Anyone else here concerned with the lack of available DSP plugins?

[Bob Olhsson]

Yes but TDM is a much larger market that was far more dominant eight years ago than today. Developers could also charge a lot more. I also don't know of anybody who has gotten rich from developing plug-ins when you add up development labor and dealer margins.

A lot of old plug-ins could not be adapted to AAX-DSP until the hybrid DSP format was introduced with PT 11. I wouldn't hold my breath about anybody porting old plug-ins but we will probably see some brand new AAX-only ones that employ this capability.

[WernerF]

I'm not talking about simply offering an SDK. I'm talking about real financial incentives. Someone's got to step up. Granted, the home studio market is far larger than the pro music market but the pro music market is still a market. If Avid, in their shaky financial condition, can afford to ignor an entire potential revenue stream then so be it. It does not make real financial sense though.

[Drew Mazurek]

Originally Posted by JFreak

Waves, anyone?

Right, Waves is a competitor now, not a partner.

They've chosen their route forward and it doesn't involve Avid DSP.

[Drew Mazurek]

Originally Posted by WernerF

I'm not talking about simply offering an SDK. I'm talking about real financial incentives. Someone's got to step up. Granted, the home studio market is far larger than the pro music market but the pro music market is still a market. If Avid, in their shaky financial condition, can afford to ignor an entire potential revenue stream then so be it. It does not make real financial sense though.

Maybe you're overestimating the market.

Or as Bob points out, margins. I remember paying $400-1000 for quality (at the time--actually pretty bad by today's standards) TDM plugins. NO ONE will pay that now unless it's a super niche product.

[Bob Olhsson]

Avid/digi has always offered legitimate developers a free SDK along with big discounts on Pro Tools systems and direct help in fixing bugs. No other platform I'm aware of offers developers anything resembling that level of support.

Avid and the plug-in developers are not stupid and have undoubtedly done the math. The results just aren't what many want to see. The pro music market is still very much dominated by power pc macs because our market has been in a financial freefall for more than a decade with vast numbers of studios going out of business. Avid's shaky financial condition certainly appears to be the result of trying to address hobbyist music and video as a countermeasure to there being no more pro music market for upgrades or new systems. Most of Avid's competition actually has gone under!

[JFreak]

Dominated by PPC Macs? No way! Last new G5 was sold in 2005 and there is no chance 10-year old machines would "dominate"

[Bob Olhsson]

All I can go by is what I see in studios and from my clients. PT 7HD still gets the job done for a great many successful musicians and studios. Studio maintainance takes a much higher priority for them financially than a new computer and Pro Tools rig.

[WernerF]

That's your clients. There are many people who use way more up to date systems. Guys who mix records for one. Granted the industry has taken quite a number of major hits in the past decade but many of us are adapting to new business models which are, of course, changing all of the time. We are, though, financially totally viable. This is not a world of old school business approach's. Many of us do need the best sounding tools for our work and plugins have come a long way since PT 7 HD. Being offered mostly Native versions of those plugins is not a great situation for many of our workflows.

Also, if you look outside of the US, in Canada for instance, there are new major recording facilities that have been built and more are coming. The last one I was at had an HDX system which I made them swap out to a TDM system. They had both and the TDM system was P Tools 10. That was just the last place by the way. I've had the same experience numerous times.

[sound_music]

wernerf we'd all like to see avid start kicking out dollars to 3rd party developers to get more DSP plugs onto the market, but unfortunately it's a pipe dream. avid's seen a 90% decrease in net income from 2011-2013, they don't have ANY money! it will never happen.

to support bob's point, mine was one of the many studios still perfectly happy on a PPC g5 rig running HD7 until only 18 months ago. there are still lots out there, and 7.4 is still unequivocally the most stable pro tools version that was ever written. i have to admit i'm fairly disappointed having dropped the 10k on the HDX upgrade--as someone mentioned above it really is "half a system" compared to TDM with the lack of DSP plugs and myriad other issues.

(i'm over the moon about dumping that dinosaur g5 though!! it was getting painful...)

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by sound_music

(i'm over the moon about dumping that dinosaur g5 though!! it was getting painful...)

But they make such a nice foot warmer when the heater in the room goes out