The new Avid: buys Euphonix
ProToolerBlog 4/12/10 1:16 PM
It has been announced that Avid has bought Euphonix. As you probably know, Euphonix is a manufacturer of control surfaces on both the high- and the low-end of the spectrum. Not only that, they are – ahem! were! – part of Apple’s trinity together with Apogee and Apple themselves.
I don’t know about you, but for me this came out of the blue. I’m still trying to wrap my head around what all this means in the long run, trying to see beyond the press releases and gossip on the web.
Aggressive tactics: Is there anyone who don’t think it’s more than a little aggressive of Avid to simply buy one part of the Apple trinity? This should really decimate the Native alliance. I mean, the Euphonix Artist series has gotten a lot of attention since its release and what used to be advertised as the perfect complement to Logic is now residing in Pro Tools land.
Pro Tools integration: I think there’s little doubt that proper Pro Tools integration will be implemented. What’s funny is that the artist series to some extent actually has better integration than the low-end Digidesign control surfaces! I wouldn’t say overall, but they do things that the Pro Tools controllers don’t. I really hope Avid has the good taste to actually implement these as well in their new protocol and not intentionally cripple low-end users.
Open standard protocol: Avid says a new “open standard protocol” will be created. What does this mean exactly? Something to get rid of the years old HUI? Often when I talk to companies that build control surfaces they say that they support HUI for Pro Tools. Are we finally getting something better? And is Avid hoping that companies such as Steinberg and Apple will use it? Sounds good, but remember that creating a new open standard isn’t easy. More often than not, it seems like the case is that a number of companies try to create an open standard and we end up with a mish-mash of “standards”. I still can’t believe Dave Smith managed to get everyone to agree on MIDI. Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if this “open” standard protocol is for Avid products only.
Third-party support: So what will happen to users of, say, Logic? From what I understand, Avid will continue to support it. They don’t say for how long. I guess if the open standard protocol is a success, and it turns out to be what it sounds like, there’s no problem. But if Apple says “fuck that” then it doesn’t matter who comes out as the bad guy, the only thing that’s fucked is the customer.
Let me just say that I have no clue! I’m just tossing stuff up in the air. But I’m excited to see where this is going.
Perhaps the most interesting question is: what will the next generation control surface look like and just how far away is it?