Digidesign Transformation

[Darney]

Originally Posted by John_Toolbox

I've worked in many industries, for companies big and small. One thing that I always notice when a company becomes too big: there are many levels of wasted labor, people's jobs become so superficial that most of them have no idea what the company even does to make money... they just know that they need to get x amount of work done in a week and that they need to be there from 9 to 5. Don't make this same mistake, keep everyone in the loop and make sure that all of your employees understand the big picture.

definitely keep the duc intact as it is, this is one of the few online audio communities that has this many pros donating their time, it's a great group of people. That being said, you have some of the best customers your could ever have, there are a lot of talented and brilliant people using your products and this is an asset you can not afford to lose.

Well said!!!!!!!!!!

[Shan]

Originally Posted by Digidesign

Is the Digidesign name going away?
Yes, we are in the process of retiring the Digidesign name—but the products will live on. After talking with many of you, we discovered that most people identify more with the product names—such as Pro Tools, VENUE, ICON—instead of the company name (actually, there are some people who thought the name of the company was Pro Tools, so go figure…).

If this is the case and the real reason, then why is Avid wasting valuable resources, money and time changing the name to Avid when "most people identify more with the product names instead of the company name"? Sorry, but this is the most irrational illogical pile of cheeseball marketing crap that you guys have ever given us to date!

If this is the type of insane decisions your current upper powers that be are doing and justifying it with this psychotic rational given to us for the rebranding of the name, then we already sank and are just waiting to hit the bottom. What a HUGE waste of valuable resources. Resources that could be better spent by hiring more developers(or keeping the ones you let go) and getting this software fixed. Functionality and reliability of the product line should be TOP priority, not this corporate psychotic cheeseball rebranding.

This is doing more harm than good in my honest opinion. Especially to your longtime loyal enthusiastic user base who are responsible for selling more digidesign product just from our own enthusiasm and word of mouth alone than all of your top salesman combined. Upsetting the diehards, which obviously has been done recently in multiple areas, should be a huge red flag. Doesn't that worry you guys in your ivory tower?

Can the current CEO please step out of the ivory tower for a few minutes and chime in here without some cheeseball marketing response? The above irrational justification that I quoted above which was posted to to us is completely insane and we're just not buying into that one.

Shane

[Bubblegum]

I think they should keep the 'D' from Digidesign and rebrand as "DAVID".

[zeruck]

Avid, a brand name change, a new web site ? better navigation of site.... Are you guys so lost in the world of corporate mumbo jumbo! The people who use your products are more interested in 'functionality' - 'reliability' and 'work flow' with the system they have spent their hard earned cash on!

Personally I would like you to address the problems with v8 as a matter of importance not the navigation of the pages on a web site. How about a re write of the base code of pro tools so it is not piggy backed on old OS9 code which hinder it operation.

How about 64 bit processing ? How about 'retiring' fades and getting some logic into the workspace, project browser that helps not hinders Post users.

How about and elegant picture and file exchange system that is universal between the 'Avid' products. Lets not forget track count and memory access to intel processing level. This is what is important ~ Not the badge or name or even the Web site. I personally could not care less what you call yourselves the reality is there are 'pretenders' standing in the wings waiting
for the Avid goliath to fail.

The bigger you are the harder you fall.

zeruck

[Spirithunter]

Originally Posted by shan

if this is the case and the real reason, then why is avid wasting valuable resources, money and time changing the name to avid when "most people identify more with the product names instead of the company name"? Sorry, but this is the most irrational illogical pile of cheeseball marketing crap that you guys have ever given us to date!

If this is the type of insane decisions your current upper powers that be are doing and justifying it with this psychotic rational given to us for the rebranding of the name, then we already sank and are just waiting to hit the bottom. What a huge waste of valuable resources. Resources that could be better spent by hiring more developers(or keeping the ones you let go) and getting this software fixed. Functionality and reliability of the product line should be top priority, not this corporate psychotic cheeseball rebranding.

This is doing more harm than good in my honest opinion. Especially to your longtime loyal enthusiastic user base who are responsible for selling more digidesign product just from our own enthusiasm and word of mouth alone than all of your top salesman combined. Upsetting the diehards, which obviously has been done recently in multiple areas, should be a huge red flag. Doesn't that worry you guys in your ivory tower?

Can the current ceo please step out of the ivory tower for a few minutes and chime in here without some cheeseball marketing response? The above irrational justification that i quoted above which was posted to to us is completely insane and we're just not buying into that one.

Shane

+10000000!!!

[bortraws]

Originally Posted by Digidesign

You get to be first mr burst.
In case you were wondering, the DUC will still be here, so we can all continue to exchange pleasantries.

Okay, come on then. Make this thread a pleasant one with a bit more info for us to chew on.

[Philthy]

Originally Posted by airon

How about this now folks.

Start looking at the hard, cold facts and come to realize what is the most likely scenario.

You'll get some patchwork fixes. You may get a new DAE and RTAS engine respectivly. There may be some hardware in the works.

And THAT's IT!

How many times have usere here, who are also professional software developers stated that rewriting Protools takes years, and you guys think something will save the day at NAB ?

New Protools versions that are anything but patchwork software are years away!! Avid does NOT deserve the benefit of the doubt any longer!

I realize some of you haven't been around that long to see what kind of stunts this company has pulled over the years, but the veterans around here will be happy to repeat themselves just a few more times for your benefit.

Protools in all likelihood, the way we know it, is OVER. The codebase is sh*t! The developers who knew this stuff at all have left the company judging by the massive layoffs. They're just fixing bugs that really annoy us. 8.0 was released November/December 2008 fellas, not a month or two ago! The time of stability is behind us with this application. The time of progress for Protools is now in the past ! It simply is not possible for them to pull it off.

All you are likely to get from Avid, is promises.


Let's go through the stuff we want one more time. We want Protools software that runs on a modern operating system like Windows 7 and OSX 10.6 in 64-bit mode. That also means 64-bit versions of plugins. It ain't happening. All the 64-bit stuff is for the AU and VST format. RTAS2 might come, but it'll take years for the plugin manufacturers to get in to it. And let's not forget how spiffy brilliant RTAS was for virtual instruments in the first place.

Use your existing rigs if you need to. This show's over and NAB will be just a glimmer of hope if anything at all, but how can that be a substitute for a usable product we need to replace the worst DAW release in the last 20 years, Protools 8.

I've made my risk assessment and am building new workflows, because I'll have to anyway soon.

ProTools is Reaper. :P

[necjamc]

Just sayin, but I would imagine that after 15 or so years that eventually this was bound to happen. It is probably more costly to keep the different brands in the long run. Imagine all of the different teams just to keep the lines separate. I think streamlining the company will eventually be a good thing for the line of Pro Tools stuff. Different name sure, but hopefully this will let AVID spend more resources on development and less on maintaining so many different companies.

[syo66]

First of all, I believe that without the DUC there would be no Digi/Pro Tools by now. Without the help and encouragement from so many good people here, I would have given up on the hardware/software long ago (as I believe many others would have as well). This is hardly a testament to the company behind the products that we use.

It seems to me that increasingly Digi/Avid/whatever, have squandered their respected position in the market. Rather than staying ahead of the curve by keeping pace with computer hardware advancements/OS changes, they increasingly were offering more excuses than answers. At the same time, releasing products like a $200+ dongle which will permit me to use my software on the road without having to lug my rack. (But at least the bundle comes with an "Avid custom Lanyard") (What?!).

I worked over 12 years in software development with different companies. 12+ years of on/off turmoil of boom/bust/promises/layoffs and sometimes, dissolution. Eventually I learned to see the writing on the wall somewhat early on. The big rebranding anouncement was always a strong sign of some measure of desperation. Usually recommended by management consultants to demonstrate that something was being done and to inspire confidence. Ah, again I see the slippery slope...

Hope they at least keep the picture of the duck...

[John_Toolbox]

Originally Posted by necjamc

Just sayin, but I would imagine that after 15 or so years that eventually this was bound to happen. It is probably more costly to keep the different brands in the long run. Imagine all of the different teams just to keep the lines separate. I think streamlining the company will eventually be a good thing for the line of Pro Tools stuff. Different name sure, but hopefully this will let AVID spend more resources on development and less on maintaining so many different companies.

It is in the nature of capitalism for a company when it reaches a certain point to try and swallow up as many other companies as possible. We've been seeing this for the last few years with AVID's acquisition of M-Audio, etc. Generally the intent when you see this is either to please the stockholders, show that there is growth (or the illusion of growth), or to beef up the company's assets so that it can be sold for a higher price. Other motives for these types of acquisition can be things like they are trying to one up the competition by saying that they have more(worthless) market share. That's right, Market share means nothing if there is no profit or innovation. It's a worthless bragging right and nothing more. It's just a "my dad can beat up your dad" kind of statement that somehow convinces stockholders that a company is worth more per share than their competition. It also can be used to justify ridiculously large bonuses to people who usually aren't the ones driving the innovation(if any).

If AVID continues the way GM continued to acquire and maintain brands, it spells demise. GM is famous for offering multiple versions of the same car with a different brand and very minor cosmetic differences. Every attempt at innovation that GM makes always fails. I'm sure the fabled chevy volt will also fail, just like the EV3. The HHR was a very late attempt at competing with the PT cruiser, which at that point had lost the interest of most consumers.

IMO, GM should have remained as 20 separate car companies, the weak would fail and the strong survive. Instead it all crumbled, and they convinced enough people that their complete failure was supposedly going to be so epic that it forced politicians to extort money from taxpayers to keep them alive. What did they do wrong? For one, they continued to make their stupid SUV's when the price of gas tripled, simply because they were supposedly the most profitable product in the short term. Now they have nothing to offer that anyone wants, yet they have our money.

Let's put that in perspective. I have purchased several very innovative pieces of software this last year....
Liquidsonics Reverberate - $45
Plogue Bidule - $75
Jbridge - $25
ipmidi - $75
Audio impressions Audioport universal - $129

Also add Reaper and VE pro to my want list...

All of these innovative products come from small companies that are not concerned with big corporate nonsense. Some of them are a one person operation. They aren't concerned about the box, they are concerned about what's in the box. Some of them don't even bother with a box, you just buy it online. It's all about the product, not the brand.