The HB for Vegas/Movie Studio is an interesting one. Mercalli will not work with Vegas OR MS, because like you said, it's the basic version. So unless you have Platinum/Suite or VPX, Mercalli is useless.

@Reyfox

Hi,

Yes, it is definitely a strange mixture.

As well, IIRC from my trial with Sound Forge Audio Studio 16, it cannot be used as the external audio editor for VPX/MMS. The file wouldn't load.

As an aside, Sound Forge Audio Cleaning Lab 4 doesn't work with VPX/MMS either, but version 3 and before do.

John CB

@browj2 @Reyfox

To be fair, the Movie Studio is not the main offering on that HumbleBundle bundle. In this instance it is Vegas pro 18. (Only 3 days left on the current offer) In the past either VPX or MEP (MMS) has been the main sale item and been more generous with what was offered. But all prior effects I have had from previous bundles that still have active licensing are active and usable within Vegas Pro 18 with the exception of the Mercalli stabilization plugins but VP18 does still have the earlier Vegas stabilisation plugin which works well enough.

The companies that participate in these bundles do not do it out of the kindness of their hearts. They do it for future sales via the upgrade path as having a fully functioning but older version of a program is to my mind better than having a crippled limited free version to play with for evaluation purposes with no cheap way into the system if a new first time customer. In truth I have found Vegas Pro 18 more stable on my system than VPX 14 but that could be down to it being an older and possibly a more compatible program for my current system.

Ray.

@browj2 Soundforge does work within Vegas, but never used it.

@CubeAce still, it is a strange mix of software.... Mercalli would only be good as a standalone in this HB offering. MusicMaker I've never installed. I use Sonicfire Pro 6 and Smartsound for music creation. But I guess for those that have the talent (I clearly don't) MusicMaker would be nice.

There have been better offerings from Magix in the past. This one is for those that, as you said, don't want a limited trial version and don't want to pirate anymore, with the risks that entails and the usual ignoring when trying to get help in the Vegas user forum.

@Reyfox

Hi,

But I guess for those that have the talent (I clearly don't) MusicMaker would be nice.

Actually, it doesn't take a lot of talent to string together a bunch of loops or use the Song Maker in Music Maker. Take a look at my tutorial on Soundpool Essentials and you'll see what I mean.

I should probably do another tutorial on using Soundpools for use with videos. Just some simple stuff.

In my tutorials, the music that I use with the listing of topics and to introduce each topic are just simply a few loops with different instruments that sounded good. Short and sweet.

John CB

Thanks @browj2, I'll give it a re-install and go!

@Reyfox

I suppose buying options and perceived value comes down to workflow preferences.

My main passion is still photography rather than videography so the thought of spending a large amount on say Vegas Pro or VPX as a new customer (assuming I was now new to all of this) would for me be unthinkable. I would rather spend that amount of money on a decent lens for one of my camera bodies. But that is an eternal question. What upgrade gives the best bang for the buck in a given situation. For me, the better the input, the less post editing work I have to do unless it is purely on the creative side so I tend to spend more on hardware than software.

For me the HumbleBundle offerings that @browj2 introduced me to a few years back was a way to see if the software was worth upgrading to and a cheap way to get into the other editing packages via the Magix upgrade offerings that subsequently are on offer.

So, often when looking at a HumbleBundle offer I am looking at one specific bit of software rather than the contents of the whole package. In this instance I have only bothered to download Vegas Pro which while clunky in use has been super stable and has some neat offerings lacking in VPX. I also downloaded SoundForge audio studio to try out which I have since uninstalled as it adds nothing I don't already have. I also have use for the Mercalli licence as it is newer than my current one and I'm able to use it.

I do agree that inclusion of Mercalli seems strange in this instance and I wasn't aware of which version of MS2022 was on offer.

Ray.

@CubeAce, I have a 50/50 passion with photography and videography. I started photography decades ago shooting with a Minolta SRT 101, lots of lenses, and using different Fuji/Kodak film stock. Videography started with 8mm progressing to Panasonic AG SVHS gear, Amiga/Video Toaster and Newtek DigiView.

My "hobbies" paid for themselves through event and corporate work. Now, it's "therapy" and to show others back home (US) where I retired to, Poland. No one knows what Poland looks like in the States. And since I travel by bike and train, they get to go on vacation with me.

I am in a decent position financially at the moment and have everything I need. I don't drink, go to bars, etc, so my only "vice" is computer hardware and software. But I am not going to spend money without thought. And this is where HB has allowed me (like you) to try out software inexpensively. I bought the HB Vegas Pro 14 Edit that way. Never considered using Vegas because of it's (to me) ugly, confusing UI I've seen from images of it. For the HB price, I gave it a shot. Used it for 2 weeks, was amazed how fast I picked up on using it and how fast the timeline editing was. So upgraded to VP15 Suite which included BorisFX plugins. That was a "wow" moment for me. I've upgraded every year and now on VP20 with BorisFX Continuum Complete 2023, NBFX, Spicemaster, Ignite Pro and other OFX plugins. And they work as they should. In addition, they show up in Resolve Studio too.

HB is how I got VPX, a piece of software I considered, but at the $400 price of admission for an "experiment", I skipped it. MEP2015//16 were good enough. That was until I started shooting 10bit 4K.

A lot of the software I won't use in a "bundle", and like you, look at a specific piece of software.

I have several editors on my computer. I use the right one for the task that I have to complete. Each excels in specific areas over the others. No one piece of software is "perfect" for all my needs. I found Vegas easy to use, fast, and fairly stable. But you have to create everything yourself. No templates. The title editor is basic, but enable in Options>Preferences>Deprecated Features, Enable ProType Titler, Legacy Text and anything else you think you might need.