Apple on Thursday released an update to Soundtrack, its loop-based music composition software, to coincide with this week’s NAMM 2004 conference in Anaheim, Calif. The new version of Soundtrack is available for download from Apple’s Web site.
Soundtrack was first introduced bundled with Final Cut Pro 4. The software enables users to build royalty-free music compositions using thousands of loop files. In addition to Apple’s own “Apple Loops” format, Soundtrack supports importing files from ACID, AIFF and WAV formats. The resulting files can then be integrated with video, DVD and Web projects. Soundtrack also provides more than 30 pro audio effects from Apple and Emagic.
At last year’s Macworld CreativePro Conference & Expo in New York City, Apple announced the release of Soundtrack as an independent application. At this week’s NAMM 2004 conference, Apple indicated that it was chopping US$100 off the price of Soundtrack to lower it to $199.
The new version adds features, makes general fixes and performance enhancements, and is strongly recommended for all users of Soundtrack, according to Apple. Specific changes in version 1.2 include MTC and MIDI beat clock synchronization; user-customizable effect presets; improved support for large audio files; document compression; general media manager enhancements; and general timeline enhancements.
System requirements call for Soundtrack v1.0.1; Mac OS X v10.2.8; QuickTime 6.1 or later and a valid Soundtrack serial number. Users who obtained Soundtrack bundled with Final Cut Pro 4 are advised to download the update from the Final Cut Pro Updates page instead.