Thread: On the Topic of Firewire Cards and Thunderbolt. AVID.

Avid are ditching the 003 line. The Digi interfaces are being dropped. No more support. If you own a Digi, it's time to sell or you can wait for the next thing. The next thing you say? Yeah. I know this is going to cause an uproar when it get's released. We've seen the video. Here it is:



"This is a prototype" but it exists. They could put it out this year but for now they are pushing the Native cards. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with the Native cards. They are a nice bit of hardware. I don't know if they are the holy grail for home studios that Avid claim that they are but they do offer some nice interfaces and then there's HDX and compatibility with their future 64 bit release(finally).

What I fear is that in the very near future there will be this new TB interface which will not only be as close to latency free as an external peripheral could possibly be but, I suspect that this new interface will very likely be able to run both Pro Tools as well as PT HDX. It's also highly likely that this interface will have built in DSP a la UA's Apollo. I have a strong suspicion that the Apollo is in fact a fore gleam of the new interface if they did not take part in the development altogether.

In fact, I can't help but think that the next iteration of Pro Tools will be further unbound. What do I mean? It's very likely that you will be able to buy Pro Tools ....let's call it "11" or HDX1. Yes. Just like Steinberg have Cubase and Cubase Studio or more like Nuendo and Cubase. HDX as it is will run without their hardware. That's right. You can run HDX on any machine so long as you have the license on an iLok. So, it just stands to reason.

I know a lot of people were saying before Pro Tools 9 that Avid would never let go of that grasp. They would never unleash their software from their hardware but there it is now. Ever since Pro Tools 9 they have given you the choice. I think they are trying to do this in baby steps. It's kind of retarded but I can understand their reasoning.

Let's face it. The world of media production is full of snobs. Not the least of whom are Pro Tools certified engineers. I'm not talking about anyone in specific but I can tell you that the air at those Avid presentations is thick. Thick with testosterone and knowitallism. They've got to let them down easy or they will be choked. They're gonna be choked anyway but at least this will lessen the blow.

I wanted to go on about how they are leaving the Digi owners in the lurch but that just seems petty. Why bother continuing development and support for an interface that has never worked all that great in the first place if they're just going to dump it in the next year? They've got to get those upgrade dollars somehow.

Nothing against the Digi interfaces either. They are really nice units. It's the drivers that really suck. If they could just get those drivers up to par, they would sell a lot more units. I was on the verge of buying one the other day.

Anyway. Just trying to stir the pot a bit. Maybe create some discussion.

Originally Posted by RemyRAD

I'm having lots of trouble trying to contact Ampex and Scully for repair services. I think they screwed me? WTF do you know how much money I paid for these things?

ProTools are for Pro Fools, who got lots of money.
Mx. Remy Ann David

I understand what you are saying. Support can't be forever but the 003 has only been out for a few years. Ampex as an audio company have been out of commission for a while now.

Here is some more rumor from Peeder over at gearslutz

There won't be an 004. The low-end they will probably give over to M-Audio. They will, as they have almost announced, release a "mid-level" solution that will probably be smoothly scalable, and may even eat HD.

Call it Pro Tools Flex or something. It will start out with 32 i/o capacity standard, C|24 compatibility, and 16i/o modules available that will actually be better quality than the 192i/o. It will have unlimited tracks and 64 stereo busses, like Logic does, and will offer notation editing from Sibelius and integrated polyphonic Melodyne-like capability ("Elastic Pitch"). It will of course offer Automatic Insert Delay Compensation, and a better version of such than curernt HD offers.

You can add Icon controllers, additional i/o, video support, etc. all for additional surcharges. Most of the surcharges will be dicatated by tech support obligations plus a bit of profit taking. It will NOT run TDM plugins; that format is to be "archived." TDM plugin owners will be left swinging in the breeze ("Hey, you guys can afford it...").

To not offend the extremely prissy HD owner it will be positioned as "mid level" but will eventually erode away all that market. I suspect the entry cost, without controller but with 16 i/o, will be something like $2500, and they will have trade-in offers for LE owners that throw in gobs of plugins no one wants as "sweetner".

This is all my uninformed speculation.