RIP gigastudio

homebilly · Post by **homebilly** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:01 pm

"Notice:
TEAC America, Inc. will cease further development of GIGASTUDIO and GIGASTUDIO related products as of July 21, 2008.
Product sales and technical support will continue through the end of the year. "

bralston · Post by **bralston** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:08 pm

http://www.unicornation.com/phpBB2/view ... hp?t=30183

FMiguelez · Post by **FMiguelez** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:11 pm

.

OUCH!!!!

I use Gigastudio a LOT! I am SO glad I didn't buy the plug-in version for Mac.

Anyone knows WHY this decision was taken by Tascam? Poor sales? Too much trouble?

Mach Five, here I go!

Eleventh Hour Sound · Post by **Eleventh Hour Sound** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:22 pm

Oh My Gosh... Wasn't Giga Huge? I remember wanting them to come out with the Mac Version of the plug in...

Tripi · Post by **Tripi** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:28 pm

Bummer. I guess my giga3 machine will be a museum piece sooner than I thought.

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:28 pm

RecordingArts wrote:Oh My Gosh... Wasn't Giga Huge?

Yeah, this took me by surprise. I thought GS was the end of the world for PC users who swore by it.

They must have something very serious up their sleeves. Even GVI has been moved to legacy products.

billf · Post by **billf** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:32 pm

RecordingArts wrote:Oh My Gosh... Wasn't Giga Huge? I remember wanting them to come out with the Mac Version of the plug in...

That's what we were led to believe. Apparently though, that belief was wrong. I'm glad I went the MachFive route.

FMiguelez · Post by **FMiguelez** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:32 pm

Frodo wrote:
RecordingArts wrote:Oh My Gosh... Wasn't Giga Huge?
Yeah, this took me by surprise. I thought GS was the end of the world for PC users who swore by it.

They must have something very serious up their sleeves.

Do you mean like an improved substitute for GS? Or just serious trouble?

Does anyone know what happens with future authorizations, BTW? Suppose you need to reinstall GS3 or 2.5 a year from now... if I remember correctly, they have web authorization systems. Does that mean we are SOL? My PeeCees seem to have life for a couple more years, at least

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:45 pm

FMiguelez wrote:
Frodo wrote:
RecordingArts wrote:Oh My Gosh... Wasn't Giga Huge?
Yeah, this took me by surprise. I thought GS was the end of the world for PC users who swore by it.

They must have something very serious up their sleeves.
Do you mean like an improved substitute for GS? Or just serious trouble?

Not 100% sure. With the NEWER products going into the legacy bin, it sounds more like trouble, but it's Tascam. That could mean that they have some amazing new thingy to rival the onslaught of romplers and other sample players.

But if there is really nothing new on the way, it might just be a sign of the times where supporting it cost more than it's worth for them.

FMiguelez wrote: Does anyone know what happens with future authorizations, BTW? Suppose you need to reinstall GS3 or 2.5 a year from now... if I remember correctly, they have web authorization systems. Does that mean we are SOL? My PeeCees seem to have life for a couple more years, at least

I can't imagine that authorizations will cease suddenly. But clearly, yours is not a unique question. I'm sure that Tascam has been bombarded with questions on the subject and therefore owe it to their GS users to let them know in more detail what's going on.

Found this on Sonikmatter, fwiw:

Someone wrote:Pretty important newsflash: TASCAM has decided to stop developing GigaStudio and discontinue the product altogether. Product sales and support will continue until the end of the year. This news comes only a few months after the newest version, Giga 4, saw its release. Plans for the Mac-version of GVI (the Giga Virtual Instrument plugin) have been dropped as well, obviously.

Must be a serious blow to the Giga-oriented soundware developers and those musicians who's set-up is mainly Giga-based.

It's probably no coincidence that Sonivox - one of the main Giga soundware developers - announced yesterday that they are working on their own custom sampler playback engine.

zed · Post by **zed** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 4:14 pm

Frodo wrote:
Someone wrote:It's probably no coincidence that Sonivox - one of the main Giga soundware developers - announced yesterday that they are working on their own custom sampler playback engine.

Well that's good news, at least. I've been wanting to get some of those Sonivox VIs. From their site, I read that some of these will be available for Mac by the end of this month:

Sonivox Press Release wrote:The first releases from the SONiVOX MI software team will be affordably priced downloadable virtual instruments for Mac and PC (VST, RTAS, AU, Stand Alone). A large collection of these products are expected to be available for purchase by July 31, 2008. More information will follow soon at www.sonivoxmi.com

But I am sorry about the bad news about gigastudio for all those of you who depend on that. That's a bummer, for certain.

Eleventh Hour Sound · Post by **Eleventh Hour Sound** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 4:19 pm

Frodo wrote:
FMiguelez wrote:
Frodo wrote: Yeah, this took me by surprise. I thought GS was the end of the world for PC users who swore by it.

They must have something very serious up their sleeves.
Do you mean like an improved substitute for GS? Or just serious trouble?
Not 100% sure. With the NEWER products going into the legacy bin, it sounds more like trouble, but it's Tascam. That could mean that they have some amazing new thingy to rival the onslaught of romplers and other sample players.

But if there is really nothing new on the way, it might just be a sign of the times where supporting it cost more than it's worth for them.

FMiguelez wrote: Does anyone know what happens with future authorizations, BTW? Suppose you need to reinstall GS3 or 2.5 a year from now... if I remember correctly, they have web authorization systems. Does that mean we are SOL? My PeeCees seem to have life for a couple more years, at least
I can't imagine that authorizations will cease suddenly. But clearly, yours is not a unique question. I'm sure that Tascam has been bombarded with questions on the subject and therefore owe it to their GS users to let them know in more detail what's going on.

Found this on Sonikmatter, fwiw:

Someone wrote:Pretty important newsflash: TASCAM has decided to stop developing GigaStudio and discontinue the product altogether. Product sales and support will continue until the end of the year. This news comes only a few months after the newest version, Giga 4, saw its release. Plans for the Mac-version of GVI (the Giga Virtual Instrument plugin) have been dropped as well, obviously.

Must be a serious blow to the Giga-oriented soundware developers and those musicians who's set-up is mainly Giga-based.

It's probably no coincidence that Sonivox - one of the main Giga soundware developers - announced yesterday that they are working on their own custom sampler playback engine.

Yeah, be sure you guys get your authorizations. Either an eternal code or better yet, an unlocked copy. At least Tascam is going to be around. I got burned when BitHeadz (Unity Session) bit the dust and didn't let us know, they just went bye bye and left us hanging. I think I've got one machine that still has a valid install on it.

rikp · Post by **rikp** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 4:26 pm

Well, I guess that I won't be spending any $$ to upgrade to version 4. I did use the program in my studio and really had no problems with it. I was SHOCKED when I read about this, especially since they just released Giga 4 not too long ago. Giga 4 was on my list of upgrades (alas, no longer). I was really looking forward to the Mac version. And now my old Vienna lib is not looking so good anymore!

Peace

rikp

tripit@earthlink.net · Tue Jul 22, 2008 4:49 pm

I wouldn't jump the gun so fast on writing Giga off. I heard from industry people that they are most likely in some kind of negotiation which makes a lot more sense considering that they just released a new product and there is a lot of people and content for that format. It's not like it's not a good product or not being used.

I'm pretty sure that the Gigastudio brand will still be around, but under a new ownership - which may be better in the long run anyway as I think Tascam didn't really get the software side of business all that well.

bralston · Post by **bralston** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 4:57 pm

rikp wrote:Well, I guess that I won't be spending any $$ to upgrade to version 4. I did use the program in my studio and really had no problems with it. I was SHOCKED when I read about this, especially since they just released Giga 4 not too long ago. Giga 4 was on my list of upgrades (alas, no longer). I was really looking forward to the Mac version. And now my old Vienna lib is not looking so good anymore!

Peace

rikp

Your old vienna library still works today right? There is nothing to keep it from working great on the Giga rig they are currently on for years to come. It is not like all of our Gigastudio's magically stopped working today.

Software is not really obsolete unless it does not meet one's needs any more. I have a dedicated Giga machine (GS3) and it has been solid for years. I still plan on using it for years. The biggest problem I can see is just how long support will continue (which they have said through 12.31.2008) and if GS3 users will be able to -re-install and authorize their programs after the end of this year. If you don't have to do that and if you have a dedicated Giga machine...I don't see why our Giga libraries that we still like to use won't continue to be useful for a long while yet. They worked fine yesterday before the announcement, they will continue to work as they are now.

Heck...there are still major Hollywood dub stages (Todd-AO) that are running MAC OS9 and old Pro Tools versions on some stages. Why? Because it is solid and works and they can't afford the downtime to switch. And the fact that Apple does not even support OS9 any more does not stop these stages from mixing major hollywood films to this day on those systems.

Yes it sucks and is a sign of the times...but there are lots of options for the Giga libraries we have invested in...including still using them on our current Giga machines for years to come.

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 5:16 pm

bralston wrote: Software is not really obsolete unless it does not meet one's needs any more. ... The biggest problem I can see is just how long support will continue (which they have said through 12.31.2008) and if GS3 users will be able to -re-install and authorize their programs after the end of this year.

Well, you're absolutely right, of course. Use it until it's used up!

It remains an interesting quandary for those who *don't* have it-- especially Mac users waiting for GVI. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next 4-5 months.