Pro Tools 11

[The Tasmanian]

sorry - I was away - yeah I mean why go HDX?
Its a bit risky I reckon for plug-ins.

I think its time to stand on the sideline and watch how things pan out with software and hardware.
They are moving too fast with upgrades that have many expenses.
Whilst our incomes go down, they come out with their hands open every few years for very pricey forced upgrades.

And at the end of the day - we still get all our work done on what we've got now.

I also have doubts about Avid's medium and long term survival. Their business model is fading.
Reaper and others are moving in.
Hardware, I/O, and computer speed is not so much an issue anymore.
So all we need is great software - not all of these digi boxes anymore.

[audioio]

Which then leads to: "Why go there?" said Mr Waves. "Avid have sold very few HDx systems at present, so the likelihood of us recouping the 72 man years of labour spent creating AAX DSP is pretty much zilch".

And the merry-go-round spins forever... some people stuck on the ride from hell... others glad they never bought a ticket.

This is why Waves isn't doing AAX DSP: http://www.digigrid.net/

[DarkSky]

Which then leads to: "Why go there?" said Mr Waves. "Avid have sold very few HDx systems at present, so the likelihood of us recouping the 72 man years of labour spent creating AAX DSP is pretty much zilch".

And the merry-go-round spins forever... some people stuck on the ride from hell... others glad they never bought a ticket.

This is why Waves isn't doing AAX DSP: http://www.digigrid.net/

Yes, very likely, David.

Which would make it one of the cases were competition may make it worse rather than better for the consumer (at least to the extent that platform simplicity and/or interoperability matters).

[audioio]

This is why Waves isn't doing AAX DSP: http://www.digigrid.net/

Yes, very likely, David.

I don't think it's just likely... it's a certainty. Waves has announced it will not be doing AAX DSP and within a very short time launches its own DSP platform.

Which would make it one of the cases were competition may make it worse rather than better for the consumer (at least to the extent that platform simplicity and/or interoperability matters).

True... if a bunch of companies came up with their own DSP platforms as Waves has done. What we don't know yet is whether Waves will open it up to third-party developers. Will we see other companies releasing Digigrid versions of their plugins? Perhaps in time, there might be a viable alternative to HDx for those that need more grunt or lower latency than native can provide... something like HD Native + Digigrid.

And it integrates well with Waves' live platform Soundgrid. Gareth might comment on the adoption of that platform.

[Sammas]

Which then leads to: "Why go there?" said Mr Waves. "Avid have sold very few HDx systems at present, so the likelihood of us recouping the 72 man years of labour spent creating AAX DSP is pretty much zilch".

And the merry-go-round spins forever... some people stuck on the ride from hell... others glad they never bought a ticket.

This is why Waves isn't doing AAX DSP: http://www.digigrid.net/

Or are they doing that because they aren't doing AAX DSP?

Waves aren't alone either. Eventide and Sound Toys both have stated "we aren't making any decision to do or not to do AAX DSP plugins at this time". Avid said very early on at AAX plugins are very easily ported to AAX DSP. It's hard to believe any company would fence sit if this were the case... And I think the stance speaks a lot of questionable economic viability.

[audioio]

This is why Waves isn't doing AAX DSP: http://www.digigrid.net/

Or are they doing that because they aren't doing AAX DSP?

Waves aren't alone either. Eventide and Sound Toys both have stated "we aren't making any decision to do or not to do AAX DSP plugins at this time". Avid said very early on at AAX plugins are very easily ported to AAX DSP. It's hard to believe any company would fence sit if this were the case... And I think the stance speaks a lot of questionable economic viability.

Interesting points and curious. Digigrid was announced in January but I wonder how long before this it was in the cooker. Oddly, it's a bit like Waves' previous attempt at "off-host" processing, the APA series. Those didn't seem to be around for very long and weren't supported for very long either (stopped at v.6 if I recall correctly). This is much more ambitious and it might be argued, in this age of considerable native processing power which presumably informs some other companies' decision not to do AAX DSP, to be of questionable economic viability itself.

The few reactions I've heard of haven't been particularly favourable. It seems there's a bunch of people with a considerable investment in both Pro Tools and Waves who are pretty pissed off that Waves is going this way. Who knows? Lack of adoption might see Waves dragged kick and screaming back to Avid's platform.