Digidesign Transformation

[digimog]

I am a veteran of the 001, somewhat kludgy software early-on, driver hiccups, extra-ordinary processor demands, GUI incongruities, boot-up billboards that would not go away until you bought something, etc.

Although you did not always have the greatest code crunchers - you strived to give me the best sound and sound manipulation possible within the contemporary technology constraints. IMHO you hit it out of the park.

A couple of months ago, I bronzed the 001, sent it back to you for the trade-in deal. Got 003 Factory running 8.0 on MAC Pro. Still on the learning curve but I like it a lot.

My .02: If you want to establish "Brand" (which is what this exercise to be) make your stuff work __TOGETHER__. ( e.g., Let LE 8.0 talk to M-audio so singer/songwriters can create in their hotel rooms).

Permit seamless upgrades through the product set. Interoperability within a product set strengthens brand, offers opportunities for up sell and leverages paid-for code.

Oh yeah, and one more thing - get out of your cubicle and talk to customers!

[stonedef]

Just to further clarify the intent behind my earlier post about not feeling confident or trusting digi anymore the thing is..........
You flag upcoming major things that we're all gonna love, you cant say anything but you're sure we'll love it.
Well i trusted you years ago and bought a system that cost me well over $20,000 when i invested in HD3 + C24 +software enabling me to do OMF and post production(i even bought the MP3 codec, NOBODY else charges to let you make MP3).
The result of that trust? Left behind with Avid saying that it hurts for them to do that! It's my income, not a hobby, and now you want me to trust you again blindly as you dissolve Digi into the AVID machine, who's to say we wont get left again three or four years from now?
How much money do you think is reasonable for a one man company to spend with you to follow your changes? Im not a high end studio that has Million dollar clients, I work hard for the money i earn and want you to respect that in your clients too.
AVID ignored Final Cut Pro, assuming them to be too small to worry about and pursued their Mojo solutions and 'closed loop' mentality, and guess what? FCP is becoming huge, so AVID kinda misjudged that hey? So again, why place our confidence and trust in AVID when they absorb Digi?
Whos to say they wont once again ignore whats happening in the real world, where other platforms are becoming much cleverer, and stick to their guns and kill digi in much the same way that FCP took a lot of ground off Avid editing systems.
I totally agree with the earlier posts that we smaller HD users made you the 'standard' that you so hold on to for reputation, so stand by those who helped you climb to the top.

Theres a lot of people in this forum feeling abandoned who have invested in LE systems, it's magnified when you've invested in HD!
You DO need to talk, really talk to those who use your product day to day, and not do the 'marketing' thing and think that we just swallow it and follow blindly.
Or at least admit to whatever 'plan' you have in mind and let us make a decision based on real information, not spin.

[cparks100]

I have been a video software Avid user for 8 years. Support is the pits and they do not listen to simple suggestions about improving their product. Missing some real basic features. I have moved on to a Sony product. I have been a Pro Tools LE user for only 10 years. Support is the pits (Other than the DUC) and they don’t really act on suggestions about improving their product.

I don’t believe anything will change, talk is cheap, they will say whatever it takes to calm the troops down just like they did today. They are very, very good marketers, the best in the music world. They will come out with new and improve $150 upgrade and give us more free plug-ins and have a pretty new box with their new logo and we will all feel better........They need to change the people not the name.

Tonight I took my 1 gig USB thumb drive loaded with $60 Reaper software over to one of our small sister studios. Plug it in to a Digi003 rack with Presonus DigiMax8. It took 1 minute to configure the I/O and MIDI. Laid down 34 tracks with Reaper's included gates and compressors. Even used some of the Wave’s plug-ins that were on his PC (L2). Numerous re-takes…. NOT ONE GLITCH. Freaked out the engineer. Walked out with the wav tracks on my ext drive hard drive.... Done deal.

If three guys that make up the CockOS company can do this and sell it for $60 what is the problem with the Pro Tools coders, it’s time to clean house before it’s too late? After what I did tonight with a $60 software package like Reaper… I think it is over for PT LE.

[DTheone]

Damn; this thread got vicious.

I gotta play devils advocate. Avid is not a billion dollar company like Apple who are making gazillions off of the Iphone, Ipod touch, Mac Pro's, Mac Book's, Ipad's etc....
I don't think that there is anything that Avid could have done to stop what Apple did with Final Cut Pro aside from bidding against apple which back then and even more so now a no win situation, Logic; myeh, they still haven't gotten their with Logic; it's a nice package but I'll keep my crippled M-powered before considering that. Replacing Pro Tools with Reaper? I thought so too but I like Reaper rewired to Protools more than I like working primarily with Reaper or the Reason/Record combo (as good as it sounds).

I of all people am willing to wait and see what Avid is cooking; I decided to nibble on the PTIEP and I like it; was it necessary? No; Structure LE worked well for my needs as did Transfuser (love hate relationship right now) and Hybrid.

I say this because I just can't believe that Avid would or could screw this Open Letter up.

However, (back to ranting with everyone else)
If there is another full .dot upgrade (PT 8.1) and they leave PTMP 8 hardware crippled (2626 and mackie Onyx I) I'd begin migrating to a Reaper rewired to Reason/Record/Live and take a good look at the dozens of hardware interfaces out there.

[cparks100]

DTheone

Reaper has been a big learning curve.....but worth it so far. I like your idea of rewire PT to Reaper, will give that a go. I have Reason also, will play with all the different combos. I also have a Receptor Pro I use for live shows and in PT, I do alot of VI's with the work I do if that works with the PT rewired to Reaper. I'll be in heaven.

[DTheone]

Heaven awaits you my friend
Go to the air users blog for a rewired reaper to pro tools video.
Go to propellerheads website for reason/record rewired to protools vid.

Rewire is a god send right now.

PS

Thank Shan; Shan brought the news of reaper and even made a nice skin of protools for it.

[cparks100]

Shane knows me.... I drive him and everyone else crazy on the Reaper forum trying to make Reaper edit work like PT. But I'm warming up to the Reaper format and concept. I just need to find all the tools that I use now in PT and i'm gone.

I feel bad for all the big boys with the TDM systems, they will have to wait for Avid to catch up and have to pay three times as much for the same thing we will be able to do in the near future.

No body wants to know they have a ugly baby. I got suck in with the "industry standard" crap..... not true anymore.

Thanks again DTheone.

[TOM@METRO]

Originally Posted by DTheone

Rewire is a god send right now.

PS

Thank Shan; Shan brought the news of reaper and even made a nice skin of protools for it.

Yes!

[Darney]

Originally Posted by TOM@METRO

Yes!

Over the years, I have always used a dedicated Mac for my Pro Tools set up... only those programs necessary to do audio and basic Internet functions (i.e. download updates, check the DUC, etc) are loaded... and it has paid off in terms of start up times, no conflicts, etc. etc...
However, after looking at all of the positive remarks about Reaper, and checking out the web site, I'm really tempted to give it a go.
Has anyone had issues running Reaper/Pro Tools on the same machine? Not planning on running them simultaneously, yet (which I understand is doable using Rewire), but just having Reaper's drivers and so on loaded on start up.

[danander11]

Originally Posted by Darney

Over the years, I have always used a dedicated Mac for my Pro Tools set up... only those programs necessary to do audio and basic Internet functions (i.e. download updates, check the DUC, etc) are loaded... and it has paid off in terms of start up times, no conflicts, etc. etc...
However, after looking at all of the positive remarks about Reaper, and checking out the web site, I'm really tempted to give it a go.
Has anyone had issues running Reaper/Pro Tools on the same machine? Not planning on running them simultaneously, yet (which I understand is doable using Rewire), but just having Reaper's drivers and so on loaded on start up.

For me, 32 or 64 bit is no problem. Win7 or XP.. Reaper is like the Hummer of DAW's it works anywhere on any kind of environment.. and delivers.