Tag Archives: digidesign

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Run ProTools On Mackie Hardware? Say What???

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This summer, Mackie unveiled a new line Onyx-i firewire mixers that you could, with the purchase of a $50 driver, run Pro Tools M-Powered 8 with. You don’t need to own a M-Audio interface. It would just “work”. A lot of people thought Mackie was going to get a taste of Digidesign’s lawyer division in short order. BUT….it seems they have indeed licensed something with Digidesign, so it is now “legal” to run Pro Tools on a Mackie Onyx mixer.

So, why? And why should you care? I think the reason is that Avid (Digidesign and M-Audio’s parent company) has seen that tons of people are using other pieces of software. Logic, Sonar, Digital Performer, Cakewalk, to name but a FEW. Allowing Mackie hardware to use ProTools allows the software, which is really great IMHO, more exposure. Plus you could have a full 32 track studio happening if you bought 2 Onyx 1640i mixers. True, you don’t get the motorized faders that something like the 003 has (if you have Pro Tools LE) or the Project Mix I/O. But both of these only have 8 preamps.

Anyhow, It is great news. Mackie and Digi working together? Hmmm….

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Digidesign Announces……..what?

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Avid/Digidesign put this up:

“Apple has announced that they will begin shipping the new Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard 64-bit operating system in September 2009. Avid is working closely with Apple to deliver compatible, high-quality versions of Pro Tools® as soon as possible. Please check back periodically for updates on Avid’s Snow Leopard support status.”

For the record, when 10.5 (Leopard) came out, it took Digidesign about 8 months to get out ProTools “certified” for it. Though it sorta worked. However, I’m a little concerned with Digidesign, as they have had a lot of key people leave recently.

In other news, I’d imagine the Logic will work right from the get go. And it will be amazing (and updated). MOTU’s Digital Performer will probably work within the first week if not the same day. Digi is always the last one to the party…..

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Digidesign Releases ProTools 7.4.2 for OS X 10.5.3

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Almost 9 months after Apple released OS X 10.5, Digidesign got around to releasing an update to Pro Tools to let people run it “officially” on 10.5. Woohoo.

I had to run Pro Tools on 10.5 due to a new Mac Pro purchase. It worked ok on the MacPro, failed miserably on my iMac. Then Apple released 10.5.3, and Digi released 7.4.2pr (pre-release), and that worked on the iMac. Looking forward to playing with it later.

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No ProTools for another 1-2 Months……maybe?

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I read this disappointing bit of news in the duc.digidesign.com forums.

We hope to have the new release within between 1 and 2 months from now; some of that timetable is contingent on Apple.

It’s not the WHOLE thing they posted. Lots of hemming and hawing about why they still have not delivered ProTools on Mac OS X 10.5. Every other major audio program is running on it. Ableton, Reason, Logic and Digital Performer (The last two, well, are Mac only, so).

On my systems, ProTools M-Powered works well on my MacPro if you knock down the number of processors from 8 to 4. And the beta drivers for the Project Mix I/O work ok (a little funky at times in DP5 and Logic, fine in ProTools). On my iMac…..it is very, very unstable. Sometimes ProTools and the Fast Track Ultra work great. Sometimes, not. It is a turkey shoot there. And there are lots of playback glitches. And recording glitches. Not good.

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Music Education Alliance

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This was announced today:

Leaders in their respective fields, Garritan, MakeMusic, Steinberg and Yamaha have formed a partnership that will provide integrated solutions to the music education market in the United States.

Announced at Winter NAMM 2008, the Music Education Software and Hardware (MESH) initiative brings together hardware, software, sound content and curriculum to provide compelling and complete turn-key solutions for today’s music educators, who are often faced with an array of products that can be difficult to navigate and integrate. In addition to aggregating four major components of music education technology into a seamless bundle, the alliance will also provide training to teachers based in the U. S., enabling them to fully utilize the power of computer music technology solutions.

Honestly, why? It sounds to me like a way for school teachers to waste money. Again. Spending thousands of dollars or more on some “solution” to make kids learn better. Money like that could be spent on lowering the student/teacher ratio. Very strange bedfellows as well. Leaders in their fields? Marketing speak at it’s finest!
Continue reading Music Education Alliance →

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Pro Tools M-Powered

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I came across this yesterday. You can now get Protools if you have M-Audio‘s line of interfaces. This is totally cool. 32 Audio tracks, and it ships with 30 plugins. Wow!Downside, it’s $350. Upside, cheapest M-Audio interface is about $99. Still, for the power of the software, this is a huge value. I’d still like to see Digidesign just offer the software for sale to use with any interface. There are so many excellent interfaces out there, including Mackie, MOTU, and Tascam. I think if Digidesign knocked the price of Protools LE down to $299 and have it work with any interface, they could have something going.