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Musos mull post-Emagic sequencer options

There's no business like chau-business

Letters Re: Apple drops Emagic bombshell

One thing I noticed reading the Cubase and Logic forums yesterday was how generous the users were with each other. Barely a hint of platform chauvinism. Clearly musicians have the ability to empathize with fellow humans. Because they're using computers as a tool, not an end in itself, I wonder?

Quite an interesting postbag from you all, too. Of course no platform chauvinism at all would make for a very dull well.

So on with the chau?


I wouldn't expect AAPL, in a double-dip Tech recession, to offer much of a break to anyone on anything but stale inventory. But if Delmore Schwartz was right, and "In dreams begin responsibilities", the eustress of big-boy, do-or-die sound and video processing might propel AAPL hardware the way games do on Wintel machines.

More eustress on Wintel, PC users win.

Best regards,

Weldon Shea Monsport

Eu-what? The opposite of distress, or positive stress, we think.

No Mac announcement is without an accompaniment of wishful thinking.

Keep your eyes open Steinberg will be the next to leave the PC platform!

Dave Hallock

I expect they're throwing the compilers out of the window as you read this, Dave. Another David lists a long sequence (no pun intended) of ISVs who walked away from the Mac platform, and isn't too sympathetic to see the boot on the other foot:-


as a longtime mac user, it's really hard for me to summon up much sympathy for these poor wintel users. personally, i'm glad to see apple taking steps to ensure its future wellbeing. if that means a few wintel users have to be inconvenienced, i say so be it. it's not like there isn't a world of other software out there for them. lucky bastards.

David Randall

Now here's an interesting perspective we haven't seen covered.

This goes beyond the details so far uncovered. In March, Emagic acquired distribution of Sek'd Samplitude line of software from Magix (Samplitude Master, Producer, 2496). Samplitude is a Windows-based software so Samplitude users -- who also shelled out upwards of $700 for their software -- are wondering where this leaves them (us.)

As I mentioned to a Windows beta tester for Emagic's Logic Audio (who feels "betrayed") I have been on an anti-piracy rampage for years, being a software developer myself. One of the siren songs used by pirates in rationalizing their behavior is this example here: software companies crap
on the heads of customers.

Unbelievable. Excuse me while I go take a shower.

[name supplied]
Houston, TX

One of many Cakewalk users writes:-


There's a whole group of Mac users who believe PC audio products might work but aren't 'serious'. I've been a composer for 35 years, am at the forefront of 'serious' electronic music, and have never used a Mac. I had written my own software up until 1992, and then began using Cakewalk 2 in combination with other software. My
commercial 'serious' recordings have been produced with it, and Sonar is
now the main audio app on my desktop.

It's not just furious Sonar users, it's *serious* furious Sonar users!

Dennis Bathory-Kitsz

From emagic's perspective, the high-end professional users are nearly all on the Macintosh platform. The Windows/Mac split in the low-end of their product range is nearly the inverse of this. I do wonder what the exact numbers are for this, but the revenues are surely not split 65/35 because of this weighting.

Additionally, the vast majority of the pirated software users are said to be on the Windows platform. By cutting Windows support, emagic would no longer be spending development cycles for these non-paying users. The piracy problem is hitting these smaller companies hard, and it shouldn't be overlooked here either.

Apple has also gained a guaranteed testbed for their Core Audio technologies. So far, the major audio software manufacturers have been slow to adopt this technology, and Apple can push this technology through quicker now that they own one of the major players in the Mac audio production market. For this market, Core Audio is a real Windows/DirectX killer. The sooner they get it out, the quicker their market share will take off.

As for the competition, Mark of the Unicorn (aka MOTU) has been Mac-only for
quite a while, and until recently Digidesign, who owns the high end ($10k+) of
the market with Pro Tools, were doing just fine as Mac-only. Steinberg has a
majority of its users on Windows (I've heard it's 70/30), and Cakewalk are an
all-Windows shop.

Death of Logic Audio? In my opinion, far from it.

Graham Hunter

On the other hand?


Subject: Bye bye Emagic

Hi,
I've been sequencing with Logic Audio Platinum since version 3,5 (now 5,1) and they have a really stable, compatible and full featured version for PC/Windows systems... a long trip since the begining that I have done with Emagic.

End of trip.

Bye bye Emagic, I'll try another sequencer.

Thanks for the news Register, always on the edge.


I was struck with the parallels to Quantum Computers dumping the Commodore 64 system "Q-Link" in favor of the larger number of PC users in its "America On-Line" system.

There is still a good 8-bit following, but AOL has not died a tragic death that many X-users foretold (okay, maybe some of them wished ;-). There always has, and always will be a, "my architecture is better than yours" battle around, and this is one more example. I still use my C= 64 for sequencing, occasionally assisted by one of my Mac's, but I've been thinking that my new 1.3 Ghz / 128 Mb / Athalon could handle Windows and sequencing... I'll be looking for smoke.

LeRoy Davis




Development: Without two platforms to build for, development should move along quicker than today, along with the ability to trim down the staff and make the eMagic division leaner and more profitable.

www.apple.com/switch: Count on Apple running rebates for PC users of Steinberg products, and simplifying eMagic's lineup - and making the highest end package (probably thousands right?) a shiny $999 ($299 promo for users of Cubase), and other promotions in the same vein.

Apple retains their current eMagic users, while adding a nice chunk from the PC world.

People get all bent out of shape when Apple does this sort of thing, but really, they are simply following the M$ trail of purchase and conquer. Expect Apple to continue swallowing up small and medium software companies, for at least the next two years, at a rapid pace.

As Apple sells more and more highly profitable software, while giving it's software competition fits, it can also lower prices on it's boxes, offset by software profits. Dell, Gateway, and others, have no software to line their pockets with to combat this game.

Schools: Package eMagic softare, for free, for the muic teachers to secure the HW sale. And Dell says? "Doah!"

That is but one example. However, this is a way for Apple to really take it to small business.

Look at this example:

Small company of 150 employees - An Ad Agency.

XServe: $3,999 (No licensing fees for 150 employees. Savings over Dell/M$ of approx. $30,000)
Desktops: $200 more per box than Dell (150 boxes more x $200 = $30,000)

Right there we are at a wash, but Dell had to sell at $200 less per computer with slim margins - while Apple makes fat margins and stays at the same overall price.

FCP: $399 per license for 50 licenses = $19,950
AVID Xpress DV: $1,100 per license for 50 licenses = $55,000

Even if AVID wants to get aggressive, Apple can always just give FCP for free as a bundle... How does AVID do that? They can't.

Shake: Mac only and only $999 x 5 users = $4,950
PC Shake equivalent like Lightwave = $1,595 per license x 5 users = $7,995

What I am obviously getting at is Apple will soon be putting together bundles that no other HW company can price compete with. Apple will eventually have a huge advantage.

Regards,

Mark Reschke
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