Screw Adobe and the horse they rode in on
I have been using Premier Pro for years for my video editing, even before I switched to all Mac about 5-6 years ago. My last Premier Pro update was Creative Suite 6 since I absolutely refuse to rent software anymore – been there, done that, have the scars and heartache to prove it. (If you are renting software, I feel for you. Some day you will have a very rude awakening.) I was still using Premier Pro up until about 2 weeks ago, when I finally decided to wipe my 2011 iMac clean and install everything fresh. I didn’t want to reinstall Adobe’s ancient CS6 so had to bite the bullet and find an alternative.
After much research and reviews, and once again very seriously looking at Adobe’s software rental scheme, I decided to give Final Cut Pro X a try.
Holy moly batman. Final Cut Pro X is unbelievably FAST!!!!
I mean not just fast, but orders of magnitude faster than Premiere Pro CS6. Tasks that would take 2 hours in PP CS6 would take less than 5 minutes in Final Cut. I imported HD video and external audio tracks and I was able to scrub through my content in about 3 seconds, rather than minutes. I was able to sync my external audio with my video in three clicks and a few seconds. I was able to immediately edit video and audio real-time from my NAS server. I had never used Final Cut before and was able to do basic edits in just a few minutes learning time. I still have to learn some of the advanced tricks and editing tools but I can already tell Final Cut is going to be a game changer for me compared to PP CS6. To be fair I haven’t used Premiere Pro Creative Cloud but now I don’t plan to ever give it a try unless Adobe changes their licensing scheme.
Another very important discovery is that I could actually edit files stored on my Synology NAS in real time. I never, ever could do that with my DROBO. I would store my data on my DROBO, then have to make a copy on my local hard drive, do my edits, then send the updates back to DROBO. Now, I can just put my content on my 20TB Synology NAS, leave the content there, and edit directly on my desktop or laptop. In real time. Wow. That is a game changer.
I haven’t had time to dig under the hood and still learning all the tricks of Final Cut, but so far it is wildly faster than Premiere Pro CS6. Not sure how it compares to the latest version of Premier Pro for Creative Cloud, but I no longer care.
So now the only piece of software I am using from Adobe is Lightroom – which I can still purchase and not rent. I have replaced Photoshop, Illustrator, Premier Pro, InDesign, Dreamweaver and Audition. And so far I am very, very happy. It is a bit of a learning curve but these other programs I am using are very powerful and in many ways better than what Adobe offers.
Screw Adobe and the horse they rode in on.
My Computer Configuration
My desktop is a 2011 27″ iMac with 20GB of RAM and a 2TB spinning hard drive, i7 processor, 30″ external second monitor. I have not yet installed an SSD in my iMac but that is my next planned upgrade.
I recently upgraded to a 2011 MacBook Pro with i7 processor that I customized with 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD drive. It is the fastest computer I have ever used in my life and I only have about about $1,100 invested in it.
My NAS is a Synology DS1515 with five 4TB drives installed – a total of 20TB with about 17 usable. It is also smoking fast compared to my old DROBO and I only have about $1,200 invested in it.
Replacement Software
Premiere Pro —> Final Cut Pro X
Audition —> Logic
Photoshop —> Affinity Photo
Illustrator —> Affinity Designer
InDesign —> Scribus (verdict still out on this move)
Dreamweaver —> WordPress plus Chrome or Firefox developer tools
PS: Even though I grew up working in construction and became quite adept at using foul language in my younger years, nowadays I try not to use foul language and you will seldom see it in my online writing, but in this case I reserved it for Adobe because, well, I feel they have earned it.
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