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View Full Version : Digi, can you please answer this?


Loudnoize Ent.
06-10-2005, 12:23 PM
Well I tried posting this on another thread but obviously it wasn't seen or ignored. This is a valid question so can you please help me here.

I'm also a techie in the LA area and many of my clients depend on me giving them exactly what I feel would suit their needs. Some use LE, others DP and Logic. I have been selling them the idea of M-Powered and for a while too. I personally own both and my preference has become M-Powered. Many of my clients, if not all would never even re-think of buying M-Powered (no matter how convincing my pitch is) if they feel that in the near future, M-Power will not carry the same features as LE. Already, the support for Control/24, DV Tool kit option & Digi Translator have been disabled/removed. If M-Powered was design to be the lesser of the 2, please state this... then I'll know exactly what my sales pitch will be.

Thanks.

Aleatoric
06-10-2005, 12:34 PM
Yes please answere this, at first I got the impression that they where equal that PT was would simply now run on M-Audio hardware as well as Digi's and that both would be supported equally (ie when a update or cs update is released it is released on both LE and MP at the same time) but now I am starting to think that PTMP is going to be treated as a lesser system. Please clarify, thanks.

uptown99
06-10-2005, 09:44 PM
Hi I read your post and this is just my 2 cent ? I too am also a engineer in Broadcasting for Film / Audio and I am a big user of DP, but most of my other friends in Audio have been ProTools user and the reason I left the M-Box and went with the M-Audio 1814 and Protools for M-power because it gave the options to run different app's on my Laptop when I travel to NYC or Atlanta

and I was think about this as well, because if they gave you the DV tools kit option and Digi translator and Control/24 then who would buy( Let say ) a Digi002 rack unit when they can save money no a M-Audio unit I was checking my friends unit out (Digi 002 rack) and what he has is just 4 more analog outputs and few more mic pre's ( now I am not going to get into this whole debate about DiGI002 interface vs M-Audio interface in which sound better ) what I do know is if Protools for M-Power had all same options as ProTools LE then who would buy Digi 002 unit

Dave !

bufflo
06-11-2005, 01:40 AM
If M-Powered was design to be the lesser of the 2, please state this... then I'll know exactly what my sales pitch will be.



It seems like Appl... er I mean Digidesign is in the middle of deciding whether or not to keep the LE hardware line around. If you were them, would you want to keep developing/supporting 3 different software versions (HTDM, RTAS, RTAS-MP)? With the extended support for M-Audio devices, my guess is that Digi is going all MP on the RTAS side. Software is the way to go, especially when you have the ability to still control it the way Digi/M-Audio/Avid can...

Loudnoize Ent.
06-11-2005, 01:45 AM
So therefore, because we haven't invested in a 002 or MBox, we get a slap on the wrist. All I'm stating here is purely common sense and I need to repeat that many agree with me. Listen, I would understand the politics involved IF Protools was bundled with an M-Audio interface but it's not. It's a piece of Software we have to purchase which is absolutely fine with me but don't make it lesser of the two just because your clients are not purchasing a DIGI interface.

DIGI, am I to understand your silence IS my answer? Work with me here. I go out of my way in introducing, demonstating Pro Tools M-Powered (which by the way I still call LE) to my clients (your FUTURE buyers) because I believe in a product that works well. Doesn't that tell you something.

One last thing... I knew right of the bat M-Power was in fact going to be the bottom of the line software when I first clicked on that Pro Tools M-Powerd icon and the image of a couple of teenages (looks like they're waiting in line to audition for the next American Idol or something) popped up on my desktop, leaving me feeling like I'm using a "lesser of the 2" application. Yes they both do the same thing and "almost" have the exact same features but I have a feeling as time goes on, LE will be made to be superior to M-Powered.

Thanks for hearing me out...

By the way, for what it's worth, I wasn't bashing American Idol. Although I feel Bo Bice should have won.

froyo
06-11-2005, 11:10 AM
Hello. I don't think you will ever get Digidesign to come in and answer the question in the way you have phrased the possible answer. No company will ever publicy use terms like 'lesser'. Ironically, Pro Tools LE when it first rolled out was called Limited Edition. A title they soon changed, abbreviated, I suppose maybe because they thought the word 'limited' may send a wrong message. But it was that way in the software when you first opened it and in some of the literature associated. It's an accurate descriptor, as the software is in fact a limited edition of the TDM software.

The point there is Digidesign will not say in those terms that LE is a lesser offering than TDM because of the limits. They will phrase it differently. And market it accordingly to those different descriptors. You have experience with their product and sales history, you should know this to be true.

In this case I think you have the answer you seek already. M Powered Pro Tools and Pro Tools LE are not exactly identical, because of the limits you already described. The same way LE has limts when you compare it to TDM.

However TDM and LE have always been on par as far as upgrades and updates. Again, your experience with Digidesign should tell you this is true. Sometimes one comes out before the other; sometimes LE before TDM or sometimes the other way, but eventually they both receive the same upgrades/updates. But always TDM has more features than LE. So you can rest assured that whatever updates and upgrades LE gets, M Powered will also. The differences will be the ones already described.

Also, I don't expect they will similarly come in and map out their marketing roadmap for M Powered for the future. It's a public forum, why would they put out this kind of information for the competitors to read? This would be analagous to asking Digidesign what their intention and roadmap was for the 001 and the LE line when it was first introduced in 1999. Questions like, will I ever have more than 24 tracks? Beat Detective? SMPTE? Features from TDM that eventually made their way to LE. I don't think Digidesign will similarly come in and reveal to you and the competition what they plan to do with M Powered in the future. Come to think of it, no company I know of ever shares that kind of information.

But you can read between the lines and make some deductions. Digidesign will never call LE lesser than TDM or M Powered lesser than LE. But the limitations of one compared to the other give you all the answers you need, wouldn't you say?

Loudnoize Ent.
06-12-2005, 05:49 PM
Froyo, thanks for your input. Maybe I was asking to much out of Digi and possibly asking out of frustration since my income "also" derives from setting up Pro Tools rigs. Lets face it, when I'm selling M-Powered to anyone and they feel the need to know "LE versus MP" and I don't have a simple straight answer, that bothers me. From now on, I'll have to speculate.

DigiTechSupt
06-13-2005, 12:21 PM
Froyo - thanks for the eloquent response.

Indeed, most of what Froyo says is very much 'on the money'. I do want to say that we plan on keeping LE and MP versions updated as close to each other as possible. There are some differences in the way they interact with the hardware that may prevent updates from being entirely simultaneous, however.

I don't think I can add much more to what Froyo had to say - he's got an excellent grasp of the logistics involved with what can and can't be said regarding company policy and future plans.

agwholland
06-13-2005, 12:40 PM
I just purchased Logic Pro 7 and installed it on a mac duo G5.
it can't find the digi 002R. Software complains that I need to reboot
audiocore..... also complains at startup that audio interface will not
be used.

sounds like a coreaudio digi driver problem to me.

any ideas?
anybody using their digi002R with Logic Pro 7 ?

Loudnoize Ent.
06-13-2005, 02:03 PM
I do appreciate both responses from Digi and Froyo. This is all I needed to hear.

Thank you.

Aleatoric
06-14-2005, 11:29 AM
I speculate that maybe the reason that Control 24, DV Toolkit and Digitranslator is left out of M-powered is do to update plans. Maybe this means that PT7 will have DV and Digitranslator built into it. I could be incorrect but I thought I remember reading that the Control 24 is being replaced and proably will lose support in future updates just like the Pro-Control on HD systems. So yea maybe Digi made these little adjustments to M-Powered so people are last pissed when PT7 comes out and it has Timecode and OMF support and they wasted $1000 on DV toolkit. Just some speculation though....