Sonicfire Pro, the latest in the SmartSound line of products from Sonic Desktop, is now available for the Mac (the Windows version is due next month).
Sonicfire Pro is the beginning of a new line of professional level tools designed specifically to meet the soundtrack creation needs of professional video editors and visual content creators, according to Kevin Klingler, president and CEO of Sonic Desktop. Based on the company’s SmartSound technology, SonicFire Pro has been redesigned from the ground up. (SmartSound is Sonic Desktop’s family of audio software.)
It can import DV, AVI, MPEG, and QuickTime video formats. It lets you automatically score videos inside SmartSound and you can preview Ideas in real time with your video, score multiple scenes and events, and edit your own music. Sonicfire Pro boasts complete support for DV audio and a new streamlined user interface. The addition of video importing to Sonicfire Pro lets a user score multiple scenes in one session, preview the video in real-time and export the completed project with the soundtrack attached, Klinger said.
“The differences between Sonicfire and our original product — SmartSound for Multimedia — are like night and day,” he said in a statement. “That’s a great product but Sonicfire takes the SmartSound technology and revamps the entire soundtrack creation experience. Process, workflow and features are all maximized to enable things that aren’t available anywhere else from anything else. This is a new ball game.”
Another enhancement to Sonicfire Pro is improved editing of imported audio files. These files, such as MP3s or WAVs, are treated in much the same way as SmartSound-encoded music (included with the software and the add-on palettes). Clips are automatically configured to length by powerful new tools designed specifically to work with industry standard audio formats.
SmartSound Sonicfire Pro for Macintosh is currently available in two versions: Sonicfire Pro, which includes the software and two CDs of royalty-free music for US$349; and the Sonicfire Pro Bundle Edition, which sells for $499 and includes the program plus four CDs of content. All music is 44.1kHz source. All SmartSound music, whether Professional (44k) or Multimedia (22k) can be used with Sonicfire Pro.
The product is available through Sonic Desktop Software. Current users of Sonic Desktop’s SmartSound products can upgrade to Sonicfire for $99. Add-on content CDs are also available for $69 or $129, depending on the desired quality of audio.