*** Nominations for a UN Ambassador to MOTU ***

daniel.sneed · Post by **daniel.sneed** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 2:23 am

Here DP has been crash-free on my Intel since 5.11 upgrade.
Looks even stronger than 3.11, which was rock solid on my PPC.
Whish it is by yours.

Oh, and thanks once more James !

My two cents : could we make more invitations contacting Motu's submit suggestion and tech support email adresss ? I know we already do every now and then. With a sticky thing ?

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 4:27 am

I'd be interested to know what my beloved Unicorns think of the sticky idea.

James, I reckon MOTU have been focussing on optimisation and stability from August to December, largely in response to unexpected hiccups that going UB inevitably brings.
This board would have been invaluable to MOTU during that period, methinks.

So, assuming I'm roughly correct, we can expect a backlog of features, new VIs and updated plugs (Vintage Suite, please (I know, I just won't let it go)) in the near future, as they seemed to have nailed the vast majority of known bugs in one fell swoop.
So cool. So MOTU.
Whoa... I'll take 10% on that one, thanks; seems to have a nice ring to it...

I agree with your assessment, Jimbo, and we can check the aforementioned issues off the list.
This would leave just the Monkey, er, Protools integration enhancements, the Logic-like, low VI monitoring-latency thing, and the round of plug additions and updates I mentioned, as there's still the "pro result straight out of the box" thing to lick.
Should these things come to be, DP would be peerless, IMHO.

I know I'm a sucker, but I check the MOTU site every day, heart in mouth...

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 7:45 am

So obvious, but it occurrs to me that the sticky idea would work for suggestions, too.

Bugs and feature requests.
2 stickies to rule them all.

arth · Post by **arth** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 6:21 pm

HCMarkus wrote:We see so many posts here at UN about the same issues... I can only imagine how many duplicate questions MOTU must get.

I would guess far fewer than they would if customers didn't have to call and get a busy signal, call again, get another busy signal, and finally follow the links from the MOTU site to here.
This may not be an official MOTU forum, but it sure as hell solves a lot of problems that otherwise would have been support calls.

arth · Post by **arth** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 6:31 pm

James Steele wrote:Thanks for the thanks.

Honestly, if I ran MOTU I'd do two things that I think would make DP absolutely kill all other DAWS:

1) Suspend new feature development for a time and focus on optimization and serious bug squashing.

2) Have DAE support that is on par or superior to other competing apps.

I think those two things would make DP an absolute monster because it seems that the main themes we seem to hear are a) be as efficient as Logic, b) be as crash-free as humanly possible and c) have robust DAE support for the studios with PT hardware.

I humbly submit again, that if those objectives could be acheived, DP would simply crush every other app out there.

Except for those who run a Mac-free shop, in which case it isn't a winner -- it isn't even a runner.

3) Release DP for other operating systems.

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 6:57 pm

arth wrote:3) Release DP for other operating systems.

Not a bad idea at all, but I say let's get it totally right for Mac OSX first. It's almost there, really.

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 7:04 pm

Frodo wrote:
arth wrote:3) Release DP for other operating systems.
Not a bad idea at all, but I say let's get it totally right for Mac OSX first. It's almost there, really.

My only concern is that it might stress already thin bug squiching resources at MOTU. Is their programming staff big enough to handlethat kind of workload? They would also need to double their tech support (actually, they already need to do that!)

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 7:26 pm

MIDI Life Crisis wrote:
Frodo wrote:
arth wrote:3) Release DP for other operating systems.
Not a bad idea at all, but I say let's get it totally right for Mac OSX first. It's almost there, really.
My only concern is that it might stress already thin bug squiching resources at MOTU. Is their programming staff big enough to handlethat kind of workload? They would also need to double their tech support (actually, they already need to do that!)

Agreed. There is a such thing as "need", and then there is a such thing as "priority". These can often be two completely different things.

Nothing at all against the XP platform, but I would be a little disappointed to see DP go PC before all essential issues motivated by the purpose of this thread could come to fruition.

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 7:34 pm

Frodo wrote:There is a such thing as "need", and then there is a such thing as "priority". These can often be two completely different things.

I tried to explain that to a lawyer in a depo once and he just didn't seem to get it - nor did my former employer. Ultimately, they were made to understand. Or as I like to say in such matters: When you have them by the balls, their hearts and minds are sure to follow!

Shooshie · Post by **Shooshie** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 9:22 pm

Well, it would CERTAINLY strain the resources they currently have, to release DP on Windows. But when you imagine the increase in sales -- presumably it would quadruple their current sales within a few years -- then it would be a great move. They could hire more staff.

But could they get staff who understand the MOTU way? That's the hard part. You can hire programmers, but will they take the time to do it the way we have come to expect things to work?

But we'll never know unless they try. Personally, if they do this, I hope they do it while there are still original staff around to teach the incoming onslaught the "MOTU Way."

Shooshie

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 9:55 pm

Well maybe the thing to do (instead of a UNA) is to take a collection and BUY MOTU? Then we could just do what we wanted. Sort of what the Tramels did to Atari...NOT!

Seriously, it does seem like MOTU is at a bit of a stand still at the moment. With the "big" news being "Windows Vista drivers now shipping as a public beta" one can hardly wet one's pants with that news... unless one needs the Windows Vista driver. Many Windoze users here???

At least DP is in good shape. Symphonic Instrument seems to have tanked and Ethno is no competition for EW RA. So that leaves um... MachFive 2.0... Oh wait, we're not at the sit in are we.

Just maybe MOTU has extended itself a bit too far? I've no idea what they are "worth" but I suspect that Apple can put more resources into Logic than MOTU can put into DP or MachFive.

Or maybe we are asking too much? OTOH, don't WE get asked to do too much most of the time? And don't WE deliver? Well, most of us do. I want to cut MOTU some slack here, but they really should be showing their user base some progress. IMO. Maybe NAMM will set things going a bit...

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 6:09 am

I'm not easily seduced by the Windoze proposition.

What would be the point of perfecting Mac OSX functionality "first", only to water-down the intensity of approach, drive towards perfection, and pride MOTU takes in DP down the track?
Why risk it?
If you have perfection, why not let that be your selling-point, maintain (with perfection!) what you have and let consumers come to you?
We all know about the deceptive amount of energy it takes to maintain order.
Same applies to any comparative, competitive position.
The energy required to maintain a status isn't suddenly diminished 'cause one's reached a rung/goal and can therefore rest.

As Teddy said, "Ride that thunder, baby", and as Paul the messenger said, "Press on, dude, and don't look back (man)."
Or something like that.

Coupla' cents worth of monkey-business.
In other words, a monkey got busy makin' 2• worth of doodoo.
Doh!

Shooshie · Post by **Shooshie** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 7:48 am

MIDI Life Crisis wrote:Well maybe the thing to do (instead of a UNA) is to take a collection and BUY MOTU? Then we could just do what we wanted.

Oh man, what an idea. Then with what *I* know about running million-dollar corporations, and what *YOU* know about programming in C++, we could soon have all their software and hardware in... shambles.

:D:D

I think I'll wait for them to get Mach Five updated. Ethnic Instrument is too new to judge its success. You can't release a product at a confused time like this and expect for it to set the world on fire. Have there been any other conspicuously successful releases for the Mac in the past 6 months? We're all standing around wondering how things are going to work, what it's going to cost us to switch, and what we're going to lose in the process. For every time we switch to a new hardware base, we lose a lot of our favorite old stuff. Right now we're all fearing what will be the fate of MOTU's lesser applications. Will Unisyn go UB? I think it's a safe bet that Mach Five will. MSI and Ethno, and MX4 already are. So, we're really just waiting for MachFive, and Unisyn is a hopeful afterthought. There's been no mention of its being updated. I think the market has abandoned it, so MOTU probably will, too. Just like Mosaic. That's a shame, for I use Unisyn a lot. I'm not trying to start any rumors. Just speculating. It's all we can do without press releases to tell us differently.

But I'd sure hate to be running that company. I know nothing about making and selling software and hardware. I think it's nothing short of amazing that MOTU has been in business since 1980, under the same name, same ownership, and same focus (at least since 1984). How many of the original Mac-only companies are still with us in any form? How many music software companies have been around that long? Even big companies like Yamaha have tried and failed to do what MOTU has done. They've been 22 years in the Mac world, and 26 years in business. That's just plain phenomenal. If MOTU says the way to do business is to keep quiet until your product is ready to go public, then they're probably right. I can't think of any other company that has been successful at music software for this long. Somebody, somewhere, said that newbies probably aren't nearly as impressed with MOTU and its stuff as are the old timers. That's exactly right. It would be to our advantage if they DID see the bigger picture, but who's to blame them for seeing things only through the present-day filter?

Here's my conclusion: I trust MOTU. They haven't blinked in 26 years. They've been with me since I started using professional music software in 1985. (I think Composer was released in December of 84, really) I just think the probability is high that they will eventually come through and live up to their word.

Shooshie

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 8:04 am

Amen.

I thought I was silly for having that same blind faith in MOTU.
Now I learn I'm a freakin' genius.

Thanks, Shoosh.

billf · Post by **billf** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 3:25 pm

monkey man wrote:I'm not easily seduced by the Windoze proposition.

What would be the point of perfecting Mac OSX functionality "first", only to water-down the intensity of approach, drive towards perfection, and pride MOTU takes in DP down the track?
Why risk it?
If you have perfection, why not let that be your selling-point, maintain (with perfection!) what you have and let consumers come to you?
We all know about the deceptive amount of energy it takes to maintain order.
Same applies to any comparative, competitive position.
The energy required to maintain a status isn't suddenly diminished 'cause one's reached a rung/goal and can therefore rest.

One of these days the boys in Redmond are going to decide to release a music DAW, at which point current makers of Windows DAW's are going to find out that it is no cakewalk selling apps in the Windows world.

I hope MOTU doesn't decide to go down the Windows DP route.