Four years ago this month, on July 1st 2002, Apple announced that they had purchased Emagic, which was a pretty surprising announcement for most in the audio and music worlds. We covered the story in detail in September 2002’s SOS (www.soundonsound.com/sos/Sep02/articles/emagic.asp) and concluded that “with Apple behind them, Emagic are potentially better placed than ever to deliver products for musicians which are optimised for a specific platform. Only time will tell, however, whether this potential will be realised.” In the four years that have passed since we wrote that comment, has this potential been realised? How have the other companies fared that Apple acquired during the same period? And do their fortunes have any implications for Mac-based musicians?
To be clear, in the 20th century I was an Opcode “fan”. All the editors/librarians needed — CZ101, K1m, K5m, JV880,TX81Z, TX1P — and of course, Vision and Studio Vision. All that sat on top of OMS.
I stopped MIDI music, mostly, when my tools didn’t move to Mac OS X. When I “came back” I had the bad taste to buy an MBOX with ProTools LE (version 7). Never did much with it.
Found MainStage. Wow. Just the thing to “make noise” with the computer. With all of the instruments hiding inside I decided that it really was to to go all-in for software instruments in the box. Logic Pro X was my jump in.
I need the history. I need to connect my multiple phases of music, computers, and music with computers. Sure does go a lot easier on the embouchure.