Change in SmartSound Strata Series Music

[Bill Hunt]

I have been using SmartSound for many years and love it. I'd made several posts mentioning their "sales," and have sung their praises, plus have contributed several articles and replies on the use of their products in Premiere and their SonicFire Pro software.

I just discovered a change in their Strata Series music discs. Before I go into that, let me backtrack.

SmartSound is a royalty-free music series and (for most) either a plug-in (QuickTracks for ______, where it's for Premiere, Pinnacle, etc.), or a music creation/editing program, now SonicFire Pro 5. The former launches from within Premiere, under the New icon in the Project Panel. It allows one to choose the music and then set its runtime to suit. With one limitation (in Premiere vs Pinnacle), this works perfectly and has been available for all music in their catalog. This plug-in is free. SonicFire Pro 5 takes the use of the music quite a bit farther, with their Strata Series Multi-layer music discs. One can alter the music almost infinitely, with what SmartSound referes to as Mood Mapping. A great tool, but SFP 5 is a stand-alone program and is NOT a plug-in. Still, it is a great tool and should not be discounted.

Now, to the music. SmartSound has offered several series of discs. The basic is 22KHz samples for an entire library. This is basically designed for the hobbyist, and that library offers a lot of general music to work with. Either QT's or SonicFire Pro will work with these, but no Mood Mapping. Next, there are several "series," that offer both 22KHz and 44.1KHz music. More variations per cut, higher quality audio with the 44.1KHz material, works in both programs, but no Mood Mapping. Then, there is the Strata Series, which has always been 22KHz AND 48KHz material with even more variations. QT's works only with the 22KHz material, while SFP 5 works with either, and the 48KHz cuts offer Mood Mapping. This has changed. The newer Strata Series discs ONLY contain the 48KHz material. It is ONLY available in SFP 5 (note the older version, SFP 4, works too). [I have omitted their BackStage Series, as it has been discontinued.]

What this means is that the newer releases in the Strata Series will ONLY work in SFP 5 (or 4), and will NOT be available to the QT's plug-in. This is not a deal breaker, as SmartSound offers a free version of SFP 5 (no Mood Mapping), but it is also a stand-alone. This means that one must Export a reference AV to "score" within SFP 5. This is an extra step, and well worth it, if one is using the Mood Mapping from the SFP 5 full paid version.

I just wanted to point out this change, as the older Strata Series discs contained both versions, and were usable in QT's and in SFP 5, the latter with the addition of Mood Mapping. The newer Strata Series music will NOT be available to QT's.

I would speculate that SmartSound's Compatibility chart will have to be revised to show the change in the newer Strata Series:
http://www.smartsound.com/support/music.html

Still, the older Strata Series will work with both QT's and SFP 5. The former just without Mood Mapping.

Hunt

PS I still think that their "Home Movie" collection, at the bottom of the page:
http://www.smartsound.com/moviemusic/index.html
is a great bargain and covers so very many bases, that subscribers here are likely to use.

PPS I hope that I got all the sample-rates correct on the above.

[Edit] I just received an update from SmartSound, and need to correct one error on my part:

"There is one thing I wanted to correct, which is the part that says there is no Mood Mapping in the Express Track edition. You can actually choose different from the different moods/variations in Express Track, you would just need to export a separate audio file for each mood change. Technically you are correct and the Mood Mapping feature is only available in the Scoring Edition, but we wouldn't want people to think there are no options to achieve the same result using Express Track." Quoted from transmittal from SmartSound. This was also something that I did not know about. Note: Express Track is the free (usually) version of SonicFire Pro 5. It is often packaged, or available as a download, if one purchases on Strata Series disc. As I had the full version of SFP 4 & 5, I had never fully explored the Express Tracks version, other than to use it as an "organizer." Still, I was in error, in my above statements, and wanted to correct those.

[Steve Grisetti]

Nice review, Hunt!