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Apple Releases Soundtrack
An anonymous reader writes "Apple have released Soundtrack to retail. The application, which is similar to ACID and FruityLoops on the PC, allows composition of music from a library of over 4000 samples (approx 14GB of data) that can be used royalty-free. It also supports the AudioUnit framework (which has a new logo) and comes with 30 AUs bundled in the box. The application was previously only available bundled in Final Cut Pro 4 and will retail for $299/£249."
This app requires a G4/500 or G4/450 dual proc. Is it just me or does this seem like an awful lot to run this app?
I'm using Logic Audio on a G4/350 and it's quite capable of running all the Emagic plug-ins included with Soundtrack.
I'd say that they're just trying to up the ante, and frankly the digital media creation software industry could really use the higher standards.
As a player in this market (I work for a company which makes hardware synthesizers) I want nothing more than for the companies like EMagic, Steinberg, and the like to have to step back from the plate a second, take another good close look at what they're doing now, with the new OS choices in front of them, and then really excel.
I see that happening, frankly. Soundtrack, while it may be a simple application, certainly raises the bar when it comes to easy-to-use yet powerful digital media content creation tools. You can't say that about Logic or Nuendo.
Yet.
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
Has anyone looked at the EULA / licence on those samples yet? What prevents someone from just re-releasing the samples to the public for very little (cost of several DVDs).
I made a short film of my vacation in Rio and decided to use it to learn SoundTrack.
I am absolutely clueless about music, and what I composed to go with my movie is nowhere close to being a great work of art.
At the same time, the movie with music is a great deal more entertaining than the movie without, so I think it achieved its purpose. (I would do this now, but I can't do it from work).
The main problem I found with SoundTrack is that it seems severely weighted towards precussion and specific types of music (vaguely sad-sounding piano jazz, rock of various types), and the selection of loops outside of those categories is extremely limited. So I had literally thousands of precussion choices, about 10-20 of which would have done well with my film, but only three good horn selections, all of which I used, and one of which I used repeatedly. I really wanted to have some good horn selections that would blend together, but I didn't see anything like that.
I'd certainly pay good money for a few hundred horn loops I could use with the already extensive precussion. And I understand Soundtrack is really a version of an already existing sound system, but I don't know where to find the loops.
If I get a couple of replies asking for it, I will put the movie on the web and a link to the movie here, so you can see what a neophyte can do with SoundTrack after about a day or so of fooling with it.
This all being said, it would be nice to learn something of music theory. Can anyone recommend a good book, suitable for complete beginners?
If nothing else, SoundTrack is going to increase people's interest in music composition, which can't be a bad thing. I think it could also be used to provide a draft sound track which could then be worked on with a real composer. Timing issues are very difficult with SoundTrack since the tracks are generally of fixed lengths. You can loop them, but generally you can't reduce their length and get good results.
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I got SoundTrack with FCP 4 the day before they were released. I have since spent more time making music than editing with Final Cut! I absolutely love SoundTrack. It is exactly what I have been looking for. I have never tried sound editing before and this program was as easy to learn as any I have ever used. I think it may help to understand the GUI of FCP, but everything is pretty self explanatory:
You have a timeline with multiple layers, and you have your stock music. Drag and drop. Much of the supplied music is looped, so increasing the time of a certain sound is as simple as dragging the edge of the sound. Also, there is a loop editor so you can make your own loops! The effects are really impressive too, everything is done on the fly, and I am really impressed with the quality of the output.
I am a complete beginner when it comes to sound editing, so I have never used stuff like Logic. I cannot compare SoundTrack to anything, so I cannot say if it is truly a "professional" app. I can say it is the best add on for FCP (for my needs) that I can possibly imagine. I finally have some audio to lay over my video tracks! Woohoo!