Let’s begin with the non-keyframeable options, as they are the shorter list. Pitch, Tempo, and overall Mix allow you to change some major things about the sound of the music. Pitch refers to the octave the music occurs in, tempo refers to the speed (specifically the beats per minute) of the song, and the overall Mix is a combination of keyframeable and non-keyframeable attributes that give an overall ‘sound’ to the song. I would love to see Pitch and Tempo made keyframeable in MDV 2, as that would give you a number of creative opportunities that are simply not available if your choices in these two areas must apply to the entire song. Additionally, making the entire Mix keyframeable would basically give MDV it’s own version of SonicFire’s ‘Moods’, which would be very helpful for creating fast mixes of music. I would actually like to see entire these Mix changes keyframed to a special versions of the Markers which are currently used. This would make it easier to differentiate between manual keyframes and entire Mix Changes.
From here, we get into the eight keyframeable pairings. They consist of: Synthetic/Organic, Background/Prominent, Melodic/Percussive, Sparse/Dense, Soft/Intense, Dry/Spacious, Smooth/Punchy, and Soft/Loud.
This is the only place where some of the terms are a little on the audio-edge of the video equation. The terms ‘Dry,’ ‘Punchy,’ and ‘Sparse’ are words that make most video folks’ heads threaten to explode, mine included. However, in addition to some easy to understand instructions included with the set, all of the pairings make a certain amount of sense when compared with their antithesis. As such, while ‘Dry’ may be confusing, if it’s antithesis is ‘Spacious,’ then it’s pretty intuitive to realize that ‘Dry’ means close rather than far-off. If the antithesis of ‘Punchy’ is ‘Smooth’, then it’s going to be referring to the overall flow of the song and referring to music with an ebb and flow to it rather than a pretty steady cadence. With that said, ‘Synthetic/Organic’ is the variance from all synth instruments, like keyboards and drum pads, to all organic instruments, like pianos, strings, and drums. ‘Melodic/Percussive’ is the variance between a softer harmony and a driving beat. ‘Sparse/Dense’ is the amount of instruments that are currently part of the mix. ‘Soft/Intense’ refers to the overall feel and pacing of the song (which is not to be confused with Tempo). Obviously, ‘Soft/Loud’ would be the overall volume of the music itself.
The only big detractor from the depth of options in this set is one of the biggest options a music-customization software needs: a decent sized library. Currently, the 23 music packages that come with this set are the only ones that are available from Synk Audio. More packages are planned, but, until they get here, the software faces limits that neither of its competitors face. SonicFire Pro, due to its age and rate of musical expansion have created a library of hundreds and hundreds of songs, while Sony, with its expansive monetary resources and army of composers, have already generated triple the music available to MDV in less than a year.
Performance
Performance is the place where I honestly felt like Musicbed DV nosed ahead of the competition on a number of fronts. In Sony Cinescore, the level of control over individual tracks and their endings isn’t nearly as robust as I would like, even with their ‘Hints’ system. Meanwhile, in SonicFire Pro, transitioning between different ‘Moods’ and different instrumentation tends to sound a bit artificial and more like you’re simply adjusting the gain on multiple music tracks, as opposed to causing different instruments to start and stop. (Of course, in SonicFire Pro 4 you can go back and delete individual instruments from different tracks. However, to do this effectively you must have a greater understanding of audio and composing than most video people do.)
