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Sony Cinescore
SYNOPSIS:
Sony's new Cinescore application goes head-to-head with SmartSound's Sonicfire Pro as a soundtracking tool for video producers. Cinescore's library of royalty-free music is vast but often hard to search to find the track you want. Its customization options are more extensive than SmartSound's, but they're potentially (and comparatively) confusing and imprecise and feel more like an invitation to experiment and change your music than to fine-tune your selections, which I suspect is the goal for most of us.
PRICE: $199
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Sony Media Software
www.sonymediasoftware.com
let's get right to the point. If you're reading this review, you need royalty-free music for videos, DVDs, and similar projects. You've likely eschewed the loop-based approach for a variety of reasons and are looking for a tool to automatically produce the tracks for you.
You know that SmartSound (www.smartsound.com) is the 500-pound gorilla in the category, and that loop-based production leader Sony has introduced a new product called Cinescore, and you're wondering how the products compare. If we chatted about your priorities, you'd probably comment that you wanted your scoring software to offer you a wealth of great-sounding music, a wide variety of easy-tofind choices, and the ability to customize the music after you select it. Ease of use is also nice, but if you can find your way around a prosumer video editor, you'll be able to figure out either of these products.
Before going further, you should track down and read Tim Kennelly's excellent standalone review of Sonicfire Pro 4, the tool you use to choose and select SmartSound tracks, in the August issue of EventDV (pp. 44-47). That will provide details on Sonicfire Pro's interface and operation that I'll only summarize here.
THE CINESCORE COOK'S TOUR
But since this is our first look at Cinescore, let's start with it. Not surprisingly, the main screen borrows much from Sony Vegas and includes some useful Vegas paradigms like envelopes, trimming tools, and NTSC preview via an external monitor. Sony also borrows the tutorial model from their consumer audio programs, so there's plenty of help to get you off the ground.
You start by adding your video to your project, then click Generate Music, which opens the Theme Chooser, where you'll preview and...