What Features Does Apple Final Cut Pro Still Need?

Posted on May 21, 2022 by Larry

Last week, Apple released a statement responding to a petition from hundreds of Final Cut Pro editors that Apple recommit to continued, active development of Final Cut. Apple answered, in part:

“While we believe we have plans in place to help address your important feature requests, we also recognize the need to build on those efforts and work alongside you to help support your film and TV projects and keep you posted on important updates.”

NOTE: Read their entire statement here.
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For many years, Apple offered editors the ability to suggest features using the “Provide Feedback to Apple” form in Final Cut Pro. However, this form presents several problems:

Apple never responds to suggestions made using this form. So we have no idea whether anyone in decision-making authority at Apple actually reads these.

NOTE: Apple has told me on several occasions that these are read. However, “read” and “act upon” are not the same.

When we provide feedback to Apple, we have no idea what anyone else is suggesting. We can neither agree nor disagree with the need for a specific feature.
There’s no way to reinforce how important – or unimportant – a feature is because we don’t know what’s suggested.
Apple has a long tradition of “not invented here.” If Apple engineers decide something is a good idea, it gets developed. If a user suggests a good idea, it is frequently ignored.

I created this article to begin an active and open discussion of missing features in Final Cut. If you think something needs to be added, suggest it in the comments. It’s not as good as a web-centered, multi-user database with instant vote totals. But it’s available today and gets us started.

If you have a feature, suggest it.
If you think a suggestion is good, reinforce it.
If you think a suggestion could be better, improve it.
If you think a suggestion is misguided, comment.

NOTE: All comments are moderated – so be polite. Inflammatory or off-topic comments will be removed.

My hope is to inform the Final Cut community, Apple and the advisory panel they hope to create so that the features Apple adds are actually those desired by editors.

Share this link with your friends on social media. Spread the word. Because, if there’s no interest in adding new features, that tell’s Apple something, as well.

Don’t wait for Apple to convene an advisory panel – let your voice be heard now.

LARRY’S TOP FIVE FEATURES

To get the discussion started, here are my top five feature requests for Final Cut Pro:

Scrolling timeline. As a project plays, the timeline should scroll to keep the playhead in view.
Effective speech-to-text creation, integration and editing.
Either develop an audio application specifically for mixing audio to picture or provide tighter round-trip integration with Logic Pro for audio mixing. The current audio mixing capability in Final Cut is limited and clunky. Audio mixing should be as easy in Final Cut as it is in Premiere to Audition.
Better, smoother collaboration features when editors are not on the same network. Adobe was so convinced this is an essential feature, they bought Frame.io. Perhaps include better media management and review tools.
Fix all the bugs in creating both DVD and Blu-ray Discs. The future may be downloads, but thousands of editors make their living creating physical media for clients. Burning DVDs/Blu-ray Discs in Final Cut has not worked properly since FCP X was first released. Support burning multiple movies to disk. Support custom menus. Support stories. Support multiple languages in both audio and captions.

I’m sure you have your own list. Share it in the comments and let’s get the conversation started. Spread the word.

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151 Responses to What Features Does Apple Final Cut Pro Still Need?

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Ross Hunter says:

May 23, 2022 at 6:07 am

After right clicking a title in Final Cut, opening it or a copy in Motion, making changes and going back to FCP, I’d like some choices on what happens next.
1) do nothing different…just make the change, or
2) press a modifier key and the title you modified changes in Final Cut and you don’t get a copy (unless it’s a built in Final Cut title) or
3) press a modifier key and all instances of the title you modified in Motion will reflect the changes you made. The third option would be much like changing a style in a page layout program.
As an editor who often changes his mind or needs to change a title after it’s in the time line in a few places, it’s a pain to have to manually apply the changes to each instance. I’d like Final Cut to help me out. I have sent this idea to Apple previously.

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Dan Winckler says:

May 23, 2022 at 6:13 am

I would put your #2 at #1 (speech-to-text creation, integration and editing). I am a big fan of Lumberjack Builder, and integrating its workflow of “paper cut” editing into Final Cut Pro would be a massive game-changer for documentary production companies like ours, where transcripts are essential, and 99% of the edits start with a paper cut assembled from transcripts by a producer or story editor. Getting there would almost certainly require your #4 (better collaboration features) so that a relatively non-technical producer could assemble that paper cut in a text-based way (not in a FCP timeline) that an editor could then take over.

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- Larry says:
  
  May 23, 2022 at 6:20 am
  
  Dan:
  
  Lumberjack Builder is an amazing system. Thanks for mentioning it.
  
  Larry
  
  Reply
- Gayle C. says:
  
  May 23, 2022 at 2:08 pm
  
  Yes, I would agree with that change in order, Dan. I always feel sad when I’m cutting on Premiere wishing I had some of its features in Final Cut, like talk to text for captions. It’s an amazing tool that’s incredibly easy to use and gets the job done lickity split. I also agree with Tom, Peter, Stacey and others’ suggestions. There needs to be some attention paid to this.
  
  Reply
Jonathan Alexander says:

May 23, 2022 at 6:20 am

I also agree better color grading and audio controls would go a long way. even if it was a separate app like motion or compressor.

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Kent Rich says:

May 23, 2022 at 6:30 am

Oh, where to start. I’m a long-time FCP user but with the advances in Resolve, it’s looking like FCPX will be losing me to that platform here soon. They are right on top of the collaboration tools and round-tripping within the Resolve ecosystem. I love that. I need to move quickly and Resolve is killing it. However, I still use FCPX for 90% of my editing because I just know it and I’m fast with it.

Things I’d like to see:
1. Once you detach audio from a clip, you can’t re-attach it. Why?
2. Collaboration tools have to be a priority. As a managing editor, I would like to see what junior editors are doing with their projects and be able to share projects more easily.
3. Why in the world can FCPX NOT take Black Magic Raw footage?
4. Audio, Audio, Audio. I use Izotope RX and Audition because there really isn’t a good option in FCPX.
5. Nothing can touch Resolve for the power of color grading, masking, and tracking, but why is that? I bet Apple could do a great job in this area if the focus was there.

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- Caesar Darias says:
  
  May 23, 2022 at 5:23 pm
  
  I agree with your first comment about re-attaching the audio. You cannot even undo that move. Very annoying.
  
  Reply
Greg Sommer says:

May 23, 2022 at 6:32 am

FCP needs to bring back the media manager from FCP 7. It is very important for archiving libraries.

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Keith Jackson says:

May 23, 2022 at 7:36 am

Bring back DVD Studio Pro. There is no product on the market to replace it. I make my entire living selling DVDs.

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- Larry says:
  
  May 23, 2022 at 7:38 am
  
  Keith:
  
  It can’t be “brought back.” It won’t run on today’s 64-bit computers. Apple needs to re-create it using today’s technology.
  
  And, I agree, DVD Studio Pro was amazing.
  
  Larry
  
  Reply
Avtar says:

May 23, 2022 at 7:36 am

Just adding another couple of thoughts as they occur to me.

I would love to have a drop down UNDO HISTORY LIST to avoid having to Cmd-z numerous times.
This was great when I worked on Avid for many years and still miss it after 14 years on FCP7 and FCPX.

And as mentioned in other suggestions, BETTER MEDIA MANAGEMENT to sift and trim used media for archiving projects would be a dream (without having to use 3rd party software).

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Tom Wheeler says:

May 23, 2022 at 7:39 am

Some of my suggestions are the same as yours, Larry. (1) A good audio mixing tool that is tightly integrated with Final Cut Pro. (2) A scrolling timeline, Apple has ignored this forever, and it has been constantly requested. (3) A straightforward method of exporting individual clips from the timeline that does not require frame.io. (4) A straight forward method of archiving Final Cut Pro Projects. (5) A straightforward method of importing content from Logic Pro and Garage band including accessibility in Final Cut Pro to Apple Loops.

Tom

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David Peterson says:

May 23, 2022 at 7:48 am

There have been some good items listed here already. The features built into CommandPost (which I contribute on) are somewhat of a wishlist, but done things can’t be fixed just by automation.

Personally, I’d love to have a Role-based audio bus/mixer, which is in effect while editing the current timeline. Sealing it into a Compound Clip to mix on roles or subtitles sucks because you can’t hear those changes while editing.

I’d also love to be able to “pin” a video role, which would basically put all video with that role at the top layer, similar to how closed captions work. You can reorder multiple pinned layers in the Index, ala Audio roles.

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Peter Snowdon says:

May 23, 2022 at 8:16 am

The scrolling time line is a MUST. Visitors cannot believe it’s not there even just as an option.

DVD burning is useless since upgrading to the latest software. We sell direct to the public in the UK and one third of customers still buy on ordinary (not blue ray).
I have had to go back to an old MacBook air prehistoric software on to burn a DVD. Crazy.

I would like to see much more interaction available from clips modified in the timeline back to the Browser. I know there’s compound clip but it’s not the same. I do a lot of basic editing on the timeline which I have developed into a very quick way of working, but want to save those clips back.

I would like a ‘tool box’ to drop in much used effects and transitions for regular use. A previous system, not Apple) had this and it is much missed.

I would like folders within Events to drop groups of clips into to keep them separate from other clips so I can dip into them without changing Events or having to tag them.

Thank you.

Peter

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