But we have a landmark event coming up, being Summer NAMM in a couple of weeks. If MOTU puts in a face there we are likely to have some sort of progress report from MOTU as well as the show's attendees.
Just glancing over the long archive of threads citing DP5 issues, we're seeing the same reports again and again about save errors, tracks disappearing, projects not opening, volume surges, lack of side-chaining, questionable VI behaviors, project import/export, crashes of a sort, etc. To that I'd also add the various DAE limitations. Word gets around fast, and any continuing trouble with Digidesign compatibility will certainly not win any awards with users of any DAW, DP or otherwise. In fact, if PT users catch wind that this shiny new DP to come still doesn't work properly under DAE it could do a lot of damage to morale where users of other DAWs (and dealers as well) might suggest to those seeking a good DAW that DP6 might not be in their best interest-- whether that's fair and accurate-- or not. Opinions can be harsh and first impressions in the context of an already "interesting" history can be difficult to change.
I'll even go further to say that the stakes are even higher since the release of Logic 8. Whatever aspects of Logic 8 remain unfavorable, so many people (even those on this forum) considered Apple's efforts in the DAW world a wake-up call of sorts for MOTU. Again-- it might be a fair assessment or it may not be-- but market impression accounts for much.
The most positive thing about all of this is that DP6's list of promised improvements (for me, anyway) could likely cancel out all the times MOTU has claimed not to be able to reproduce a certain reported problem with current and previous versions of DP. If DP6 is "late", it means that MOTU is indeed "reproducing problems" to get them fixed-- and that's a good thing, imho.
Let them hash it out-- let them hash it ALL out. DP6 will only be worth the wait if it delivers as promised. Should they unleash it if it's half-baked? Or should they release their very best effort? The GUI face-lift is one thing, but if VI pre-rendering doesn't work as well as it does with other DAWs which have had this feature for a long time now the DAW world could be quickly ablaze with questions about whether MOTU is in over its head or behind the curve-- whether true or false, fair or unfair. At present, we can only claim that they are late-- which, for MOTU, may be the lesser of two evils.
DP users are also among the most forgiving people in the world. When DP6 is kicking butt, those who waited will forget all about the agony as they revel in the ecstasy!
Okay, everyone--- back to the agony!
