blue wrote:Visibility may be misleading, but the general word from 3rd party plugin developers is seemingly not. DP, if regarded at all, is usually at the bottom of the heap in terms of support. Not a good sign.
Though I have no concrete numbers, and don't pretend to speak with any authority, I at least see a trend away from DP in my neck of the woods. With few exceptions, the young composers I have met in this town are using Logic, Live and Cubase.
Not to disagree at all-- just thinking out loud for a second. (You know how we hobbits are...)
There's no question that with Logic there comes a certain Apple safety net, if you will. Live? Hmm. I think the popularity of Live may have just as much or more to do with a different general focus in the world of remixing. Logic and Cubase are more directly in competition with DP as rather "total" scoring and sequencing workstations, although I've not checked out the latest versions of Live to see if film scoring is specifically addressed.
But virtual instruments and the flourishing third-party plugins in general have changed the way people work with DAWs, forced physical developments of hardware, and most importantly for the sake of this discussion-- have created a new set of criteria for new users who started in after the heyday of outboard MIDI gear popularity.
It could very well be that these changes have had an important impact on what people are using and what people choose to avoid.
As for DP support, or the lack, I've had to rethink this one a little bit. There are most certainly good reasons based upon info from the likes of Apogee that there may have been (according to Apogee) what I'll call "inter-developmental conflicts" with MOTU, hence they chose Logic as their showcase app. In fairness, there could have been just as many reasons why Apogee did not choose Nuendo or Cubase or Live for the same purpose.
But I had to take another gander at MAS overall and split up the pros and cons. MAS as an audio engine will be around as long as DP will be. Steinberg has its own engine, Digidesign has its own engine, so there's no reason why DP shouldn't have its own engine.
However, sample formats bearing the same names as their audio engine counterparts are a different matter entirely. Where MAS-native plugins are unquestionably rare, there is one element that has arguably been most influential in all of this: that is the introduction of Audio Units and Apple's efforts to centralize audio and MIDI within its operating systems. The necessity for MAS format plugins is suddenly less pressing, and the lack of MAS format plugins has not crippled the use of these plugins in DP where AU is supported. Where I once thought a lack of MAS plugins were the beginning of the end, I now struggle to find this to be a factor associated with the perception that fewer people are using DP.
This is not saying that DP's numbers are above the rest, but even MOTU hasn't felt a pressing need to flood the market with MAS plugins. To the contrary, such VIs as MachFive and the rest are now cross-platform. Talk about ironic! But it's good to see MOTU moving towards the middle.
For all DP does very well, it's the things that it does with considerable effort or doesn't do at all which might be having a greater impact on how many might avoid it or how many might be jumping ship.
Interestingly enough, for all the complaining I've done about Apple's flood of OS updates lately, Logic hasn't so much as been TOUCHED in about a year-- by not even one single decimal point. It sheds new light on how different DAWs are impacted (or uneffected) by these OS updates. This has been the biggest epiphany: Apple is dealing with Logic's issues at the OS level whereas other developers (ie: MOTU and EW) are having to deal with similar issues at the application level. Hmm.
The truth is, I just have no idea how many people are using or not using DP. Neither am I as sure as I used to be about what factors may be impacting these numbers today vs where they might have been 10 years ago.
The worst of it is that as I read over what I just spent 15 minutes musing about, I'm more confused than ever.
), but I wouldn't ever want to think of having to get a new DAW and learn how to use it. I'd certainly miss all DP's wonderful features!!
