From a beginners standpoint, Is it a crucial application to integrate in the workflow process when using VV and Sound Forge?

Sorry for the n00b questions - just trying to make an informed decision about what all I need to begin doing video work.

TIA,

Cliff

We use and love ACID - for certain types of music it can't be beat.
I has nothing to do with Vegas, though -
ACID makes loop based music.
Vegas edits and composites video.

Does that help?

hmmm - I don't think I am getting the point of my question across.

With regard to working with VV, What would Acid's role possibly be in the editing process (regarding audio)? I have played with Acid to make music loops and such, but was wondering if it has a place in the editing process when used in conjunction with VV. I know that Sound Forge can be used to clean up loops, extract audio from other audio sources - but to me Acid doesn't appear to have a place the video creation process - or am I mistaken? If it does, what role would it play in the editing process?

Am I making any sense?

Cliff

Ok, let me try. Vegas and Acid 4 are very similar in someways. Acid and vegas will both record audio, and play loops. The big differance is that Acid will allow you to do midi sequencing and also and real time beat matching/pitch shifting.

Realtime beat matching and pitchshifting is what makes Acid what it is. It is the best and easiest to use, IMHO. I find I am limited in Vegas with "Acidized" loops in Vegas because it won't beat match/pitshift on the fly. In Vegas a loop recorded at 120 bpm in the key of C will not match a 110 bpm loop in the key of G. Acid it will. It turns wavs into silly putty that you can stretch and bend to your will. Being that composing audio for video is all about timing the music to your shots this stretching is really vaulable.

Here is what I have done. When I have a vegas video file looking the way I want it, I render it to an avi or low quality wmv. Bring that into Acid and compose around that video. If the AVI you brought into Acid is at the quality level you want as final output then just render the AVI in Acid with your completed audio. Or render your audio as a wav in Acid and bring that wav into Vegas.

As I mentioned Acid allows for MIDI sequencing and the use of VSTi and DXi instruments. These are instrument plugins that are simply amazing. For instance Native Instruments has a drop dead perfect B3 organ plug call B4. You play (via keyboard) this virtual organ, it's frekin' magic. I am a Fruityloops user. The new Fruity Studio 4 allows you to open Fruity as a DXi instrument in Acid. Fruity is a the most complete software synth. studio out there (yes even more complete than Reason). Sequencing in Fruity is so much easier than in a standard Midi style sequencer and more powerful. So now I can run Fruity from within Acid. This gives me the ease and power of sequencing in Fruity and the ease and power of real time pitch shifting/beat matching/video audio composition. Really powerful combo. Now if Vegas allowed for VSTi or DXi..... NA (jack of all trades, master of none).

good luck
jack

Thanks Jack - you answered my question perfectly - thanks for taking the time to detail your answer. The main answer that hit me was rendering out your vid file and then bringing it in to Acid where you compose your audio around it.

Cliff

I use ACID from somewhat of a different perspective at times. I find Acid the perfect applictation to add those special points of interest that no other applicatin can give you. For example I can go to acid and lift loops of music to my video to emphasis a point or blend a feeling into a piece. During the last year I did a "travel video" of the Maine woods, there was a portion of the video that overlooked a small islad in the middle of a lake as I looked at the video that had no signs of humanity at all in it I remembered the Native american loops from Acid. I created a small section of "music" based on Native American flutes with Indian chants in the background wow ! if I do say so myself. I have recieved more compliments on that particular section of the video and so many people have said how did you ever get that Indian music background? I just smile and don't tell them it only took a minute or two and my Acid.
Another example I had a folk singer come to me with a music video she had paid a lot of money to have shot. To her it seemed flat and she could tell from showing it around that it did not do anything for people or move them. The song was about the civil war and tow brothers that fought on opposite sides. I put the video into the computer and looked at it and thought about and dug out my ACID BANK (that is what I call it) and where she sang about the battlefields I backgrounded the Timpanni drums loop which sound exactly like the slow measured sounds of cannon fire which is or was at the time of the civil war a background sound of every battle. Then at the end of the song she sang of the brothers both coming home to be buried side by side. Again at this point of the song I backgrounded the first three notes from Taps which I created in Acid repeating three notes three times to a very slow fade. These two Acid parts changed the song and as the artist said to me she now would see people with a tear in their eye as they watched the video. To me niether of these videos could have been done without Acid and it continues to be a very important part of my edititing arsenal. could I edit without it yes, would it be the same, no.
HTH