Next Final Cut Pro privately demoed by Apple, deemed 'a jaw-dropper'

Last week, Apple invited a small number of people including producer, director and editor Larry Jordan. Jordan is the head of Larry Jordan & Associates, Inc., which trains professionals and students with an emphasis on Apple's Final Cut Studio.

Jordan wrote about the experience on his blog, but declined to provide any details, citing a non-disclosure agreement with Apple. However, he said he could acknowledge that the meeting happened, and that the new Final Cut Pro was demonstrated.

Without getting into specifics, he said that it would be a "great year" for users of the Final Cut Pro software suite, suggesting that Apple could release it in the near future.

"While the invited crowd was small, it was a Who's Who of leaders in the post-production community," Jordan wrote. "I felt like I was standing on the red carpet at an awards show, watching all the stars walk past."

Rumors of the elite group of users who saw the new Final Cut Pro surfaced earlier this week in a report that suggested the new version would be in 64 bits. It also said the release will include "low level architectural changes" as well as a "complete redesign of the user interface."

The enthusiastic comments from a professional user may calm some who were concerned last year after AppleInsider first reported that Apple was, at the time, scaling Final Cut Studio to fit the "prosumer" market rather than high-end professionals. But Apple responded and issued an official statement in which it claimed the "next version of Final Cut Pro will be awesome and [Apple's] pro customers are going to love it."

Earlier this year, a rumor claimed that Apple plans to release Final Cut Pro in March or April of 2011. That report said the update would be "substantial," but would not bring many features expected by high-end users.