Avid Media Composer 7 and Pro Tools 11 Now Available

Definitely looking forward to seeing what ProTools 11 brings to the table. But I'm more excited about Logic Pro X :D

Hurry up and update Final Cut to be more usable!

Please, what takes 2 steps in Final Cut takes 10 steps in Avid. Avid has to have the least intuitive and most cumbersome interface ever.

I went to school for Communication Technology & Media and graduated last year. We used both Avid & FCP7. Using Avid felt like I was stepping back 10 years compared to FCP7.

FCPX, although still lacking some of the more advanced features of FCP7, is a major step forward. It's definitely usable but I agree if they update it to include all the features it's missing from FCP7, it will be awesome.

iWork, Logic, Aperture, etc... All have been delayed for a very long time. My guess is they don't know how to charge for an update. This is a very delicate matter. If they introduce paid updates, they may just loose the App Store over night. Therefore they have been doing major updates but avoid calling them a new version for years now, but they eventually have to do something about this. Honestly for the sake of iOS devices they have to swallow the cost and make Logic X update free to anyone who purchased it on the App Store.

I think they're being delayed because they're being redesigned to take advantage of new technologies in the new operating system due out later this year (along with the new Mac Pro & MBPs). I bet we'll see new versions of these software once these new hardware and software comes out.

It has a lot to do..

What does that have to do with this article?

Final Cut is the direct competitor for Avid. FC is from Apple. This is an Apple forum. It has a lot to do..

I'm with you on this one. I recently started working at a Post-Production house that only uses Avid and I just dont understand. Granted the media management is great but other than that, the interface and the tools just dont seem to operate...naturally, I guess you can say. I bounce around and have done work professionally using FCP7, Premiere and After Effects, but jumping into Avid....I feel like such a noob!

I was in the same situation. But after being forced to use Avid for the past two years, with the updates Avid has made, I can totally understand its strengths, and I would not want to go back to any version of FCP. Especially when working collaboratively, there are just things FCP cannot do that are easy in Avid. Avid, Photoshop and After Effects is all you need.

Unfortunately for AVID though...their iLok USB copy protection dongle (which is managed by a completely different company called PACE) recently changed their software for authorization and cloud database, etc...and it has been locking people out of using their paid for programs...and erasing other authorizations on the iLok. Big time studios who use both Pro Tools and other plugins that use iLok protection have been locked out for weeks if they were unlucky enough to update their systems right away. Universal Pictures was having major problems.

If you use AVID stuff...you have to deal with iLok. And at this point...that is not looking good as PACE has proven itself to be a company with poor customer support and a cavalier attitude to helping the end user, because the end user is not their customer. AVID is.

Even folks who have bought and paid for the iLok "Zero Down Time" insurance have been down for a couple weeks. It is all a horrible joke at this point.

One can read about it more at the GearSlutz forums Music Computer section where most of the studio heads hang out.

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-computers/844460-warning-do-not-install-new-ilok-software.html (http://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-computers/844460-warning-do-not-install-new-ilok-software.html)

Yeah, it's the same reason that Windows XP is still the most widely used operating system and the choice of many businesses. It's been around the longest and had a large install base before Final Cut even came around.

True, but Avid started and still thrives on the Mac. It's just that the Mac started waning on the hardware side with the G5 chips, and since Avid, much like Adobe apps, is cross platform, many houses decided that it's okay to switch.

Avid does take more steps than Final Cut. Why would I waste time trying to learn the backwards way to accomplish the same task in Avid when I can just go and do it in Final Cut?

The problem is that YOU take more steps to do something in Avid than you would FCP. If you learned FCP first then great! When you work in shortcuts in Avid, doing even the simplest task is just a mouse move and click away, and the most advanced tasks, many of which FCP and Premiere can't even do, is just a mouse click and a shortcut away.

It will ALWAYS depend on the editor.

Lol whatever you say.

Yes, because most of what I've said are facts.

The fact remains that Avid's interface is garbage.

No, it's not, it's just YOUR opinion (and it's okay and understandable to have it). The industry, both high-end and indie says otherwise.

Open the application and it feels like 1997 punched you in the face.

That's like saying opening FCPX feels like iMovie punched you in the face. In the end, opening FCP even in the 4-7 editions felt like you were opening an app made for non-thinking editors. I always had to go back and tell FCP where I wanted to put my files and what I wanted my timeline settings at, and where I wanted to save my work, etc. etc.

I haven't used in about 3 years, but I doubt they've made any changes to update it.

Again, read.

But it was cumbersome, slow, and not intuitive at all.

Again, only for you and those that fail to learn the app. Smoke is the same way for me now, but I wouldn't call it a POS just because I don't know how to use it.

Maybe it's cause I learned on Final Cut first, but it was way more complicated to do the same thing in Avid as Final Cut.

Maybe, I learned Avid first, and when I got a take of FCP I liked it, but once I started trying to do simple things that were just a key stroke away I got a little angry. When I tried doing advanced things with keystrokes and mouse clicks it was just abysmal.

Now, it was easy to get started, slap something together and get it out. But after dealing with rendering issues, round-tripping issues, and EDL/XMP issues I decided that it was time to learn it, but stick with the industry standard.

I payed attention fine thank you. Just because that's how your professor taught doesn't make the way my professors taught any better or worse, it was just different.

It's not how my professors taught me, it is how I teach my students.

You're right here. Apple's not building FCPX to take over the editing suites at Universal pictures.

Or even indie post houses. Just folks that want an NLE that's a step above iMovie.

Too many people in that part of the industry had too much invested in Avid to ever make the switch. This was pretty obvious when Apple decided to discontinue their XServe line.

Not many folks where actually invested in Avid to that extent. Sure, many houses have Avid systems but they don't last forever, and when it comes upgrade time, the house has the ability to switch. Some did invest in FCP, FCP Server, Xserve RAIDs and Xserves. The real problem is that Apple didn't want to or couldn't invest in the R&D to compete, and didn't want to have to go through the pains that Avid went through providing an end to end solution.

Once Apple abandoned them, they had no choice but to move on or keep unsupported tech. The only solution for end to end? Avid. Now, if you're running a business, do you keep using a company that pretty much says we won't support your $250,000 investment? NO, you move on. That's where Adobe comes in; if you don't end an end-to-end solution but want an NLE that was developed from the group up as a pure Adobe/Avid program. Let's not forget, Apple is doing a fantastic job with FCPX, but it will forever be the editor that Apple bought from another company, tried to sell and couldn't, then decided to do something with.

Sure, FCPX works great as a boutique system or for folks at home, and definitely in a non collaborative, solo editor setup, but even when it comes to price Adobe is far better, and Avid is the standard. Students need . . . . NEED to learn to edit comfortably on all three.

Apple's got the right idea to target the lower-end professional, indie, and high-end "prosumer" market. FCPX blows all of the other NLEs out of the water for the things this segment of the market needs. They've added a lot since 10.0.0 but its still the first major version. The next major update will bring more refinements & features and will put it even further ahead. Finally, we have a NLE that uses a modern, intuitive interface.

Marketing mumbo jumbo. If the past decade has taught those that know anything, it's that Apple has never guaranteed us anything. I remember talking to users like you about FCP8's updates . . .they said the same thing, and look what we have.

When we were configuring servers for our ISIS admin computers, some wanted to go Xserve, and swore up and down that the new version was coming out and was going to be blazing fast . . . . . .