Thought I would add my 2 cents here.

I have purchased and used versions 8 through 11 of Studio, and use Smartsounds in the videos I create. I have tried to use Scorefitter, but never have liked the sounds it produced.

Even though S11 serves my purpose, I had planned on purchasing  S12 to support the company that has improved this software to a really good product. If Smartsounds is either disabled by the next update patch, or not supported in the next version, then I might be compelled to stay with the current version and not go forward in the future.

It's sort of eerie to hear this kind of news. Hopefully things will get worked out, to at least keep Smartsounds available for current users. Quite possibly this "Backwards Compatibility" would be a "Win / Win" situation for both companies.

towbar:

I might be compelled to stay with the current version and not go forward in the future.

That sums up my position, too.  Studio minus SmartSound doesn't appeal.   

I would gladly pay double for future versions of Studio, if SmartSound would be supported.

pinshel:

towbar:

I might be compelled to stay with the current version and not go forward in the future.

That sums up my position, too.  Studio minus SmartSound doesn't appeal.   

That's the same way I feel too.   I have purchased a collection of SmartSounds and if I can't use them in Studio Then I will have to find another program that I will be able to use them in. I have been using Studio since Version 10 upgraded to 11 and  didn't even need to upgrade to 12 but did anyway just to stay current.

rstrong:

I would gladly pay double for future versions of Studio, if SmartSound would be supported.

Mmm not sure if I'd go that far.

Double the actual price, add a few €/$/£ .... that probably opens doors to another levels of products.

Studio1(1999), S7, S8, S9, S10, S11, S12

Will S12 be the last one for me?

 

 

History:

From: Chantel Jones [C.Jones@....nl]
Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 1999 3:23 PM
To: 'andre.bosmans@...be'
Subject: Pinnacle Support

Geachte heer,

Bij deze treft u aan een bestand waarin de installatieprocedure voor de
Studio DV.

 <<Installing Studio DV.doc>>

Met vriendelijke groet,

Pinnacle Support
Rob Kastelijn

Please Note:-
Due to technical reasons please send all e-mail communications to
pinnacle@....nl <mailto:pinnacle@....nl>

I like Smartsound much more than Scorefitter. I have used once or twice Scorefitter, but always Smartsound.

I don't have any problems with Smartsound.  I think the most of Studio 12 users wants Smartsound

instead of Scorefitter.

Jan Konings

Bumping this Thread upto the top again, unless it gets buried. Ok?

Good idea.

I think with the email notification problems there will be many forum members who may not have even seen the rapid progress of this thread unless they phyxically check the forum.

Keep bumping!

Meanwhile we await the hopefully swift reaction of Avid to all that has been said.

Do you guys want me to sticky this?

Jon RT:

Do you guys want me to sticky this?

 

That would be a good idea, Jon. Thanks. 

Jon RT:

Do you guys want me to sticky this?

I think that would be best until it's resolved.

Many thanks Jon.

Thanks Jim for the information, looks great ! I think that keeping SmartSound for S12 until S13 arrive would be much better.

Nevertheless, I am very surprised that we have only 170 votes (and 1700 people read this thread !!). Does it mean that only 10% care of voting ? Or does it mean that not so much people care about SmartSound... I am wondering...
 

DV FX 

Out of interest, has anyone got Smartsounds' angle on this? Have they given any reasons for support being dropped, or are they just blaming Pinnacle? Jon's statement about an agreement suitable for both parties implies to me that there would be circumstances in which smartsounds support could continue. It also sounds like support is being dropped midway though the life of S12 at their request.

If I had a large financial investment in their discs, I would like to hear there reasons for this. Has anyone emailed them?

 

Does it mean that only 10% care of voting ?

think the choices are flawed. There is no response for "I don't have any smartsounds discs, but I am disappointed at the way owners of the disc are being treated". Just answering that you don't have any discs implies a negative vote which people might not want to cast.

 

Declic_Video:

Thanks Jim for the information, looks great ! I think that keeping SmartSound for S12 until S13 arrive would be much better.

Nevertheless, I am very surprised that we have only 170 votes (and 1700 people read this thread !!). Does it mean that only 10% care of voting ? Or does it mean that not so much people care about SmartSound... I am wondering...
 

DV FX 

Actually I think that's pretty good going in only 1 full day. That's why it's known as the silent majority. People read these things and surely have a viewpoint but either don't have time to vote (if they are browsing at work), can't access the voting site (if they are browsing at work and have restricted access to internet sites), will do it later and then forget, and of course whilst they think it's a poor decision they use Studio only occasionally and so are not that motivated to either write in or vote but it doesn't mean they don't care.

Anyway let's see what the tally is in a week's time.

jjn:

Out of interest, has anyone got Smartsounds' angle on this? Have they given any reasons for support being dropped, or are they just blaming Pinnacle? Jon's statement about an agreement suitable for both parties implies to me that there would be circumstances in which smartsounds support could continue. It also sounds like support is being dropped midway though the life of S12 at their request.

If I had a large financial investment in their discs, I would like to hear there reasons for this. Has anyone emailed them?

 

According to Martha the implication was it is all down to Avid, see her email below, however I will ask her to look over this thread and come back to us with a position.

From: SmartSound Sales [mailto:

Sent: 18 July 2008 16:08

To: Ian Litchfield

Subject: RE: SmartSound for Pinnacle Studio - Action Required [SP#300279]

Sorry, Ian. According to Avid, with the next software update the SmartSound feature will cease working. So if you're able to use it now, that will not last for long. Please make sure you let Avid know how you feel about this issue.

According to Avid, with the next software update the SmartSound feature will cease working (snip) Please make sure you let Avid know how you feel about this issue.

I wonder if they would care to comment on Jon RT's statement?

At SmartSound’s request, and as a result of inability to reach a contractual arrangement satisfactory to both parties, we will be disabling in future releases of Studio current known work-arounds that enabled the use of SmartSound.

Smartsounds make it out to be a unilateral decision by Avid.

I have now informed Martha of what is going on here and asked if they would like to make any comment. When I get a reply it will be posted.

Cheers

Ian

(and 1700 people read this thread !!)

Actually, the thread has been read about 1700 times. That's not the same as being read by 1700 people. Every time I return to read a new post, the counter goes up by one.

jjn:

If I had a large financial investment in their discs, I would like to hear there reasons for this. Has anyone emailed them?

I did send Martha Cassidy a message about half an hour ago.

Didn't get an answer yet.

jjn:

Does it mean that only 10% care of voting ?

think the choices are flawed. There is no response for "I don't have any smartsounds discs, but I am disappointed at the way owners of the disc are being treated". Just answering that you don't have any discs implies a negative vote which people might not want to cast.

Making a representative poll is a real science. 

Just adding my voice to the general consensus - Pinnacle/Avid, count me out of any future releases of Studio if Smartsound is not supported. Crazy decision. I have 29 SS discs worth in total more than 20 times the cost of Studio 12 Ultimate. I've supported Pinnacle Studio at every release since S7.

I feel that this is the second time that Avid has stabbed it's users in the back.  The first being the promised patch to version 9 that never materialized.  Now we find that Smartsound is to be disabled in mid-cycle of a release and that Avid was aware that it may happen prior to the release of version 12. At this point, disabling it in the next major release (not patches to the current version) would be the honorable thing to do.

I would have to say that I am starting to equate the ethics of Avid with those of Enron!

Ethical issues aside, unlike others, I have not invested heavily in Smartsound and if Scorefitter wasn't so bad, could care less which one I used. However Jon's statement:

First, with the introduction of Scorefitter, we embarked on a new music generation approach where we would enable musicians to “score” music for automatic music creation. This approach has allowed us the flexibility to work closely with musicians to author music specifically for the Studio environment. We have signed up great musicians and are open to signing-up new musicians and helping them author content for Scorefitter. In addition, with Pinnacle becoming a part of Avid, new exciting audio technologies have become available to us to consider for an exciting Studio roadmap.  Most of you know the Avid family includes Digidesign, the leader in professional audio production and M-Audio maker of high performance, hardware audio components. Avid is very strong in audio and video and we, along with Studio users, have an exciting audio future.

has a hollow ring to it given that Scorefitter has been out since version 11 and, as far as I can tell, has not changed in version 12. This suggests to me that improvement is going to come only through users buying additional stuff.

Given that I have several project in the works, all using Smartsound, it does mean that I sure as hell won't be patching v12 and will continue living with it's warts for quite some time.  Will I give up on Studio? Perhaps. Perhaps I will just stick with what I have and not patch. Adobe CS4 is on the horizon so perhaps I will purchase a suite with Premiere. Only Avid can decide for me.

Last, Avid needs stop screwing it's users because the hardcore users are going to stop recommending Studio to others.  I have recommended Studio to perhaps ten people and I know for certain that at least five have purchased it at my recommendation.

My 2 cents - soap box disabled.

Jerry 

I sent Smartsound an email asking what's going on on July 24 and here was there reply;

 

 It's not our decision, Gerry ... it's Avid's.  Starting with Studio 11, Avid
chose to stop supporting Quicktracks (although they allowed workarounds, but
that will end with the next update of version 12).  We are certainly as
disappointed as you are that they have chosen to do this.

If you enjoy the benefits of Quicktracks integrated into your video editing
program, you'll need to change to a different program.  Quicktracks is
integrated and supported in:

Ulead Video Studio
Ulead MediaStudio Pro
CyberLink Power Director
Roxio Easy Media Creator
Avid Liquid

You can see the full list here:
http://www.smartsound.com/support/music.html

Avid has made it clear with version 11 and 12 that they do not intend to move
forward with Quicktracks, but instead use their MIDI tool Scorefitter.