In launching new versions of its Media Composer, NewsCutter and Symphony editing platforms, Avid clearly wants to avoid the controversy, which surrounded Apple’s Final Cut Pro X earlier this year. While rewriting the applications from the ground up it has strived to maintain continuity for its users, and has involved partner companies to ensure that complete solutions are available from day one.
Media Composer and Symphony are now in version 6.0, while NewsCutter is 10.0. All have been rebuilt from the core on an entirely new, open 64-bit architecture. It is described as having ‘a sleek new user interface designed to speed workflows while preserving the same functionality that so many professionals have built their careers on’.
On the day of its launch the major video card developers, including AJA, Blackmagic Design and Matrox, announced compatibility of their products, meaning that the new software can be run right away on existing PC and Mac platforms. All three have options for the latest Thunderbolt interface from Apple as well as USB and PCI Express. Bluefish 444 and Motu also support the new release.
Avid consequently underlined the benefit of using existing hardware investment – including Macs originally bought for Final Cut Pro – with the latest and fastest version of editing software developed specifically for professional applications. It hammered the point home with an offer of a substantial discount on the purchase price and free online training for editors looking to convert from Final Cut Pro.
With good integration with Avid’s own Pro Tools audio finishing software, and hardware acceleration with the Nitris DX for the very high end, Avid is aggressively reclaiming its traditional turf with a major upgrade that should not cause any costly disruption to existing users and workflows.
