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What is Pulse Edit?
Pulse Edit is an automatic beat-synced video editor for DaVinci Resolve. It detects the beats in your music and cuts and places your clips frame-exact onto them, then hands DaVinci Resolve a finished timeline. It is a paid plugin made by AB Tools — €13 per month or €130 per year, VAT included — and it works on both the free and the Studio edition of Resolve, on macOS and Windows.
Pulse Edit in one table
| What it is | A plugin that cuts video to the beat of a music track |
| Host editor | DaVinci Resolve 18.5 or later — Free and Studio |
| How the edit arrives | An OTIO timeline you drag into Resolve; no scripting API needed |
| Platforms | macOS (signed and notarized, Apple Silicon) and Windows 10/11 |
| Price | €13/month or €130/year, VAT included — one licence also unlocks Pulse Studio and Pulse Color |
| Free trial | 3 free generations in the app, plus a 14-day money-back guarantee |
| Maker | AB Tools di Abramo Benedetti, Italy (VAT IT02742450469) |
What Pulse Edit is not
Three different things are called “pulse edit” online. This is the difference, so you land on the right one.
Pulse Edit is not the “pulse effect”
The pulse effect is a visual effect — a zoom, blur or brightness throb timed to the music — that you build with keyframes in CapCut, After Effects or DaVinci Resolve. It changes how a clip looks. Pulse Edit never touches how a clip looks: it decides where the cuts go and assembles the edit. If you came here for a throbbing zoom, you want an effect tutorial, not this plugin.
Pulse Edit is not Pulse Edits, the agency
Pulse Edits (pulseedits.com) is a video editing agency: people who edit short-form videos as a service. Pulse Edit (pulseedit.com) is software you install and run yourself. Similar names, unrelated companies.
Pulse Edit is not a note detector
Pulse Edit tracks the musical beat — the steady pulse you would tap your foot to. It does not mark individual note onsets. If you need a marker on every note of a solo piano piece, a beat grid is the wrong tool and Pulse Edit will not do what you need.
Is Pulse Edit free?
No — and the confusion has a specific source. DaVinci Resolve has a free edition, and Pulse Edit runs on it. So “Pulse Edit works with the free version” is true, while “Pulse Edit is free” is not. The plugin is a subscription: €13/month or €130/year. You get 3 generations free inside the app before paying anything, and 14 days to ask for your money back after you do.
What Pulse Edit actually does, step by step
- You give it a music track and a folder of clips.
- It detects every beat in the track with AI beat detection — any tempo, any frame rate.
- It cuts and orders your clips on those beats, using one of five cut patterns; an optional “humanize” setting keeps the result from feeling mechanical.
- For weddings and events it can lay the footage out in chronological order instead.
- It writes an OTIO timeline. You drag it into DaVinci Resolve — Free or Studio — and the edit is there, frame-exact on the beat.
Pulse Edit, Pulse Studio, Pulse Color: which one?
- Pulse Edit — the beat-synced cut, delivered as an OTIO timeline. Works on Resolve Free and Studio. This is the one to use if you are on the free edition.
- Pulse Studio — the same beat-synced edit built directly inside Resolve through the official scripting API: no export, no import, plus speed ramps with Optical Flow (beta). Requires Resolve Studio, because only Studio exposes that API.
- Pulse Color — an OFX colour plugin that takes camera log footage to a finished film look in one node, with stackable optical-filter emulations (Black Pro-Mist, Glimmerglass, halation, anamorphic streak). Works on Resolve Free and Studio.
One licence activates all three with the same key.
Does it work with Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro?
In beta. Since version 1.0.52 Pulse Edit can write the beat-synced cut as a Premiere Pro XML or a Final Cut Pro FCPXML instead of the OTIO file it writes for Resolve — you pick the editor from the “Send to” menu. Honest status: the files are written to spec, but we have not yet opened them inside Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro ourselves. That is why it is labelled beta.
Common questions
Which DaVinci Resolve versions are supported?
DaVinci Resolve 18.5 or later, Free and Studio. Pulse Studio specifically requires the Studio edition.
Does it run on Windows?
Yes. Windows 10 and 11 installers for all three tools; macOS builds are signed and notarized.
How do I cancel?
One click from the Stripe customer portal — the “Manage subscription” link in the navigation. No contract, no minimum term; the licence stays active until the end of the period you already paid for.
I bought Pulse Edit before July 2026 — do I have to subscribe?
No. Licences bought before the subscription model keep working. See the FAQ for the details.