1. Vst plugins.
2. Media Manager.

Is it worth the upgrade? I upgraded because of these two and "dual layer authoring and burning support" for DVDA 3.

I say go for it. You'll be surprised at how much you'll appreciate the media manager when you start using it. Plus I'm happy at how my uad card works with version 6.

Ed.

Yep, as much as I am disappointed with this release, I do agree with SHTUNOT on these points. Plus I also just used the nested projects feature on something I'm working on, and it's pretty cool.

Media Manager's got a lot of potential... though has been giving me some grief which I hope will get fixed soon.

Btw, can anyone else confirm that the way presets are handled on the VST plugs are weird? When I hit the usual 'save' icon disk I get a 'save as' dialog, rather than just saving the preset into the list. Is this how it's supposed to work? Seems clunky to me...

Ben

Ben, that's the way VST plugins work as far as I know. It may not be as quick and easy, but then you don't need any Preset Manager or anything. You can save presets to the same location as you project if you wish and they are easily transferable

>> Ben, that's the way VST plugins work as far as I know. <<

Yeah, I kinda knew that... er, ish. But DX plugs also all have their own way of handling presets, yet with Sony software you can always save a preset within the Sony 'wrapper', which I find more convenient. I was just confused as to why this couldn't have also been done with the VST plugs. Personally I'm not a fan of having to save the presets as files, though obviously this is done the DX way, but 'under the hood'. Just seems a little long winded to me; I actually prefer being able to import/export everything with Preset Manager.

If you are "barely scratching the surface" of V5, I would say save your $200 and spent it elsewhere.

You can always upgrade later to Vegas 7, assuming Sony has added any worthwhile audio improvements by then. Many of us are doubting they will and have already started looking at other apps.

Thanks for your tips...I tend to agree with Randygo, that I should wait. Media manager sounds good to me, because my media files DO tend to get messed up, but I'm not sure exactly what the manager does.

About my "Improved stereo Imaging" comment...let me expand;

I was comparing the "sound" of a Behringer 2442 mixer to a Mackie 1642VLZ that I bought on eBay. I was totally astounded at the sonic difference I heard after a year of using the Behringer. When I first hooked up the Behringer a year ago I DID notice that the spatial imaging seemed to "shrink" quite noticably. But I thought I would just get used to it, since a mixer in my studio is pretty much a "volume control".

But after hearing the Mackie again, I sold all three of the Behringers, and bought more mackies. Anyway...I mentioned this revelation to a friend who explained why the sound is better due to the dual preamps rather than single stereo preamps, and that VEGAS has a cheap preamp section as well, and that it's imaging is lacking.

Now I have nothing to compare Vegas to, so I wouldn't know, but I took his word for it, that there could be a cheap component in the program somewhere. Anyone know about this?

"and that VEGAS has a cheap preamp section as well, and that it's imaging is lacking."

That's interesting – I wasn't aware that Vegas had such a thing as a "preamp." Is there someone else who can speak to this with any authority?

Thanks,

drbam

well, there is definately no such things as a software mic preamp....ha. unless that software is providing power to the mic, which is unrealistic. ha.

Huh?? Preamps in Vegas? Nope, but apps do sound different and the way they sum to stereo often messes w/the image when compared to a hardware based mixer summing multiple channels to stereo. They sound "different" due to their audio "engines" but it's a very subjective thing as to which is better........

-jb

Just an aside to scottshackrock - what is all this "ha" stuff ? You aren't Hank Aldrich by any chance ? He signs thing ha on r.a.p .

geoff

"Preamp section " ? Vegas is software. Preamps are hardware.

geoff

PeterV, I think you know this (but maybe not, sorry if this is old hat) Vegas 5/6 have 6 different pan models, and how these are set can definitely affect what you hear re imaging.

Also, for those who didn't know this, Track header>right click> "Set default track properties" allows you to specify the pan model you want for all tracks thereafter created.

My faves: Constant power for stereo, film for 5.1.

Also, NAB anecdote (which is also a big audio show...broadcast of course also = radio): I didn't know this until the very last day of NAB (slammed, demoing non-stop) but it was pretty cool for nevertheless. Sony had in their NAB booth a digital theater featuring Sony's top of the line "4k" digital cinema projector (runs ~$100k), playing back a beautiful promo shot in India, sourced on 65mm film. Wait list for the show, packed all the time. I sat through a couple of sessions on the last day of the show after the crowds thinned...image quality was indeed stunning, best digital projection I have ever seen, sound was also really great.
After it ended a guy dialed into the production side of this 4k theater came up and said "hey! We used Vegas for the soundtrack on this..."

Maybe those of you who attended NAB and hit this demo ( I met, or saw again MANY people from our and other forums) could comment further on sound/pic quality of the 4k session...

Also, NAB anecdote (which is also a big audio show...broadcast of course also = radio): I didn't know this until the very last day of NAB (slammed, demoing non-stop) but it was pretty cool for nevertheless. Sony had in their NAB booth a digital theater featuring Sony's top of the line "4k" digital cinema projector (runs ~$100k), playing back a beautiful promo shot in India, sourced on 65mm film. Wait list for the show, packed all the time. I sat through a couple of sessions on the last day of the show after the crowds thinned...image quality was indeed stunning, best digital projection I have ever seen, sound was also really great.

I wish I could've seen that. I tried getting to the Sony booth but I just didn't have enough time.

(Oy, I should learn to prioritize.) :)

Iacobus
-------
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Buy Instant ACID by JohnnyRoy and mD!
mD at ACIDplanet

Hi EPM

It's honestly nice to see your around here. While you're hanging around, and seeing as you were mentioning panning laws, I'd really like it if you could answer our questions about returning the pans to busses routing to the configuration it was in up until Vegas 5. It's explained in detail at the beginning of the following thread - the first couple of posts succinctly detail the problem:

Panning to busses thread

I and many others here would dearly love the panning to busses routing to be returned to its former state, or at least would like an option for it to work this way. I think fixing this in a V6 update would at least go some way to calming the fears of us audio users.

Thanks

Ben

Hmmm. I think we feel miffed when we <do> see you replying to video issues over in the other forum. Us audio users become frustrated when we feel they're being ignored, over a now long-standing, but very solvable, issue.

EPM/PCH - please can we have some sort of response regarding this?

Many thanks

Ben

"Hmmm. I think we feel miffed when we <do> see you replying to video issues over in the other forum. Us audio users become frustrated when we feel they're being ignored, over a now long-standing, but very solvable, issue.
EPM/PCH - please can we have some sort of response regarding this?"

Don't hold your breath. There's not been a response to the metronome issue either. Since complaining about here will now get the posts deleted, I decided last night to send in a "formal" request for a further discount of Vegas 6 (related to the metronome "double pay" unfairness) to customer service but didn't even get an automated reply yet. Perhaps they didn't recieve it as I was prompted to "create a user account" but of course I already have one. When I tried to fill in the info I got a message that said my email address was already in the database (which is obvious). At any rate after several tries, I finally gave up . . . which seems symbolic of my relationship with Sony at this point. ;-(

drbam

What deleted posts??? What met.........Drbam, did'ya try calling sales? ;)

It's like a wind-up, isn't it?! See just the next post on this forum, where EPM responds to a video question:

http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=386098&Replies=1&Page=0

So this stuff is being read... but ignored. :-|

Ben

"What deleted posts??? What met.........Drbam, did'ya try calling sales? ;)"

I'm not going to get into specifics about the deleted posts because it would probably just get deleted. Suffice to say it is happening though. Read the new post on the top of these threads regarding Forum Moderation and you'll see that Sony simply is taking a stand and is not going to tolerate criticism of its products on the forums – no matter what it costs them.

I may try calling sales and/or send a letter so that more than one person might "hear" what my concerns and proposals are and perhaps consider them. From their response to the forum posts though, I'm pretty cynical.

drbam

The plot thickens...

Ben, I've asked so many ways, I'm tired. At this point, the only thing that I can think of is that it's something that the Video side needed for something. And, nobody has the guts to tell us.

What I find even stranger than the fact that the change was made, was the half-*ssed solution. It's not like SF to do anything half baked. Usually, they won't do it at all if it's not done well - elegantly and effeciently! So why (now 2 versions old) does the solution still consist of this lame "pan" plugin?

Why not at least have a button on the plug to duplicate the track panning? Or better yet, integrate the option to pan the send?

The given "workaround" goes against everything I thought these developers were all about!

:)

I'm thinking that's pretty humorous!!!

Of course, I didn't see the message before it was deleted, but that makes it all the more funny!!! :)

-jb