Video Editing - Recommended software for Sonar users?

I'm a long time Sonar (and CoolEdit) user. I've got some upcoming video projects and am trying to find some video editing software that "clicks" with me.

I've tried Microsoft Movie Maker (free). It's decent, except for how it handles audio: no volume automation! What??? You have to split your audio into chunks and then lower the volume of each chunk. No curves, no slopes. Just fixed volume levels for each segment. That's awful. I'm used to drawing volume curves.

So, do you know of any video editing programs that handle audio in a Sonar-esque manner? At least, in terms of volume (and possibly panning) automation? End-to-end from analog capture to dvd burning is preferred, but I'll settle for decent editing at least; I've got VirtualDub for capture and Nero for burning if the editor doesn't handle those parts.

Thanks!

ORIGINAL: Tripecac

I'm a long time Sonar (and CoolEdit) user. I've got some upcoming video projects and am trying to find some video editing software that "clicks" with me.

Hi Triperac,

I think you should look at this Sony Vegas Studio Platinum I can say is that it works great and is very stable, I've been using it for a year and are about to upgrade to the full Vegas package.

I recommend you download the trial and give it a good workout, I think you will be pleased.

Cheers
Mike

Yeah, Movie Maker is pretty limited.
I use Pinnacle Studio, but the audio drivers for the capture hardware are not compatible with Cakewalk software. If you have a Firewire port, and you are recording digital video, you don't really need that anyway.
As much as I like Pinnacle, I would agree that Premier Elements or Vegas would be a good choice.

sony vegas movie studio is cheaper than platinum but has most of the tools so maybe look at that (is $70 from amazon), we got it a month ago and it's pretty powerful stuff, and for example you can use your vsts for the audio track. if you need more than 4 (i think) video tracks then you'll need a more expensive version, but for most amateur stuff it's fine. it also comes with dvd architect studio. i'll warn you that rendering takes an age, though, even on my dual core machine - if you have a quad you'll really notice the benefit!

Wow, lots of versions of Sony Vegas on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/s/?rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Asony%20vegas%2Ci%3Asoftware

Which one(s) do you guys recommend?

ORIGINAL: Tripecac

According to this page: http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/products/product.asp?PID=457&PageID=110 only the Pro version has "automation envelope recording". Does this mean the cheaper versions don't have envelopes, or they just can't record controller events? I just want to be able to draw volume curves like I do in Sonar.

I haven't used the cheap one but I would think it has envelopes check the Sony web site to be sure. In Vegas the video tracks also have envelopes for things like fade to black (or other color) or fade out to reveal the next track down, even track velocity to slow down the video. It works just like audio in Sonar envelopes are the key to automation.

Thanks a ton guys! I ordered the cheap version of Sony Vegas from amazon for around $35 (from a seller). :)

Platinum looked like it had a few more effects and stuff. I didn't see any critical features that I'd miss. I guess I could have hunted around for a good price. Oh well! I'll have a better sense of whether basic or platinum is for me once I've used basic for a while. So basically I'm paying $35 for a fancy demo. :)

As for tutorials, I'd love to see an end-to-end video of someone capturing analog, editing it, and burning it to dvd. Or at least the editing part. What would be really cool is to see how someone can sync up audio and video, like in the hilarious StSanders youtube clips: http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.asp?m=1213526

Hi Tripecac,

Ok here goes, hope you can use some of it.

Sony Vegas Forum

Tutorial Center

Bill Myers

Mr. Safety

Digital Director Vegas Forum

Genyus Different tutorials

Ninteh Vegas Tutorials forum

When you first start with Vegas it looks a bit difficult but after a little while when you start getting the hang of it, it is really easy and awesome to use, good luck with it and make sure you post a sample we can see.

Cheers
Mike

Over the weekend I received Vegas, did a couple tutorials, and was able to create and burn a couple test DVDs. The DVDs played fine (which is not the case with Microsoft Movie Maker).

The audio envelopes were extremely similar to Sonar. In fact, so much of the program was similar to Sonar that it really made Microsoft Movie Maker seem unnecessarily "weird".

The learning curve is still pretty steep, though. Most of that is terminology. For instance, it took me over an hour to figure out how to create a menu which automatically links to chapters. (I think it's called a "scene selection" menu). Chapters, markers, scenes... it's hard to keep track of which terms I should be searching.

Anyway, I'm very impressed. And I don't regret getting the cheap version. It's plenty powerful for my needs. Just like Sonar. :)

So if anyone else is thinking of grabbing a Sonar-esque video editor, I also recommend Vegas. At amazon, you can it really cheap. I got my "dented box special" for under $35. That's an awesome price, IMO.

ORIGINAL: Tripecac

Over the weekend I received Vegas, did a couple tutorials, and was able to create and burn a couple test DVDs. The DVDs played fine (which is not the case with Microsoft Movie Maker).

The audio envelopes were extremely similar to Sonar. In fact, so much of the program was similar to Sonar that it really made Microsoft Movie Maker seem unnecessarily "weird".

The learning curve is still pretty steep, though. Most of that is terminology. For instance, it took me over an hour to figure out how to create a menu which automatically links to chapters. (I think it's called a "scene selection" menu). Chapters, markers, scenes... it's hard to keep track of which terms I should be searching.

Anyway, I'm very impressed. And I don't regret getting the cheap version. It's plenty powerful for my needs. Just like Sonar. :)

So if anyone else is thinking of grabbing a Sonar-esque video editor, I also recommend Vegas. At amazon, you can it really cheap. I got my "dented box special" for under $35. That's an awesome price, IMO.

Hello,

You can get extremely far on Movie Studio. It is not a demo at all. Most of the "pro" features in big Vegas are features you will never use anyway. After about a year I upgraded to big Vegas and there are some nice snap features in big Vegas that are not in Studio. Other than that if you are not doing high volume work (or multi-cameras) you probably never have to trade up.

Regarding DVD Architect. Follow this link to rent this training video.

Link: http://smartflix.com/store/video/2291/DVD-Authoring-With-DVD-Architect-3

They should package this training DVD with Vegas. I could not get my head around DVD Architect until out of desperation I rented this video. Even though the version is 3.0 they haven't added any new features. 3.0 is functionally the same as the current version. You'll need to spend about 5 evenings with this training DVD but you'll be banging out DVDs after that. I've made over 100 DVDs (including dual-layer DVDs) over the past year or two, all using DVD Architect.

I don't do forensic audio editing in Vegas (only fades and cuts). For forensic stuff I export the audio and work on it in my preferred editor, Wavelab. Then you can drag the repaired or edited video back on the timeline and mute the original audio.

Good luck on your video adventures!

GK