SmartSound Software, Inc. on Monday debuted Sonicfire Pro 4, which introduces "mood mapping," a technology that enables users to match their musicis feel to the accompanying visuals without editing or mixing the sound. Users identify places where mood changes occur and then select from a variety of preset mixes, such as heavy, sparse, acoustic, and dialog. Users can also manually adjust the mixes.
Other new features in the software include a multi-track interface for importing voice-over tracks or creating layers of music and sound effects and a multi-layer music format for giving each instrument section its own track. In addition, users can now preview video when sampling music tracks, drag and drop from the Maestro onto the timeline, and move imported video to start at any position with the Video Offset feature.
SmartSound on Monday also released the first ten volumes in the Strata Series of Multi-Layer music, all of which works with Sonicfire Pro 4is mood mapping.
Sonicfire Pro pricing starts at US$199, with various bundles available, each of which contains music from the Strata Series. System requirements call for Mac OS X v10.4, a G4, G5, or Intel processor, 256MB RAM, 50MB available hard drive space, and a DVD drive.