WHEN IS LEOPARD SUPPORT COMING?!?!

[brokemusician3]

Point taken. Analogy bad.

What it boils down to is this - we offer X product at X price point with X features. The 'why' is that, just like any company, we price things at a point that we think the consumers will pay, given the competition. We always evaluate where we are in the market and make adjustments as necessary. I'm sure if we find that we're losing market share, we'll adjust.

If and when that happens, though is not my realm. I'm here to support current products and not speculate about what could or should be.

I'm going to have to leave it at that for any further discussion regarding this topic.

Although I can't stand artificial limitations in Protools LE, as a company Digidesign certainly has the right to name thier price and offer different level products at different price points, that's called buisness, so the cry babies need to just deal with it. However the good news for us cry babies is that digidesign is definately feeling the pressure and things like elastic audio are really just last ditch efforts to hold off the enevitable which is the day comming very soon that artificial limitations are removed from LE.

[brokemusician3]

Ok so while we wait how do we get Tiger to work on the new Harpertown macs? And what is the best version of Tiger to be using?

[devkerr]

Point taken. Analogy bad.

What it boils down to is this - we offer X product at X price point with X features. The 'why' is that, just like any company, we price things at a point that we think the consumers will pay, given the competition. We always evaluate where we are in the market and make adjustments as necessary. I'm sure if we find that we're losing market share, we'll adjust.

If and when that happens, though is not my realm. I'm here to support current products and not speculate about what could or should be.

I'm going to have to leave it at that for any further discussion regarding this topic.

Admin, thanks again for your responses. We all understand that it's your job to diplomatically respond to these posts. I, and I'd imagine a lot of other people (both LE and HD users), feel pretty strongly about some of these issues. My intent is to not to just blow steam about Digi; I genuinely do not want see ProTools die in the way that Avid video has--because, well, I love the software and wish to make glorious music with it.

I understand Digi is driven by the bottom line, like any company, but Digi should really concentrate on future success, as opposed to making $500 on music production toolkits--which probably nearly every buyer resents purchasing.

What paths are available for users to voice their concerns to appropriate personnel?

Are there ever meetings or forums for Digi users to talk to the company?

Perhaps Digi just needs to hire me

[andrewSF]

Imagine Mercedes sells these two cars:

Mercedes HD - full featured, awesome
Mercedes LE - mostly same exact parts, just certain things have been made to not work (to cripple its usefulness): the windshield wipers have been unplugged, the ABS brakes have been disabled, the car only shifts into 3rd gear (despite having a perfectly functioning 4th gear), one of the doors is not allowed to be opened.

Obviously, Mercedes would never do this, and if they did, the public outcry would be overwhelming. If they spent the money and took the time to put the parts in, why not allow them to work? This is all that is being asked of Digi, and I really feel that that question is entirely reasonable. I realize this analogy is somewhat exaggerated, but in some ways it is completely accurate (i.e. lack of 32+ tracks, no automatic delay compensation, no surround, etc).

When was the last time you shopped for a car? If you take a look you'll notice that automakers do, in fact, offer different versions of the same models with different feature sets. The main way this differs from Digidesign's products is that "LE" is usually the higher-end version of a car, but essentially Digidesign is doing the same thing as automakers: more features for more money. It's not that the lower-end versions don't have the basic features (they do, just like M-powered and LE record audio and MIDI, support plug-ins, etc.), it's that you have to pay more for some things (leather seats, fancy stereo, more tracks, time code support). Ultimately it's the market that decides, so Digi (like all companies) has to find the right balance between price and features, but let's not pretend that LE (which thousands of people are happily using daily for a wide-variety of tasks both amateur and professional) is like a car without windshield wipers. Sheesh.

[Vaphoron]

Digi just added the following to the front page so it looks like it might still be a while.

At this time, Pro Tools LE® and Pro Tools M-Powered™ systems are not yet compatible with Leopard, but please be assured that we are committed to bringing Leopard support to you as quickly as we can. We are currently working very closely with Apple in order to ensure that when the fully compatible versions of Pro Tools LE and M-Powered are released, they’ll adhere to the same levels of performance and stability that you have come to rely on day in and day out. We understand your frustration and apologize for any inconvenience this delay may cause, but we ask that you please bear with us and wait to upgrade your OS until we announce compatibility. Thanks for your patience — stay tuned...

[wescravn]

The main problem with Digidesign Protools is the following.

1) The engine is outdated. Like indicated by the Digidesign rep their using 20 year old code, and trying to be backward compatible.

2) DIGIDESIGN DOES NOT CARE ABOUT PROTOOLS LE USERS - LE is stripped down POS that they figure they can offer people who can't afford HD systems. PROBLEM is their losing ground to apple with Logic 8 and other programs such as sonar 7 and ableton live, the list goes on. If digidesign got a clue, they would seperate the product into a seperate entity, and compete in thoose markets. Why wouldn't they do that? a) I don't think they have the programming ability onboard b) they don't see the value in it, they make most of their money from HD users spending thousands, not a LE user spending a couple of hundread dollars.

3) NO GAME PLAN FOR THE FUTURE - The audio engine sucks, and is outdated and subpar certainly for HOST BASED SYSTEMS, it was meant to run on TDM Engines.

What does protools do right?

Good Question

1) Very Little - I've grown to like the gui, but it needs a major overhaul
2) I was going to say it offers many ways of doing things but then so does Logic or other programs
3) So bottom line is not much

What should digidesign do?

1) Give RTAS A Slow & Easy death, and support a standard like VST.
2) Seperate Products into two different lines
3) Hire some new marketing executives
4) Get their head out of the sand, and get a clue
5) Make offers to switchers
6) Get some real hardware, instead of their POS Devices

Well that would be a start!

[froyo]

By devkerr

My intent is to not to just blow steam about Digi; I genuinely do not want see ProTools die in the way that Avid video has--

Hello. I just wanted to point out that Avid is far from dead. It is still used way, way, way, way more than Final Cut. I don't know what you are referring to.

[wescravn]

Well lwilliam, at least apple will come out with an update that works properly for those people that run logic, than digidesign will for protools.

Hey bottom line, whatever enables you to make music is the tool of use.

[Alvin]

The main problem with Digidesign Protools is the following.

1) The engine is outdated. Like indicated by the Digidesign rep their using 20 year old code, and trying to be backward compatible.

2) DIGIDESIGN DOES NOT CARE ABOUT PROTOOLS LE USERS - LE is stripped down POS that they figure they can offer people who can't afford HD systems. PROBLEM is their losing ground to apple with Logic 8 and other programs such as sonar 7 and ableton live, the list goes on. If digidesign got a clue, they would seperate the product into a seperate entity, and compete in thoose markets. Why wouldn't they do that? a) I don't think they have the programming ability onboard b) they don't see the value in it, they make most of their money from HD users spending thousands, not a LE user spending a couple of hundread dollars.

3) NO GAME PLAN FOR THE FUTURE - The audio engine sucks, and is outdated and subpar certainly for HOST BASED SYSTEMS, it was meant to run on TDM Engines.

I really don't want to be rude or disrespectful but can you explain to us why you actually use Protools? You seem to know the future of PTLE and Logic is actually quite cheap.

It baffles me why people seem to be so negative and yet continue to use the product; I used to be a PC PTLE user and didn't like it so switched to MAC. What is stopping you from doing the same with Logic or Sonar?

[Dowski]

Ok so just to recap - since Leopard support now exists for HD and LE is based off of the HD code, we can assume that it should be sooner (a week?, a month?) rather than later (3-6 months?)? I've heard all the rumors like "Sweetwater guy says Pro Tools is dying" "Dude from Guitar Center says LE support won't be until April","Sam Ash guy says blardy, blar, blar" etc. I'm just trying to get a gauge on when it will be released as "soon" ain't cuttin' it.
Also, Pro Tools is still the best thing going and everybody knows it - so let's stop the whole "Logic is going to steal your market share, Digi" talk. Please just tell me when the release is coming so I can quit checking this thread everyday! Besides that, keep up the good work -that Strike plug is a real corker!
Thanks!