Apple Acquires Camel Audio

[andrew71]

Disappointing if true. I like Apple products, but I've been caught out by them a couple of times. Firstly, when they bought Emagic and Logic went Mac only. I eventually bought a Mac, but it was a G5 and within six months they changed to Intel processors. There was a period where most software worked on either architecture, but eventually everything went Intel only. Now I'm happy back on Windows using Cubase.

The other thing that worries me about Apple is their constant drive towards a closed system. Even if they aren't doing it now, you can see that at some point they will probably want to control the sale of all plugins either through the app store or inside Logic or other sequencers as in-app purchases. That might even be their plan for Camel's products. Alchemy had a large catalogue of add-on libraries which I deeply regret not buying into sooner, as they aren't even on sale now.

On the plus side, right now there's a huge gap in the market for an Alchemy-like synth for Windows, and maybe a few of those library developers could port their products across to it!

[Ben H]

Yeah good luck with finding a PC Alchemy replacement.

Apple will just patent the f**k out of it and then sue anyone that tries to create a product that bares even the slightest resemblance to it.

That's their usual MO.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Why would Apple not continue to sell the original Alchemy to PC users?

maybe, as i suspect, the engines will end up broken down to be reassembled in a logic supersampler (along with the redmatica features), and there will be no 'alchemy' left to sell

[fmr]

Yeah good luck with finding a PC Alchemy replacement.

Apple will just patent the f**k out of it and then sue anyone that tries to create a product that bares even the slightest resemblance to it.

That's their usual MO.

They can patent technologies, but not concepts, and the concept of additive synthesis and resynthesis is not new. Actually, there are a couple of synths on the market that somehow share the Alchemy concept, and could evolve to something like that. One is Harmor. Other is Iris.

More distant, but still with some aspects resembling it, we have Rhino (it lacks a better additive engine and resynthesis capabilities). I'm sure there are others also, that right now do not come into memory.

And you have samplers that could very well evolve into Alchemy territories, like HALion, Mach Five and Kontakt.

True all of these are a long way from reaching Alchemy, but the potential is there.

[aMUSEd]

Comments are a bit odd - why is everyone going on about Lightroom?

[fmr]

Why would Apple not continue to sell the original Alchemy to PC users?

maybe, as i suspect, the engines will end up broken down to be reassembled in a logic supersampler (along with the redmatica features), and there will be no 'alchemy' left to sell

Are you REALLY convinced they will create a "supersampler" to include in Logic?

THAT would be a surprise to me.

[wagtunes]

I hope Apple burns in hell.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Why would Apple not continue to sell the original Alchemy to PC users?

maybe, as i suspect, the engines will end up broken down to be reassembled in a logic supersampler (along with the redmatica features), and there will be no 'alchemy' left to sell

Are you REALLY convinced they will create a "supersampler" to include in Logic?

THAT would be a surprise to me.

putting aside the emoticon that suggests you might be joking, why not ??

the exs24 is way overdue for an overhaul, and more than just it's gui. maybe they are taking cues from steinberg, with cubase including HALion and padshop tech, and buying in one of the best suited teams for the task. it makes sense, when you think about them having already bought out redmatica.

while many believe they just killed off redmatica, the auto sampling features have already made it into mainstage

http://createdigitalmusic.com/2015/02/a ... -software/

[MaxSynths]

If they bought CA it's clear they want to keep on feeding PC users and conquer the VST realm. Starting from v.3 the VST technology is slowly becoming a closed format that will be licensed only to big companies, and Apple is a good candidate.

[aMUSEd]

Why would Apple not continue to sell the original Alchemy to PC users?

maybe, as i suspect, the engines will end up broken down to be reassembled in a logic supersampler (along with the redmatica features), and there will be no 'alchemy' left to sell

That seems more likely. They have the core EXS sampler tech, Redmatica to provide sample management and instrument creation and Alchemy to provide more sophisticated sample manipulation plus other synth engines. I guess they need something that can compete with the likes of MachFive, the EXS has fallen well behind the rest of the market.

[aMUSEd]

If this is indeed true, and the Camel guys purposefully sold out to a company that would screw all PC users out of an Alchemy 2, all PC users that love Alchemy should NEVER forgive them.

If Apple offered the Camel guys enough to retire very early, I can understand that. I'd have sold too if I had that opportunity.

I think that is unlikely, what would be attractive though is the opportunity to work collaboratively with people like the Redmatica devs and Logic devs backed up by Apple's resources, to develop a cool new sample based instrument integrated into the Logic ecosystem. I don't blame Camel for not turning such an opportunity down, good luck to them.

[Mushy Mushy]

Congrats Ben. Well deserved mate.

Good luck with your newly secured financial future

[steff3]

Well, Mac and iOS user here.

I am not sure how this is positive for Mac users. Independend (Mac focused) devs are the best for us.
How long is the buy-out of Redmatica? How much ch integration of those awesome products have we seen since then? A stipped down version of autosampler in MainStage.
It might take years or a decade till we see anything.

And it is pretty pre-mature to blame Apple for that. earning money with plug-ins might have got harder and might still get harder - making it a tough ride for smaller the developers. And that is not the fault of Apple.

Best

[Hunter]

Cat's out the bag then.


All I'll say is it is good that there will be further plugins for some people from the camel audio team, this is better than there not being any for anyone.

[Robmobius]

I hope Apple burns in hell.

I agree!