We need Sound Designer

[CEG]

I can't understand how you all can stop making software that we the consumers are demanding.
At work all our sound files are SDII.
Example we make recording as to voice quality of our products. We then pass on these records to other Corp. Plants around the world.
Your ProTools software is just complex for our needs.
We have three MACs at this location and other ones around the world.
At home I use SDII to process LP's to CD's.
ProTools will do the job however it anything but easy to use.
Please take the time and update SDII.

C.E.G.

[Province Sound]

Did I miss something? The most recent SDII Update I got was V.2.8.3. Are people just looking for more advanced features, or has Digi actually DISCONTINUED SDII.(Eeek,Arrgghh) As a ProTools Owner I must admit that I use Digital Performer 2.6 for all of my work. SDII is my gateway to Masterlist CD for cd production.Yes there is room for improvement, but PLEASE let us keep working with the tools that do the job.
I am wondering if there are any incompatibilities use the current SDII with MacOS 8.6?

[Province Sound]

Whoa, I should have read the previous thread of 33 pages of anger, disgust, etc. regarding the demise of SDII. I am using SDII with a New BEIGE PowerMac G3. Everyting seems to be working ok, should I be worried? Since this looks like SDII's ending I guess I'll toss some ancient history at the group. I am one of the few people that can lay claim to helping Digidisign's founders Peter Gotcher and Evan Brooks (as unwittingly and stupid as I may have been at the time, since I was working for Fairlight in the early 1980's), I showed Peter how the waveform editing on the Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument) worked.(The FIRST Digital Sampling Instrument) At the time Digi was an EEPROM manufacturer for drum machines, so I saw no harm in giving him a thorough demonstration, since he told me that Digi was going to buy either a Fairlight CMI or a Synclavier for editing their sounds to burn into the chips for the Linn and Oberheim Drum machines they supplied product for.(Yeah, boy was I really dumb!) Within a few short weeks I found out that the real reason for the visit was a fact/feature finding mission for the creation of Sound Designer I software for use with E-Mu's Emulator II as a visual, Mac based waveform editor (that's ALL), to help E-mu compete with Fairlight & Synclavier. Yes, SD was the real flagship product for Digi.
Well, I left Fairlight and went to to work for E-mu and I became the Emulator III Product Specialist. I was one of the first people outside of E-mu and Digidesign's factories, i.e. the real world, to actually PLUG the SCSI cable of the Mac into the Emulator III and use it for editng. Yeah, I know, I'm talking ragtime. The point is that at the time SD II did not support the EIII and users had to rely on a program called ALCHEMY, anyone remebmber that? Does anyone care? Probably not. Most users with samplers today use other things like BIAS Peak etc. for those chores.(If they even bother editing anything in their samplers!) Digidesign decided that making the "front end " for digital samplers was not the real goal of SDII. So...they stopped making SDII compatible with samplers and now have dropped it altogether. I guess we shouldn't be that shocked. I also sold many MAC/SDII systems to Post Facilities, recording studios, etc. Having watched the development come so far and stop is one thing, but as all of the other users have stated, It really is my favorite and easiest to use 2 track mastering tool. I cannot imagine having to go through another learning curve with some other program, when SDII gets the job done just fine.
Anyhow, I still own many "obsolete" things here in my own studio, from the Synclavier to a "Double manual Mellotron Mark V, and anything else you might imagine. So it looks like Digi is forcing us to keep the old machines with old software to do our work. I just hope we can keep the old stuff working! I too have had problems with losing my Hard Disk Installs, due to corrupt files on my HD and other stuff that happens to our systems just by virtue of the world we live in. Am I to understand that if we lose our install disks that there are NEVER EVER going to be replacements again? Upgrading and new features are one thing, but to cripple, yes I really mean that, the many users that rely on SDII forever, jeez Digi, say it aint's so! I know that Peter, Evan, and the many good friends that once were "the company" are no longer there. Is this progress? Is there anyone left that cares? Yes $$$ are important to survival for all businesses, but so is customer loyalty. If this is all as bad as it sounds put me down for as many backup SDII floppy disks as Digi will sell me! Sorry to be so verbose. I guess we can use some of this rambling as SDII's epitaph.

[Dog BBQ]

Digi should release the Last version of SD II as freeWare!!!!!!

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[email protected]

quote:

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The Greatest Risk in Life is Doing Nothing

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[coaster]

freeware is an appropriate solution. as avid no longers sells the product, or a replacement, and the product is extremely out of date, it should be provided 'key-free' for the people who would benifit from using it. i see no reason why it should be copy protected anymore. they don't sell it. it's protecting no one. key protection schemes are only provided to further increase the amount of sh*t in your life. judging from the amount of anger and resentment on various issues included on this page, it is a cause to rejoice that no one has of yet rented a ryder truck full of deisel and fertizer..
digi is making a few wrong moves on this subject and a few others(pt5le). they will either fix these problems (choices), or go out of business, or neither, or both.
look at it this way...
if your wife/husband/spouse consistently does something that you cannot stand, after repeated complaints, DO YOU STILL SLEEP WITH THEM? or do you move on and let them find their own way? I for one am getting tired of the avid "one step forward, two steps back" policies, and i am looking for appropriate (read other companies) alternatives.

[Province Sound]

It would be nice to get the program "non copy protected" for those of us that do rely on it.
I personally have owned at least 3 or 4 copies of Sound Designer I (Each only worked for a SINGLE sampler, of course) Emulator II, Mirage and Emax I. Then at least another 4 or 5 copies of Sound Designer II. Since the last time I got upgrades from Digidesign, I was informed that none of those records exist any more, (since the Avid purchase) so it probably would be a moot point. I certainly feel that I deserve non protected software and I'm sure everyone here feels that way too.(Especially some of you with large investments in Pro Tools or a slew of workstations running SDII!)
Back to the real world. Can we get another copy the SDII Version 2.8.3 software for any price? As an additional backup disk or a new purchase?
Or have we really been "cut-off"?

[sd2a]

Yes, Sound Designer being discontinued was bad news! It is a great program, making - for composers - a great pair together with Csound for sound synthesis! SD lets you look and walk waves at any resolution without much effort or action.
Well, as Digidesign has dropped SD: Why not make it free software in the real sense, i.e. object _and_ source code? As "open source", SD could continue to _L_I_V_E_! Programmers all over the world will contribute... and spread the fame of Digidesign as the originators. Please, consider the GNU General Public License!

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KYL Kai Yves Linden

[geoffbryan]

I have to keep a Mac Quadra 800 with Audiomedia II card up and running just to use Sound Designer II for editing interviews. If anyone out there came up with a program that would allow you to capture a bunch of small regions and list them LEGIBLY, so they could be placed in sequence, I would jump at it, because the Quadra is really slow by today's standards.

I have tried doing the same work in Pro Tools, and it is an exercise in frustration. You can't read the region names, and you can't just drag them into a playlist with controlled transitions and precise running times.

Digidesign probably needed the cash infusion from Avid to continue its existence, but it's unfortunate that the Boston bean counters have ruined the company.


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Geoffrey L. Bryan
Trent/James International
Los Angeles

[Arno Peeters]

Geoffrey ?

Why not invest in a faster computer running Audiomedia III with SD 2.83 ?
You won't have to change anything in your methods of working, but it will be much more convenient ?-)

[Randy Bryant]

How is he going to use all those plug-ins???