Soundtrack Pro 2 vs. ProTools LE - need advice.

Folks, I am having a tough time finding a good comparison of how Soundtrack Pro 2 stacks up against ProTools (in this case the LE version since that is what we have).

I am a motion picture editor, but work with people who are more familiar with ProTools, not familiar with Soundtrack Pro 2, and feels that Soundtrack cannot compete with ProTools.

I would like some objective (if possible) comparisons or leads to comparisons of these two pieces of software, ideally from someone who mostly deals with sound. I have both Final Cut Studio and Logic Studio and am often told that they can't do what ProTools does; that Logic (8) and ProTools are designed to do different things for instance and are not fair to compare.

The content that I deal with now is mostly short films, industrials, and few things for broadcast. OMF use is a big deal, and I often run into issues with Final Cut exported OMFs and ProTools reading them properly.

I am in favor of an all Apple software workflow, but am open to suggestions on these issues, but ultimately - is Soundtrack Pro 2 really that incapable of doing what ProTools does?

Disclamer: I do like not being locked into Digidesign hardware, but am willing to be if ProTools is that much superior.

Please enlighten me folks.

Hi, I am an editor also, and once I sound designed a feature using Pro Tools, which was great. However, I now use Logic Studio and FCP and love them. I have not cut sfx in Logic Pro, but I know I can. I mostly use Logic for music, and am currently cutting a 5 camera HD shoot with all 12 channels of audio going to Logic first. I will work backwards, and mix audio first then import stereo into FCP to do picture. This was because of some sync work-arounds. However, I don't really know what Pro Tools can do that Logic can't do, especially Logic Studio, which now has video support and 24/25/30 fps sync. You'll find many Pro Tools people who may not have used the latest Logic, and some Logic people who (like me), haven't used Pro Tools in a long time. Check it out, and read the Logic manual. Also, Apple support is now VERY helpful with Logic (not so 4 years ago).

The only reason not to use Pro Tools LE or M-powered is that you can't mix in surround. With the DV toolkit, Pro Tools LE or M-Powered would be the perfect tool because you can still open one of those sessions on a TDM system.

The one thing that Soundtrack has going for it is the Conform feature. If your cut is going to change at some point during your mix, the Conform feature works beautifully.

I'm working on a project now in Soundtrack Pro and while I'm getting used to editing and mixing audio in that environment, there are half a dozen times a day that I want to throw my computer across the room. Soundtrack is incredibly unstable. After every major change I his command+S and then wait 20 seconds while my project saves. It's annoying but I'm becoming accustomed to the quirks. If you want to find reasons not to use Soundtrack, read some of the questions that other people have on this forum and at the 2-Pop forums (link).

If you're concerned about getting locked into Digidesign hardware, get an M-Audio FireWire 410 and Pro Tools M-Powered. You can still use the hardware with STP (if you decide to test it out), Logic or almost any other software.

I still think you're going to find Pro Tools a much smoother ride than STP. There's a lot more support out there for PT than there is for STP. If you are at all in a time crunch, go with PT; if you have time to explore, check out STP. Soundtrack Pro has a lot of potential to be a great tool, and I am definitely loving some features, but it has a long long way to go.

Thanks for the info.

As for Pro Tools being industry standard - I recognize this. Though does it matter if we're not delivering Pro Tools sessions to larger audio houses? I am hearing so many people making the switch to Soundtrack and Logic and being just fine. I am sure STP 2 has its quirks just as PT does.

One of the issues I am facing in addition to testing an FCP, STP, Logic workflow rather than an FCP, PT, Logic workflow is whether or not we need to purchase XML-PRO. We have sync issues often when I send my OMF file to our Pro Tools system. With STP 2 we wouldn't have that problem ( I assume) since it imports OMFs and is from Apple. However our sound guy doesn't know STP. In essence, use what we have that does work (STP) or purchase a tool to support what our sound guy knows.

Tangier

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One of the issues I am facing in addition to testing an FCP, STP, Logic workflow rather than an FCP, PT, Logic workflow is whether or not we need to purchase XML-PRO. We have sync issues often when I send my OMF file to our Pro Tools system. With STP 2 we wouldn't have that problem ( I assume) since it imports OMFs and is from Apple. However our sound guy doesn't know STP. In essence, use what we have that does work (STP) or purchase a tool to support what our sound guy knows.

Well, the STP work flow will certainly take care of your sync issues as long as none of your clips have speed changes applied to them. Don't get me wrong, the STP work flow has a ton of potential, but as a standalone application it's inferior in so many ways to both Pro Tools and Logic. And Logic is pretty good, but for post-production audio it doesn't come close to Pro Tools (though I haven't used version 8).

Unless you want to add days to your schedule, I would recommend that you not make your sound guy use STP.

You brought up some good issues. The first I haven't heard - that sync problems may occur if I have speed changes in my edit.

I am specifically talking about using STP 2 and Logic Pro 8 by the way, should this make any difference you your or anyone other responses.

tangierc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You brought up some good issues. The first I
> haven't heard - that sync problems may occur if I
> have speed changes in my edit.
>
> I am specifically talking about using STP 2 and
> Logic Pro 8 by the way, should this make any
> difference you your or anyone other responses.

I haven't had any experiences with STP and Logic Pro 8, though Zwick on the 2-Pop forums seems to be the go to guy for those kinds of questions.

Here's the link:

http://www.2-popforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=149