Reviews, tutorials and news (previously: IT Enquirer)
Suites for mastering audio exist in all shapes and forms. IK Multimedia developed a mastering suite together with Gavin Lurssen, the owner of a multiple Grammy award winning mastering studio. It looks exactly like the real thing and is based on Lurssen's studio equipment. The app annexe DAW plug-in incorporates the best practices of the studio.
Atomos’ latest Ninja and Shogun monitor/recorders are pretty awesome, but if there’s one thing the company should work on it’s the way you have to remove your master caddies from the recorder. I can relate to the need for the caddy to sit really tight when recording, but they should be made in such a way that you don’t have to press so hard you risk damaging the top surface when trying to pry them from the unit.
Most users in the creative industry know they should regularly calibrate and profile their monitor for colour-critical work, but there’s more to colour accuracy than keeping your monitor in shape colour-wise. If you’re going to be printing or projecting your photos, art or videos, you’d better calibrate the output equipment as well. In fact, if you want to be absolutely certain colours will be accurately rendered from input to output, you will need to calibrate — or at least profile — cameras, scanners, monitors, printers and projectors. There’s only one affordable option that is accurate enough: the Red Dot Award winning X-Rite i1Pro 2 and I had the chance to test the Photo version.
Mac users roughly have two options if they want to use bare SATA drives: use a Wiebetech (now: CRU) Ultradock device and connect the drive through legacy interfaces or USB 3, or a Thunderbolt dock. If the latter is opted for, there’s either the RocketStor 5212 with one Gen. 1 Thunderbolt port, or the Thunderbolt 2 OWC Drive Dock. And of these two, the latter is obviously the fastest way to access those bare SATA drives.
When Magix Audio took over Sound Forge Pro Mac from Sony, the application was in need of an update at the very least. With macOS Sierra, Sound Forge Pro didn’t work all that well anymore. In addition, it became clear the app was in desperate need of some new features. Magix Audio’s first upgrade of the sound editor meets the most urgent needs and then some.
The GoPro HERO5 is a lovely action camera with its built-in electronic stabilisation, but if you think it’s going to make your footage perfectly smooth, you’re in for a disappointment. No digital stabiliser currently available can make footage look good when the operator has been subjecting the camera to shocks from walking, running or whatever. A real stabiliser is a must-have for those occasions where you can’t keep the camera still. The Karma Grip has been specially designed to stabilise the HERO5.
Noise is a problem, especially with small-sensor cameras. FxFactory has a new noise reduction plug-in for Final Cut Pro X and Premiere Pro from Crumplepop. It claims to beat noise efficiently, using a simple interface. I compared Crumplepop’s VideoDenoise with Red Giant’s Denoiser III and the older Photon Pro plug-in.
You could be forgiven to think TitleMations is a title generator that lets you automate title creation for your footage, but then you’d be doing this new FxFactory plug-in injustice. If you’re creating a commercial for a luxury car, TitleMations 2 will play nice with the message you’re trying to get across.
Luca Visual FX has released an FxFactory plug-in that enables you to animate random rows and walls of text morphing into words you define. It offers 18 title effects for you to play with.
FxFactory has a new Yanobox plug-in that works with Final Cut Pro X, Premiere Pro and Motion. It’s called Mosaic and it turns your footage in dynamic mosaics. As with Nodes, Yanobox’s other plug-in, you’ll be creating a truly magnificent composite with Mosaic.
