I agree with your assessment of ACID XMC. I did get as far as ripping a music CD, but haven't figured out how to drag and drop the sections to the time line. To say the least this is no an intuitive program.

Maybe there is a tutorial around beyond what comes with the program.

ACID is quite a different program from Vegas. It's intended for different purposes (which makes sense, otherwise why have both of them?). ACID is for creating music, not for editing it. If you're going to use a song ripped from a CD you might as well stick with Vegas and not bother with ACID.

I always suggest that new ACID users stop by http://www.acidplanet.com/tools/8packs/ and download this week's 8pack. It's a complete acid project including the 8 loops used to create it. You get to see what a finished project looks like and poke around inside it to see how it all works.

Remember that to get anything onto ACID's timeline is two steps. First you have to put the loop (or other media file) on a track, which remains empty. Then you have to "paint" the waveform on the timeline where you want it to occur. Also, ACID only allows one file per track, which often trips up new ACID users (pun intended).

Chienworks,

I think you're misundrestanding my original post. After installing MSP and the accompanying SND FX CD there are two versions of ACID installed on my system. There is no mention about being confused between Vegas and Acid.

I've already gone the freebie 8 pack route, but have no clue as to where the basic elements are located (i.e. snare, bass, etc.) and how to create the time line. I've worked with a lot of programs ranging from Liquid to Avid, Commotion Pro to After Effects, but I've got to say Acid is the least intuitive program that leaves me scratching my head. Maybe it's that I'm not very musical and use Sonic Pro for creating the tracks I need.

As for ripping a CD with Acid. You need to rip a CD with ACID to understand what I'm talking about. It isn't the same as ripping a CD with MSP to be used as a sound track. In fact if I need to rip a CD as a sound track Sonic Pro is the preferred program.

Maybe if you take the time to rip a CD with Acid you can explain how to move sections of the ripped CD to the time line to draw/paint the loops. (The draw/paint feature is about the only thing I understand about Acid.) I sorta, kinda, got it to work, but I'm not sure what I did. Your explanation would be most welcome.

I have the Instant Vegas Studio book from CMP Books, there are two chapters on ACID.

I skimmed through them, but never used ACID myself so didn't pay much attention to them, but it looks like it covers a lot of features.

Storyman, drag & drop with acid only creates an empty track. You still need to draw/paint the waveform onto the timeline with tracks you've ripped from a CD. It's no different than painting loops on the screen, except that actually CD tracks will be one-shots so they don't loop.

Are you chopping up the tracks into small sections to be used as building blocks to create your own music? If so, then ACID is the tool for you, but you would probably do better off using loops intended for this purpose instead of CD tracks.

On the other hand, if you're trying to import a music track from a CD to use basically as-is in your video project, ACID is a very long and cumbersome way about it. You would be better off staying in Vegas for this process instead of using ACID.

Is there any reason why ripping a CD in Sonic Pro is better than ripping it in Vegas? With Vegas, you choose File / Extract audio from CD. This creates a .wav file on your hard drive that also appears in the media pool. From there you drag it to the timeline. It seems like this would be easier than using a separate piece of software.

Chienworks,

Please take a CD, select a track, and let Acid rip it for you. Go ahead and accept the defualt for the series of windows that open. After that you'll see the ripped track in the lower left corner.

Now select a section (the display already has the beats broken down for you.) The questions are how do you create a new track? How do you get the SELECTED portion of the newly ripped track onto the new track.

To clarify the ripping issue about ACID vs. Vegas. Of course if you just want to drop a track, then use Vegas. That isn't the reason to use ACID to rip a CD. Again, please rip a track with ACID then you'll understand.

Yes, there is considerable difference ripping a track with Sonic Pro. You really need to get your hands on a demo. For example, if you have a '50s classic (almost all of them are close to 2:55) and need a 23 second track. Ripping in any other program you can select a 23 second section or you could advance to Sound Forge and do a little music editing. (I've seen pros do this type of work and it is work beyond my musical abilities.) OR you could use Sonic Pro which will trim it down to 23 seconds that will include the intro, middle, and exit of the song. Please do not think that this is the reason most pros use this program because it isn't. In fact few don't bother because they don't have the license to use the track for commercial projects. What Sonic does is allow you to create music for any length that you determine and lets you export in a variety of formats.

To sweeten the pot Sonic Pro also lets you import your video so you can tweak the music track as needed. Another reason the pros use the program is that what you create is royalty free (that isn't the same as copyright free.) There are commercials currently airing that used Sonic to create the music track. Check the program out for yourself.

Dibbkd,

Thanks for the tip on "Instant Vegas Studio." Does it deal with version MS6? Or is it directed to version 4?

I'm going to see if I can find a copy. So far it's been hard to find locally.

The book is on Movie Studio 4, I found mine on booksamillion.com and had it delivered, the stores didn't have it in stock and it's cheaper online.

idk if they're going to have a version 6 book out, but I'd guess they will sometime.

The following is taken straight from the ACID XMC product page on the Sony Web Site. I don't know about the paint and play yet, because I can't get past the Pick part. Can anybody please tell me where I find those 600+ hip-hop, rock and pop loops? It's driving me nuts.

Original Songs in 3 Easy Steps

Pick Paint Play

Pick Your Music

* Includes over 600 hip-hop, rock, and pop loops
* Audition loops in real time with your mix

Paint it On

* Simple brush tool paints music into tracks
* Use as many tracks and loops as you want

Play it Back

* Click Play to preview your song
* Hear pitch and tempo changes in real time

There should be an icon on the tool bar for Get Media. A window will open with various files that can be downloaded. Each of the files contains a variety of loops.

To paint click on the brush looking icon (on the toolbar) and drag it across the time line. That is all there is to painting a snd track. Other than that the confusion loops on.

I had the same issue with Acid XMC not finding the 600 included loops. After calling customer service, turns out that when you place your order (or upgrade) for the VMS6 , when requesting the ACID XMC software, there's a button to select to request the loops. I guess I missed that when I placed my order. Customer Service says the download for the loops would be to big so they are shipping the cd free of charge via ups. According to customer service this is a separate cd from the sound effects LE cd that comes with VMS6. Apparently they have had serveral calls about this issue and they said they would bring it up in their next meeting.

Lebag,

Thank you posting the information. After reading your post I phoned customer service and learned that the check box option was not available when I ordered. They said for anyone who didn't get the disk to phone CS and they'll UPS one to you.