Will Smartsound transfer to X9?

[alanball]

I have X7 and was wondering if I have used Smartsound in an X7 VSP file, will it open in X9? as I think I read on the web board that X8.5 and I assume X9 use a different suppliers smart music.

Thanks

[RobertOZ]

Corel discontinued their association with SmartSound with VSX8, they now use ScoreFitter a relic from Pinnacle, if you have SonicFire Pro then with a bit of extra effort you can still use SmartSound with VSX8/9. SmartSound provided a plugin for Pinnacle some years ago which enabled editors to access SmartSound from within Pinnacle, but no such plugin is available for Video Studio

But back to your question, you will have issues opening any project that has SmartSound

[alanball]

Thanks RobertOz

I think I will keep with X7 for a little while longer.

[Ken Berry]

Alan -- as you would know, Pinnacle is now owned by Corel as well, so they also own ScoreFitter and thus don't have to pay licensing fees for it. That seems to be the guiding principle these days -- pay as few licensing fees as they can get away with. Hence also the savage crippling of the trial versions of X8 and X9 which in effect remove just about every codec used these days because they all require licence fees.

Like a few other users, I have accumulated quite a collection of SmartSound discs over the years. In fact I now have more than 120. With that, I considered the expense of buying SonicFire Pro several years ago to be more than justifiable. I will continue to ignore ScoreFitter...

[alanball]

Thanks Ken,

I will have a look at SonicFire Pro to see what it has to offer.

[Ken Berry]

It's pretty sophisticated and even allows you to import video in order to match not only the time, but also the changing moods, better... I thought it well worth the price, but the important factor here is that really you need a good collection of SmartSound discs to make good use of it, and they are expensive unless you buy them during a sale (and even then...) Or if, as in my case, a local TV station was divesting itself of its SmartSound collection quite cheaply...!

[alanball]

Ken- you were very lucky to get such a good deal with the SmartSound disc's, after looking at the site I see what you mean an about the cost. As a home video maker I would have a job to justify spending that kind of money. I find selecting suitable music for the background one of the hardest parts when editing my videos as it can make such a vast difference to the enjoyment of the video.

Thanks again for your input Ken. I wonder how many VS users there are in NZ, we haven't had Corel out here on a road show for years. (I think release 10 or earlier)

[TonyP]

While I too have Sonicfire Pro and Express Tracks, there are other sources of free music out there. No, you can not customize it for the length of your video, but it's not really hard to get the video to fit the music.
The included Scorefitter (which has not been updated with new material since it's inception years ago) always had a "midi" sound to me. Nothing wrong with that. It also has some decent selections too. But it is not Smartsound in variety.
As posted, when Pinnacle came out with Scorefitter, they dropped Smartsound support. Why pay for a plugin when you own one. That led to a firestorm of protests in the Pinnacle user forum. So, a paid plugin became available. One that I still use today, 6 years later. NOT having the SS plugin stopped me from upgrading to X8. But X9 offers compelling features that make it a "no brainer" for some.
Here is a site that has a lot of music you can use for free. Of course, a mild donation if you use it is nice. Lots of themes to choose from.
Sound Image.

[alanball]

Hi Tony

thanks for the input, and the link to Sound Image which I already use and agree it is a really good site with a good selection and worth donating to.

[TonyP]

He will also do custom lengths too if you ask! A really nice guy giving back to the community.

[alanball]

Thanks Tony, nice to know that, but doubt I will need that for any of my masterpieces!!