And what this means for you...

We are going to first take a look at the changes and new features that come with Filmstro Pro V3. We will then discuss how your access to V3 may be affected by your current license status. 

New audio engine

The biggest change is the core audio engine itself. This has been rebuilt from the ground up over the past 24 months to include a much more robust solution for extending and shortening the length of any music. This means you no longer have to worry about 'blocks' or 'sections' like you do in V2. You can also simply load a track and then set the length to a value of seconds (see below). 

Choice of ending

The new engine also contains a proprietary and very powerful algorithm that will extend any track in the Filmstro library while maintaining its musical integrity. This is something of a holy grail and we're really pleased to finally be able to offer to our community. You can now create anything from 15 second stings to 5 minute long-form soundtracks and everything in between! If you've been enjoying editing tools like Adobe Remix inside Premiere Pro, then you're going to LOVE this new feature!

New Pen tool

One of the biggest changes is the addition of the all new pen tool. This allows you to draw the keyframes for Momentum, Depth and Power directly into the timeline. With this tool, you will have much faster soundtrack creation - particularly the initial blocking stage (see below).

New transition workflow with the Selection tool

After you've got an overall shape for the music that you like, you can refine transitions using the selection tool. You can highlight any area and then choose from a right-click menu of preset transitions. This allows you to speed up your workflow.

Automatic music length

Another feature is that any music selected will automatically adjust its length to any video you upload to the WebApp. You'll be given a choice of course, so if you want to keep the music at a different length to the video that's fine too.

Better session management

We've removed one feature as we found that nobody was using it; namely the version feature. Instead, we have improved the way you save your work. You now can much more intuitively create multiple sessions based on the same track and name them how you wish for different versions. We're going to be adding additional features that will further speed this up. For example, being able to duplicate a session and/or 'save as' so you can even more quickly create alternate versions of the music for different media or client feedback. 

Streamlined render

We have removed another feature which allowed you to export the 'metadata' for a session. Thereby allowing you - in theory - to import a unique template and apply it to another track. However, there will be a much cooler way of doing something similar in future, so for now, the export is more intuitive and faster too! 

Improved UI 

The User Interface has had a major overhaul to make it more user-friendly. The sliders are now in their own area accessed via the side bar. This makes them contextual and hides them when using the stem control feature for example. 
There's also a new music and video object now which makes the entire editing experience much clearer (see below). 

Lastly the 'audition' and 'latch' mode features are now immediately below the sliders and easily accessible. The icons have also changed, so here is a recap of how these work (see below):

Audition / Link tool

The link icon (previously known as 'audition') controls whether or not the changes you make with the sliders are reflected in the timeline. By default this is on, but if you just want to audition the music and make changes while watching your video - to get a flavor of how you can change the mood of the track to suit your edit - then you might want to temporarily unlink the sliders from the timeline. Once you know what sound to go for, just re-link them and then record your changes. You can do this either in real time by using the sliders, or offline with the pen tool or by making selections and using the sliders to change your entire selection. 

Latch mode

The latch mode icon is now a magnet and this is off by default. However, we strongly recommend enabling this feature, especially in the early stages of soundtrack creation, as that way any changes you make are applied to the entire timeline from the playhead onwards. With this feature disabled, you can make more precise and surgical edits. This will help to clean up areas in between previously recorded values without overwriting what you've already done. 

Access to V3

Filmstro Pro V3 is an upgrade that is included in all ongoing monthly and annual subscriptions. If you have a lifetime license (for V2), that you purchased from us or a third party re-seller at any point between 2021 - 2024, then you will also gain access to V3 - initially - while we're still in BETA with this release. However, once we're out of Beta, your free access will end, and any sessions you have created using V3 will no longer be available to you. To continue using V3 you'll be invited to upgrade for a small fee of 20% of the original perpetual license. Please note that this is the price on filmstro.com and not the discounted price from any third party deal sites. 
Please see our terms and conditions if you need any further clarification. 

The upgrade will be for another perpetual license (this time for V3) which means you will be amongst a unique group of users who will get to enjoy V3 for the incredibly good value that the perpetual license represents, as these licenses will be phased out for good by the end of the Beta phase. 

Continued access to V2

If you choose not to upgrade to V3 and remain on V2 that's absolutely fine. As that product shares a large part of the infrastructure with V3 we will keep that product going indefinitely and you will still be able to use it to edit all of the music that's currently available in the Filmstro library (at time of writing - April 2024). However, any new music released into the Filmstro platform will only be editable in V3. You will still gain access to all new releases, but these will be the downloadable versions from the browse page. To edit these new releases you will need to upgrade to V3 after the Beta stage is completed (date tbc). 

Rationale 

We've been delighted to be able to offer perpetual licenses for Filmstro since 2021. As the music library that invented the subscription plan for production music way back in 2016, we were also the first to bring you lifetime licenses (aka perpetual licenses) for unlimited music downloads. We originally decided to do this due to the effects of the pandemic on the creative industry and to make our offering even more affordable for aspiring content creators worldwide. However, the reality is that on the other side of our business we have a duty to best support our amazing collective of composers, developers and music supervisors. Filmstro is so much more than simply a 'Software as a Service' subscription that sells a tool.

We're excited for the next stage in the evolution of our App. We are so looking forward to bringing you more features as we develop and continue to support your post-production music workflow like never before!