Thanks! Well, I’ll hopefully have a chance at some point to work on something just to test it out. I don’t want to pay for a subscription to software, and DaVinci has a free option, so maybe I’ll try that one. I assume it’ll let me export good master files to toss over to Compressor.
While waiting for the new computer stuff to arrive, I’ve been just playing some with FCPX by recreating some audio work I already have done before. The 2011 machine appears to work fine once booted up, but hopefully you’re not in a hurry if it does get shut down.
DaVinci has its own powerful exporting, though it’s built into the same app. The free version of DaVinci is only missing advanced color correction tools, but even the free version has more color correction ability than any normal NLE (as that was the original core function of the app).
Premiere Pro has an analogous app to Compressor called Media Encoder. Premiere Pro has better color correction abilities than FCP (7 or X), and though not as powerful as Reaolve it’s much easier to use.
Avid also has a free version, called Avid Media Composer First