Quote:
Originally Posted by Kenny Gioia
Why would they allow other companies to compete with them if they don't have to?
Capitalism and competition exists when there's no way of controlling your brand.
No one is stopping Apple or Nuendo from creating (or buying) their own protocol and building large controllers around that. But they know that without Pro Tools, there's no market for it.
So Avid should just give that away?
Should they let other companies design HDX cards that work with Pro Tools as well?
The fact that the S6 works with all Eucon enabled DAWs is a great step towards avoiding the Control 24 - Pro Control situation.
If those units would still work with Logic or Nuendo but not Pro Tools 11, you could just switch DAWs and still have a working unit.
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No one is stopping Apple or Nuendo from creating (or buying) their own protocol and building large controllers around that. But they know that without Pro Tools, there's no market for it.
Nuendo
is doing that with their Yamaha Nuage controller line. Very tightly integrated with Nuendo and Cubase, and offers at least some level of HUI for working with Pro Tools. And a comparable Nuage system is a bit cheaper than Avid's S6.
While not
really a DAW maker, SSL has done quite well with their "analog console/control surface" hybrids despite only having the MCU and HUI protocols. And with the DAW market it a state of flux right now, what would happen if SSL writes or buys their own DAW, using a proprietary protocol + MCU/HUI.
Could be a
real game changer.
I'm impressed by the S6 overall, but I think Avid may be making a couple of mistakes here...
Since they're going
modular, Avid should drop the whole "low end/high end" thing. They should ditch the M10, and cut the price on the M40 to a point where they cold sell an M40 16 fader/5 knob + Process Modules + Display Modules + a stand for less than $40,000, which would put it somewhere around the price and feature set of a D-Command.
Then there's the
Display Modules...to be totally politically incorrect, they are probably about as useful
operationally as t*ts on a nun to the small to medium non-post studio, but those "bouncing meters" are impressive as hell to "Arnie & The Farmers" when they come in from Podunk, Iowa to make their first record. Here's a place where Avid could benefit from something of a "low end/high end" approach...they could come out with just a "Meter Module" with nothing but "bar" meters that mimic those in Pro Tools to give those "bouncing meters" at minimal cost. It would not be so much a "low end/high end" as a "buy what you need" thing where the "music" guys don't need as much metering as the "post" guys do.
Overall, I'm quite impressed with the S6 concept although I doubt that I personally would be able to scrape up enough money for even one of the cheapest modules. I'm sure Avid has more marketing guys than they can shake a stick at, but I think they might want to take a closer look at what will bring in bucks for "the little guys" and throw them some type of a bone...