Why don't more developers create AUs as well as VSTs?

[planet trauma]

You use Orion and synthedit plugs but you need a "serious" workstation? Yer cheesy as effe, mai brotha....A dual quad-core i7 machine isn't fast enough for you? are you compensating for something else?

No-one needs a serious workstation for audio, it is a trivial matter for any modern computer. I need a serious workstation for doing visual effects for film, with multiple layers of image sequences at resolutions of 2k and above, with full float bit-depths [32bits per pixel]. CPU is hardly the bottleneck with this kind of data, drive-speeds and graphics are what count. That said, my laptop can take a quad-core CPU, unlike any Mac laptop. Also unlike any Mac laptop, it has eSATA [for serious drive throughput], serious workstation-class graphics [512Mb QuadroFX], with DisplayPort for use with 10-bit monitors, and both ExpressCard and CardBus slots to cover every PCMCIA card out there. The best Apple can do is put gaming graphics in a machine that can't play games and charge you a premium for the privilege.

Fair enough but this IS a music creation site and forum, not visual creation. A majority of major label stuff with *REAL* money on the line is recorded on a Mac, so they must be adequate for music production.

[planet trauma]

I imagine that's because PC users don't need studios any more, they can do it all at home, so the studios rely on stupid Mac people to eek out a living. I bet if you go into the office though, you'll find them using PCs for everything non customer-facing.

Statements like this are why not many REAL audio professionals take KVR seriously. A computer in your bedroom with the latest and greatest plugins and DAW is NOT a recording studio but with proper monitoring and treatment you will have a good start. But it still won't be a recording studio.

[Muon Software Ltd]

well this thread went off quick didn't it

IBTL!

[Gamma-UT]

I imagine that's because PC users don't need studios any more, they can do it all at home, so the studios rely on stupid Mac people to eek out a living. I bet if you go into the office though, you'll find them using PCs for everything non customer-facing.

You're so right, I was saying the same to Simon the other day. I said, "Rattley, me old mucker, bring the boys round for a session. Don't bother with all that Abbey Road nonsense, we'll track it in to Buzz and give it nice little once-over with a couple of saturation plugs. Whaddya say?"

He was on it like a shot. It got a bit cramped and we had to do it on just the one mike, but the old horn attachment worked a treat. The timpanist had to wait in the cab but he came in afterwards, banged out a few bongs and we were set. DDD all the way.

[duncanparsons]

The timpanist had to wait in the cab but he came in afterwards, banged out a few bongs and we were set

I've heard about these percussiony types..

[whyterabbyt]

A majority of major label stuff with *REAL* money on the line is recorded on a Mac

...in ProTools. So, as Ive asked, why isn't this thread about RTAS and TDM plugins if 'major label stuff' is the basis of the argument?

[Zaphod (giancarlo)]

A majority of major label stuff with *REAL* money on the line is recorded on a Mac

...in ProTools. So, as Ive asked, why isn't this thread about RTAS and TDM plugins if 'major label stuff' is the basis of the argument?

eh eh...

[Zaphod (giancarlo)]

I imagine that's because PC users don't need studios any more, they can do it all at home, so the studios rely on stupid Mac people to eek out a living. I bet if you go into the office though, you'll find them using PCs for everything non customer-facing.

Statements like this are why not many REAL audio professionals take KVR seriously. A computer in your bedroom with the latest and greatest plugins and DAW is NOT a recording studio but with proper monitoring and treatment you will have a good start. But it still won't be a recording studio.

well, apart the word "stupid" (I don't agree, it's a "strong" expression), BONES described very well the new trend. Things are changing, and pretty quickly. The bedroom is the new RECORDING studio.

[kevvvvv]

giancarlo

The bedroom is the new RECORDING studio.

I thought the bedroom studio actually created more work for pro studios, rather than replaced them, as in:

1: More bedroom studios and home recording musos than ever before are now recording

2: More bedroom recordists want a pro studio session to make their music sound better

3: Pro studios get more work as more bedroom recordists emerge

Hands up here, I'm guessing a hunch.

Anyone care to comment? More bedroom recordists actually equals more not less pro studios?

[dbrane]

A majority of major label stuff with *REAL* money on the line is recorded on a Mac

...in ProTools. So, as Ive asked, why isn't this thread about RTAS and TDM plugins if 'major label stuff' is the basis of the argument?

Well... this thread didn't stay on topic, did it?

[GraphMaN_USA]

Probably a business model based on the fact (according to wikipedia) that more than 90% of personal computers run Windows,
while less than 5% are MAC.

[Muon Software Ltd]

Probably a business model based on the fact (according to wikipedia) that more than 90% of personal computers run Windows, while less than 5% are MAC.

Of course but that's the *global* installed base, including many millions of PCs that are installed in businesses that have no use for music production software at all.

Of computers *actually* being used in music production, I believe that the figure has to be closer to 75% PC 25% mac - you only have to look at the figures quoted by Ben as to the readership of this fine site here for corroborating evidence. Our own website statistics are similar, and from talking to other established cross-platform devs their stats are similar too.

Where the installed base becomes key is when you take into account the type of computer a developer might have to hand when they start out their career and the tools that they might have access to.

If the music production sector is split 75:25 PC:Mac, I'm comfortable in making the assumption that only 25% of audio software devs start out their careers with a Mac to hand.

PC owners have access to fun things like Synthmaker and Synthedit that means that someone with no prior coding knowledge can make a plugin. The 25% with Macs need to start out by learning C++ or Objective-C and all the relevent API's, which they'll have to devote around 10 years to learning to become dangerous.

So it is no wonder to me that fewer devs start out down the road of developing Mac audio plugins. There are fewer potential audio software developers with Macs to start with, and the tools that they have access to take longer to learn how to be productive with.

Kind regards
David Waugh
Managing Director
Muon Software Ltd
http://www.muon-software.com
http://muonsoftware.blogspot.com

[eigentone]

giancarlo

The bedroom is the new RECORDING studio.

I thought the bedroom studio actually created more work for pro studios, rather than replaced them, as in:

1: More bedroom studios and home recording musos than ever before are now recording

2: More bedroom recordists want a pro studio session to make their music sound better

3: Pro studios get more work as more bedroom recordists emerge

Hands up here, I'm guessing a hunch.

Anyone care to comment? More bedroom recordists actually equals more not less pro studios?

1) Yes
2) Many would prefer to spend it on better monitors or mics.
3) Uhm... I don't think so. Instead, I think the quality and expectations for a record to be engineered well have declined. Many of the home recordists don't have as much money to drop at the studio (self-financed and spent most of their money on their setup), and signed artists don't net as much for studios (because advances/recording budgets generally are smaller and fewer).

I'll put it this way:
At one point (est. 2005) I was calling to studios out of a phone book (that was current/less than a year old), about 1 in 4 had closed for business. I had not heard of some, but there were many which were reputable.

At least, that's my experience/take on it (squashed into a few very generalized sentences). I'm not trying to sound like a downer, there are benefits to the industry change, they just don't apply to point #3.

J

[eigentone]

The 25% with Macs need to start out by learning C++ or Objective-C and all the relevent API's, which they'll have to devote around 10 years to learning to become dangerous.

I was dangerous from day one, by the time I could get the program to compile.



...



(different kind of danger)

[kevvvvv]

eigentone

Uhm... I don't think so. Instead, I think the quality and expectations for a record to be engineered well have declined. Many of the home recordists don't have as much money to drop at the studio (self-financed and spent most of their money on their setup), and signed artists don't net as much for studios (because advances/recording budgets generally are smaller and fewer).

I'll put it this way:
At one point (est. 2005) I was calling to studios out of a phone book (that was current/less than a year old), about 1 in 4 had closed for business. I had not heard of some, but there were many which were reputable.

fair enough ... I'm only guessing.

I remember when Powerpoint presentations first hit the market.

Some multimedia presentation companies quickly folded once peeps could make their own presentations. And the number of amateur presentations being produced grew exponentially (just as bedroom recordists did with DAWs)

But nowadays there are more pro powerpoint production companies than ever before.

The market for pro presentations has grown as more people became aware of the difference between what they could do in the office - and what a pro could do in a studio.

I transferred this analogy to bedroom and pro studio recordists.

But it might well be bollocks