Digi VP of Sales & Marketing sez...

[JohnJay]

According to Pro Sound News, latest issue:

'Next up for the platform, according to Foeckler, is an NAB pre-launch of a post-centric version (including, at some undefined point, a tri-level sync device for post pros working in Hi Def), while another music-centered release will follow at the San Francisco AES in fall.'

This has been out for a week. Did everybody miss this one?

Comments, interogatives, asides, anecdotes, anyone?

[roberts]

There are always new Digidesign products - that's not news.
It's just what it may be, continued devopment and adding new features to make
Protools a better platform is always welcome.
Nothing is perfeect but we're getting closer every year.

[PeterB]

Actually I interviewed him for that issue.

He's a nice guy, and if you read the interview again there's lots of hints at things to come which will be good all round.




PB

[quadcore]

Link?

[froyo]

By Peter B

Actually I interviewed him for that issue.
He's a nice guy, and if you read the interview again there's lots of hints at things to come which will be good all round.

Hello. Do tell. Literally. Since you did interview him, what can you tell us that's on the interview and what is not on the final edit that you can say. Do tell. Thank you.

I believe this is on the latest issue of Sound On Sound, correct? Chief Technician mentioned it a few weeks ago on a thread in the Post forum.

[JohnJay]

It is Pro Sound News, not Sound on Sound. The story starts on Page 5 and is continued on Page 91.

It says that the reporter is Dave Robinson. Not really sure what the PeterB thing is about.

At the end of the article PSN says that the complete text (beyond what is in their print version) can be found online at prosoundnews.com, by clicking on 'Web Bonus'. I did that, however I could not find any story about Digi there.

So I'm not able to post a link, know the complete details of the article or even cut & paste in any text from it. However, this is interesting:

'"Something we're aiming for in the next major release is essentially 'full elastic audio' capability", Foeckler elaborated. "Right now, if you shift the timeline (or tempo) around, anything that is cut up will move with it, but if you do that with contiguous audio, Pro Tools still doesn't time-compress or stretch it automatically. It's an obvious thing to do. If you look at other applications that people use for loop-based music [such as GarageBand or Ableton Live], that's how they function. It's very important that Pro Tools functions in the same way."'

Back to my original post on this matter - it would be nice to here some input from people if Digi is really cutting up the application into two separate pieces (Post/Music) as to what should be in either or both of them.

[Andre Knecht]

'"Something we're aiming for in the next major release is essentially 'full elastic audio' capability", Foeckler elaborated. "Right now, if you shift the timeline (or tempo) around, anything that is cut up will move with it, but if you do that with contiguous audio, Pro Tools still doesn't time-compress or stretch it automatically. It's an obvious thing to do. If you look at other applications that people use for loop-based music [such as GarageBand or Ableton Live], that's how they function. It's very important that Pro Tools functions in the same way."'

I won’t say that these new features being “leaked” aren’t desirable, but they strike me more than a little bit as being marketing-driven.

It is my sincere hope that PT development will maintain a parallel focus, where new features are complemented by a healthy dose of user-requested functionality improvements.

I also hope that, when Digidesign decides to go after a specific market segment (i.e. time stretching* as an integrated compositional tool), they won’t just add a “me-too” implementation of it.

I say this because, while ProTools is, and remains, the absolute best DAW available, its foray into MIDI leaves me positively underwhelmed (even with its most recent improvements. So much so that I bypass the issue by virtue of synching my MIDI sequencer of choice to ProTools.)

In other words, be the best… across the board.

[Steve MacMillan]

The difference in quality between the different time stretching plug-ins is enormous. So I hope that Digi sets a new standard in sound quality if they do impliment elastic audio. Maybe they could allow for third party engines like the Waves SoundShifter, just like they do for the trimmer tool.

STeve

[Andre Knecht]

Right on, Steve! I had written an asterisked “aside paragraph” about exactly that and then decided to delete it in order to keep my post simple and to a single point.

I couldn’t agree more with your post, and I am concerned.

[froyo]

Hello. Yes my bad, it's Pro Sound News not Sound On Sound. As to what the post centric release means, with a music centric to follow in fall at AES, I think it could be something as simple as the features that will be unveiled will mostly affect post here at NAB and the ones in the fall will mostly affect music, like MIDI additions and such. Most of the times this is what they do anyway if you remember from past years and it makes sense. NAB releases usually include stuff like input arming tracks and Digibase, things that for the most part benefit post, while AES and NAMM will see things like MIDI additions, ADC, etc. In broad terms anyway.

It could also be that maybe they will implement something similar to what they have for LE systems with the Toolkits. The DV Toolkit is very specifically a post production friendly release and the newer Music Production Toolkit tends to lean on more music friendly plug ins. Again, in broad terms. We'll see.

Also, for those of you who saw the Cinema Audio Society's Avid Seminar #2 you may remember Scott Wood repeatedly saying that he could not talk candidly about upcoming features because Avid/Digidesign are public companies and the whole Enron fiasco created an environment where things have to be played much closer to the vest. For the most part it was related to questions having to do with Digidesign and MXF or XML, polyphonic files from location recorders and tri level sync. So it's very possible that is indeed what we are seeing here.

By Andre Knetch

I also hope that, when Digidesign decides to go after a specific market segment (i.e. time stretching* as an integrated compositional tool), they won’t just add a “me-too” implementation of it.

I say this because, while ProTools is, and remains, the absolute best DAW available, its foray into MIDI leaves me positively underwhelmed (even with its most recent improvements. So much so that I bypass the issue by virtue of synching my MIDI sequencer of choice to ProTools.)

In other words, be the best… across the board.

Well I think you know this already Andre, but just in case I will say it. There will never be one DAW that will be the best at everything. I think that's mainly just common sense, right? I understand what you are saying, they shouldn't just throw some half assed audio stretching just for the sake of keeping up with the Joneses (Live's or Acid's), but on the other hand Pro Tools' MIDI is more than adequate for many MIDI applications and it more than fulfills the job for many, many people. Maybe not many or any power users but there in lies the rub doesn't it? How many great MIDI applications can claim to be great at everything or just simply audio editing/mixing?

There will never be the mythical DAW that will combine Pro Tools' ease of use, two window, all in one audio workflow with Logic's deep environment, window heavy, user customizable MIDI tour de force. They are the two extremes of the spectrum for the most part. If Pro Tools tried to go deep into MIDI a la Logic, Cubase, DP, etc it would lose what makes it Pro Tools, as they would need to start going heavy into the other windows and setups that MIDI requires. If Logic and the others scaled back their workflows to try to fit everything into one or two windows to simplify they would lose most of what makes them great, their absolute scalbility and operability.

I suppose one can truly never say never. I feel fairly confident that the whole idea of someone combining Pro Tools' ease of use with Logic's programming strength will never happen though. It hasn't happened up until now, are we to assume no one has thought about it or tried to do it?

Pro Tools can be the best across the board for many users or for certain applications. If you ask Lee Blaske I am sure he will tell you that for his pesos Logic is probably the best across the board. And you can probably find someone who swears by Sequoia or DP or Nuendo or Pyramix or whatever. They can all be the 'best' for someone's specific taste, way of working or preferences.

There will never be a one size fits all DAW however.