The Mix is Dead! Long live the MIX!!!

[oreillon]

First of all : if i remember correctly in October 03 Mix system was included in phase3 of G5 support , it disappeared in mid december . I for one bought a G5 in november thinking my mix system would at least be supported around June 04. Yes i do admit it was a bold move but hey! it was in the fineprint at that time.
What has change in December is i guess , Digi is a business and needs to make profit (thats understood!) by pushing mixowners over the cliff to hd system . But on the other hand when a serious company makes a committment as publishing a timetable for support, they should stick to it and not change their mind because of marketing reorientation.Then if its a technical limitation (i strongly doubt it just look at the other cards build around the same era :RME ect.) we should had been warned right from the start. This business conduct is very suspicious and has only made me look at other solutions ( native+rosetta or other cards) and certainly not upgrading to another costly digi product.

I sincerely hope Digi gets his act together and keeps us posted on any developpement in the G5/mix saga.

Jean-pierre Brie
http://loreille.com

[Lee Blaske]

Yes i do admit it was a bold move but hey! it was in the fineprint at that time.
What has change in December is i guess , Digi is a business and needs to make profit (thats understood!) by pushing mixowners over the cliff to hd system . But on the other hand when a serious company makes a committment as publishing a timetable for support, they should stick to it and not change their mind because of marketing reorientation.

If you believe that Digidesign reneged on a contract, you should be able to seek a remedy through the courts. I'm not sure, though, that a testing schedule constitutes a contract. Since it's no longer on the website, we can't go look at it. In the past, however, there have often been disclaimers and stipulations attached.

Did anyone save the actual text?

Support is always going to be iffy, though. Digidesign has little control over what Apple will throw at them in terms of hardware and operating systems. Currently, I'm in an in-between period myself with HD. I have a MD DP 1 Ghz machine, and with Panther, the full track count of an HD system is not currently supported by Digidesign. Here's a case where even relatively recent equipment is not fully supported.

Lee Blaske

[JNS]

I have a very large MIX system which is working very well for me. Until the clients, and I mean almost all of them, start screaming for something like HD I'm not worrying about upgrading. With the current situation in the studio industry it would be very hard to commit a large investment for something that really doesn't help me any.

[Alécio Costa]

E aí Fidelis, 10 Cds em Sampa com toda essa crise? Parabéns amigo!

I´ve just made a little upgrade here, going from PT 24 > PTmix > PT mix plus + DSP Farm and I am quite happy with my system.]
I´ve seriously thought of buying a new digital console like the 02R 96K instead of going to HD Accel, needing to repay for lots of plugs that nobody wants to buy afterwards...just to be "hd compatible".

[Tim R.]

I can relate to Digi's situation. ie. Apple has made a computer that may NEVER be able to hold a Mix (or D24) card. I would think they could work on a viable workaround (like our old friend the Expansion Chassie-YEAH!). I would think the current state of host based DAW's puts a fair amount of pressure on Digi to keep it's card based owners happy (and on the ship).

Tim

[surroundguy]

I don't get this thread. On one hand posters are saying they are happy with their Mix systems, that their Mix systems are great and meet their requirements and they DON'T want to upgrade them.

On the other hand posters are demanding Digi provide software upgrades for those same Mix systems!

To me this says they DO want to upgrade but only if they don't have to PAY for it!

In fact, most of you posted that you would rather spend your money on hardware from other vendors.

I don't understand the logic in demanding software upgrades if you have already stated that you are happy with your Mix systems. Digi stopped selling Mix nearly two years ago. They have supported it long enough. As Lee pointed out, most companies don't keep providing upgrades for old hardware for three months, let alone two years.

If you are happy with your Mix system, what does it matter to you if you can't run new Pro Tools software that has more features? Your Mix system will keep working just like it does today. The only possible software upgrade which could affect you is if Digi changed the session format and that is very unlikely.

Let me state this for Digi. As an HD owner, I hate to think your engineers are wasting time supporting obsolete Mix hardware in future releases of Pro Tools. I invested in a new HD system and I'd rather hear that those engineers working on new HD features please!

G5 support is a different issue. If Digi actually said they would support Mix on the G5 then they should, unless it is physically impossible.

[stereo type]

Stop and think how OLD that hardware is. It was developed during the era of the Mac 9600. That's pretty ancient compared to the Mac platforms we have now, and a lot of the standards are quite different.

HEY!!!! I resemble that remark!

[s2n]

First of all, I wouldn't be so sure that it would be technically possible to have Mix systems working flawlessly on G5's. Stop and think how OLD that hardware is.

We did. So did Digi. The Mix cards are PCI 2.1 compliant. They have both 3.3V and 5V keying. There is no reason that they shouldn't work in the G5. It's up to Digi software engineers to get it working. If they decide not to support Mix systems in the G5, they'll lose a lot of customers when it comes time to upgrade to a new Mac.

[thin ice]

I only bought my mix system 2 years ago at what seemed like quite a large investment. I'm not complaining about it as I think it has been brilliant. But if it is only good for 2 years with support I am a bit disappointed. The HD has already been upgraded to HD accel. I would hate to be caught again at the end of another old piece of hardware. I could spend a fortune on a new HD accel with all the plug-in upgrades etc. Then I could watch as the next system rolls out with me left behind again. If it is not G5 compatible so be it. I'll wait for the next upgrade path.

[Tone]

Did anyone notice that mix systems are absent from the new beta test program. This would lead to the assumption that Pro Tools 7.0 will not run on mix systems. Probably partly why we have such a push on the upgrade path at present.