Sound on Sound - Performer Notes website

[jlaudon]

[James Steele]

By the way, I'm going to be swamped over the next few days so I haven't written to Mr. White yet and don't plan on it until I have time to respond to him. However, really I don't know what he could possibly say in response that would satisfy me. If Digital Performer users don't matter to Sound On Sound, I don't see how Sound On Sound should matter to Digital Performer users?

[jlaudon]

gotta love it

[James Steele]

It's called backlash, baby.

[kassonica]

Notice anything different about the header of this web site now? I figured since the Sweetwater contest expires tomorrow I would update it a little.

Love your work

I used to subscribe to SOS and I still buy it from time to time but I'm going to send them an email expressing my displeasure at this.....

[amergin]

I noticed a few months ago that MOTU removed their regular advert (usually for hardware) from the inner front cover of Sound on Sound. This would be one of the most expensive slots in a magazine like SOS. They didn't move it to a cheaper place in the mag, they just removed it. I would imagine what we're seeing is just a knock on effect of this. We're in a recession, things are getting tougher and budgets are getting tighter. MOTU have never been known for their efforts to promote and support DP and maybe this is a case of their chickens coming home to roost. If we're lucky, the powers that be at MOTU will realise that although DP might not be a cash cow like some of their hardware products it is a necessary link between ALL of their products and needs promoting. I'd imagine if they contacted Paul White and rebooked their regular ad we might magically see DP Notes reappear.

[James Steele]

I noticed a few months ago that MOTU removed their regular advert (usually for hardware) from the inner front cover of Sound on Sound. This would be one of the most expensive slots in a magazine like SOS. They didn't move it to a cheaper place in the mag, they just removed it. I would imagine what we're seeing is just a knock on effect of this. We're in a recession, things are getting tougher and budgets are getting tighter. MOTU have never been known for their efforts to promote and support DP and maybe this is a case of their chickens coming home to roost. If we're lucky, the powers that be at MOTU will realise that although DP might not be a cash cow like some of their hardware products it is a necessary link between ALL of their products and needs promoting. I'd imagine if they contacted Paul White and rebooked their regular ad we might magically see DP Notes reappear.

"Chickens come home to roost" or "payback?" No ad, no column? Nice. Speaks a lot to SOS's credibility if that's why they pulled Performer Notes.

[frankymax]

I received a reply from Paul White of SOS in less than 24 hours- here it is:

<Hi Frank,

While we're dropping the regular DP column (our survey tells us less than 5% of the readers use it) we will be covering updates and of course lots of plug-ins that are relevant to DP users. Maybe we can rethink if this recession every ends and we can afford more pages -)) Thanks for getting in touch,
Paul White (Editor In Chief, Sound On Sound)>

As you can see, they say less than 5% of readers use DP (whether that's true or not, that's what the survey results were) I also know from having done advertising that ALL magazines are doing really poorly these days and readership is way down, so times are tough. I just hope MOTU have a strategy and that they can reclaim some market share.

[jweisbin]

Thanks for posting that link, very helpful.
I have a small request for James (I think). Is is possible to put code on this web site to open up a link in a new browser window?

Can't one do that in their own browser prefs with a key-click modifier?

Right-click "open link in new tab" or "open link in new window"
(or control-click)

BTW, the Motunation site does have some quirks on my system (OS 10.6.2, Safari 4.0.4 as of now). My eyes are not that great so I usually jack up the font size with the "zoom in" button on Safari. When I do that, I often can't read the right-most portion of postings because there is no scroll bar on the bottom as one would expect there to be, so I have to resize the window or make the font smaller to view. I'm not sure how it's coded that would cause that.

[bayswater]

I hope that once everyone gets this off their chests, finishes burning copies of SOS, firing off threats of subscription cancellations to Paul White, and so on, there is as much energy and passion directed towards thinking about just why DP is regarded as not worth the effort by SOS, irrelevant at Gearslutz, etc.

James, putting up a video of DP users burning SOS will drive traffic into SOS, and help make up for the few subscriptions they are going to lose. It won't drive much into MOTU and DP. It might make some people here feel good for a moment, but won't hurt SOS, and more to the point, won't help DP. It will just help marginalize DP a little more.

[FMiguelez]

.

I've been a long time SOS subscriber.
I've always loved the magazine and learnt from it tremendously. I found it authoritative and CREDIBLE... but now that they dropped DP, they dropped me, they suddenly don't seem so great to me anymore.

I will cancel my subscription if they don't restore the DP column. I could still access the site if I need to and read most articles. Worst case scenario is I'd wait a few months to read the most recent articles... big deal.

"Chickens come home to roost" or "payback?" No ad, no column? Nice. Speaks a lot to SOS's credibility if that's why they pulled Performer Notes.

EXACTLY!
And I am VERY PLEASED by your reaction, James. This is a great and justified case where using MOTUNation's muscle is important, and COULD pressure them enough to at least reconsider their decision.

What worries me and disturbs me the most, is what Jame's wrote in one of his responses, that having all the "popular" DAWs there with NO DP is like dismissing it into the non-existent territory of amateurism. It is like practically saying everytime: these are the only worth-while DAWs in the pro world. The rest are not even worth mentioning here

[Bill OC]

The demise of DP Notes (temporarily or not), just serves to underscore this forum as the last real bastion of independent DP support and free PR/advertising for MOTU.

Just a fact--no hidden implications.

An opinion, though: I find the timing disturbing on the heels of the best release (IMO) of DP in years. Logic is getting plenty of bad internet press because of "low memory" issues, and Steinberg doesn't even support Snow Leopard yet. This, by all rights, *should* be DP's moment in the sun.

Expletive deleted!

[wurliuchi]

An opinion, though: I find the timing disturbing on the heels of the best release (IMO) of DP in years. Logic is getting plenty of bad internet press because of "low memory" issues, and Steinberg doesn't even support Snow Leopard yet. This, by all rights, *should* be DP's moment in the sun.

Expletive deleted!

Good point! And another example of MOTU not doing its job. Okay, I've beat that horse enough.

[grouse]

Thanks for posting that link, very helpful.
I have a small request for James (I think). Is is possible to put code on this web site to open up a link in a new browser window? I often forget to hit the command button, then start browsing on the new linked site and when I try to get back to the Motunation page, all hell breaks loose....(ok I'm exaggerating but you know what I mean!)
Not sure it's a hassle to do but it would be nice to keep the Motunation page constant.
Cheers!

I know what you mean. Unfotunately, this was a change in version 3 of the phpBB board software. It was not of my doing. I will have to go to phpBB.com and search their user forums and see if there is a mod to do this. I also find it annoying that external links aren't automatically opened in a new window either. This is different behavior from phpBB 2.0.

Thanks. Not a huge deal obviously but it would be handy.

[Armageddon]

To be honest with you, I've never read Sound On Sound, I read Recording, which not only has a fairly well-rounded (and unbiased) coverage of hardware and software, not to mention, the consistently best recording articles I've ever read (seriously, I usually try and save every issue I get my hands on for reference!), and they're huge supporters of MOTU. I'm also mystified as to why there was a poll, or even a need, to phase out a feature in a magazine dedicated to one specific brand of software/hardware over another. If there was an outstanding need to add more coverage for Live or Logic, why not just expand the magazine to address those programs, while not alienating any potential customer base that already exists? It would even be a justifiable reason to hike up the magazine's cover price.

It almost seems like they needed an excuse to get rid of a DP-centric feature in their mag, rather than say "Well, the readers don't like it, so we have to get rid of it!" The readers didn't say that. While there wasn't an overwhelming response to keep it, there certainly wasn't one to get rid of it, and why have such a feature in the first place if you weren't trying to cater to as wide an audience as possible? Oh, well.