FCP X and UserMatic?

Special announcement regarding FCP X’s compatibility with UserMatic, as well as continuing to work with FCP 6 or 7 after installation of FCP X:
http://www.editgroove.com/fcpx/fcpx.html

Best wishes,
from your friends at EditGroove

Nice write-up on MobilizedTV.com

Another nice write-up on the DVD iPhone app, this time from MobilizedTV.com — a seminal web journal covering the cutting-edge of Mobile technology, and created by veteran industry journalist Debra Kaufman.

For what it's worth, if you’re interested in all the latest news about the mobile platform & its content, this is definitely a site worth checking out.

Thanks, MobilizedTV!

“Highly recommended ... insanely low price”

Great review from none other than Ross LaManna, the Chair of the Undergraduate Film Department at the world-renowned Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA, who writes:

“DVD Bit Budget Assistant is an essential tool for maximizing picture quality on the DVD format. It makes complex bitrate calculations incredibly simple — and since it’s on your phone, it’s always handy. Highly recommended, especially at such an insanely low price.”

Thanks so much, Ross! We’re happy to have created something useful (and user-friendly) for students and others navigating the sometimes arcane world of digital video and distribution.

Studio Daily hearts the DVD Bit Budget Assistant

Nice little write-up on our new iPhone app, on none other than the Studio Daily blog.

Being the online home of highly-respected publications such as Studio Monthly, Film & Video, and others — these folks are no slouches in the Knowing-What's-New-Cool-and-Useful-in-the-Film-Industry department.

Editor Bryant Frazier offers an insightful summary of why and where an app like ours comes in handy. Thanks, Studio Daily, for the good words!

And meanwhile, please let us know what you think as well, both via our Contact page, and on the iPhone App Store.

(Just a reminder, the Introductory price of $1.99 is good for a limited time.)

Thanks for all the good words on our new iPhone app!

A big shout-out to everyone for all the kind words on our new app, the DVD Bit Budget Assistant. We're very happy to see that folks are finding it to be useful, and fun.

(Note that there does seem to be quite a bit of latency in iTunes / the App Store itself before the first set of ratings are posted there; though we trust others will get to see your good words as well before long.)

Meanwhile, our own website is undergoing a minor redesign, and soon will feature the new app on the homepage. In the meantime, kindly use the direct link above for more info.

Best,
Your friends at EditGroove

EditGroove announces new DVD utility app for iPhone!

An exciting day here at EditGroove, as we finally took the wraps off our very latest, until-now-super-secret new app:

"The DVD Bit Budget Assistant" for the iPhone
... now available in the App Store!

Useful for anyone who works with DVDs -- or just wants a better understanding of the production of digital media.

Lots more info, FAQ & more at:
http://www.editgroove.com/dvd/

[Press info available at http://www.editgroove.com/dvd/press/ ... and a limited number of review copies available via the Contact page.]

Now your iPhone is even more useful than it was yesterday at this time. :)

From your friends at EditGroove.

New: FCP 7 compatibility info

Hi, all --

Just to let you know that we've posted some up-to-date information on our FAQ, regarding using UserMatic™ with the new Final Cut Pro 7.

If you've upgraded your version of FCP, or are thinking of doing so, make sure you check it out.

As always,

Best wishes!
From your friends at EditGroove

Special Appearance on the Workflow Junkies podcast

EditGroove's very own Ron Diamond was a special guest on a recent episode of the prestigious "Workflow Junkies" podcast.

Host and industry veteran Dan Green spoke with Ron in detail about UserMatic™: how it came about, how it works, and some advantages it brings to users in their FCP workflow. Topics included multiple single-user setups, rollback points, networking capability, levels of redundancy, and more. PLUS, there's a special discount Coupon code for listeners!

Dan's verdict on UserMatic™? ... "An amazing product."

Listen in at WorkflowJunkies.com, or check out the podcast on iTunes.

EditGroove Support: temporary email outage, 4/11

Support Update:

EditGroove Support suffered an email outage for much of the day on Saturday, April 11.

Because of a temporary provider-related issue, if you tried to get in touch with us during that time, your message unfortunately may not have gone through.

We've since addressed the issue. But if you did try to contact us during that time, please re-submit your message, so we can get you taken care of as quickly as possible.

Many thanks for your understanding,
From your friends at EditGroove

UserMatic™ v1.03 released

This update to UserMatic™ incorporates some minor bug fixes, plus updated documentation, including:

-- A brand-new Quick Start PDF guide
-- A revised User Guide, incorporating recent changes to the user interface

The Quick Start guide should be particularly helpful for folks getting started with UserMatic™ for the first time.

So where can all this happy digital goodness be found?
... where else, but in the Download link! :)

Meanwhile, thanks everyone, for all your enthusiasm & support.

Best wishes,
Your friends at EditGroove

BOSFCPUG calls UserMatic™: "The Cool Tool"

Another great review, this time from the highly-regarded Boston Final Cut Pro User Group (BOSFCPUG, the second largest organization of its kind in the world) ... and an insightful assessment by award-winning editor and long-time tech observer Loren Miller.

Miller provides a valuable introduction to UserMatic™, and walks us through its advantages, particularly for using FCP with multiple editors and/or multiple machines. He comes to this conclusion: "No serious multi-station FCP editor should be without it."

Check out the complete review.

Thanks, BOSFCPUG!

See you at the MacWorld SuperMeet!

And a Happy New Year to you!

Headed to the FCPUG SuperMeet at MacWorld (on Wed. evening, January 7th)?

As he often does, Michael Horton will be raffling off copies of EditGroove's UserMatic™ to someone holding a lucky raffle ticket. (Might that be you?)

But there's tons more reasons to be there, of course -- so if you're anywhere near San Francisco, and perhaps headed to what could be the last great MacWorld Expo, make sure to catch the SuperMeet as well. It's one of the prime FCP events of the year. And a lot of fun besides.

Hope to see you there!

UserMatic™ v1.02 released

This just in! UserMatic™ v1.02 is now shipping. :)

We'd normally wait until our next scheduled update, but we've been getting a lot of very valuable feedback from users like yourself. And while some of those great ideas will take longer to do, this particular idea seemed like a great one that didn't need to wait.

The thought was to make the recall/store part of the user interface just a bit simpler still, by renaming the buttons – simply "LOAD" and "SAVE".

Well, we certainly know a good idea when it hits us in the in-box.

And so ... voila!

We know little things can make a difference, and that's what we're all about. So our particular thanks to Steve on this one. And appreciation as well to all the other great folks who have taken time to share their feedback and enthusiasm with us as well. You all rock!

And as always, if you have any thoughts on how we can help make your FCP life a little easier and more productive, feel free to drop us a line. We are listening.

Best wishes,

From your friends at EditGroove

TheFinalCutPro.com highly recommends UserMatic™!

Another great review of UserMatic™ — this time from CJ Bruce of TheFinalCutPro.com:

Some excerpts:

“... I had a chance to try out the software myself and I must say that I was pretty impressed."

“It’s a very well thought out and neat application. For anyone that has multiple FCP users on one computer, this is a must-buy. Really anyone who has worked with Final Cut long enough to dive into all the little settings and tweak them will love this."

“If you edit on your laptop, like I do, this is an invaluable program. I can set up different preferences for different locations and tasks. For example, when I am at home I have my profile that links to my personal external hard drive, capture settings, etc. Then when I go to work I use a different drive and I am editing in different formats. Instead of manually resetting all of this I just open UserMatic and click a button."

Conclusion

"This is great software at a great price ($34.95). If you are a serious Final Cut Pro user, I highly recommend that you give this a try. The more I use it, the more I like it and wonder how I lived without it.”

Read the full review, and get a 5% discount, at TheFinalCutPro.com.

UserMatic™ v1.01 released

EditGroove is pleased to announce the release of UserMatic™ v1.01 – now available for download.

Among the changes in v1.01:

• A new "Welcome" screen, which gives a brief orientation to UserMatic™, its capabilities, and getting started with the software.
• A new menu item for "Customize Library Location" (Cmd-L).
• Several minor bug fixes.
• The ability to run UserMatic™ on systems which do NOT have Final Cut Pro installed.
  (While of limited utility without FCP, this can be helpful for preliminary evaluation by post supervisors, system administrators, management, and other personnel.)

Full details in the "ReadMe" file included in the new download.

Enjoy!
– Your friends at EditGroove Software

FilmmakingCentral.com gives UserMatic™ ... 5 out of 5 stars!

This just in — a rave review from FilmmakingCentral.com...

In his review, David Basulto gives UserMatic™ 5 out of 5 stars, calling it among other things, "tremendous" and "a wonderful application."

Here are links to the video review, on FilmmakingCentral.com, as well as on YouTube.

Technical notes:
While UserMatic™ does make "trashing your preferences" about as easy as possible – and that's a very handy feature to have – the software clearly goes far beyond that. But there obviously wasn't time to go into much detail on creating the various preference sets; and the ways the 'Deleted', 'Backup', and SAN & USB networking functions can be used, among other power features.

Not to worry! The "official" EditGroove video tutorials are in the works, and will go into much greater depth — to show you how to get the most out of this powerful little application. We're hoping to have the first of those tutorials up within the next week or so. Though there's lots of detail in the PDF User Guide and online FAQ as well.

Meanwhile, a great overview of UserMatic™ — thanks, FMC, for all the kind words!

Special Thanks

Thanks to Everyone for all their enthusiasm about UserMatic™!
It really seems to have struck a chord with folks who understand the power it brings to FCP.

But for such a deceptively simple-looking app, there’s been a lot of work ...

So in particular, we'd like to give a shout out ...
* to Dave, for dedication above & beyond the call of duty - you rock!
* to our team of beta testers, and our dedicated customers (incl. a special nod to Tod) - thank you all for helping make UserMatic™ a better app.
* to Terry, Paul, and the great folks at AlphaDogs in Burbank - simply the best!
* and to Deb - who’s been an inspiration in so many ways - Thank You.

So, with our gratitude to them and others who've helped along the way, we can now get back to work — and be a little more versatile, productive, and in charge using Final Cut Pro.

See you at the Editors' Lounge!

EditGroove will be presenting UserMatic™ live and in person -- in the Editors' Lounge at the world-famous AlphaDogs post facility in beautiful downtown Burbank. Mark your calendar for this Friday night, October 24, beginning at 6:30pm.

We've got a fun evening planned — so if you're in the Los Angeles area, be sure to drop by for an event which includes ... four great presentations of cutting-edge post industry tools ... some good old-fashioned industry schmoozing ... and lots of food & drink, besides.

(See the links above for detailed info, directions, etc.)

Hope to see you there!

UserMatic™ is now Shipping

PRESS RELEASE: For Immediate Distribution

EditGroove releases UserMatic - take control of Final Cut Pro

Summary:

EditGroove's UserMatic(TM) solves FCP Preferences hassles once and for all, encouraging and facilitating experimentation in the thousands of ways Final Cut Pro can be customized. It leverages the editor's time and creativity - by enabling multiple versioning, rollback points, easier troubleshooting, multiple users, and even accessing the same preferences across multiple edit bays.

~~~

LOS ANGELES -- EditGroove Software announces the release of UserMatic(TM) - a powerful yet streamlined utility for taking control of user preferences in Final Cut Pro.

-- Tired of having to “Trash Your Preferences” and start over from scratch?
-- Want to have different versions of your editing settings for different types of projects, genres, etc.?
-- Ever need to troubleshoot them or roll them back, because of stray experimentation or corruption?
-- Weary of clashing with other users’ ideas of how the FCP keyboard should be mapped?
-- Want an easy means of calling up your own Preferences from more than one workstation?

UserMatic(TM) solves all of these issues once and for all, encouraging & facilitating experimentation in the thousands of ways Final Cut Pro can be customized. It leverages the editor’s time and creativity - by enabling multiple versioning, rollback points, easier troubleshooting, multiple users, and even accessing the same preferences across multiple edit bays.

FCP settings that are stored in UserMatic(TM) include User Preferences, System Settings, Audio/Video Settings, choice of Easy Setup, Favorite Effects, Button Bars, Keyboard Layouts, Window Layouts, and much more.

Features include:

-- Storage and Recall of an unlimited number of “user profiles” -- each one containing an entire set of user customizations for Final Cut Pro.

-- One-button Backup: of the entire Library of user profiles into a single date/timestamped .ZIP file. Useful for further versioning and archiving, as well as conveniently transporting FCP user preferences from one facility to another (e.g., via a USB flash drive).

-- Trash button: reverts FCP back to its factory defaults, to clear existing customizations or for troubleshooting.

-- “Safety net” feature: Overwritten & deleted preferences are actually stored away in ‘Deleted’ folder, just in case.

-- Networking capability built-in. Simply pointing UserMatic(TM) to a network drive instantly allows for direct access to the same Library of user profiles from any number of FCP workstations (and potentially even from separate geographic locations, if desired).


UserMatic(TM) was unveiled publicly for the first time at the Sept. 24 meeting of the Los Angeles Final Cut Pro Users Group (LAFCPUG) in Hollywood. Founder Michael Horton declared it “one of the best presentations we’ve had in a very long time, if not ever.”


Specs and Availability

-- UserMatic(TM) is a Universal Binary (Intel/PowerPC). Requires Mac 10.3 or later.
-- Price is $34.95, with volume discounts available.
-- Further details, complete documentation, and download available at http://www.EditGroove.com

Press Materials (incl. screenshots, icons, banners, etc.)

http://www.editgroove.com/press/

About EditGroove

EditGroove was founded in 2008 by veteran Los Angeles editor Ron Diamond, who brought with him over 15 years online & offline editorial experience on a multitude of platforms. Diamond is also known for having co-written, with author and former Lucasfilm evangelist Michael Rubin, the book “NONLINEAR: A Field Guide to Digital Video and Film Editing” (4th ed.).

Trademarks

Final Cut Pro is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
EditGroove and UserMatic are trademarks of EditGroove Software. Other brand or product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

###

Contact
EditGroove Software
Sales & Support
http://www.editgroove.com/contact/contact.php

Release Candidate posted!

EditGroove Software is pleased to announce that Release Candidate 1 has been posted & is now available for download.

We've fixed a few minor issues in the software, and are still on-track for an official release on or before 10/15/08. Comments welcomed as always, on the EditGroove Contact page.

Thanks for all your good words so far. Enjoy!