Why I'm Out

[dmacintyre]

I know people are tired of anti-Digi rants but it just has to be said again that this is a broken model. I already started my move back over to Logic because of the lack of ADC and suchlike but a couple of things happened recently that really pissed me off.

My Mac suddenly stopped booting up last week. Couldn't for the life of me work out what was wrong, then I unplugged my MBox Pro. Mac starts OK. Plug it in, doesn't boot. No other system changes. I have encountered more system problems since going back to PTLE to try PT8 than I have at any time in the past - back on Logic, Cubase and Live I encountered zero in a matter of years on a variety of machines. Since connecting my MBox Pro I have had quite a few in a matter of months. Plus the MBox doesn't allow anything to be connected to the FW800 port. No other interface I have used showed any dissent with my FW800 drive connected concurrently. Plus I had no list of instructions of what I could and couldn't use on OSX like I had to follow if I wanted the MBox to work. If you are going to tie users to hardware, at least make it reliable.

Now, just today I sell Transfuser and transfer the iLok asset only to discover that there is in fact 2 assets, one for the program and one for the content. WTF is that all about? Structure LE is the same. Two licenses for a single product. It's a joke, especially in the case of Structure LE which isn't even worth the $50 in iLok fees.

There are aspects of Pro Tools which are not perfect and which any reasonable person can accept will take time to change and develop but there are some things which are ridiculous. Dollar for dollar, PTLE has got to be one of the most expensive but least feature rich and functional systems out there and this has been the case for some years now. The MBox "Pro" is already sold as is most of the software and I'm working happily back in Logic.

The scary thing is that when I removed all the Digi stuff from my system today and started working in Logic, it was like getting a brand new, twice as fast Mac. I realized I had been making excuses for PTLE and that's not right.

When it works, it's great but it's more expensive and less well spec'd than the other major DAWS. The problem is that I can't rely upon it working reliably and it has cost me a great deal of money to find out PT8 was not a fundamental improvement under the hood. PT8 is a beautiful GUI and that is one aspect I am sorry to lose but after working with it for a few months I think Digi just put lipstick on it's pig.

[TOM@METRO]

Hate to see you go, but I do understand.

[dmacintyre]

Originally Posted by TOM@METRO

Hate to see you go, but I do understand.

Thanks - I should have also mentioned that I don't want to have to move away from PT8 and I'm not anti-Digi in any way. I just am left with no choice under the circumstances.

[TOM@METRO]

Originally Posted by dmacintyre

Thanks - I should have also mentioned that I don't want to have to move away from PT8 and I'm not anti-Digi in any way. I just am left with no choice under the circumstances.

I understand. Most of us are friends of Digi. That's my concern, That those of us who would rather stay will be forced out do to inaction. I truly hope it doesn’t come to that. It is all down to timing now. We have a resposibility to serve our clients. Based on conversations I’ve had, I don’t see everyone waiting for the holidays. Good luck.

[Mason00]

Originally Posted by TOM@METRO

Based on conversations I’ve had, I don’t see everyone waiting for the holidays. Good luck.

Which Holidays are you referring to? Labor Day? US Thanksgiving (Late November)? Christmas ?

Any word on when Structure / Transfuser updates see light of day?

Christmas for 8.1 seems like Digi standards

[nod25]

Originally Posted by Mason00

Christmas for 8.1 seems like Digi standards

I'm NOT expecting THAT in my Christmas stocking

I AM expecting Logic or Record tho

Better dust off that eBay account.

[guitar486]

I for one am hanging around for a bit. Firstly, I'm not a "pro" with clients to serve. My clients are myself and my band. the funny thing is, even with pro tools "light edition" i have too much invested in it to make a switch worthwhile. Hopefully by the time I have my own studio or am doing whatever I end up doing in the audio engineering field digi will have stepped into their full potential, but until then I'm not scared enough to run away yet. Good luck to anyone forced to make that choice!

[tha]-[acksaw]

As a non Logic user I'm curious. Can you edit audio in Logic like you can in ProTools? Is there a real feel of POWER to the editing? That's really what I love about ProTools. I just feel like anything I can will is just a few touches away. I find the editing in ProTools in everything from the Hotkeys and Cursor Tools all the way down to the Comping, Cutting / Moving / Zooming / Moving / Cutting / Moving / Cutting /Zooming/ LOL, and of course TC/E and Elastic Audio.... Its just amazing.

If Logic can do all this with the same level of ease and flawlessness, even if I need to relearn a new software, I might jump ship. I just don't believe it. I've spent enough time with Sonar to understand PTs limitations, but I can't edit in anything else. And the in box mixing isn't half bad either with the right set of plugs. Maybe its just tracking limitations that get to you. Or the low grade Digi hardware bugging you.

There are things I hope for, like any thoughtful Digi user. But I, for the most part, am happy with their product, keeping in mind that I can't always get exactly what I want.

[dmacintyre]

Originally Posted by tha]-[acksaw

As a non Logic user I'm curious. Can you edit audio in Logic like you can in ProTools? Is there a real feel of POWER to the editing? That's really what I love about ProTools. I just feel like anything I can will is just a few touches away. I find the editing in ProTools in everything from the Hotkeys and Cursor Tools all the way down to the Comping, Cutting / Moving / Zooming / Moving / Cutting / Moving / Cutting /Zooming/ LOL, and of course TC/E and Elastic Audio.... Its just amazing.

If Logic can do all this with the same level of ease and flawlessness, even if I need to relearn a new software, I might jump ship. I just don't believe it. I've spent enough time with Sonar to understand PTs limitations, but I can't edit in anything else. And the in box mixing isn't half bad either with the right set of plugs. Maybe its just tracking limitations that get to you. Or the low grade Digi hardware bugging you.

There are things I hope for, like any thoughtful Digi user. But I, for the most part, am happy with their product, keeping in mind that I can't always get exactly what I want.

IMHO Digital Performer and Cubase are as intuitive as if not better than PT for audio editing and Logic gets the same results but just does it slightly differently. The results in all of them are "flawless". Any of the big names will do similar things, it's just a case of learning a new technique.

My beef isn't about workflow, it's about reliability and functionality and without that it doesn't matter how good the audio editing is.

[RussUK]

The math of any client base, or for that matter any users of an organisation.
5% love it
5% hate it
90% just get on with it.

The problem with a place like the DUC is that on the whole the posting on these kind of subjects are by one of the two most polorised, so any discussion is skewed by this. Not dismissing anyone's opinion, just contextualizing it in the grand scheme of things Nick.