# The Usual Wednesday Bullshit... - Site: Analog Industries - Author: Chris Randall - Date: 2014-02-26 - URL: https://analogindustries.com/2014/02/the-usual-wednesday-bullshit/ Time for an omnibus update. In no particular order: 1\. I'm deep in the mixing for my next release, which is, as it happens, a full album, not an EP, and far more "produced" than my last few releases (which are mostly compendiums of improvisational stuff.) This thing is shaping up to be pretty slick, and full of techno. I'm pretty happy with it, overall. Lots of field recordings, lots of tape loops. No idea how long this is going to take, but we're making good headway. I have four songs mixed at this point. 2\. The next module from Audio Damage, Æverb, is in production. Couple weeks away. While I deal with that, Adam is building the prototypes for our first "big" module. (And "big" is an understatement. 36HP!) I won't give anything away at this juncture, except to say that it has almost 50 panel controls. 3\. TRASH\_AUDIO's [next synth meet](http://trashaudio.com/2014/02/trash_audio-synth-meet-14-portland-or-may-24th/) is in PDX, on May 24th. Both Adam and I will be attending. We will unveil the afore-mentioned prototype at that time. 3\. Avid got de-listed from the NASDAQ yesterday. Next step: bankruptcy, and they'll start selling off assets. We'll see how this shakes out. Korg might be jealous of Yamaha and Roland, both of whom have professional recording apps, and pick up PT. That's just a guess. I don't have any inside info. This is an open thread. What do you want to talk about? ## Comments (24) **noisetheorem** (2014-02-26): Korg buying Avid would be...interesting. **tremorcore** (2014-02-26): Korg will rebrand PT as a portable battery powered tape device. VolcaTools Pro. **neB** (2014-02-26): I could see Apple making a grab. It could work...but.. UHNG...I just had a minds eye glimpse of "Garage-Tools" and I pooped in my mouth a little... BUT, next image was of a big-ass AD 50Panel Module and it almost cleansed the palette...a little... **bleen** (2014-02-26): As I sit here looking at my Pro Tool HD hardware lose value by the second (sobs...), I don't know what I hope for regarding the future of the platform. Korg would be interesting, but I don't think it would happen. If Apple buys it, I'll go back to tape because they've already fucked Logic into the ground turning it into GaragebandPro. Might have to make the trek to PDX to come harass you and Adam in person instead of just on the intertubes. **Jason Duerr** (2014-02-26): why did they stop making the 003, anyway? **chaircrusher** (2014-02-26): As has been pointed out elsewhere, ProTools makes money, it's the rest of Avid that sucks balls. If Avid can't turn around, they'll sell the Protools and M-Audio parts and either succeed with what they started out with as their core business or curl up and die. At any rate Protools and AAX and RTAS will stick around just so Chris Randall has someone to shake his fist at. In a perfect universe of Suck, Avid would merge with Gibson and they'd kill music forever. **seancostello** (2014-02-26): @chaircrusher: Avid already sold M-Audio: http://www.musicradar.com/us/news/tech/avid-sells-m-audio-551367 As far as Avid making money on Pro Tools, it all depends on how much they were banking on HDX hardware. I doubt that the sales of HDX systems have met their expectations, because of, well, Moore's Law and such. **shamann** (2014-02-26): 2) I'm intrigued by the big module. Further proof that I really need to get a bigger case. Or maybe a second case would be better? Either way, I need more case. 3) Did the Trash Audio guys lose a bet? 4) Do we actually know ProTools is still profitable? Avid doesn't appear to have released a financial statement in a long while, so I'm not sure that's a certainty. It's worth considering that brand recognition/loyalty has been a major component of Avid's asset valuation in the past. I'm not sure the company has done its brands any favours on that front in the past two years. Speaking of Korg/Yamaha/Roland, didn't Roland sell Cakewalk off some time in the past year to Gibson, or did I completely imagine that? But then, I seem to recall some kind of TEAC/TASCAM involvement too, and I'm not clear who owns what in that whole scenario (does Gibson own TEAC?). PT should live on, because assets will need to be sold off, but the possibility that a smartwatch app developer might buy it just to make use of the brand name is as likely as someone mindful of its current userbase might. So there's no certainty that PT users will be covered in the transition. **audioworld** (2014-02-26): Chris I adore your NAGRA III mono tape recorder: Starting out as a sound engineer for radio production 30 years ago, I carried this wonderful piece of machinery on my shoulder many times. I edited countless interviews under time pressure with a pair of anti-magnetic scissors for live transmissions during news shows. Preamps with endless headroom and confidence monitoring from the tape during recording, are just 2 of the features one cannot find on the solid state recorders of today. Still regret that I didn't purchase one NAGRA III off the station when they were retired some years ago... **boobs** (2014-02-26): microsoft could buy protools and bundle it with zoom players and make it windows tablet compatible and market it as a garageband killer. i haz new album coming soon too. :) **takokichi** (2014-02-26): Thanks for the Tattoo update, congrats on all the new hardwares, and mad props for the terrific movie "reviews" lately---all good stuff. **takokichi** (2014-02-26): Plus, yay new tunes! **Chris Randall** (2014-02-26): Oh, yeah. Tattoo. For those keeping score, I've removed the DRM from Dubstation, Eos, Discord3, Replicant, and Tattoo so far, and updated all five to current standards, fixing a few small (and one major) bugs along the way. Ratshack Reverb is currently out to testers and will probably go up tomorrow. Kombinat Dva after that. And so on. Also worth noting: at some point in the not-too-distant future, AD products will be purchasable in Steam. We're still working on the details right now, since Steam isn't really designed with the needs of musicians in mind; Valve is making a couple changes to the Steam mechanism so that plug-ins can be put in the right place, and then we'll be off to the races. The "big four" as we call them (Dub, Eos, Replicant, and D3) will be the first products offered in Steam, and then the rest as we get to them. To answer the obvious question about this, when you purchase via Steam, you are a Valve customer, not an Audio Damage customer. The two ecosystems are separate; your updates will come from Steam (although they'll be concurrent with updates in the AD store) and all your license management will happen through Steam. We will provide the usual support for usage problems, but any purchase and licensing issues will go through Valve, as they will be the vendor. And no, current owners will not have their licenses transferred to Steam. -CR **inteliko** (2014-02-26): 36 hp. ?? = ronin or tattoo **subbasshead** (2014-02-26): 36hp + 50 panel controls = a sequencer **Chris Randall** (2014-02-26): You guys can guess all you want. I've said all I'm gonna say until May. :-) -CR **mitchell** (2014-02-26): Hey Chris... if you made said new module in 5U, you'd have lots more room for knobs. Just sayin'. :) **Taxist** (2014-02-26): I am very happy to hear of more audio application developers distributing through steam. I love steam, and love the idea that I can start purchasing my vst's through it. I haven't quite found one that I have wanted to purchase yet. I am sure you probably don't want to get into this discussion, but why would you not want to get steam keys generated for people who own applications that you are going to sell there? **dmurray** (2014-02-26): If Avid needs to get bought by someone, I think it would be someone bigger than Korg or Yamaha or such. My guess is it could be Sony, a big hardware and media company that is huge in the pro film and pro music fields which use Avid products as their standard. And Avid products wouldn't directly compete with any major product lines Sony already has. Synergy! **thehipcola** (2014-02-27): That Nagra looks awesome! How about a picture showing the elaborate loop of tape winding through your space. :) **renderful** (2014-03-06): I'm with boobs. **teknoid** (2014-03-07): well, what I want to talk about for quite a long time, is: what happened to the ios Phaedra update? i believe it was mentioned here and even some specific functionality was promised. I was So looking out to this app, there is nothing like it! (i dont like mini midi machine or whatever the name is). Really curious and strange nobody ever mentioned it... thank you **Chris Randall** (2014-03-07): It's on my schedule. Just haven't got to it yet. -CR **teknoid** (2014-03-08): so the naughty panter will roar again, I considder that good news!