Software Review
Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 12 Editing Software

Jennifer O'Rourke
September 2008

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Version 12 of Pinnacle's popular Studio editing software offers 3 levels: Pinnacle Studio ($49), Studio Plus ($99) and Studio Ultimate ($129). Registered Studio users can upgrade to Plus for only $69 and Ultimate for $99. We tested the Ultimate version.

Pinnacle Ultimate 12 has lots of features that give you a big-time editor's look and feel, using templates and presets that add filters and effects without your having to do the math - good for beginners.

The 300-page user guide was useful to a point, but it sometimes revealed only definitions, not how-tos. We did find a how-to guide for version 11 on Pinnacle's website (www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/PinnacleLife) and assumed that basic editing features in Version 12 will be the same. It has step-by-step tips complete with illustrations and easy-to-follow instruction. Pinnacle's site also has how-to tips.

Your sound automatically drops onto one of four specific audio tracks when you add the audio with your video clip, music or sound effects to your timeline, but you can swap them out. We mixed three layers of natural sound with two music beds and had no need for more tracks. However, Studio still has only two tracks for video - the main track and the overlay track - which you would use for titles or the video for layering picture-in-picture scenes, for example. But you can now layer more video through the Montage features - more on that in a moment.

Scorefitter is a library of customizable MIDI tracks that can fit your background music to any length you require, which is nice when you need to shorten or add length to that last scene.

Ultimate again includes the green cloth for chromakeying as in the past.

Studio Version 12 now includes key frame placement for audio tweaking. In the audio effects window, you'll find a true digital audio mixer. The master volume control lets you pull the entire program's volume up or down, without messing with your finely-tweaked mix. Or you can play with individual tracks for added tweaking... live. Just toggle the volume control of a track and the program remembers what you did and play back the changes.

Montage, new to Studio 12 Ultimate, uses 80 pre-made templates and multi-layered effects. Many may be a bit too gimmicky, but they are fun to play, and with new plugins, Pinnacle has raised the bar on the quality of the effects.

Other new features: a crop tool that lets you crop the black bars from the edges of photos or video, an Asset Reference tool that allows you to easily find a clip in the timeline or album, 27 new titles and 30 new DVD menus.

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