Sony Vegas Pro 18 Review: Better Than Premiere Pro?

Sony Vegas 18 is one of the linchpins of professional video editing, it’s cool, exciting and it doesn’t half offer up a plethora of functionality. In this Sony Vegas Pro 18 Review, I will reveal everything that you need to know about this version of Vegas and determine if it’s any good. Let’s go!

The newest edition from Sony Vegas presents a whole range of new features. Sony Vegas 18 specifically designed to enhance your editing experience, create DVDs and Blu-Rays, and deliver a high-quality final product. 

This progressive video editing software optimises visuals, sound and creative techniques to allow users to interact with both timelines and their storyboard dynamically. 

With dockable windows and savable layouts, Vegas 18 is pushing technological boundaries to enhance user experience.

Today we will look into Sony Vegas 18 in a lot more detail and cast our overall thoughts on editing powerhouse. 

Let’s check them out below.

Our Breakdown of Sony Vegas 18 – An In-Depth Review

Here we look into Sony Vegas 18 with a microscope and cast our views over the individual nuances it provides. We hope this helps you understand the program more and decide whether it’s right for you!

Here’s a great video outlining the difference between vegas pro 17 and vegas pro 18.

Dynamic timeline and storyboard interaction

For editors looking to experiment with alternate sequences or easily and swiftly create rough cuts, Vegas Pro 18 uses interactive editing that is simultaneously fast, straightforward and will accelerate your workflow. 

This feature is facilitated through a dynamic interaction between the timeline and storyboard, making it possible to create, select, arrange, and pre-edit the desired video clips and then preview them from the Project Media window. 

Once the sequence is complete on the storyboard, it is automatically transferred onto the timeline, meaning it is ready to use as desired.

You may also be interested in: Best Storyboarding Software and Storyboarding Apps

Enhanced creativity through artificial intelligence

The unique and advanced artificial intelligence assisted technology facilitates ease of editing when dealing with demanding tasks. 

This AI is beneficial with specific tools such as the Vegas Style Transfer, which allows users to apply the styles of famous artists such as Picasso and Van Gogh to edits. 

This aspect of the software will enable you to add an extra dimension to your videos, bringing them to life uniquely and memorably.

Integrated audio editing

Sound Forge Pro 14 is designed to extend your audio workflow. It allows you to import dialogues, sound effects and music to effect precise audio editing. 

With a selection of audio restoration tools, the track can be transferred back to the Vegas timeline when it has been completed. With close integration into the video editing programme, it simplifies sound editing without compromising on quality.

With Zynaptiq Unveil, also a valuable way to edit your soundtracks and improve quality, you will find such helpful features as improving poor quality room acoustics, increasing speech intelligibility, and removing excessive audio reverb. 

These integrated audio editing features can be beneficial for soundtracks that have been filmed on location and have background noise. The best part of this feature is that it can be performed retroactively, which means it can be employed to clean up tracks.

A user-friendly motion tracking panel

One of the optimum features of the Vegas Pro 18 is the video stabilisation plug-in and motion tracking. Using the Bézier Masking FX, it is easy and straightforward to eliminate shakes and bumps, creating a smoother and professional image. 

The Bézier Masking effect is also helpful to enable planar Motion Tracking, which allows for tracking objects that are not square to the camera. 

Employing both the Bézier Masking effect and picture in picture effect, you can create your magical world on the screen, adding objects where you choose and even replacing what you see through a window. 

Vegas Pro 18 makes all this simple and easy to control without any complications.

You may also be interested in: The Best Free Video Editing Software For Everyone

Rescue recordings

With the flicker filter, it’s possible to either reduce or remove any flickering caused by neon lights or other light sources. You can also use this feature to add special effects. 

If poor lighting is a problem, there is a feature to enable noise reduction, restoring detail to the video and creating increased sharpness for an overall improved image. 

This feature is handy for incorporating older recordings into a video without sacrificing quality. Instead of enduring poor light or visual noise, the recordings can be polished to a higher standard, enhancing the finished project’s overall quality.

Wide variety of special effects

Vegas Pro 18 offers an eclectic and exciting library full of varied special effects. The programme facilitates adding effects at the media level, project level and video bus level, and the track. 

At the video bus level, there is the added benefit of adding envelopes, fades, and track automation and transposing this onto the entire project, making the whole process more streamlined and more effortless.

Some of the excellent special effects options on offer with the Vegas Pro Suite 18 include:

• The ActionVFX Action Pack, which enhances scenes with a cinematic quality
• Its Boris FX Continuum features the professional standard Image Restoration Unit, Particles Unit, Mocha masking and tracking tools, and the Film Style Unit. However, these do not come with the standard new version of the software.

Tailor transitions to your video

The software enables seamless or dramatic transitions with the unique and progressive NewBlue Transitions 5 Ultimate. It features 65 motion, light and 3D stylised transitions. 

This aspect allows for the bespoke application to your editing project, ensuring that you can apply the perfect transition to create a professional and polished work that will impress.

Professional look and images

With the intent of making colour grading sophisticated, flexible and intuitive, Vegas Pro gives users increased control in the colour grading panel. 

This aspect means that results are achievable in full HDR and are not complicated to achieve. Furthermore, with the utility of scrubbing and pre-editing your sequence in the storyboard, it allows you increased flexibility.  

It makes the process more time-efficient and simply easier, as well as offering features to make your video stand out.

You may also like to read: What is a storyboard? The fundamentals of storyboarding

Four different versions of the software

There are various versions available of the Vegas Pro 18, including the Edit, Pro, 365 and Suite. With the Edit as the most basic version, you can upgrade to the more expensive Pro for an increased selection and variety of features. 

The 365 version is a subscription version of the programme, which allows users to pay an annual fee to use the programme without committing to the expense of buying the complete schedule. 

This package can suit anyone who needs to use the software only for a limited amount of time or who plans on upgrading to future versions.

As the most extensive and comprehensive version of the software, Suite goes the extra mile with its features, especially when it comes to special effects. 

Some of the most impressive FX features are only available in this version. It might be worth stretching to the higher price tag for any editors who want to achieve the high quality and standard of edited sound and video and desire to use the special FX to their maximum.

Overall features of Sony Vegas 18

With improved video effects and transitions, a more intricate render progress dialogue and reworked screen capture ability, the Vegas Pro 18 have new and progressive features designed to enhance UX and edit a more streamlined process. 

The range of available plug-ins, such as the denoiser plug-in, style transfer plug-in and flicker control plug-in, make the experience of using Vegas Pro 18 a bespoke one that users can tailor to their individual needs and requirements.

This programme excels at improving video quality and sound quality with the integrated audio programme. It is especially good at restoring and enhancing video and sound quality to augment the overall quality of the finished product. 

One of the standout features of this software is the dynamic interaction between the timeline and the storyboard. It was first introduced as a feature in the previous Vegas Pro 17 version, which allows for productive and efficient workflow.

While the overall usage of the software is simplified and easy to use while still attaining a professional standard, it is a shame that some features are lacking in the Vegas Pro 18, such as some of the extras. 

For example, Boris FX Continuum Image Restoration Unit and Boris FX Continuum Film Style Unit, which are helpful, are missing from both the Vegas Pro 18 and the Vegas Pro Edit 18. However, you can find the features in the more expensive Pro 18 Suite.

FAQs About Sony VEGAS Pro

The Final Cut

Overall, this professional standard software allows you to produce professional standards with maximised ease of use and comfort for professional editors and high-level amateurs alike.

Sony Vegas 18 offers many desirable features that make it stand out compared to some of the similar competitors on the market, offering relative simplicity and professional quality as two of its primary components. 

It feels like this software is designed explicitly with creativity prioritised at the forefront to achieve an end-product that is smooth and streamlined.

Now vegas pro vs premiere pro is no comparison, but Vegas pro is certainly a force to be recon with.

We hope this in-depth Sony vegas pro review was useful to you. Let us know your thoughts in the comments, and scroll a little further for some of our favourite video editing articles.

Coming soon! My vegas pro 19 review and vegas pro 20 review!