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Macs strong in music industry

updated 07:58 am EST, Mon January 22, 2001

A Reuters article takes a look at the continued influence of Macs in music industry. "Indeed, Apple Computer Inc.'s Macintosh computers have been able to record and play sound for years, but these days, they are also able to act as musical instruments. Synthesizer and virtual studio programs, backed by Apple's powerful G3 and G4 Macintosh computers, enable musicians with these computers to set up their own studios costing anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars."

by MacNN Staff

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01/22, 09:13am | report spam | close Reply | delete
Macs in Music

Owning a fairly large recording studio, I can say that music is one of the few areas that Apple has handled itself generally well in. Although PC based systems have made some penetration on the consumer side, if you are to be viewed as a pro, you have Macs. My clients that have PCs all covert the Macs, because they see ours work.

OSX supporting Yamaha MLAN is a big deal in music....it makes a Cube an unbelievable powerful audio and midi machine....and a silent one, a big plus in a studio. On the down side, pro music isn't that big a market, and cannot carry the Mac.

Still, its a real stronghold. My associates generally wouldn't be caught dead in a critical session with a PC.

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01/22, 09:32am | report spam | close Reply | delete
"Survivor" Music

In a behind-the-scenes of the new survivor that aired on E last night, I noticed that the music composer composes his music on a PowerBook.

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01/22, 10:21am | report spam | close Reply | delete
Macs are Musical

I have worked with Macs for the past 14 years, and they have always been well ahead of the music industry, and a vital part of many performers and composers daily regimen. It is the one area that I can go to a professional situation and always count on seeing Macs. Most home users in the music field also use Macs, and those that do not wish they did. What to me is curious is that, while this has been the case for so long, Apple has done so little to cater to the Music professional with a special edition. AV Macs are video production tools more than music production tools.

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01/22, 01:29pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Why Apple Killed Audio IN

Apple have been so good because , digidesign was born on it, Deck used the Built-in sound and so many others used it.

Why Apple Killed the sound in?
Are they trying to keep the last Mac Cretive ghetto??

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01/22, 02:35pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
audio in

i personally am hoping that they killed it so that we see a digital in interface. ;) that's next on my audio list is a optical-plug in so that i can take straight digital info from my DAT into my mac.

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01/22, 02:42pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Very odd...

Odd. My own G4 tower has an analog audio in.

However, it is getting to the point where that will have to go
away as digital is obviously the way to go.

Next, we'll want to see 192kbps / 24-bit digital audio sound
hardware in the machines. 44.1 / 16-bit is so 1984.

I also would agree that Macs are the only way to go in a pro audio setting. The software works, the hardware works, and I've done many full length CD production projects as a player and producer and it works exceedingly well. I can't say that for the PC folk. They may have their place in the office, but in the studio the Mac reigns.

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01/22, 03:19pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
bla bla bla

bla bla bla. bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla, bla bla bla bla bla bla. bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla. what else is new?

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01/22, 05:13pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
3 things

First, I've always loved the audio capabilities on Macs. I used to use my Performa 6400 as a 4 track, and it was great. Now I have a Pismo and its like a protable recording studio. The best part is the built in Mic, so that i need only the PowerBook itself as the sole peice of audio equipment.

Second, I will miss analog audio input. I feel that it is wrong to take this away because in order to get digital audio in you need an expensive USB or FireWire adapter. Analog was free! I feel that unless apple bundles a free USB mic its not fair to get rid of this feature.

Also I'm surprised that Apple never got into the multitacking software business. It would be nice if they would release a free recording program, because music software is so expensive.

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01/22, 05:23pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
hold your horses

Also I'm surprised that Apple never got into the multitacking software business. It would be nice if they would release a free recording program, because music software is so expensive.

rumor has it that apple is working on something of that nature, under the name iMusic. possibly an iMovie for audio production. fingers crossed.

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01/22, 05:51pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Macs In Music - OS X Audi

The recent NAMM show gave no hint of audio support for OS X. It did, however, confirm that Steinberg�s VST (Virtual Studio Technology) and ASIO (Audio Streaming Input/Output) protocols are winning, respectively, the (cross-platform) audio plug-in and inter-application routing standards competition.

There is absolutely no indication at present from Apple relating to its OS X audio strategy - nothing at all on Apple�s OS X or Developer web sites. For authors of pro and semi-pro audio apps, this lack of information is stalling development until well into next year (assuming something audio is announced when OS X ships in March). Of course it is always possible that audio/MIDI support information has been released to a privileged few or to a future "technology partner". (Digidesign�s free ProTools audio/MIDI sequencer has buy me, "Jobs-ise" me and call me "iMusic" written all over it . . .)

When Apple was searching for an alternative to Copeland, the BE OS was the favoured alternative from an audio programmer�s point of view because it supported independent multiple audio streams at OS level.

Is the stage set for one - or more - radical announcements regarding OS X and the audio/MIDI support? Some evidence:

When Gibson-owned Opcode went pear-shaped recently it was rumoured that one of their chief programmers had joined the OS X team;

A recent news item from Yamaha noted that Apple had licensed its mLAN technology (multichannel audio and MIDI over Firewire);

Apple has been dropping hints for some time that OS X 1.0 would offer surprise features not previously discussed.

Perhaps the recent release of iTunes and Apple�s new "digital hub" philosophy suggests that Apple has realised, finally, the importance (and sexiness) of music related applications to OS X. In Europe, the Mac has always been the premier professional audio and MIDI platform, despite Apple�s complete refusal to knowledge the fact or indeed to nurture the market. But that market is haemorrhaging badly because of Windows.

I suspect if MacWorld keynote attendees were to see what something like Cubase, Digital Performer or ProTools could do they would be well impressed. but Apple has never made a fuss of the fact that of much of the pop music made over the past 15 years has featured a Mac somewhere in the recording chain. In the 80s and 90s it was because of a dispute with the Beatles' Apple Corps". This was settled out of court though the details were never released. With iTunes it looks like Apple's may now be feel free to promote music making on the Mac at long last.

Kendall W

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01/22, 08:43pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Getting into composing

I've always been interested in composing... What would be the best solution for someone looking to make a small investment into music composition as a hobby?

And about OS X, I don't know any of the details on it, but Apple has been keeping audio information about OS X very secret. It's supposted to really rock, but that is just a rumor right now.

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01/22, 10:57pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
SoundBlaster Card

I've heard rumors that SoundBlaster may be designing the next Apple On Board Sound Components. AT least as far as adding a sound processor on to the mother board. If this will add digital and analog ports to the Mac I honestly don't know, however I think that everyone would benefit from this move. Why??? Because Mac's would then come with a built in midi synthesizer that is hardware. They could integrate the qucktime technology with it and drop the software synth of Quicktime and the processor would be freed up to do other tasks. Professional sound people could still use their professional sound cards with this setup as well and still use the hardware synth of the creative labs chip if they needed too as it would all play through sound manager! This is a definite plus for education where all you would need in a midi lab for beginners is an i-mac or cube and a midi controller! The software and the hardware synth would do the rest and the same would be true for novice home users as well. The Synth uses sound fonts so even professional studio users would have use for it. I really hope Apple is thinking somewhere in this direction.

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01/23, 01:16am | report spam | close Reply | delete
just a thought

I watch Jobs keynote on satalite. I say him call itunes by the wrong name "imusic". Witch is fine but he also made a released a program called idvd. They all ready have a program called imovie. So mybe there is a imusic in the works. Or mybe he just called it by its code name. But thought I would say some thing about here.

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01/23, 04:14am | report spam | close Reply | delete
just learn English

me see keynote. me hear iMusic. Me say wow.

Jesus Christ, learn how to speak English.

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01/23, 08:25am | report spam | close Reply | delete
Hmm...

Personally... Apple IS doing ALOT to the Audio possibilities in OS X.

Why they've taken out the audio-in port on that macs are to make them smaller. And if you, for example, check the iBook, the Audio Out port doubles as an video out port (amazing!).

Steve Jobs knows the best. He will make it better for all of us... Now let us pray for the better.

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01/23, 10:15am | report spam | close Reply | delete
remember the IIgs?

and its awesome Ensoniq 16-voice synthesizer-on-a-chip? Why, if they could do it fifteen years ago, arent they building them into every new Mac?

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01/23, 12:57pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
no analogue in

For Apple to remove the analogue audio inputs on the latest G4 'digital audio' is dumb beyond belief, imho.

The number of people I've set up with basic audio recording systems, based around the Mac, I can't begin to count. And that it was possible to use an out of the box Mac to record audio, to a surpisingly high standard, without recourse to 3rd party hardware/drivers/configuration. Well those days look like they're gone, and it's one less advantage of Mac's over PC's.

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01/23, 11:17pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
No sound in = none out

If things weren't actually still rather flaky on the PC side for music production, Apple would be barely hanging in there as they are.

But having no default sound in is a BIG problem on the hardware side, even if many would want a higher quality sound card (not that iBooks could use them, the USB solutions are still mostly vapor ware)

And unless you are buying full blown ProTools or Cubase, sound drivers are still lagging. All these new macs have no way to get Sound in without spending 900 or more extra dollars. PC Solutions are more available and cheaper, although many musicians would like to stay with the Mac.

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01/24, 09:57am | report spam | close Reply | delete
AppleWillBeInLegalTrouble

Creators prefer Mac for two reasons.

First, Mac's interface is powerful and easy. I've seen so many artists who cannot handle computer very well, even Mac. PC is a h*** lot more tougher animal for them.

Second, creators generally have guts against any bully in the world, unlike sheep-like consumers.

Current Mac OS has a lot of great things, but also has serious glitch for audio/music platform. OS X will overcome such shortcomings very well. But, there's legal traps ahead.

"Apple" should not commit to music business(?) seriously. I'm not sure about what was the settlement of the infamous Apple's "Apple" trademark agreement violation. The ghost of 30 year old faded away brand has been trying to disturb our beloved tool.

The other thing is more current and potential one. The CEO of Gibson, who practically owns the Gibson, is well known bully. He is still holding OMS and not giving it away for no reason against years-long petition of all artist, engineers, and so on. Maybe there's a reason. GMICS? Basically, he seems to hate any digital technology. Gibson has known to be a RAMBUS of music industry. As I remember, the chief engineer of OMS is working for OS X. (Apple seems to decide to write OMS equivalent from the scratch...) We all know Apple's "sueing department" is not so easy to beat one, either. But Gibson CEO is a world reknowned nut. What will happen if Apple come up with something more powerful than OMS, which will utilize the all power of the modern OS? We have seen so many stupid decisions have been made in the US court. Any unreasonable thing can happen. Gibson CEO's holding OMS is already unimaginable thing. Tens of thousands musicians need it, but he simply buried it in front of our eyes. And it's legal... as RAMBUS has a right to charge every single computer users for nothing.

This, Is, Not, Justice!

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Macs strong in music industry

updated 07:58 am EST, Mon January 22, 2001

Macs in Music

"Survivor" Music

Macs are Musical

Why Apple Killed Audio IN

audio in

Very odd...

bla bla bla

3 things

hold your horses

Macs In Music - OS X Audi

Getting into composing

SoundBlaster Card

just a thought

just learn English

Hmm...

remember the IIgs?

no analogue in

No sound in = none out

AppleWillBeInLegalTrouble

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Macs strong in music industry

updated 07:58 am EST, Mon January 22, 2001

Related Articles

Recent Articles

Macs in Music

"Survivor" Music

Macs are Musical

Why Apple Killed Audio IN

audio in

Very odd...

bla bla bla

3 things

hold your horses

Macs In Music - OS X Audi

Getting into composing

SoundBlaster Card

just a thought

just learn English

Hmm...

remember the IIgs?

no analogue in

No sound in = none out

AppleWillBeInLegalTrouble

Login Here

Register for our weekly email newsletter:

Connect tools:

Subscribe

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Follow us

on Twitter

10 Most Read

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