MOTUnation.com

A while back, Flashgerkin posted a PDF "timeline" called the "Evolution of DP6.pdf" It contained many ads and brochures about Digital Performer since way back in the late 1980s. I promised I'd scan my stuff and add to it. Well, I haven't created a PDF from it, but here is a link to a .zip folder that contains 80 pages of scanned MOTU brochures, letters, and announcements, a few of which are multi-page PDFs. There's a lot of info in those things about when certain features were added. I estimated the dates and used those dates to name the files so that they would line up roughly in order in your Finder. In Leopard, you can select them all in the Finder, then hit Command-Option-Y and get a full-screen slideshow in QuickLook. Note that on the PDF files, you have to pause and hit the "Page-Down" button to see the other pages. A few of my files are PDFs. These are reduced JPEGs. If you want the full-resolution, I'll have to upload the original folder of scans -- 135 MB.

Shooshie's old MOTU Old Brochures.zip - 23.8 MB (clicking that link downloads the file)

You'll even find the FIRST MOTU brochure for Professional Composer and for Performer, in 1984 and 1985, respectively. Those two are PDF files of two pages apiece. I scanned all these things just a few days ago. They nicely compliment the PDF that Flashgerkin made for us a while back:

Flashgerkin's DP Timeline.PDF - 35 MB (clicking link opens the file as PDF, then you save it to disk)
Surprisingly, there is very little overlap between the two collections. Combined, they make quite a collection. I wish I'd been more diligent in saving that stuff. I've been getting it since 1984, and just haphazardly saved those that looked interesting.

For those who are interested: enjoy. Others, pass on... nothing of interest here except a bunch of printed stuff.

Shooshie

This is really cool. I remember going to a Winter NAMM, which was held at the Disneyland Hotel, seeing this new company, MotU in their small booth with Composer and Performer. At the time I had a Commodore 128 and thought I was bad to the bone. This changed everything. Great memories.

Really cool! Thanks!

Thanks!

Happy to oblige. Like many here, I walked into an Apple Store and saw a MOTU poster and flier showing these beautifully engraved scores. I had no idea how a computer could do that, but I was doing a LOT of arranging, and the thought of putting it in a different key without having to start over was just the most beautiful thing I could imagine. I immediately bought a Mac. (1984, spring -- 128K Mac) It would be another 10 months before MOTU would ship Professional Composer, and I'd have to upgrade my Mac to 512K. Meanwhile, I got to learn the Mac, and I fell in love with it.

Here is the flier that hooked me and made me buy a Mac in early 1984:
Professional Composer.pdf

Here is a screenshot taken in Tiger or Panther, I don't remember which. This shows a picture I created in October, 1984. You can see the filename behind and above the picture in the Finder, highlighted in orange, along with the date. Isn't it amazing that a file created in 1984 will open over 20 years later after so many hardware and OS changes? That was a great time to be learning the Mac. It was still new, and completely revolutionary. A few months after the drawing was made (pixel at a time), MOTU came out with Professional Composer, then Performer. Wow!





Shooshie

Fine effort with that drawing, Shoosh. One pixel at a time? Yikes!

Shooshie wrote: (clicking link opens the file as PDF, then you save it to disk)
Shooshie

There's an easier way - Control-click the link and choose "save linked file to downloads" or "download linked file" or whatever.

Curious: I managed to get the Gerkin's fat PDF (after I D/L'd the skinny one), and it was 32.9MB. The link you've just provided shows that the entire file is 35.1 in my D/L window (Safari). Is this a newer version? If so, I'll continue the D/L I've already started.

Thank you for sharing your legacy collection with us, man. Yay!