On the demise of Emagic

[simonkey]

Is it me, or must Emagic have got themselves in one hell of a financial mess with the Logic 5/ Logic Control situation taking forever, to have agreed to a buyout that not only had the now infamous clause of dropping support for the majority of users (and one would assume requiring a large percentage of their programmers to start manicly brushing up on Mac OS), but that stipulated "You get one more release, and then you and your brandname can f**k off!"? Some might say it's ironic considering what the Emagic head honchos did to C-Lab, but I for one am sad to see Logic now branded with tha Apple insignia - what next, Microsoft Sonar 5? Doesn't sound very appealing does it?

[Sascha Franck]

From what I can see, the price Apple paid wasn't that bad for a company that somewhat suffered back then.
As for the coders: They were mostly Mac dudes anyways, the original source code being more or less x-platform compatible anyways. So it shouldn't harm them much.

As for Apple/Emagic vs. a possible MS/Cakewalk comparison: Apple is small enough that Emagic makes up for a relatively huge part in their business.
Sonar would however be almost nothing in such a league MS is playing in. I'm sure the folks at Cakewalk are aware of that.
So, potential crosstalk between OS and program developers is indeed much more likely to happen between Apple/Ex-Emagic.
Whether this will indeed pay of in the end is another story(so far it defenitely hasn't, when you look at Logic 7s feature set it's quite a bit behind in many aspects, compared to others).
At least it seems to have paid off well for the Emagic heads... maybe they just don't care whether the company will lose market share.

[headquest]

Apple is small enough that Emagic makes up for a relatively huge part in their business.

You're joking, right?

Sonar would however be almost nothing in such a league MS is playing in. I'm sure the folks at Cakewalk are aware of that.

For all their (real or imaginary) sins, Microsoft seem to largely have an ethos of working alongside other companies in symbiosis, rather than buying them up Apple style. So Cakewalk helped out in the development of DX and WDM, for instance. And Microsoft look to companies like Sony et al to develop hardware that will rival the iMac.

Chances of Microsoft taking over Cakewalk are zero, because it's not their approach to business, plain and simple, and I take my hat off to them for that.

Apple's takeover strategy appals me, however.

[simonkey]

I didn't mean to imply that Microsoft would take Cakewalk over - I agree they seem more interested on a mutually beneficial relationship thingy - but just to give an imaginary PC parallel of what has happened with Logic. And surely Logic owners would be happier if the program was in the hands of a dedicated music software company rather than a twig on a multimedia strategy tree? I would imagine they would rather have got full PDC than Garageband's instruments?

[headquest]

I didn't mean to imply that Microsoft would take Cakewalk over - I agree they seem more interested on a mutually beneficial relationship thingy - but just to give an imaginary PC parallel of what has happened with Logic. And surely Logic owners would be happier if the program was in the hands of a dedicated music software company rather than a twig on a multimedia strategy tree?

I should think so! But then similar is happening elsewhere - e.g. Sony buying Sonic Foundry (Acid/Sound Forge), Adobe buying Syntrillium (Cool Edit = Audition), and of course Pinnacle buying Steinberg. In reality most of the big music software players are now owned by corporations whose interests are more geared towards video than music. Having said that, those programmes generally seem to be benefitting so far...

I would imagine they would rather have got full PDC than Garageband's instruments?

[Yossarian]

Apple is small enough that Emagic makes up for a relatively huge part in their business.

I seriously doubt that. Apple was always about selling hardware, the software is just a means to that end. My impression is that the main thrust behind the Emagic take-over was to get the know-how onboard to make things like GarageBand – some nice content to make the hardware a little more attractive. I can’t say if the investment has paid off in the form of increased Mac sales but Steve-o is hardly losing any sleep over Logic sales, it’s probably a drop in the bucket.

/Yoss

[simonkey]

For some reason the change name just makes me feel ... icky! how do I describe it? It's a bit like this proposed breakaway Formula One thing in 2008, based around all the big manufacturers - you know, chuck away the whole history and mystique of the sport and turn it into a two hour commercial for roadcars! Instead of Williams or Ferrari, it becomes BMW and Fiat.I'm probably not explaining myself very well ... but can you see what I mean?

[M. Decurtins-Capaul]

this comparison gives me the creeps....

lets hope the results ar not analogus...

[AD80]

OT: Has anybody noticed all the changes to the Emagic.de website? I hadnt been there in a while and just recently visited. I remember they used to have all these artists on the front and nice slogans, it seemed to really be able to stand on its own. Now it looks like its just another one of a million products on the Apple site. Which it is ofcourse, but it justs seems like all the info is a lot less organized.

[Kim Lajoie]

I've heard that before the takeover, Emagic were happy to communicate directly with customers and provide information about the future direction of Logic, etc.

Now all customer-developer communication is via sanitised marketing and official support lines. And it's Apple's policy to be silent about future product developments.

Oh well. All's well in Cubase Land.

Forever,




Kim.

[simonkey]

Believe me, I didn't mean thsi as an Apple bashing thread - I have no particular beef with them - and the acquisition of Emagic is a great business strategy for them, but ... if Logic is there to flog Macs, then once you have bought one, the program has served its purpose as far as they are concerned (they can't be making any money on Logic itself, since they've bunged everything under the f**king sun in with it!)and that has serious implications as far as the software support side i.e. the constant gearing towards attracting new customers rather than dealing with the complaints/requests of the present userbase, quantity over quality, bringing features in that require an upgrade of Mac to run etc

[simonkey]

sorry there, I didn't mean to imply anyone else was apple bashing either

[headquest]

I agree that the fact that they have included Apple Loops but not PDC in Logic 7 says a lot about their long term strategy. Emagic went to great lengths to attract serious professional users and "traditional" musicians to the Logic software, but Apple's latest version suggests they are looking to...ahem... a slightly different market...

[Kim Lajoie]

Hang on... Does Logic have NO plugin delay compensation, or are they just missing *extended* PDC (sends, groups, etc)?

Forever,




Kim.

[simonkey]

Yeah, It's only on audio and audio instrument tracks, so for processor intensive reverbs or compressing a whole drumkit on a group it can be a bit of a bugger,also some of Logic's own plugins impose a delay when using lookahead function that isn't compensated for at all I believe. Plus, the delay Compensation is turned offby default and has to be activated in the preferences section! Bit of a nightmare for a professional application ...