just testing image upload 👍

@Reyfox Yeah I think it was just time for me to want more, It was the need for a better masker that opened the fx door for me, In MEP I was manually moving masks around to blur my no' plate or using Attach picture to help move the mask. , I then tried Xara but that's not a lot better, you still have to go in & move masks around, then I discovered Mocha, tracking & masking + lots more 🤸‍♂️, to use that I had to upgrade the host & so Vegas came on the scene, I now open Vegas rather than MS because of the things that are there & not in MS.

@Former user I make money from my YT vids so I guess I am pro

@Former user Probably not. Some chefs and pet lovers also share videos with tens of millions of views on Youtube, Tiktok, and they also get money from these platforms. But they may not be considered professionals in the video industry. At most, they should be classified as cooks or pet industry professionals. You are in a similar situation to them.

@Former user loved the video!! Thanks for the laughs!

Many people are more than content with MMS as it is. I have zero issues with that. But then some people want more, and move "up" the editing food chain. And there is nothing wrong with that either.

It must be the browser why I can't upload images. I use mainly Brave. With Firefox, I can... my bad....

But here is the difference between Ignite Pro Lighting, and Boris BCC Lighting. I couldn't fit all the effects list in the image. And while I've used Ignite a lot, there is no doubt Boris has far more control.

@Nalmcruto There's more than one definition of professional, I make money from the videos not my joiner skills & seeing as YT earnings are taxable the government obviously sees this as a profession.

'3. ADJECTIVE 

You use professional to describe people who do a particular thing to earn money rather than as a hobby.'

@browj2

Hi John

. . . .  VPX/MMS do, with templates. DVDA is no longer sold . . . .

True and true, however the VPX/MMS is basic compared to DVDA, the reason for further development being dropped was lack of sales due to more video going online then creators creating discs.

The example I gave previously, ie play a chapter and then return to the menu, is not possible in VPX/MMS. The workaround is to make each chapter a unique movie to be burned alongside the full movie, not practical when you are using more the half the DVD/BD space for the main movie.

John EB

@Nalmcruto

Hi,

I saw that article as well. I find it strange that the regular price of VPX is higher at 299 USD than that of Vegas Edit at 249 USD. Both are currently on sale at 149 and 129, respectively.

@Reyfox

Vasco da Gama is a great program but very time-consuming to use, I find. Also, to get the kind of maps that I show in the Iran video, you need to have Vasco StreetMaps, another big expense. I am several versions behind but there is little difference except in the speed of creating the map. I just do something else while the maps are being created. Once done, they are usable in Vasco da Gama. What is missing is detailed satellite imagery, although you can import your own maps.

Most power users, at least us, have multiple programs including video editors, so we can go to the one we need for whatever effect or template we want.

One thing that I have tried to do is to scrape things from various programs, like jpg's, templates, audio (music and sound fx), masks, backgrounds, etc. and make them available under a main folder.

Professionals want full control, but that depends on the type of professional. Some need to just get something good out as fast as possible and don't have time to spend playing with all of the whistles and bells, so templates, especially their own, are probably great assets. Time is money. Professionals doing artsy type videos will demand and need much more. And everything in between.

@Former user

VPX/MMS have some really great movie templates, 2 types, one with various lengths. Just fill in the blanks. Great stuff until you actually try doing it and realize that you don't have the appropriate material. When I use those, I just go for the music and maybe the titles and some background and change everything else. These templates just go to the timeline if you choose and you can alter them however you want.

In fact, I think that most templates are easily modifiable. Are there any that you find that cannot be modified?

John CB

@browj2 I was talking about the whole of the Templates tab, I didn't mention Movies, "refinement & adjustment making unique effects, rather than the off the shelf ones.

@Nalmcruto There's more than one definition of professional, I make money from the videos not my joiner skills & seeing as YT earnings are taxable the government obviously sees this as a profession.

'3. ADJECTIVE 

You use professional to describe people who do a particular thing to earn money rather than as a hobby.'

@Former user Hmm yep, the difference is which industry the "professional" is in .

I think professionals you say should be classified as professional Youtubers, Tiktokers, or something like that. This type of career focuses on video content, such as good dancing, good singing, good carpentry skills, good cook skills, cute pets, funny performances, etc.

While Rey's professionals might mean professional video industry practitioners who have excellent professional skills and knowledge of video editing, and need to use these skills/knowledge in their work. This type of career focuses on video editing/compositing skills such as strong VFX skills, high editing efficiency, strong Motion Graphics skills, strong 3D skills, mastery of mainstream video tools, extensive video editing experience, etc. I think it might be pretty different from professional Youtubers, Tiktoker, or something like that.

They are both called professionals, of course, but with different focuses.

@Nalmcruto Alright drop it now, it was a random comment that I didn't expect to get scrutinised over, what's your problem!

"professionals" want total control over every aspect of editing. So the editing software has to be more "complex".

I am pro but 95% of the time they don't inc any kind of fx

Sorry, no ill will, just seeing your two different views, I guess your "pro / professional" are actually two cases. So I made a distinction.

@Nalmcruto You've selected & concentrated on part of that sentence therefore twisting the intention & taking it out of context, the full comment was "I make money from my YT vids so I guess I am pro", In English that 'I guess' has a tongue in cheek connotation & anyone reading it would understand that I wasn't exactly calling myself a professional. In fact I added that bit as quite the opposite, I didn't want to use a quote "What I have found is that "professionals" want..." & didn't want people to think I was putting myself in that same 'professional' class.

Most power users, at least us, have multiple programs including video editors, so we can go to the one we need for whatever effect or template we want.

Yes. Use the right tool for the job. I've always said that.

One thing that I have tried to do is to scrape things from various programs, like jpg's, templates, audio (music and sound fx), masks, backgrounds, etc. and make them available under a main folder.

My folder structures and sorting have never failed me. Even if I have to go back several years.

Professionals want full control, but that depends on the type of professional. Some need to just get something good out as fast as possible and don't have time to spend playing with all of the whistles and bells, so templates, especially their own, are probably great assets. Time is money. Professionals doing artsy type videos will demand and need much more. And everything in between.

I've said that I too have used templates in the past, and will in the future if I have to. But the "bells and whistles" are what professionals want and pay for. All the major editing software don't have templates. You can buy them from 3rd parties, but none come with templates. There must be a reason(s) why. And these same editing software allows you to quickly get something out if you have to. Yes, time is money in some instances for sure. A lot of professionals are paid per project. It's not about speed, but getting the results the paying customer wants. Know your tools, and you can do it and deliver it in the format that they want.

The ones that I know (and myself when I was doing this), have a pretty good idea of how long it takes to do "x". And if the customer wants more than "x" later on, in the contract, it stipulates the time/cost including incidental fees. Not everyone who is doing "artsy type videos", are the ones who demand and need more. Look at anything on the television/stream/movie theater/indie/etc., video editors need the software to deliver what is needed, and editing power to do it. Everyone can download Resolve for free. There is a reason why it's so popular. And yet, look at the complexity of it.

VPX/MMS have some really great movie templates, 2 types, one with various lengths. Just fill in the blanks. Great stuff until you actually try doing it and realize that you don't have the appropriate material. When I use those, I just go for the music and maybe the titles and some background and change everything else. These templates just go to the timeline if you choose and you can alter them however you want.

In fact, I think that most templates are easily modifiable. Are there any that you find that cannot be modified?

Yes they can be modified. Where I think, at least for me, is the problem, is that I've seen them many times. But they can be a good starting place. Especially when the creative side of the brain is taking a vacation.

Hi,

I saw that article as well. I find it strange that the regular price of VPX is higher at 299 USD than that of Vegas Edit at 249 USD. Both are currently on sale at 149 and 129, respectively.

@browj2 Hi, I think it's probably because VPX actually is not a pure VPX. It contains a NewBlue TotalFX – MAGIX Edition (The value should be above $50.). But Vegas Edit is a pure Vegas.

@Reyfox @johnebaker @Former user @browj2 @Nalmcruto

First forgive me if I haven't mention anyone above who has contributed. These are the only avatars showing on this page so far.

I completely agree with Reyfox. An editing program is just another tool in the toolbox. I have never paid full price for most of my programs (except MEP) getting them from HumbleBundle and then using the Magix upgrade paths if I wanted either additional offered third party plugins or an upgrade to a newer version (Such as VPX 14).

So most of the time I get the basic no frills version of something like Vegas. But because of the wonderful way Magix programs share third party plugins across all their programs, something like NB Titler Pro shows up in Vegas.

Also Vegas has its own sets of basic plugins that MMS 2023 and VPX 14 do not have which are not cross platform effects. This goes for everything audio as well as visual so I get a lot more variation without having to buy a lot of third party plugins. Just the value for money options I like and a completely legal way of obtaining every thing I need👍🏻.

So. Audio wise, what can I do in Vegas I can't do in VPX. Well for starters Vegas recognises my MIDI keyboard and controller. I'm in the process of mapping it out for automation.

Then there are the are the automation and recording of any audio plugins controls. Please don't take any notice of the actual content of the videos I'm putting up as they are basic nonsense. They are just there to show a function and I personally do find uses to use them. (part of my creative processes.)

That can be done to any audio plugin.

And there is a larger range of native audio plugins to choose from.

including the ability to add dithering which is great when working with files of mixed quality when down-mixing the output or exporting. I'm impressed with the dithering options.

And there is more than one way to control sound levels including fade ins and outs and drawing curves or using the mixer controls.

Better metering options and a really nice limiter that is very flexible.

There is more but enough to be getting on with.

Then what about flexibilities for video not found in VPX for creativity?

How about being able to use any third party effect for a transition for starters with complete control?

But I'm just getting to grips with Vegas and what it can do but so far, as another tool in the toolbox I'm finding it quite useful and inspirational.

Ray.

@CubeAce

Hi Ray,

Interesting.

MIDI Controller:

I don't have a MIDI controller so I can't test this, but in VPX: "Settings for remote control via MIDI Machine Control. MAGIX VIDEO PRO X supports the control of external devices or through external devices through MMC."

I can sync VPX with Samplitude Pro X using MIDI Time Code, as shown in my tutorial on Everything Audio part 2, and run both together.

I use a Contour ShuttlePro v2, so I have control of almost whatever shortcuts available in VPX, but not automation (except for keyframes).

You have connected your keyboard but can you load a VSTi, play and record? I think not. Vegas does not handle VSTi's as far as I know (nor does VPX).

Audio Fade in/out options - nice to have, but...

I can understand these for images/video, but not audio. This was discussed on the Samplitude forum a year or so ago with one user insisting that he needed these curves and the others insisting that they are basically useless since the audio affected is usually all over the place and never the same from one audio clip to another.

So, over the short duration for audio, could you really hear the difference between the various curves?

Straight fade in - look at the waveform - the audio is all over the place (done using Object Volume Curve):

Simple Concave fade in (done using Object Volume Curve):

Concave fade in with several points (done using Object Volume Curve):

I think that one would be hard pressed to hear a difference between any of these, or between the second or third one with points vs a smooth curve.

Each case would be different. With the Object Volume Curve, just add points to get the desired effect - and this will most likely not be using a smooth curve.

Note - Vegas does not do Object Volume Curves, only Track Volume Curves.

Left and Right Channel Editing

Interesting but, I would split them into mono tracks and make separate adjustments and use panning to set that audio where I want.

Example - I recorded audio with singing on the left channel, guitar on the right with almost no bleed through. These have to be treated separately and properly mixed such that I get each coming out of both left and right speakers.

So, while nice to have, VPX is adequate.

Native Plugins - eFX plugins

The eFX plugins are not native to Vegas. I had these before Vegas was twinkle in the Magix eye. However, Magix has not ever bundled them with VPX or MEP, as far as I can recall. To get them, one would have to purchase them separately - or just get Sound Forge Audio Cleaning Lab 4, as that is one of several places that I have these and many more.

Although it would be nice to have them with VPX, I have never found them to be useful. Third party options seem to be better.

All for now, the new little dog has to take me for exercise.

John CB

@CubeAce Hi, one feature that seems to be like Marmite in the Vegas forum is Expand Track Layers,

If you haven't already used it, - create a crossfade, then double click on the events edge it'll expand the two tracks so you can adjust, you may have to turn this on double click in preferences, I can't explain it you'll just have to play n see 👍

@browj2 @Former user @johnebaker @Nalmcruto @Reyfox

Hi John.

There is no MIDI map in VPX for my controller. I can individually map some parameters to the Axiom Mini rotary controllers but it's a pain. I use the controller to adust things like oscillator speeds and pitch etc for adjusting phasing etc or tonal adjustments or whatever. I'm not using it to record music tracks. I tend to mix 'live' rather than using keyboard shortcuts and find the ability to use the controls latched or not depending on whether I want to adjust just a bit of a pass though or not not useful. Also Vegas has time base correction meaning my adjustments don't lag as they do in VPX.

I'm not sure why you say the programs do not handle vts. A lot of audio effects are vts. Did you not yourself some time back point us to some free vst downloads?

I did say that the examples in themselves didn't make any sense and were there just to demonstrate the capabilities but you went ahead and commented on them anyway 😏 but that's OK. In themselves over short periods on their own I would agree they don't make a lot of sense but in building up a soundscape over a longer period especially on a fade out with many tracks they can be useful. At least I find them so.

So your comment

I can understand these for images/video, but not audio.

Is your opinion and I respect that.

Left and right channel editing.

It's a workflow preference. Not necessarily an advantage or disadvantage as far as I can see.

I will have to take you word on the eFX plugins. It's before my time. I can only go by what they are listed under in the program.

They were extra to what I already have, useful, and cost me very little as part of the HumbleBundle offer.

Ray.

@CubeAce

Hi Ray,

I'm not sure why you say the programs do not handle vts. A lot of audio effects are vts. Did you not yourself some time back point us to some free vst downloads?

You misinterpreted. I said " Vegas does not handle VSTi's as far as I know (nor does VPX)," that is, VST instruments, like piano, organ, violin. That's why I mentioned "You have connected your keyboard but can you load a VSTi, play and record?"

Left and right channel editing.

Yes, it's nice to have, but can be done otherwise and in VPX.

Track Automation:

As you pointed out in the past, track automation in VPX is terrible. Did you ever raise a ticket about this?

Audio meter

We all agree that the audio meter in the Mixer in VPX is pretty archaic and needs to be upgraded. Magix has some good ones that they should add to VPX and give a choice along with presets as in Sound Forge Audio Cleaning Lab 4:

Peak Meter with presets showing:

Loudness meter with presets showing:

Peak meter and Spectrograph with presets showing:

eFX Plugins

I got these with Samplitude Pro X2 a long time ago. I stopped at Pro X3 Suite.

These were created by a guy at Magix who is no longer there but makes comments once in a while on the Samplitude forum. Users have complained from time to time that eFX were unstable.

I just checked in VPX14 and they are all there! I hadn't noticed or thought that they would need to be activated. Check to see if you have them in VPX:

As I mentioned, there were problems with these and still are. As soon as I change a parameter, the effect ceases to work. I can't get the Gate to work. It does work intermittently within Vocal Strip but I can't have a smooth knee.

BTW, there is a separate manual for the eFX. It should be somewhere in Samplitude and Vegas. Let me know if you can't find it.

I tested some eFX in Vegas 18 and had slightly more success.

Newer Magix VST's

More recently, Magix has created new suites of basically the same things with a newer interface.

wizardFX:

cFX Plugins (I only have 2 64bit cFX, the others are 32bit):

These can be available in VPX, but have to be paid for. Maybe Magix will bundle some of them with the next version of VPX.

Melda VST plugins:

There are a bunch of free Melda VST plugins that you can get. They work in most nle's and audio programs.

John CB

@Reyfox @johnebaker @Nalmcruto

@Former user

Hi Gid.

Yes I have found that but not sure what to do with it yet.

@browj2

You brought up vst instruments, not me. I made my use of my MIDI controller keyboard within a video editing program quite clear I think. I know of no video editor that has dedicated MIDI tracks. I'm not sure what type of beast of a machine anyone would need to cope with that.

I have not raised a ticket over the VPX implementation or ability in the matter of automation. It has always been what it is (with the exception of SPR) since I've used the programs. Neither have I personally raised tickets over OFX implementation or lack of it, as again that side of things have never been fully implemented as far as I'm aware. It's not even possible to use all the options that the NewBlue Total effects package brings within VPX.

I have not to date bought any additional packages for any of my Magix products. I only have those that came with the program or were offered as third party extras on promotions and a couple of free program offers I mix usage with. In that respect of accumulated bits and bobs, between the programs I have enough for what I want to do for now.

I have enjoyed my exchanges with you though, making me check what is possible between programs has taught me so much within Vegas within the last week or two that I am now much happier about where to find everything is and subsequently I find I can edit much faster with it now, so thank you for the unexpected intensive course. Because of one comment in particular made me wonder about the vsts I have and why they didn't turn up in Vegas. That is now sorted and I've managed to get another thirty or so additional audio plugins to work. Along with some of my favourites.

So thank you.

Ray.

@CubeAce here is what @Former user was referring to. Not quite a mode I would use, but it's there.

@CubeAce Hi, your custom interface layout looks very useful, can you share the layout file?

If it is saved, it will be located in C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\VEGAS Pro\18.0

The suffix is ".VegasWindowLayout".

has taught me so much within Vegas within the last week or two

Many of Vegas's influencer users have created pretty good tutorials for Vegas, so check them out if you're interested.