Short version: same engine, different door. Both tools detect the beats of your song with AI and cut your footage frame-exact onto them. The difference is which edition of DaVinci Resolve you run, and how the edit gets into it.
| Pulse Edit | Pulse Studio | |
|---|---|---|
| Works on | DaVinci Resolve Free and Studio (18.5+) | DaVinci Resolve Studio only (18.5+) |
| How the edit arrives | OTIO timeline you drag into Resolve | Built directly inside your open project (scripting API) |
| Your clips come from | Folders on disk | The Media Pool (Master or any bin, scanned recursively) |
| Beat markers | — | On the timeline or on the audio clip |
| Audio track | In the OTIO timeline | Inserted automatically; song from disk or Media Pool |
| Speed ramps | — | Slow-mo + speed-up with Optical Flow (beta) |
| Beat zoom (animated punch-in) | — | Yes (beta, off by default) |
| Chronological wedding order | Yes | Yes |
| Setup in Resolve | None — drag the .otio into the Media Pool | One preference, once: External scripting using = Local, then restart |
| Other editors | Premiere Pro XML and Final Cut Pro FCPXML (beta — not yet opened in either app by us, not once) | — |
| License | The same one — €13/month (or €130/year) unlocks both, plus Pulse Color | |
What OTIO vs scripting API actually changes
An OTIO file is a description of a timeline: which clip, which in-point and out-point, in what order, plus the music track. Resolve reads it once, on import, and builds the timeline from it. Nothing talks to Resolve afterwards — which is exactly why it works on Resolve Free, where no API exists. It is also why the OTIO route stops at cuts and audio: Pulse Edit's export carries the edit, not the things Resolve does to a clip afterwards, like markers, retime curves or Fusion animations.
The scripting API is a live connection to the open project. Pulse Studio uses it to read your Media Pool, place the clips on the timeline, add a beat marker on the exact frame, insert the audio — and, for speed ramps and beat zooms, write a Fusion composition on each clip with the keyframed curve already inside. Same beat detection, same five cut patterns, same chronological order; only the door into Resolve changes, and with it what can be done once inside.
The decision in one sentence
Resolve Free → Pulse Edit. Resolve Studio → Pulse Studio. That's it. Resolve Free has had its scripting API disabled since November 2024, so no tool can build a timeline inside it — OTIO import is the clean workaround, and it is exactly what Pulse Edit does. Resolve Studio has the API, so Pulse Studio uses it and skips the export/import step entirely.
Can I mix them?
Yes — many editors run Resolve Free on a laptop and Studio on the main workstation. One key activates Pulse Edit, Pulse Studio and Pulse Color everywhere. Fair warning on the newest tool: the Pulse Studio workflow is in beta testing — anything odd goes to support@pulseedit.com.