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Edit Review: SmartSound Sonicfire Pro 4

Jul 1, 2006 12:00 PM, Reviewer: Franklin McMahon

Soundtrack creation software easily scales music.

SmartSound has been around for years, methodically refining its flagship software, and now introducing a new version titled Sonicfire Pro 4. If you are unfamiliar with the program, which runs on both Mac and Windows platforms, Sonicfire Pro allows you to construct soundtracks that can be exactly timed to your project. So if you need an audio sting for a bump that comes in at an odd time, such as eight seconds, the program will allow you to create it. But if you then need that clip to scale out to one minute and eight seconds, a quick drag will let you expand it. The program has the unique ability to do all the work of remixing, extending, and making sure the song sounds great and ends right on time.

Let's first go over how the workflow executes, then we can dive into the program's new feature. The software makes use of the expansive library of stock music offered by SmartSound. And while you could import some loops from other companies and cut something together, you will miss most of the functionality of the program if you do not use the Smartsound music collection. Fortunately, the music sounds fantastic — as professional as anything you will ever hear in Hollywood — and there are CD sets for just about every industry niche.

The interface layout has been a bitter pill in years past, but, thankfully, things are improving. Icons are bigger and more descriptive, and while the program won't win design awards, it is better looking and easier to move around in this new version. You have a basic timeline for your tracks up top, a window below for your video (you can import a clip to score to), a bin that holds all your clips, and some additional functions on the right-hand side.

Typically, you'll start by clicking the Maestro button, which pulls up a search dialog that lays out all the SmartSound music tracks you have on your hard drive. If your rig is tied into the Web, you can even search the full library offered by the company and preview them, then click to purchase and download. You can search by style or keyword. Type in the word “action,” for example, and a variety of themes pop up.

Once you select a clip, you can set a length by typing it in numerically (this needs to be a slider next version, please) and what time in the timeline you want your clip to start (the default is set to the beginning of the timeline). Once you insert it, you return to the timeline and play your music. If you decide you want the piece longer, you merely drag and lengthen the end of it, and the program scales the music accordingly and creates a new mix on the fly.

The power in this cannot be underestimated; no other program can do this, and it's amazing to slide to different lengths and watch the program mix and create something new. All the building blocks of the song are below; they look like loops stacked up in a bin, but they are much more intelligent. You can drag in new elements and add a new beginning or new ending.

Once you are done, you can export the entire song — as a single file or broken down into instruments — to any number of programs such as Apple Soundtrack Pro, Final Cut Pro, Adobe After Effects, and Premiere Pro. Just select a program from the dropdown list, and Sonicfire exports the soundtrack, loads up the program, and slaps it in there, ready to be worked with.

As far as new features in this version, there is only a handful. However, they add fairly amazing multiple layers of new functionality, so you get a lot more mileage in this new version than any other previous release. The timeline is now multi-track, so you can have varying styles of music going and layer them. Music clips are multi-layered, which is also new, so each element of music instrument is comprised of smaller blocks that can be toggled on and off for varying sounds.

The biggest improvement is Mood Mapping. Think of this as an instrument mixer with presets. Mood Mapping can be added to any track. In fact, you can have multiple moods on a single track. Mood Mapping can mix down the music for dialog, kick up the drums for intensity, or quiet the lead instruments for dramatic bridges, as well as execute other mix flavors. There are many Mood Mapping presets. It takes seconds to add several to your music timeline, synched to your video — something that would take hours to do manually or working with a loop program. If you don't like the presets you can always create your own. And you can create a Mood Map anywhere in your timeline via the Add Mood Marker tool. So if the video that you are scoring to changes, you can click to add a new mood in an instant.

Although you can use existing CDs from the SmartSound library with version 4, a new collection of music, called the Strata series, is specifically created to take advantage of the new Mood Mapping features. These new collections allow you to break down the music into segments and adjust instruments and moods individually.

To decide if the program is right for you, it's important to examine what the software is and isn't. I don't consider it a loop music creation program because almost all of the core technology and features of the program are tied into the company's own soundtrack collections. Hence, if you are going to invest in the program, it makes more sense to get one of the bigger bundles, which includes several music CDs of content. The other option is to preview within the program and download what you need.

If you have a large loop collection and want a cool new loop program to use them with, Sonicfire Pro 4 makes less sense. Rather, the target market is a production house or individual who needs to produce top-notch music to score productions as quickly as possible with flexibility for easy mixing and length alterations. It's more geared toward remixing an existing tune a thousand different ways than creating a new one from scratch. Add-on CDs are reasonably priced at $99. In fact, there is a separate grid of discs the company offers for home and school use, which are $29 each. The point is, the more you make use of the program, perhaps the more you will want to add new music collections, and the place to get them is SmartSound.

In the future, I would like to see a way to use existing loop collections in a semi-automated way. It would be nice to add a bunch of third-party loops and have them scale and mix the way the company's music collections do. Also, while I think it's great to export music to a separate program, even as separate tracks, I would like to see the tracks import as actual separate tracks comprising a project. Currently, if you export out, it places all the tracks in a bin of the external program, where you then have to manually create a new track for each. However, most of the time, you will do your mixing in Sonicfire Pro and export as a single music file.

What I've always loved about the program is how easily it can scale music. You can change the length at any time, and the program creates a new mix. Amazing stuff. Now, with the new features, having multiple tracks and different moods anywhere on a timeline for every track makes this the most flexible music creation program on the market today. No one else is doing this stuff the way SmartSound is, so if you need a dedicated program to create soundtracks you can tweak endlessly, Sonicfire Pro is the one to get.

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bottomline

Company: SmartSound
Northridge, Calif.;
(800) 454-1900
www.smartsound.com

Product: Sonicfire Pro 4

Assets: Easily scales music.

Caveats: Less useful with existing or third-party loop collections.

Demographics: Production houses or individuals who need to produce top-notch music scores as quickly as possible or remix an existing tune multiple ways.

PRICE: $249; $199 (ONLINE)

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