How can smartsounds and Sonic Pro 5 work in Premier Pro CS3?

Question

I have been using smartsounds from way back in Adobe Premier 6.0 when it was packaged with Adobe. This really has been the bees knees for adding sound.
It has not been incorporated by Adobe in the CS versions and I have now tried Sonic Pro 5 with CS3 and found that although it recognizes clips within any project it falls down badly just when one needs it.  I mean that if one then assembles individual clips into a timeline and then save that timeline Sonic Pro does not find the timeline as it does not seem to be able to support the timeline format.
I therefore have 3 problems:-
1. How can one import a timeline into Sonic Pro so one can use the smartsound process?
2. I have the Smartsound quick tracks for Adobe Premier 6.0 and Sonic Pro cannot recognize these fully so the features within Sonic Pro can't be used.  Is there a way round this?
3. I own a library of copyright free music which is not part of the smartsound range.  Is there a way to use this music within Sonic Pro or will it only work with their tracks?
Any information on Sonic Pro and Smartsounds is welcome.

Answer 1

John,
The reason for the Proxy/Reference movie is so that you can apply the music creation power of SonicFire Pro (used with multi-layered Libraries only), while watching and listening to the edited movie. It is used as your cuesheet. Now, if one could "gang" the playback in PrPro to SonicFire Pro, so that they start, stop, rewind, etc. in sync, that would preclude the reference movie. Unfortunately, they cannot be ganged/synced.
If one is just using SonicFire Pro, as one would use QuickTracks, all one would need would be the duration. With multiple Clips, requiring different music and different durations, this is most easily accomplished (for me), by setting the WAB (Work Area Bar) in PrPro to where I wish a certain cut to be used, and just resting the cursor on the WAB - read the Duration for it, and make note. Create as is required.
However, with Mood Mapping, for instance, you'd need to be able to see and hear, exactly where you wish to go from the full orchestra to the Dialog Preset, and when to come out of it. Because SonicFire Pro can do so very much more than can QuickTracks, if one is just creating music on the Duration, they are missing so very much of the real power of the program and the multi-layer music.
Ah, I can't wait until either SonicFire Pro is a plug-in, or gets a fully functioning Adobe DL. That DL doesn't even need full-rez - just a decent image and of course, the Timeline's Audio would need to come over too.
As a sidenote on workflow, I feel that it's very important to complete the editing in PrPro, and get approval, before going to SonicFire Pro for the final scoring of the movie. This is the way that it's done in Hollywood, and with good reason. Yes, a composer and the rest of the scoring staff might be working on aspects of the music all along, but to do the final score, they need to know how the movie will be cut. If I am going to SonicFire Pro, the client knows ahead of time that any edits, after approval, will cost additional $'s. They also know that the finished score cannot be done, until the final cuts are approved. I may stick in some "proxy" music, and it might even be the music that will be used, just not in its final, scored version. With just the music from QuickTracks, it's a simple prospect to alter the Duration, or even the variation of that piece of music, as the edits change things. SonicFire Pro - not so simple.
Last note: in Pinnacle (and maybe others), one can easily, and dynamically alter the SmartSound piece. The completed music Clips have a beginning, a middle and an end. In Pinnacle, if one just click-drags on the Tail of a SmartSound piece, the changes (up, or down) in the piece only affect the middle. In other NLE's, at least Premiere, if one does this, then the beginning, and middle are basically untouched, and the Duration changes are applied to only the end. Also, if one just click-drags to INCREASE the Duration over what was chosen, crashes often occur, and even if they do not, the result is not what would be wished for. In Pinnacle, the click-drag is very dynamic and the results ARE what one would hope for. Why the difference between NLE's has never been explained to me, but I would assume that there is a major difference in the way that Premiere and Pinnacle handle Audio. Since SmartSound just came out with a FCP edition, I'd be curious to see how it functions in that program. Minor quibble, but I'd still love to see the behavior that one experiences in Pinnacle brought to Premiere.
If I only need a slight change in the Duration, I will use TimeStretch. So long as you're not making much of a change, that will work. For bigger changes, I just do the same cut, but with the new, correct Duration.
Hunt
PS I anticipate receiving the edited article about end-of-business today PDT.