highly recommend the book "Apple Pro Training Series: Final Cut Pro X (Second Edition)" for learning FCP X easily and quickly.

Cheers guys - I watched a tutorial on using markers to produce what I was after - but it seemed a bit uneccessary. I've been doing it as BenB suggested - but was wondering if there was a more efficient way. I'm going to be trying it with the AC/DC track 'Thunderstruck' - which (I hope you know!) has some crazy fast guitaring at the start - and thought that clips cycling in time with this would look pretty decent (I'm new to this remember ) - I'll give it a whirl, and see how it comes out

I have the Apple Pro Training Series - just arrived yesterday - so will be working my way through that!

Also - thought I'd give fcpeffects.com - their 'BPM' plugin a go. Not sure how it will turn out - but will post a review up if no one has done so already!

Thanks for the help - cool forum