EXS 24 Logic Sampler Users Group

Logic Users,

First of all if we are going to discuss the future of wimpy Mac CPUs and the
possibilities of big strong Intel CPUs to come, I am surprised that there is
not more talk here about the upcoming Motorola G5 chip, a 64 bit processor
coming in at 1.8 ghz. or so, with amazing power and 4 Altivec 'DSP' engines
on board, and spiffy multi-processing capabilities. We would have it now if
not for some problems Apple is dealing with with heat control, a typical
problem given all that is going on inside. Most Mac people are certain it
will be here within 6 months. I am looking to upgrade to this sort of
machine rather than get a G4. In two years we will be up around 5 ghz. We
all know this anyway given the history of computers.

The real issue here is not CPU power but OS X. There is vastly more power in
this OS than can be reached through "Carbonizing" existing OS 9
applications. The key here is the inter-operation between the apps that is
only possible with apps that are native to the OS rather than ported. In
software created in the native 'Cocoa' programming environment, a user can
borrow capabilities programmed in one app and import them into another. I
think most of us in the music field would find this a pretty amazing thing
to be able to do. Also in OS X, any audio or MIDI stream can be sent from
one App to another.  This sort of thing goes right beyond the amazing low
latency, Audio-objects, and the advantages of CoreAudio and CoreMIDI.  We
should think about these things more, especially if you are are Windows
user.

My impression is that Apple and Steve Jobs want to get at this multimedia
power as soon as possible and have the best people working on it right now.
All the big companies such as Emagic and Steinberg are taking a relatively
conservative approach to OS X precisely because they are cross platform
companies with Apps that are equally capable on each type of computer. Yes
this is good for collaboration, but this is not good for Apple. Apple people
are not interested in because the company can not afford to wait until
programmers finally figure out that native OS X might be a direction worth
taking, especially if this means that there will be a real and important
difference in capability between the two platforms. Cross platform software
tends to highlight differences in CPU power rather than any compelling
differences between the the operating systems. People tend to use the Mac OS
because file management is easier and less time is spent tweaking the system
rather than because the software performs significantly differently. This is
quite bad for Apple; perhaps the worst possible outcome for them. The people
at Apple need killer apps for OS X to make it utterly compelling compared to
anything else in the computer world. The killer apps will drive people to
buy the computer hardware no matter how fast the CPUs are at any given
moment compare to WinTel machines. This is what Apple needs in order to
survive. Final Cut Pro is indeed a model here (people buy Macs just for this
application alone) and Apple is looking for the same thing to happen in the
music field. They are also looking to integrate audio, video, and other
creative areas in one big, powerful combination. Something important has
happened in the film/video field for Apple because of this, where many OS X
apps work with Final Cut pro to provide a significantly enhanced computer
solution.

It is also important for everyone to realize that Apple is not finished in
this process in the music field. Emagic is only one of a number of music
companies that I believe are going to bought by Apple over the next few
months. My prediction - Native Instruments will be the next company to
become a Mac only music software producer. If buying Emagic seems
unbelievable, yet happened, there is nothing to suppose that Apple will not
make a similar move in the area of software synths. It makes sense, even
though Emagic makes great synths and samplers too. Perhaps Mac users should
even suggest this to Steve, our pal.

For Windows users, who of course feel outraged, it is important to
understand that Mr. Jobs does not give a damn about people who work in the
Windows world. He was the guy who did the most to create the kind of
machines we all work on (his ego certainly sees it that way) and yet his
company's intellectual property was profoundly violated by MicroSoft due to
some mistakes Apple made when they asked Bill Gates to create Word and Excel
(they were written first for the Mac) for the Mac back in the Mid 80's. They
gave the farm away without realizing it and it was not so much because Apple
was stupid, but because Bill Gates is such a crook.

Now Jobs wants to make the Mac the best platform for creative and innovative
computing by levering the object oriented UNIX power of OS X. He has only
just started on this process and the new OS 10.2 release is an indication of
the directions he and coworkers are considering taking. Remember too that
Steve jobs is of the opinion that computers are still "terrible". I think he
is right in that regard, Mac OS 9 included.

Apple has a lot of money in reserve and they are going to use it to protect
and expand their market in new and aggressive ways. When Jobs killed clones
in the Mac market there was similar screaming such as you hear on this list
from Windows Emagic users, and from Mac users too. Now everyone knows he had
to kill cloning to save the Mac. What you are seeing now is the start of an
extension of that strategy in a new and even more aggressive direction.
Perhaps Jobs has finally learned a thing or two from Bill Gates. Kill or be
killed.

Regards

Paul Nicholls

> From: PersingEP@...
> Reply-To: exs-users@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Tue, 09 Jul 2002 01:33:29 -0400 (EDT)
> To: exs-users@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [exs] Logic on a mac
> 
> From what I hear about the new hardware that will be introduced...don't get
> your hopes up too much. Sounds like it's gonna be a very small increase. I
> agree that it is incredibly frustrating to see how much more powerful PCs are
> now...and a tweaked XP system is very solid, fast and cheap. These machines
> handle way more voices for virtual instruments than Macs do, in the tests
> that I've done.
> 
> With the rumors of 3 and 4 ghz Intel/AMD machines....man, Apple has to play
> some serious catch up!
> 
> I guess the one bit of silver lining is that once Logic Titanium is fully
> OSX, multi-processor, altivec coded, we should see some serious performance
> and stability gains, even on the same hardware.
> 
> Here's hoping!
> 
> -EP
> 
> In a message dated 7/8/02 7:39:17 PM, HELP@... writes:
> 
>> Great discussion. To be honest, as a Mac owner, things are getting mighty
>> depressing. Apple used to be on the cutting edge in performance. Now Apple
>> seems to use the most outdated components around (besides their terrific
>> video card thanks to Nvidia). If they fall much further behind (even if
>> I do
>> prefer the OS), it just won't be worth it anymore. In fact, it's pretty
>> much
>> at that point now. If I wasn't a graphic designer, I think I'd seriously
>> consider converting my music production studio over to PC and build a
>> dual-processer 2.5Ghz WinXP system. I'll be honest, I really dislike
>> Windows, but if Apple is going to continue to deny that megahertz are
>> important while they get buried in real world test after test, I believe
>> they'll lose a lot of faithful users. I can get around on a PC just fine
>> if
>> I must. If they keep pushing the Mac faithfuls into a performance corner,
>> they'll really start losing money fast. Let's see what happens at Mac Expo.
>> For the time being, my dual-800 G4 is doing very well and I'm an avid fan
>> of
>> Logic, so let's see how I feel 6 months or a year from now. -Jer
> 
> 
> 
> 
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