Magix Movie Edit Pro 2016 is the latest incarnation of the capable video editing software from Magix. I have been playing around with this kit for a while, so let’s dive in and see how it performs.

Movie Edit Pro’s list of features is certainly impressive and promises professional-level tools but through a consumer-level application. This year’s Premium version builds on that with special attention paid to usability and stability. So, have they come up with the goods?

Magix Movie Edit Pro 2016 Premium overview

Movie Edit Pro 2016 appears to offer everything you need to edit videos and create your own movie masterpieces.

There’s support for all standard camcorders, high-quality editing tools, native 64-bit support, and the list goes on.

Movie Edit Pro 2016 boasts a multitude of unique features, ranging from H.265 support and high-quality image stabilisation through to working with footage from 360° cameras and action cams.

There’s also support for the new video standard AVCHD Progressive (60p). The new technology delivers twice as many full frames as before which means you get smoother moving objects and even more detailed pictures.

Hardware-accelerated decoding allows H.264 videos to be decoded by the graphics card, thus freeing up the processor and greatly improving performance while editing 4K/UHD material

Also in the bundle are some impressive special effects, background music, and interactive menus. AVCHD recordings can be imported and edited in Magix Movie Edit without any recalculation. Simply import the AVCHD material with one click, edit video, burn to Blu-ray Disc complete with animated menu all ready for your big screen TV.

The editing software can handle 99 tracks in this Premium version (33 in the Pro) and plays nice with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mixing.

Magix Movie Edit Pro 2016 performance

When you open up the Magix application a dialogue box appears offering choices for what you wish to do. You can either start a new project and set the preferences right there, open an existing project or select a movie template if you want to use the wizard system.

The layout is pretty straightforward with tabs at the top of the screen covering each stage of the production process from Import though to Effects.

In every other video editing application I’ve tinkered with, each kind of element has dedicated tracks on the timeline. For example, video goes on one track, audio on another and so on. The tracks in this application does things differently in that you can put any kind of media on any track and, if there’s space, use different media on the same track.

This took me by surprise a little but, once I got used to the idea, I realised that this does seem to streamline the workflow and also means that 33 tracks, let alone the 99 offered in Premium, should be plenty for most users.

A neat function is that the software can automatically sync audio and video files that are taken on separate devices. For example, if you’ve captured video footage with a camera that can’t take a shotgun mic, for instance, and supplemented audio with a HD audio recorder, you’ll have two files of the same audio. Usually you would have to synchronise these elements up by comparing waveforms and lining them up manually. This video editing program will analyse the waveforms for you and automatically synchronise the audio. Lovely.

The editing suite will even beat match and set things up so you can remix the audio.

The audio editing felt very natural to use, me being from a more music background, and this element of the Movie Edit Pro suite seems to have everything I need.

Magix Movie Edit Pro has two main editing modes for users to choose from. The simplest to use is the storyboard mode. This sets out all of your story’s elements in the order in which they will be used. This is different from the more traditional timeline in that each element is given equal room in the workspace, regardless of how long they run. This makes it much easier for you to rearrange your footage, effects and transitions in the order you want them to appear.

The timeline-editing mode is where more experienced editors will find all the intricate granular tools that professionals use.

I really like the added effects, intro/outro, captioning options that can be dropped in to the mix.

High-quality effects, transitions and templates, as well as animated menu templates, thematic intros/outros, and deco elements, all add to your movie mix. You can get quite slick flicks in no time or just drop them in for a bit of fun.

You can even create impressive slow motion effects with smooth speed transitions should you want to emphasise some action sequences.

Are you editing holiday footage or shots taken on a roadtrip or world tour? Then the Travel Route tool will be a handy addition for you. With this you are able to pin where you’ve been and add it in to your video.

When you’re finished building your video project, you have a number of options for sharing your creation with an audience. Creating a stand-alone video file is as simple as selecting the quality and size of your video. But you also have granular controls that allow you to fine-tune aspects of your video such as frame rate, aspect ratio and resolution. Magix Movie Edit Pro handles both simplicity and advanced control nicely.

You also have the ability to burn your videos onto a disc. This software comes with the ability to author DVDs, Blu-ray discs and AVCHD discs. It also allows you to upload videos directly to online sharing sites such as Facebook and YouTube.

Here’s the little video clip I created using one of the 16mm film look from the styles bank of effects and overlying some captions. The clip even ends with a simple fade out.

[youtube id=”ZmgbBCM7Nqs” ]

Magix Movie Edit Pro 2016 Premium conclusion

Magix Movie Edit Pro 2016 Premium is one of the easiest video editing applications I have used thus far and I am pretty sure that I have only just scratched the surface of what this editing suite is capable of.

Being compatible with such a wide range of devices, including 360 cams should certainly prove useful and the support for AVCHD and H.265 brings it up above a lot of consumer tools. As does the power to edit 4K/UHD footage.

I challenge anyone to find such a potent package at this price point.

Magix Movie Edit Pro 2016 Premium availability and price

Magix Movie Edit Pro 2016 Premium is available right now for £89.99 direct from Magix or Amazon.co.uk.

The post Magix Movie Edit Pro 2016 Premium review appeared first on GadgetyNews.

Record and produce music and perform it live – that’s exactly the aim of the new generation of MAGIX software.

With MAGIX Music Maker 2016 Live and Music Maker 2016 Live Performer they say that you can now produce music and play it live without any previous experience.

The brand new Live Pads make creating new tracks easy and enable true creative freedom and lots of fun -especially when making electronic music.

The Music Maker 2016 Live, Live Pad mode contains 16 virtual pads that can be operated and recorded in real time using the keyboard or the MAGIX Audio Remote app.

The program features 30 pre-produced Live Sets in a range of genres including Hip Hop, Deep House and Techno. The Live Sets can be adapted, are license-free and can be used from directly within the program with other genres or Live Sets.

Each set is available in 7 pitches and the pitch can be shifted with just a click when creating a track should you need to.

The new free Audio Remote app can be used to operate the virtual Pads and all virtual instruments in Music Maker by smartphone or tablet.

MAGIX Music Maker 2016 Live Performer comes with USB pad controller hardware for operating Live Pad mode. The compact USB pad controller has been developed specifically for Music Maker 2016 Live and therefore works perfectly with the virtual Pads. It comprises a velocity-sensitive keyboard with 25 keys as well as 8 knobs that are ideal for improvising, producing and composing music.

MAGIX Music Maker 2016 Live has a whole range of options for bringing musical ideas to life. Combine professionally produced sounds and loops by drag and drop, record your own vocals in studio quality and compose new melodies with the MIDI editor.

With Soundpools from the genres of Hip Hop, Deep House, 80s, Rock Pop and Chillout and four new virtual instruments, the program offers a huge array of musical styles:

• Dramatic film music with cinematic synthesizer sounds
• The virtual Accordion adds a light, authentic sound to electro beats and traditional French songs
• Gentle folk influences with banjo, steel guitar and other folk instruments
• Compelling melodies and epic vocals with virtual choirs

For optimal audio quality, professional mastering plug-ins are seamlessly integrated into Music Maker 2016 Live.

Sound can even be optimised automatically with Auto Mastering. The effects areas has been completely redesigned and the new sound effects settings are directly integrated into the interface, making them easier to operate. The screen keyboard features a new mode in which it only plays the notes that fit the key of the song you’re working on – so even beginners will always hit the right note.

Music Maker 2016 is available now in the following versions:

MAGIX Music Maker 2016 £44.99

MAGIX Music Maker 2016 Live £69.99

MAGIX Music Maker 2016 Control for £119.99

MAGIX Music Maker 2016 Live Performer £139.99 – available online only

The post MAGIX Music Maker 2016 Live Performer recording software now out appeared first on GadgetyNews.

MAGIX has just announced the release of their latest versions of it’s video editing solution, Movie Edit Pro 2016 which is available at three levels and includes many functions only found in more expensive editing and production suites.

Movie Edit Pro 2016 boasts a multitude of unique features, ranging from H.265 support and high-quality image stabilisation through to working with footage from 360° cameras and action cams, giving film hobbyists something to really get their teeth stuck in to.

Among the many improvements over the previous iterations, MAGIX has specifically focused on optimising the way users work with Movie Edit Pro. This is why the program is the first consumer video editing solution to support the HEVC/H.265 compression standard with Intel codec technology.

Hardware-accelerated decoding allows H.264 videos to be decoded by the graphics card, thus freeing up the processor and greatly improving performance while editing 4K/UHD material.

Movie Edit Pro 2016 Plus is apparently also the first video editing program to feature 360° video editing for panorama footage. The new 360° support allows users to import material from modern cameras, such as the RICOH Theta, select the sections they want to use and add them to their video.

The Movie Edit Pro product family offers beginners and more advanced users a range of practical tools which allow videos to be edited down to the smallest detail.

Movie Edit Pro 2016 and Movie Edit Pro 2016 Plus includes the high-quality image stabilisation technology in proDAD Mercalli V2.

Users can remove unwanted movements, dampen CMOS sensor errors and smooth out unstable camera pans, allowing unusable footage to be restored and optimised.

In addition to comprehensive image stabilisation, users can choose from over 200 new, modern title templates to add titles and text that perfectly fit the style of their video.

MAGIX Movie Edit Pro 2016 is available in 3 versions:

• Movie Edit Pro £49.99
• Movie Edit Pro 2016 Plus £69.99
• Movie Edit Pro 2016 premium £89.99

I am hoping to test this software out in the not too distant future so keep coming back!

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