Opcode-rumors & digi using OMS

[Florian]

I just read in another thread here that there seem to be rumors about opcode going down.
Don't know if that is true but my question to digidesign is why they continue to use OMS for syncing and midi, even in the upcoming promising PT5? What is the technical reason for this? Logic Audio, for example, uses it's own drivers for midi, there is no need for any other extensions, OMS, FreeMIDI or whatever, all you have to run is the application itself, and it makes setup and troubleshooting much easier. At least in my opinion and experience. Any thoughts???

Florian

[Robert U]

One thing is for sure. Logics driver is much tighter than OMS or FreeMIDI. I did a test being able to switch between OMS and AMT in Logic (version 4.03) with about 30 channels going simultaneously and there's a really big difference in timing.

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Robert

[Marc Edwards]

I guess OMS is easier to program for, works with multiple interfaces, recognises devices, and will allow multiple applications to use MIDI at one time... But if Opcode are no more...

Oh, yeah, and OMS turns any tight MIDI setup to slush... Robert U, you're right. Logic drivers are really tight, and OMS is crap. I don't know how anyone serious about using MIDI could even contemplate OMS.

[lucian]

So what choices I have other than OMS?
Thank you
lucian

[Borgbilly]

Alright digi, anybody want to take a crack at this one?

Opcode is gone along with OMS. How about you and MOTU and Logic get together and standardize MIDI system setup and routing software. Do it for the industry as a whole! ENOUGH PROPRIETARY SOFTWARE!!! I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore. That's it - I'm loading up my 1988 Ford Econoline Super Extended Van with case after case of Pabst Blue Ribbon (the beer of extreme violence*) and several cartons of Winston filter kings and I am going to patrol these United States in search of anyone even thinking of making another piece of proprietary MIDI system software, and they are going to get a personalized love letter from my heart!

* If you don't believe me just watch "Blue Velvet".

[Ted Rackly]

Optcode were/are making Digi's new Midi box, but now gone bust?

[crsync]

Borgbilly -- I'm right behind you in my 1972 F-100 4X4....please all you manufacturers -- do the right thing.

[deadboy]

Wrong again Ted. They haven't gone belly up. Not when you have Gibsons bankroll.

I though you left and were going to stay at the MOTU board.

[digiuser]

I just received my upgrade to Vision DSP 4.5.1 albeit a little late...Only thing is I use it on an Imac without a floppy drive for authorization...I'm not even going to install it because I obviously won't be able to get a respose from Opcode on the challenge/response end of things. What gives...is Opcode through or are they just being idiots???

[This message has been edited by digiuser (edited 10-14-99).]

[Rail Jon Rogut]

Received this recently in an email from a local reseller:

Opcode has closed it's doors. Officially it's "restructuring" but it might not come back. While the facts aren't clear, it's known that all the employees except a few, a tech support/repair person among them, have been let go. Gibson apparently isn't sure what they want to do with the company and it may be for sale.

Rail

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Recording Engineer

[Avid]

Opcode made a public statement in a response to questions from Macintouch at http://www.macintouch.com/opcodereorg.html

As far as our joint venture, the Digidesign 128X MIDI Interface, please see Ed Gray's statement in the Announcements Forum here.

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Bruce Paine
Mgr. eMarketing

[digiuser]

Thanks Bruce for the link...I read the press release or whatever it was....looks like it's a lot of Business mumbo jumbo...anyways...I hope they get there act together.

[Bryan]

...read the statement...

Clinton and his lawyers would be impressed.

What a bunch of garbage. What we want to know is will SVP be _professionally_ supported (even just minimally maintained) or not? Simple question; which has been asked of them 2.4 million times.

I saw PT 5.0 last night. There are some very excellent midi features. Impressive really. The only glaring thing that is missing for scoring guys is the ability to have multiple ques loaded at once, but I'm sure they'll add this shortly...i hope! ( Oh, and no swing quantize _yet_.)

[Soundwerx]

Isn't Digi already involved with emagic?
why not get together using the Unitor 8
and the enviroment.....as in logic

my 2 cents

grey
post supervisor

www.soundwerx.com

[Digi Engineering]

Bryan,
There is swing quantize in 5.0. It is one of the parameters in the quantize window.
-Mike Rockwell

[Lee Blaske]

In light of Opcode's difficulties, and also because of recent market developments, it surprises me that Digi would be releasing a "new" OMS interface.

I have an enormous amount of respect for the former Opcode, and still use SVP a great deal. Unfortunately, improvements need to be made to OMS to keep up with competition, and it doesn't look as if Opcode is in the position to make them.

Some time ago, Emagic introduced AMT (Advanced Midi Transmission) which greatly improves midi tighness. The idea is that midi information is transmitted ahead of time to the interface, and the interface spits it out when needed, thus eliminating serial log jams.

At the recent AES show, MOTU announced something truly amazing called MTS (Midi Time Stamping). This new midi standard (part of FreeMidi) allows a staggering amount of midi resolution. MOTU has historically been on the bottom of the heap in the midi tightness race, and it looks like they've decided to fix this problem once and for all. In addition to being wonderful for people who can sense timing discrepencies, the new MTS spec will be great for traditional composers who wish to slow tempos way down during ritards, even allowing fermatas while still being able to record midi info.

At any rate, with these developments, I can't imagine that Digi would want to pin the midi side of PT 5.0 to OMS. If they did, it would definitely be the weakest player in the midi game, and I can't imagine they'd want that distinction. Additionally, I also have it on good authority that OMS still contains mostly 68k code.

The Digidesign midi interface was to have been the Opcode product with a different face plate. Will they actually go through with it?

Even if Digidesign wanted to take on the project of updating OMS to PPC code, I wonder if they'd be able to get permission from Gibson to do it.

Would Digidesign ever consider making ProTools compatible with Emagic's AMT or MOTU's MTS?

In a way, it's really a shame.All of a sudden, we're getting some dramatic improvements in midi performance, but we seem to be in great danger of losing the OMS standard which allowed us to work with a wide variety of hardware (albeit often in a compromised way).

Lee Blaske