What Apple DID Get Right in Final Cut Pro X- Part 1

By Dan Rubotton

Much has been said about what Final Cut Pro X does not do, and I agree that some key functionality has been omitted that Apple needs to address soon. However, there is a lot to like here as well, so I thought I’d point out some features that stand out to me as an editor of over 20 years that I’ve wanted for a long time. The majority of my projects I end up mixing myself directly in the NLE since I have a background in recording and mixing, thats why these new features are pretty cool to me. When budgets allow, I sometimes send an OMF to a mixer, but its on occasion. Hopefully, OMF export will be added by then or I’ll buy Wes Plate’s Automatic Duck exporter.

1. Better Audio Plugins

Finally, we have the full Audio Units (AU) plugin from Soundtrack Pro and Logic built right into FCPX, complete with metering (i.e. seeing compression reduction) and full keyframing capabilities. There are more than 100 total, with over 40 coming from Logic Studio. Media Composer has had good plugins from Protools for a long time- but I found them very clunky and non-intuitive by comparison. I have not used MC since early Adrenaline days so maybe this has been improved…not sure yet.

2. Easier Keyframing

Adding keyframes (or rubber-banding) is much improved in FCPX. Simply Option-click on the track to add a KF- even while the track is playing! The waveform updates in real-time while you adjust the levels- even showing clipped or near clipped levels with red and yellow colors- NICE. Fade handles are available on each audio clip without adding keyframes- in fact, they override KFs much like a cross-fade does in FCP7. You can select different fade curves as well by right-clicking the fade. read more...