TOPIC:

Hi,

I'm new here. Haven't used FCP in a long time, ie. since FCPS6. Just getting back in. Just bought FCPX 10.1 and love it so far.

Discovered there's no Soundtrack Pro anymore. Been reading blogs, reviews, etc. and unsure how to best roundtrip with more control of audio in FCPX. The controls are ok, but finding them limited.

Been playing with Reaper... like it... and know there's an app called Vordio that allows import/export of FCPXML files. But now I see that Logic Pro X also supports this.

Played with trying to edit some audio in a QT movie and couldn't even separate the sliced audio clips from the video. When I delete a segment of audio, it also deletes picture too.

I've tried using what FCPX 10.1 has for audio, but I'm liking the extra stuff in Reaper. Before I buy Reaper, am I better off as a non-musician working mainly with video and soundtrack stuff.... to just bite the bullet and buy Logic Pro X? Or, is sticking with Reaper a better route in the long run?

Any advice or help much appreciated.

FYI: I'm well aware of all the threads here discussing mostly problems with LPX and FCP, but most (if not all) are from the Summer or around Oct/Nov. Nothing I can see from after FCP X 10.1 was released. I'm wondering if perhaps the situation has been fixed or greatly improved?

Are there far fewer problems going the Vordio/Reaper route? The Vordio site has a recent post warning there may be issues with the new FCP 10.1. No confirmation though.

And what about the app Triumph that claims FCPXML import/export support? There are no reviews at all on that one, so I'm guessing that's not likely a good sign.

I'm just starting to write a review Triumph. Would be very interested in your experiences with it.

I haven't used Triumph yet. Just looking to see what the best options are. At the moment, I've discovered I still have SoundtrackPro installed on my system, and after a few tweaks and getting rid of some old loop libraries, it seems to still work ok.

I just tried the Vordio/Reaper option with the free trial, and it worked just fine, only the resulting conversion doesn't appear to display the video part in a preview like SoundtrackPro does, and I'm assuming LPX does. I need to see picture while I'm messing with the soundtrack.

Briefly, how has your experience with Triumph been? Does it display a video image of the FCP project you're working on?

Just downloaded it today, will be testing it next week.

I just tested the FCPX / LPX round trip with XML, and with all the new updates, it is still as horribly messed up as ever. Wish they'd fix that garbage.

Was just playing with the trial of Triumph but haven't dug in very deep yet. Looks like you can have a video preview, but you have to export that separately after the xml export, then you're asked if you want to import a video preview.

Didn't seem like Triumph had any interesting sound fx, or soundtrack stuff like SoundtrackPro does, but it looked fairly straight forward for editing. I'm not sure there was all that much more you could do in Triumph that you couldn't just do in FCP X, but again... haven't got very deep into it yet.

Looks like you can also just import your video preview into Reaper and it works about the same in that respect to Triumph. Only, with what appears to be MUCH more fx available than Triumph.

Good to know about LPX. Since I'm not a musician and am just looking for a painless & somewhat intuitive tool for doing more soundtrack-oriented stuff, it sounds like LPX would not be my best option.

So far... keeping in mind that I've been out of this a good while... it's looking like my old copy of SoundtrackPro is still a valid option. There's a $50 app called 7toX that supposed to help out with the roundtrip and all.

The only problem with SoundtrackPro is that if I'm just starting over, mostly from scratch and have to more or less relearn what little I knew before I'd like to at least be using an up to date package that's still supported and will likely be around a few years.

There's so little out there on Triumph despite the fact it's actually been out at least a year, that it makes me wonder if it'll just fade away due to lack of interest.

I was really kind of hoping that they'd streamlined the roundtrip between LPX and FCPX with the last updates.

Everyone needs to fill out the Logic Pro X feedback page and tell them how important fixing the XML round trip with FCPX is to us. Enough folks do that, they'll make it a priority. It really would be a great solution. "IF" it wasn't so broken.

Someone on the Apple Forums said they just tried the latest LPX with FCPX10.1 XML import/export. They said it was still hosed. HOWEVER, they said they used X2Pro LE ($60 - For converting FCPXML for ProTools) and that it also worked perfectly for LPX: x2pro.net/buy-x2pro.html

I can't confirm it works, but thought I'd pass that on.

Here's the thread: discussions.apple.com/message/24370257#24370257

This is crazy.

When Logic Pro X arrived and the XML with FCPX wasn't everything Apple's marketing said it would be (or what you would expect from a professional setup) everyone - including me - thought it was just waiting for the new FCPX.

It's there, and it's still a mess.

The worst thing is that 3rd party software (X2Pro) does it perfectly, what Apple's own in-house software can't do. I hope this gets fixed soon.

I've spent time with Reaper and Triumph, and they are both nice, "OK", but neither have the full power of LPX or PT.

Again, everyone fill out the feedback page. From what I understand, it is on the Logic end, not the Final Cut end of the workflow. So fill out the Logic Pro X feedback page, tell them we're not happy.

www.apple.com/feedback/logic-pro.html

Edit: I also sent and email to Tim Cook.

Yep, let Apple know that FCPX needs to integrate sound better with LPX. I also sent Apple a note concerning this topic. There is no reason why there shouldn't be better intergration.

Well, the more I familiarize myself with FCPX 10.1.. it's looking like 90% of what I want to do could likely be accomplished using nothing but FCPX and the current Garageband. I'm not a musician, so it looks like all the extra tools for music creation stuff in LPX and Reaper would be a waste on me.

It would just be nice to get the audio as far as I could in FCPX, then take it to an app to further play with the tracks and add some cool soundtrack stuff, then roundtrip everything back into FCPX with everything still in place and in-sync. If that worked, I'd likely have already bought LPX. But since it apparently doesn't quite yet work like that, according to most of you here and users on a couple other forums... it looks like I'll be better off just making do with garageband or possibly Reaper.

I played with Triumph a bit and just couldn't get the feel for it. There's not much documentation or much of anything with regards to tutorials. So as a noob, that's pretty much put me off of that one.

To be honest, I'd be thrilled if roundtrip FCPXML worked with Garageband. That's likely all I really need for the basic soundtrack stuff I want to play with. Both LPX and Reaper look like waaaay overkill for my needs.

If anyone is using reaper, I just updated Vordio 3.0.2 to work with the new XML structure in FCP X 10.1.2 which completely broke previous versions.

vordio.net/vordio-3-0-2-released/

John

Late reply, still, I believe that Adobe Audition is best suited for audio post-processing and is *the least* friendly for music. Great little under-rated gem in audio world.

The reason I like Reaper so much for sound post is that child tracks are automatically routed through parent tracks.

That makes organising & processing related sounds in a hierarchy really really easy. No fiddling with busses any more (which make more sense in music situation).

That is pretty much why I wanted to write Vordio in the first place.

BTW I just added a bunch of new features in 3.0.4. Even moved all the pro features into the free version so people to see what it does better.

vordio.net/vordio-3-0-4-release/