Confused over Sony Vegas software variety

durbyoliv92 wrote on 2/23/2021, 10:50 PM

I recently got a Sony Vegas software package off of Humble Bundle, and I'm having a hard time figuring out what all these programs do and the differences between them. I'm sure I don't need to download/use all of them.

Movie Editing software:

Fastcut Plus Edition

Vegas Movie Studio 15

Vegas Pro 15 Edit

Hit Film Movie Essential

Audio Editing software:

Sound Forge Audio Studio 12

Magix Audio Cleaning Lab

https://19216801.onl/

From what I've tried to research, it seems like Fastcut is like an auto editor? And Hit Film might have more special effects? No idea what the difference is between Movie Studio 15 and Pro 15 Edit.

Sound Forge for creating music, maybe? And Magix Audio would be like Audacity?

Any help is appreciated.

Comments

Dexcon wrote on 2/24/2021, 12:25 AM

An interesting bundle - 3 NLEs (Non Linear Editors) in the one package.

It's also interesting that they've been called a Sony bundle since none of those products come from Sony - they all come from MAGIX with the exception of HitFilm Movie Essentials which used to come from FXHome.

Fastcut Plus Edition seems to be a discontinued product from MAGIX as it doesn't appear on MAGIX's website as being currently available. It seems to have been aimed at the domestic market though I could be wrong about this. Anyway, MAGIX has a tutorial about its basic functions at https://www.magix.com/int/support/know-how/tutorial-videos/fastcut/

Vegas Pro 15 is a professional level NLE - the current version is 18. There are oodles of tutorials on the Vegas Pro YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/VEGASCreativeSoftware

Vegas Movie Studio 15 is a trimmed down version of Vegas Pro and so has fewer functions and capabilities and, consequently, is not as expensive to purchase new. The current version of Movie Studio is 17. Movie Studio tutorials are also available on the aforementioned Vegas Pro YouTube channel.

HitFilm Movie Essentials from FXHome is what I believe to be a now discontinued plugin package. After installing the HF plugins should appear in the VideoFX window of both Vegas Pro and Movie Studio - I've no idea about its compatibility with Fastcut. Producer Planet has a webpage for this product which includes a demonstration of the video FX in the package as well as a listing of those FX - https://www.producerplanet.com/us/article/hitfilm-movie-essentials-1629/

SoundForge Audio Studio 15 is a trimmed down version of the professional level SoundForge Pro. The current version of Audio Studio is in fact 15 so check out its product page at https://www.magix.com/us/music/sound-forge/sound-forge-audio-studio/ as well as its tutorial page at https://www.magix.com/us/music/sound-forge/sound-forge-audio-studio/tutorials/#c1332088 . Please note that Sound Forge is an audio editor, not a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). While SF Audio Studio can work with a multi-channel track up to 6 channels (e.g. stereo is 2 channels, 5.1 surround sound is 6 channels), but only 1 track can be worked on at the one time whereas a DAW allows multiple tracks to be worked on in the one project. An example of a DAW from MAGIX is Samplitude.

MAGIX Audio Cleaning Lab is a plugin that works with SoundForge Audio Studio - see https://www.magix.com/us/music/sound-forge/sound-forge-audio-cleaning-lab/

Lots and lots of tutorials from many sources about most of the above on YouTube - all it takes is to uese YT's search function.