We're probably only a couple weeks from the release of FCPX 10.0.5. The average release cycle and 1 year anniversary of the software line up pretty well, so I'm predicting we'll see it either June19th or 26th.

It will be interesting to see how many of the "2012" features make it into this update. If it's out of character for Apple to pre-announce features, then it's positively bizarre for them to talk about features that might not even make it into the next update. Personally, I'm inclined to believe that this is because both MXF and RED support require 3rd party participation, so Apple can't guarantee their readiness for the next release. So I really wouldn't be surprised to see both the new "Multichannel audio mixing tools" and "Dual viewers" in 10.0.5, and potentially all 4 if they can get their ducks in a row.

Other features on my personal wish list-

• Roundtrip to Motion
• iChat theatre replacement (probably tied into the new iMessage)
• Roles organization in timeline
• selective copy/past of effects

I'm hoping for the dual monitors and have my fingers crossed big time that some dynamic trimming to rival Avid MC will come with them.

IMHO MC's "dynamic trimming" totally sucks compared to FCP 7.

Based on the track record, all the "announced" features will show up in the next release. Crossing fingers.

I'm curious about what you mean by "Roles organization in timeline".

Though I really do think that Apple is onto something with Roles as a replacement/improvement to static tracks, visually, it's a mess to look at currently in the project timeline. So I'm looking for visual organization.

What I would like to see is that Roles are colour-coded, and grouped in the project window. So that all "DIALOGUE" lives in a horizontal line, that line could be one "track" high, or several depending on how the elements overlap. Then another Role, then another below (organized in a user preferred order). It's NOT re re-implimentaiton of tracks, but simply audio organized by Role, with the flexibility of the individual elements within each Role to move around within their "Lane" just as they do now.

And if "dialogue" clips overlap?

Color coding I'd like to see for sure.

Roles needs to have multiples built in so the stems can be easily checker-boarded. There should by default be Dialogue 1 & 2, Music 1 & 2, Effects 1 & 2. There also needs to to be assignable roles in the import module so you can easily change the default import roles based on the media you're importing, so a card or a section with interviews can be video/dialogue, and another card or another section with B-roll can be video/effects.

Colour coding would great for sure, for individual clips would be nice, but at least for roles.

Something else related that would be nice is separate control over video and audio clip appearance.

I never thought about it, but yes, being able to assign Roles on import would save TONS of time!

Yeah, that is fantastic idea--assigning roles on import. Let's hope they listen to you!

@ BenB The same thing that happens when clips overlap now, they jump down so that they can overlap cleanly. This is why I make the distinction between the traditional idea of Tracks. A track is a single line of audio, whereas Roles in the timeline will obviously contain as many layers of overlapping clips as they need to, but you'll never have a MUSIC clip fall into the same horizontal space as DIALOGUE. Visually, they're separated, and recognizable by colour.

Here's a quick mockup I did-



Even though there is blank space above some of the purple clips, they don't fall upwards. They keep relative position with the rest of the clips in that Role.

It would also be great if you could collapse Roles to clean up space while your working

NICE!! That would be sweet.

Submit that to the feedback page, who knows?

I got drawn into a conversation with someone on CreativeCow about the the update, and someone casually asked, "So, is it going to be 10.0.5 or 10.1?"

I've seen this idea thrown around before, and I've sort of offhandedly dismissed it. I don't think that anyone would argue that FCPX still has a lot of areas to improve before we could put it up against any other NLE on any kind of job. So it always seemed to me elementary that we'll see continuous updates from 10.0.5 all the way up to 10.0.9 throughout the next year- potentially leading up to a 10.1 preview at NAB 2013, or a release somewhere around it's 2yr anniversary.

I don't know what got me thinking about it differently, but I tried to put myself in that mindset and I might have come up with a theory that could potentially point to a 10.1 instead of 10.0.5 release we expect in the next couple weeks.

This is all pure Kremlinology, and I wouldn't put money on it (I think 10.1 next year is much more likely)- but here goes.

When Apple released FCPX 10.0.2 they made a point of saying (and listing in the release notes) that FCPX 10.0.3 would include BROADCAST MONITORING and MULTICAM. At NAB this year, in the press previews, Apple only listed the upcoming features as being "2012". Not "10.0.5". It continues to strike me as odd that Apple would talk about features that wouldn't be in the "next" update, and since the updates are coming about every 3 months, several updates could pass without a whiff of some of the ones they listed. That's weird.

So here's an idea- what if they're just saying "2012" because the updates aren't coming in 10.0.5, and they aren't coming in the "next update" because those updates are coming in 10.1? Whether it's a paid update or not, 10.1 could feature a lot more new and exciting stuff than the features previewed at NAB. Those are just the ones they chose to announce. Like the features Apple previews at iOS updates vs the ones they announce when the new iPhone gets released.

Also, I don't think we should completely discount the fact that the next release is likely to coincide with the 1yr anniversary of 10.0.0. It's not clear if FCPX is going to be updated annually, or (more like legacy FCP) every 2-3 years.

Finally, if Apple has any intention of allowing paid upgrades for software in the Mac appStore, then it's going to be on the rollout of something like FCPX that they'll do it with. And with the WWDC developer conference launching next week- if they announce a paid upgrade option for MAS software, it might just be a sign of a FCPX 10.1 release.

It's all circumstantial and probably amounts to nothing, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

Regardless, we shouldn't have long to wait to find out.