Wow - A Lot of Features missing in SF Mac vs. PC? -Sound Forge - Mac

Subject:Wow - A Lot of Features missing in SF Mac vs. PC? Posted by: realhelp Date:11/24/2012 9:42:38 PM Well, like everyone else I was really excited to hear that SF Pro was available for Mac. We are a voiceover production studio and have used SF Pro on PC every day since version 3 in 1995 - we use it to edit literally hundreds of pages of voiceover each week. The amount of features in SF Pro PC are enormous and yes, we use a LOT of that capability every single day - not to mention that of course we've had to really up our game regarding editing efficiency in the past few years because the prices for voiceover have plummeted as much as they have since then. We hire sound engineering students and of course a lot of them have Macs, so having a Mac version of the PC Sound Forge Pro would have been a Godsend - up until now we have been installing Windows 7 on those Macs so our editors can run SF Pro, which evidently STILL is the only way to get all of that capability. So I have some very basic questions about SF Mac, which are integral to our operation and would need to be solved for us to be able to use this in a professional environment: 1. SCRIPTING - It appears that SF Mac doesn't support scripting at all. We have quite a few custom scripts that we have created that are necessary to streamline our sound editing process and we can no longer do without. How do we transfer those scripts from the PC version to the Mac version? 2. PROCESS TOOL BAR - How do you display the Process toolbar (or any of the other toolbars available in SF PC, for that matter)? Again, for streamlined sound editing, we need this toolbar visible and readily available. 3. DRAG SELECTION TO DESKTOP TO CREATE A NEW FILE - Is this feature even available? We use it literally thousands of times a week. 4. CUSTOM KEYBOARD ASSIGNMENTS - Again, also an incredibly important function. Is it possible to set up custom keyboard command layouts like you can in SF Pro PC? 5. MULTIPLE SIMULTANEOUS OPEN and VIEWABLE WINDOWS - One of the unique features of SF Pro PC that makes it so powerful is the fact that you can have MANY sound file windows available on the screen at the same time. This may seem like no big deal if all you have to edit is one or two music files, but when working on huge multimedia or e-Learning projects like we do, this is an extremely important feature, because it allows the easiest visual and aural access when comparing multiple sound files - for example when you have multiple voice actors doing a dialog between them, and need to balance the volume levels of the different files. Tabbed file browsing like you have implemented is OK, but is simply NOT as effective or efficient as if you supported many open files at a time like you do in SF Pro PC. It does not appear that the SF Mac interface supports this feature at all. OTHER FEATURES - I'm sure there are numerous other features that we require for professional work that are available in SF Pro PC that are not available in SF Mac, however I have limited time to evaluate the Mac program further, especially since it does not appear to support the items I mentioned above. While I applaud Sony Creative for doing a Mac offering, until it can support the kind of professional editing we are doing, we will have to continue our practice of installing Windows on Mac machines in order to install SF Pro PC. It really looks like the new Mac version just isn't going to cut it in the kind of professional environment we are operating in. We simply have too many numerous editing procedures and too many hours invested in sound editor training to be able to switch to a less powerful program with a much more limited user interface. I am sure that there are plenty of people with less stringent editing tasks that will like SF Mac just fine, but it is disappointing that you did not consider the needs of high-end, high-volume professionals for this first version. I do hope that you can add these features for future releases of SF Mac.
Subject:RE: Wow - A Lot of Features missing in SF Mac vs. PC? Reply by: MrCourtney Date:12/1/2012 3:10:52 PM Looks like no one responded, so I will. I agree with you 100% and I suspect Sony is hearing it from all us pro-level folks. Reminds me a bit of what Apple did to Final Cut Pro. This is what happens when the bean counters and marketing folks get involved in software. None of the shortcomings were known when we bought it - and for now we are using the PC version in VMWARE on the iMacs. It's not bad - give it a try. I suspect the OSX version will get up to speed eventually. It's obvious Sony shoved it out the door to start sales while it was "good enough" for simple editing. In the end they either fix it or lose the high end folks that have depended on it for so many years and are their major market. The hobbiest won't pay the premium price for a full-on audio editor. I've been using the PC version since v1 and am willing to wait a bit to see what Sony does. The latest OSX upgrade is a move in the right direction. Let's hope that's not it.

Well, like everyone else I was really excited to hear that SF Pro was available for Mac. We are a voiceover production studio and have used SF Pro on PC every day since version 3 in 1995 - we use it to edit literally hundreds of pages of voiceover each week. The amount of features in SF Pro PC are enormous and yes, we use a LOT of that capability every single day - not to mention that of course we've had to really up our game regarding editing efficiency in the past few years because the prices for voiceover have plummeted as much as they have since then. We hire sound engineering students and of course a lot of them have Macs, so having a Mac version of the PC Sound Forge Pro would have been a Godsend - up until now we have been installing Windows 7 on those Macs so our editors can run SF Pro, which evidently STILL is the only way to get all of that capability.

So I have some very basic questions about SF Mac, which are integral to our operation and would need to be solved for us to be able to use this in a professional environment:

1. SCRIPTING - It appears that SF Mac doesn't support scripting at all. We have quite a few custom scripts that we have created that are necessary to streamline our sound editing process and we can no longer do without. How do we transfer those scripts from the PC version to the Mac version?

2. PROCESS TOOL BAR - How do you display the Process toolbar (or any of the other toolbars available in SF PC, for that matter)? Again, for streamlined sound editing, we need this toolbar visible and readily available.

3. DRAG SELECTION TO DESKTOP TO CREATE A NEW FILE - Is this feature even available? We use it literally thousands of times a week.

4. CUSTOM KEYBOARD ASSIGNMENTS - Again, also an incredibly important function. Is it possible to set up custom keyboard command layouts like you can in SF Pro PC?

5. MULTIPLE SIMULTANEOUS OPEN and VIEWABLE WINDOWS - One of the unique features of SF Pro PC that makes it so powerful is the fact that you can have MANY sound file windows available on the screen at the same time. This may seem like no big deal if all you have to edit is one or two music files, but when working on huge multimedia or e-Learning projects like we do, this is an extremely important feature, because it allows the easiest visual and aural access when comparing multiple sound files - for example when you have multiple voice actors doing a dialog between them, and need to balance the volume levels of the different files. Tabbed file browsing like you have implemented is OK, but is simply NOT as effective or efficient as if you supported many open files at a time like you do in SF Pro PC. It does not appear that the SF Mac interface supports this feature at all.

OTHER FEATURES - I'm sure there are numerous other features that we require for professional work that are available in SF Pro PC that are not available in SF Mac, however I have limited time to evaluate the Mac program further, especially since it does not appear to support the items I mentioned above.

While I applaud Sony Creative for doing a Mac offering, until it can support the kind of professional editing we are doing, we will have to continue our practice of installing Windows on Mac machines in order to install SF Pro PC. It really looks like the new Mac version just isn't going to cut it in the kind of professional environment we are operating in. We simply have too many numerous editing procedures and too many hours invested in sound editor training to be able to switch to a less powerful program with a much more limited user interface.

I am sure that there are plenty of people with less stringent editing tasks that will like SF Mac just fine, but it is disappointing that you did not consider the needs of high-end, high-volume professionals for this first version. I do hope that you can add these features for future releases of SF Mac.