I had been using TimeBolt for about a year, and before that I had tried other subscription-based editors like Gling. They all had their issues, and honestly, I was getting pretty tired of paying another subscription every month.

With TimeBolt, I eventually just stopped using it. I never really liked the way it handled audio waveforms, the limited view range could be frustrating, and every now and then I’d get weird or buggy edits when bringing its XML files into Final Cut Pro.

I actually found PowerCut completely by accident. I was on Rafael’s site to buy PowerDuck and PowerEQ, saw PowerCut, and thought, “Wait... what is this?” Haha.

A few things immediately caught my attention. It uses Apple Intelligence for transcription, it gives you actual text-based editing; which is something I REALLY wish Final Cut had built in; and it’s a one-time purchase. No subscription. That alone had me interested.

So I downloaded the 7-day trial, edited one video with it... and bought it immediately afterward. Seriously. One video was enough.

I’ve already saved a ridiculous amount of time editing A-roll with it, and at this point I honestly can’t imagine not using it. I’m going back to work full-time while still doing YouTube on the side, so anything that can save me this much time on the more tedious parts of editing is going to be an absolute GODSEND.

And I really like that it doesn’t try to replace Final Cut. It just helps me get through the rough cut way faster and then sends everything right back into FCP where I already want to be working.

Thanks, Rafael. Your Final Cut tutorials have helped me a ton over the years, so I’m really happy to support something you made—and even happier that it turned out to be this useful. Excellent work!