@AAProds

Hi Al,

Yes, my old dog passed away a year ago November. I am still in negotiations about royalties with the new dog.

After and before, it's like in VPX, after is on the left screen, before (source) on the right. After is more important to show than before so it comes before before.😁

John CB

@browj2, @AAProds

Hi John, Al

. . . . After is more important to show than before so it comes before before. . . . .

Well in my dictionary After comes before Before, unless you are one ot those people who read the end of a book before the start, in which case Before comes before After, alternatively After comes after Before.

Looks like we have a chicken and egg situation! 😂.

John EB

I wont mention left to right reading then!

@browj2 @AAProds @johnebaker

To use the text to speech / speech to text thing you have to sign up to yet another intrusive Microsoft account. Do read the terms and conditions for that account. At least with VPX you can use the additional content on YouTube. Not sure that extends to MMS.

The before after thing is possibly down to the way America / Canada do their calender date system. Either that or they are Time lords.

I have only just updated to MMS 2024 and I do like the new look. I find it easier to read the graphics. If I alter the width of the timelines back and forth it doesn't always refresh the images within though. Playback is smoother but exports take around the same time they always have with the types of additional processing I tend to use.

Why they didn't include an AI video noise cleaner instead of wanting to make videos look like Picasso's Scream which would want to make me scream I will never understand.

The MMS update for me at least has rectified the external audio editor which had stopped working in both MEP and VPX. For that I am grateful as it is one option I did use now and then.

I also notice Humble Bundle doing a Vegas Edit 19 / Sound Forge Pro 16 bundle along with various sample loop packages but this time around the software packages offered have a one year licence. The loops from Producer Planet are also not for commercial use but the Soundtrack Loop ones are subject to their terms and conditions.

Ray.

@CubeAce, I never signed up for M$ anything on the Vegas 365 side of the planet.

I just opened MMS 2024 Suite and was able to use the HUB. Everything in the HUB is from Storyblocks.com and you should be able to use it without issue. I have used stock footage and music in some of my videos that are on Youtube, and not even a "sniff" of a copyright issue. But it is always good to read the "fine print".

Oh, and Vegas doesn't have an "AI" video noise reduction, so VPX (where all the AI, Text to Speech, etc. come from) would not have it either. At least at the moment. There is NeatVideo and BorisFX which has an amazing DeNoise ML, albeit, timeline playback doesn't equal Neat, and rendering is well, painful. But it's a one click wonder that is a part of Continuum Complete 2024, which I already have.

It looks like the Vegas team and the Magix team have been working together to pull this off. Pinnacle Studio and Videostudio Pro, both under the Corel umbrella did the same thing with several features first being developed and matured in Pinnacle, then ported over to Videostudio Pro.

@Reyfox

Hi.

It is the opening screen and end user licence agreement I don't fully understand what exactly I'm agreeing to to be able to log in to gain content. There is quite a lot to it with links that don't work but you can eventually find them for yourself.

I did look at the licencing agreement for the downloadable content and it appears to be a standard royalty free and commercial copyright free as long as certain normal practice guidelines are adhered to but it is this business of being connected to The Microsoft Azure Cloud contract I don't fully understand my commitments to. Everything on the Microsoft site says the Azure service is free for 30 days. Then what? Also there is a clause that says anything you upload (not sure how or why that comes into anything yet as I can't see beyond the login screen.) may be used by Magix for it's advertising purposes. Again not actually uncommon with some contracts but not all.

I will have a dig around the manual at some point to see if there are any answers. To be honest I'm in no hurry.

As for the AI plugins. The only one I would find useful is the B&W to colour although I have no B&W video or film to convert personally I do have photos. That would be cool even though there are other ways to do that with photos at least. I appreciate that for video or old film stock that is much harder and such a plugin is quite valuable to have if needed. I remember seeing the first machine that could do that at Studio Film Labs in Soho in the early 70s. They were making a colour version of an old Gean Kelly movie. It blew my mind back then and to think it can now be done on a home computer now is just something else.

The rest of the AI effects I could take or leave them. I would have preferred an in house noise reduction AI over the current in house AI offerings as being more useful in a perpetual licence version than having to have a 365 account to be able to use a third party plugin such as offered with the Vegas subscription version.

I do understand other people do have needs different to my own but I wonder how tempting this new version is over VPX15.

I may be well out of the loop though as I have never visited TikTok, don't have an X, Facebook or similar account so who am I to judge what the public is looking for?

Am am glad that @browj2 got back a feature that was broken in the last version though. But to have to buy a new version to get that back seems a little overkill if that is all you really need.

Ray.

@CubeAce

Hi Ray, did you upgrade to the MMS2024 perpetual license or the Annual 365 license?

As for the new VPX 16 perpetual license, it looks like it has access to the HUB although more limited than the annual subscription. My question is; with this limited access, does the perpetual license have "perpetual" access to the HUB or does it only last for a year?

@Can-Dive

Hi.

Perpetual, and I have no idea. Nothing is clear. It could only be for one month. Depends on what you read and where. Azure Cloud which this seems to be linked to only gives a 30 day free trial.

The manual for MMS 2024 states that HUB content is only available to the subscription service. Page 117.

So I'm guessing that at least Reyfox's subscription to Vegas is also covering him with the Magix program. The same way effects seem to get shared across the programs.

Really at this point it seems just one more Magix mess to be clarified.

Ray.

@CubeAce

Interesting. I also have the MMS2024 suite perpetual version. I logged into the HUB but got the following message:

So while access is available for viewing, downloading content is restricted to Annual subscription members. When MMS2025 gets released (August?) the perpetual version may have the same limited HUB access as VPX16 perpetual.

@Can-Dive

@CubeAce the TTS and STT are done in the cloud by M$. I have never seen an EULA with Vegas 365 when I first used it. It looks like the Magix one in your screenshot is by Magix explaining everything for you to use the service.

The TTS (text to speech) is really easy to use, and the ability to have your text translated to another language and spoken (I annoy my wife a lot with it), is a benefit to anyone who who needs such a feature. The Storyblocks stock footage and music are quite extensive. I mainly use the music myself.

Noise reduction is something I think most people would need, but I am more than sure, the resources to get AI noise reduction up and running is far more complex, and at this moment, more costly to implement than what is already available out there. NeatVideo. And since the Vegas AI plugins, which have already been developed are readily available to be used, why not. That "catch phrase" AI can now be used in the ad copy.

It seems the sharing of programming resources between the Vegas team and the Magix team has happened. And why not if it will make the products more attractive to the public and increase the downward spiral of revenue. I don't think none of us here want to see the software disappear.

@Can-Dive, yes, the perpetual licenses are limited in what can be used in the HUB compared to the subscription. And the thing is, there is no indication saying when the HUB stop working in a perpetual license. Since Storyblocks has to be paid, would someone with a perpetual license still be able to download assets for 2 or 3 years in the future with VPX16? I don't think so. The reason for updating perpetual yearly or going subscription, which is where everything is pointing to, is what I think is going to happen. "The Spice must flow..." That doesn't happen with a "one off" perpetual license.

I am a "perpetual" person, but I have a Vegas Post 365 subscription... go figure. But I have to say, it's not as bad as I thought. At least with Vegas.

@Reyfox

Hi.

It's just that.

1: I can see people coming onto the forum and enquiring why they can't access Hub content.

2: Wonder at what is likely to persuade a person to move from VPX 14/15 to 16?

I too have no wish to see Magix fail but sometimes wonder what they are thinking.

Ray.

@Reyfox

Hi

. . . . the ability to have your text translated to another language and spoken . . . .

I would highly recommend, as good practice, to double check what the translators give you by reverse checking, particularly for languages that do not have a similar grammatical structure as your native language, eg in my case the Germany, Austria, and Swiss variants of German, from experience you can get some 'funny' results.

. . . . I annoy my wife a lot with it . . . .

My calls me 'faul' if I do this. 😂

John EB

@CubeAce

Hi Ray,

I don't understand your concerns. Up until now, you have had to have a subscription to get access to what the HUB offers. Now, you just have to purchase the next version of the program.

I thought that what I said and showed in the original message was clear, including the new features. What new features did I miss from the list?

Look at the entire list again, then the first 2 items and then the details. Once you have paid for VPX16 or purchased a subscription, the features AI TTS/STT along with access to the content are available. Azure/M$ is not involved.

Since you mention Azure, see this page for Azure pricing. TTS/STT is free up to a limit:

• TTS - 0.5 million characters free per month
• STT - 5 audio hours free per month.

This is a lot more than with VPX16 is offering - STT - 15 minutes per month; TTS - 3333 characters per month.

The big difference is convenience. When you're in VPX or MMS with the capability, you can quickly get your text to speech, with an appropriate speaker, translated or not, onto the timeline, or some audio (speech) clip that is on the timeline turn into text and put in a title on the timeline. If you need to exceed the limit, then either subscribe or create an Azure account and use the free part up to the limit.

BTW, for anyone who has a M$ Office 365 subscription, STT is included with Word. I don't know if there is a limit, at least I haven't run into one.

So, since M$ is offering the service for free up to a limit, Magix can offer the TTS/STT features with the perpetual version with no end date.

The only outstanding issue is HUB Storyblocks content with no end date. Someone probably has figured out that those with a subscription don't use up their limit or anywhere close to it, and neither will those with a perpetual version.

More later on what I think about the new features vs what I would have liked to have seen.

When Mr. Krebbs asked for info about what we would like to see (questionnaire) did any of you say that you would like to see AI Style Transfer and AI Colorize? I know that I didn't.

John CB

@browj2

Hi John.

I was curious about the Hub use within MMS 2024 as I have only just bought it. My screenshot was what I was seeing. If it is different in VPX 16 then that is fine but my concern is why Azure was mentioned at all in my version and that the terms and conditions of use were different to that of Magix's own. If it has nothing to do with pricing of content then it probably one of data collected but I can't find that out as none of the links provided work.

Also I don't fully understand the following unless they are talking about uploading videos to the Magix site.

I don't remember seeing a questionnaire.

@browj2

Hi John

. . . . would like to see AI Style Transfer and AI Colorize . . . .

Unfortunately this is, IMO, a world-wide marketing trend appearing in a lot of software, leading users to think that if it is not AI powered 'this, that and/or the other', then it is no good.

In some instances the AI powered feature is reasonably good, eg the Vegas Pro Smart masking feature (not perfect) and the AI powered resizing (upscaling) in PSP, in other cases AI powered features are, IMHO, a 'gimmick'.

John EB

AI is the latest selling buzz word. If your software doesn't have anything AI, then as @johnebaker wrote, it is not good. Not that a perspective user would use it, they want it anyway. And with social media content creators out there, AI Styles would work.

@johnebaker my wife is Polish, and I am an American with zero Polish language skills, even though I studied for 2 years in a university. Language was never my strong suit, even in school where I had to take foreign languages. I passed wonderfully, but when it was over, it was over in my brain too. So the wacko sentences I come up with are grammatically correct when translated into Polish. Wife has checked it. But it is good advice to also check with other resources out there.

All in all, I think that VPX16 is a good release with new features that should attract people to upgrade.

@CubeAce

Hi Ray,

First the questionnaire/survey is here and you replied.

VegasDerek confirmed that Jeff Krebbs and Magix have parted ways.

Where and how did you get your screen shot showing the Agree screen? Is this when you log in the first time?

I have to assume that you don't get the Content and TTS/STT with a purchase of perpetual MMS2024 - that will come with 2025.

The only thing that I can think of is that the phrasing has to do with butt-covering because your content - text/audio will be uploaded to the cloud for processing.

@johnebaker

Hi John EB,

The two AI offerings seem to me to be something that third parties would normally take care of. AI Style Transfer - I can do much of that with other tools, like Pixelan. I assume that Colorize is available out there as well with plugins - Bing co-pilot came up with 4 hits. So why do this?

From what I recall, my suggestions were more to do with making the program better, not adding fancy effects that probably won't get much use beyond trying them out to see what they do. At the risk of getting dumped on, I put blend modes in the same category, nice to have but would I (or most users) ever use it more than once? That said, I think that blend modes would have been a much better use of resources than the Style Transfer and Colorize and mucking around with the Chromakey interface.

My suggestions include things that Magix already has or close to it. Given their financial problems, why not raid the cupboard and use what they already have or do simple things? For VPX,

• Upgrade Music Editor 3 to SFACL3 (at least),
• Get a better meter in the Mixer and add in LUFS detection/analysis - they have this with SFACL and Samplitude,
• Upgrade SoundTrack Maker to the new Music Maker Song Maker AI, and allow use of all Soundpools that a user may have with Music Maker,
• Add VST plugin capability for audio objects,
• Spruce up the video meters - histogram, RGB Parade... - see Vegas,
• Export Used Files (paths and names) in Project/Movie Settings to text/csv file,
• Fix BPM wizard so that the user can adjust the guessed at BPM to get the beat markers to fall on the beats (I pointed out the problems with BPM wizard to Magix long ago),
• Add in cut-to-the-beat capability on the timeline - this exists in Soundtrack Maker, just add it so that songs purchased through the Store can be analyzed for BPM and objects already on the timeline, within a range, cut to the beat as with Soundtrack Maker.

More complicated:

• Add VST3 plugin capability,
• New state button to be able to slide objects along the timeline and have whatever is being passed over jump to the left or right - like one can do in Storyboard mode,
• Fix up Photo Manager (PM) and include it with VPX. Change the name to Media Manager which is what it actually is as it handles Photos, Videos and Audio files. I have not found any other file management program on the market that can do what Photo Manager can. Other programs do photos (now with some AI facial recognition), but not the other two file types. PM also has facial recognition - they were way ahead of the competition on this, but dropped the ball. Vegas was trying to create Vegas Prepare, which would seem to be what PM actually does. They stopped, why? PM, once modernized (update to 64 bit, missing some codecs, fragile database, messed up field names, update to TRA to Travel Maps) would be an excellent front-end for VPX/MMS and even Vegas (add in Share with Vegas).

That reminds me, PM has albums, which are just projects with selected components, one after the other. I was creating albums and just adding photos/videos to them for future projects. An album could be opened in VPX/MEP as a project, and saved as a project. Newer version of VPX/MMS can no longer open the album files. I should advise Magix - they still sell PM.

Along the same thinking, for a new PM, add in database capability to include MVP files, including a reference table of objects used in the MVP with objects in the PM database. Just add the MVP file to the database and the contents get analyzed. Make the database more accessible to users for getting better custom screens using search criteria and better ouput reports/files (currently html file that imports nicely into MS Excel and Access).

Artificial Intelligence

Since AI seems to be all the rage with ChatGPT doing wonderful things, then add in an AI button to create a video. Several years ago, a user on the French forum asked where the button was to automatically create a video. I have tens of thousands of photos and videos and audio files. Press button, make me a 10 minute video of my trip to x in 2001, with nice titles, intro, outro, names of people and places, mapping showing where and when, narration using my voice, appropriate music, etc. All info is somewhere on my computer. Go for it!

Just my thoughts,

John CB

@browj2 wrote:

First the questionnaire/survey is here and you replied.

I have to assume that you don't get the Content and TTS/STT with a purchase of perpetual MMS2024 - that will come with 2025.

When I went to the HUB in 2024 Suite, I got the login prompt. I logged in using my Vegas credentials, and presto, I was good to go.

The only thing that I can think of is that the phrasing has to do with butt-covering because your content - text/audio will be uploaded to the cloud for processing.

My thoughts too.

The two AI offerings seem to me to be something that third parties would normally take care of. AI Style Transfer - I can do much of that with other tools, like Pixelan. I assume that Colorize is available out there as well with plugins - Bing co-pilot came up with 4 hits. So why do this?

Pixelan (I am not familiar with it doing what Vegas AI can, but take your word on it), costs money. And since Vegas AI has already been developed and used for a couple of years, there is no programming effort other than porting it over. And again, it's included in the software. Now, we can talk about the functionality of it for ourselves, but not for other users. I might not use it, but I might not use a lot of features that others might use. I am ambivalent on this. And again, I don't think "we now have better blend modes" will sell better than "we now have AI stuff", no matter how useless it might appear to be. As for Chroma, it's a much used feature. Maybe not by you, but I know many who do use it in Vegas and other consumer editing software. You have specific needs and desires. So do I. But again, because I don't use a feature, it doesn't make it totally useless.

All the Magix music software is under a different group of programmers. This is where integration would be good with the video software. As for Vegas Prepare, it was coming from a 3rd party, and it didn't work out too well.

For face detection in videos and images, I guess you aren't familiar with Davinci Resolve. It has been there for over 2 years already.

Artificial Intelligence

Since AI seems to be all the rage with ChatGPT doing wonderful things, then add in an AI button to create a video. Several years ago, a user on the French forum asked where the button was to automatically create a video. I have tens of thousands of photos and videos and audio files. Press button, make me a 10 minute video of my trip to x in 2001, with nice titles, intro, outro, names of people and places, mapping showing where and when, narration using my voice, appropriate music, etc. All info is somewhere on my computer. Go for it!

It will get there one day. But not today or the foreseeable future.

@browj2

Hi John.

When you mentioned the questionnaire I did not recognise the name you gave. Thanks for the link, I remember that one. That was a long time ago.

Yes that is the login screen to make an account. I still haven't activated it and probably won't bother.

It would be nice to be able to confirm any terms and conditions that are not explained within the program. What if the perpetual licence only gets one year of use of whatever that is responsible for?

I think vst3 will have to be implemented at some point as Windows eventually drops all 32 bit processes. That brings up one other possible future problem. MP3 handling within the Magix programs rely on having a copy of Windows Media player on the system and that is a 32 bit application.

The only things I personally would like to see are better OFX integration (even if only for VPX) and more bug fixes.

Ray.

@Marc-Goder thanks for providing the May 27th release date for MMS2025. I'm looking forward to seeing what will be offered. With all these new releases, it gives the user base confidence that Magix is truly working hard to continue into the future. This is very different to the experience with Alludo/Corel where the user base was left in the dark for a year with no updates - complete silence - and then then the sudden closure of the user forums. Luckily the user base was able to establish its own forum to continue as a community but the future for these products do not look promising; hence my interest in Magix.

@browj2 I think your enhancements and software integration suggestions have merit and demonstrates the future potential of VPX. My only small wish to add to your comprehensive list is adding a program setting option to place the overlay tracks over the main video track rather than under (similar to Vegas). I don't think this would be technically difficult since the tracks are not predefined (like they are in VideoStudio) and this format is in line with other professional editors. A number of years ago Power Director implemented this program setting option so its not impossible.🙂

@Can-Dive

From a personal perspective, the fact the program tracks work from the top down was the main reason for me to initially buy the program. Not having had previous experience of a video editing package, that seemed a more natural and intuitive way to lay down tracks as I do not read or write from the bottom of a page. I have seldom had to look at the manual to use either MMS or VPX. Something I can't say about other editing packages I now also use for the odd project now and then.

I can see where if a person has previous experience with other video editing software the track layout would take getting used to but from a complete newbie point of view I'm not so sure. Also not having dedicated tracks means I can save screen real estate and keep all the tracks in view and can get a really complex project to fit everything in without having to scroll the view around.

Ray.