Countdown to FCP 10.6

The FCP Fall 2021 countdown has officially begun. It's been a long, long time waiting for a

real major full point, full feature update to Final Cut Pro. But hopefully, that wait will soon be over.

There are two events happening within the next 30 days that very likely will showcase the next major update to FCP, 10.6 (or 10.5.x or 11🤨). And the official release, or announcement of release, of macOS Monterey.

The first, which will be announced at any time, will be held on Monday October 18th.  It's called "Unleashed" and is for the next gen M1X/M2 line of pro Macs, including the long awaited 16" MacBook Pro. Just in time for the important Christmas buying season.

As the eternal FCP optimist, I expect the 10.6 update to FCP to be huge. The last real full point, full feature update was over three years ago with FCP 10.4. FCP 10.5, which came out last November, was a minor update for a minority of M1 Mac FCP editors. The vast majority of FCP editors are editing on Intel Macs. There was next to nothing for FCP editors on Intel Macs in FCP 10.5. That update probably was a lot of work (that every other app developer also has to do so not just the FCP team) that produced almost zero new features for most of us. In fact, there was a debate to NOT call it 10.5 but rather 10.4.x. But marketing won and Apple called it 10.5.

Just as exciting for FCP editors will be new Pro Apple hardware, the pro level M1X Macs with HDMI, a card reader, MagSafe, 64GB RAM option and 3 or more TB3/USB4 ports. Its likely to ship with macOS Monterey. I'm looking forward to taking my first Apple Silicon pro Mac for a spin with both FCP and Logic.

FCP 10.6 - New Pro Macs - Apple & the Fall of 2021

Also this November, FMC is hosting a FREE FCP Summit event in cooperation with Apple including a presentation from the FCP/ProApps team at the spaceship Apple Park. Maybe even from the Steve Jobs Theater.

In the past, Apple has announced major FCP updates around this event. FCP 10.3 in 2016, 10.4 in 2017, 10.4.4 in 2018. This could happen once again in November 2021 with the long awaited FCP 10.6.

Was FCP 10.5 a lot of work? Probably. But a lot of work does not by itself make a great update. 10.5 was not a great update by any margin, especially compared to FCP 10.1, 10.2, 10.3 & 10.4 - Apple's other FCP full point, full feature updates.

During this long, long wait for signs that FCP has not been put on the back burner, some FCP editors have jumped ship and abandoned FCP in favor of Resolve or another NLE. In my case, I bought the studio version of Resolve and have used it on some projects. It is a very good pro NLE.

But editing is not a zero sum NLE app game. You don't have to drop one in order to use another. If you've bought FCP, it's yours even if you use another NLE.

Countdown to FCP 10.6

Exciting times for FCPro Editors world-wide. See you all soon!

Speaking of Logic, perhaps a new version of Logic as well. Logic 10.7?

In 2016, at the October Apple event that introduced the brand new 15" touchbar MacBook Pro, we also got FCP 10.3.

That's right, a brand new full point, full featured version of FCP released at an Apple event. Not a FCP event, an Apple product event. That could indeed happen once again in the Fall of 2021 with the brand new 2021 M1X/M2 MacBook Pro at the next Apple event. Or at least a demo of FCP 10.6.