Final Cut Pro 4 Quirks and Caveats

[Tim Shirey]

> From: Richard Brown <richard at go2rba.com>
> 
> Well, after a week or so of using FCP4,



After a couple weeks I am STILL using the "Live Type" and "Sound Track"
programs and haven't gotten around to using FCP4 itself yet!  :-)

Live Type has a lot of potential, uncluttered and VERY easy to use.  I was
whipping off some cool type effects in the first few minutes of using it.
Being a guy, I have yet to open the user manuals. :-)  My mind is already
picturing a ton of possible animated lower thirds, frames, title shots,
etc..

Soundtrack creates some interesting background loops but will not totally
replace the royalty free songs.  I am amazed at how all the clips fit
seamlessly together no matter if each sample has a different key or tempo. I
put it to the test by combining the most unrelated instruments together
(banjo, bagpipes, bongos, classical strings, etc.) and the software matched
the tempos and keys with each other (but wouldn't go out a buy an album with
that combo!)! There are plenty of exotic instruments represented from around
the world which I found helpful as I do work for different cultures around
Europe and the world.  Don't expect to ever use the Didjeridoo loops though!
Definitely a solo instrument - can't picture that sound going with any other
instrument!

The TWO DVDs full of LiveType files required being stored on a HD with OSX
present so I wasn't able to store them on my external firewire HD.  ...There
went another 9+Gig off my PB HD.  The approx. 4.6GB of soundtrack files can
be store on an external HD though but I also ended up putting them on my PB
because I move around a lot with the PB.  As you can imagine, I now have a
60GB HD on my 1GHz G4 PB with very little HD space left to spare.

As a "low-techie" I can't give a nitty gritty tech/spec report on the
program.  If you are considering an upgrade and looking at that dreaded
upgrade price, keep in mind all the programs which are bundled with FCP4.

- Tim

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shirey at illustratedWORD.com

homepage:  http://www.illustratedWORD.com
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