Digi - Please Consider EuCon

[manis]

i thnk if you read bewteen the lines.., or actually read the lines.., i think what you will find is what you are asking is near impossible.., by the time it took to redesign PT.., even if that possible.., consoles will be replaced by direct wiring to the brain.., i dont think digi wants to upset anyone and does not want to lose profit (more important for any business.., as you all know)if one wants to stay in buisness

[froyo]

Hello. This is a good thread, I agree with some of the points made here. However I did want to point out that this is after all the Digidesign Users Conference or DUC, emphasis on users. Digidesign does moderate the threads and occasionally comment, more so lately than in the past. However CR Postmixer, if you expect a Digidesign employee to hop in on this thread and publicly comment whether they plan or not to license EuCon, I dare say you will be waiting a long, long, long time. At best you may get a 'No Comment' if even that much. If you truly want an answer to that question I suggest you take a more direct route and talk to someone directly at Digidesign about the subject. I am sure they'll take your call. Try Jon Connolly. Good luck.

[CR Postmixer]

Actually JC and I talk often. Well maybe not so much lately because we haven't bought any new gear recently Seriously Jon has been a good rep, but obviously this goes WAY up the chain. I did not expect to come on here, make a post, and have a Digi guy say " Oh is that all you want " OK maybe I wanted that a little. What I wanted to do was see if others feel the same and if so give them a common place to help me make a case to Digi to maybe think about it.
And I don't think it's a recode deal. I may be wrong but I think it's really more a matter of some information exchange ( and probably some $ )? If all of PT's controls are accessible to Digi's hardware then I would imagine it would just be a matter of writing a EuCon map to make control to control connections? Euphonix guys seem pretty confident that they could make it happen?
Whether or not this ever comes to fruition is to be seen. I just thought I'd see how many others felt the need for this connectivity so that if/and when I get a chance to present this argument to Digi, I can show some strength in numbers.
You've all made good points on here and I would invite even more. From both sides.

[JohnR424]

I had a conversation with Rich Nevens regarding this matter and I believe that now is the time for some Solomon style thinking from these guys because there are some major issues coming to a head here as more people are becoming aware of just how powerful native systems are (not the watered down offerings from Digi) and how many manufactures are working together to make systems that talk to each other in a very significant way. The more you shut yourself away from the outside world, the more you are left in the cold. This company has been good at making equipment that is solid and predictable, but being fat dumb and happy right now I believe is poison. I believe adopting Eucon or allowing a translator program to be written would be smart forward thinking.

[froyo]

Hello. OK CR Postmixer that makes a lot more sense. It was a little misleading because of your title and some of the comments made in the thread, it seemed like you wanted Digidesign to comment on the issue here on the DUC. As you know that just won't happen. But if all you wanted was to gauge user interest for EuCon here on the DUC then the thread makes a lot more sense. You may want to think about changing the title of the thread to something like 'How Many Out There Want EuCon?' or something more appropriate like that.

As for the subject itself, I think the ground has been accurately covered here. Major (as in physical size, big) film stages with Harrisons and such will probably never use something like the Icon so Digidesign is probably not shooting for that market. Smaller film stages as well as TV, DVD and other media can and do use the Icon so Digidesign is already well represented there. I just don't see Digidesign licensing EuCon as things stand now, there just doesn't seem like there is much for them to gain there. As an end user I personally would like options, we all do, but from Digidesign's point of view I just don't see them doing it, at least not the way the market stands now.

[CR Postmixer]

" As an end user I personally would like options, we all do, but from Digidesign's point of view I just don't see them doing it "

This is the point exactly. And we do have options. One of those options would be to switch to a platform that allows us to connect to multiple applications. If you buy an ICON you have 1 option, ProTools. And that's great if it works for you. I'm not bashing the ICON or it's users. It's just that the whole 1 option mentality is very limiting for my needs. Users who already have a EuCon control surface may choose to work with other applications, and Digi could be one of them ( and through HUI - YAWN ) some already do. But users with ICON's can only use PT. It seems like in a competitive market you would want to maximize your user base by being an option for those of us who can't use an ICON? Not all PT users are going to by an ICON or other DIGI controllers and that may just steer those people to other platforms all together.
As for DIGI's gain.... Money isn't everything. Customer loyalty is very important. After all the customer is the one spending the money.

[froyo]

Hello. I understand your points and agree with most of them. However this is Digidesign we are talking about here. Since they have been a significant player in professional audio (15 years or so) people have been making predictions about how their closed, proprietary business model will be their undoing. And every year they just keep plugging along gaining market share. Now eventually I suppose there will come a time when they will need to rethink the way they do things. I just don't think that time is now. Maybe I am wrong. Again I personally would rather they would sell the software separate from the hardware, do away with LE and let the software be the same, let the hardware controllers operate with other software (Ethernet), etc. In other words, as a consumer I would also like Digidesign to change the way they do things. And I suppose maybe there will come a day when they may be forced to. I just don't think we are there yet.

[froyo]

By funkcity

If Guitar Center is the client and you are so slammed by Final Cut Pro that you can't even make it to the NAB show then how can you expect them to address the issues being discussed in this thread?

Hello. When I read last year that Avid was skipping NAB, like everyone else I assumed it was one more sign of their supposed sinking ship. But now that I see that Apple is skipping NAB I tend to think maybe there is more than what meets the eye. Apple certainly is not in financial straits, they are as strong as anyone can be at the moment. And yet they are choosing not to go. You have to wonder what that's all about. Is Avid really in that bad a shape? Maybe but NAB may not be a direct result from it. Does Apple care less and less about professional applications (NAB, AES, NAMM, IBC,etc) and more and more about iPods and iPhones? Probably but that may not also mean that they can't make a good product (Final Cut, Logic, etc) or that they'll stop perfecting them or supporting them.

Anyway, this gives a whole new angle to the doomsday predictions of so many swirling around Avid and by default Digidesign.

[Chief Technician]

Does Apple care less and less about professional applications (NAB, AES, NAMM, IBC,etc) and more and more about iPods and iPhones? Probably but that may not also mean that they can't make a good product (Final Cut, Logic, etc) or that they'll stop perfecting them or supporting them.

Steve-o is spending too many resources on his iGadgets and too few resources on Leopard, FCS, ARD, etc. In a word - bugs. The qualifer for that word - lots of them. If Avid, Digi, Apple, etc. would just listen to me tell them which bugs to fix, and then fix them, the world would be a happier place. Trust me.

[Stephen Webster]

+1 for Eucon.

I am looking for a second desk/controller for my B-studio.

Eucon seems fantastic, except for the lack of PT support.
Digi's lack of support for Eucon is seriously forcing me to consider an alternative DAW.

Come on DIGI.