The Logic Off Topic list

Thanks to Markus @ Emagic for your reply to some of my queries on the 
LUG list. Thanks too to Michael @ Emagic who also replied but who 
seemed to misunderstand parts of my original e-mail. See below. 
Scroll down to points 3 & 4 if you wish to avoid the semantic 
nit-picking.

1. Rob B wrote:
>I bought an AMT8 for my B&W G3 in July. At the time, it wasn't made
>clear to me that I would also have to pay more money to upgrade my OS
>to 9.04

Michael Haydn replied:
??? 9.0.4 is free for 9.0 users.

Rob replies further: Clearly that is the case. Clearly, therefore, I 
have OS 8 (8.6 in fact) or I wouldn't have said that it costs to 
upgrade! I shall be more explicit next time. I love your program and 
I know you don't have to reply to these e-mails on the list and I 
appreciate that you do reply at all but please credit the users with 
a little intelligence if you DO reply! Perhaps it's simply a language 
thing (_mine_ and yours) :)


2. Rob B wrote:
>in order to be able to use the interface reliably with USB
>(the whole reason for my purchase). It doesn't state this in the
>manual and it didn't state this on the emagic site. Since then this
>fact has been sneaked onto the site but it would be nice if it had
>been done sooner - I would guess emagic knew about the problem before
>July. If I wasn't on this mailing list, I wouldn't have found out.

Michael Haydn replied: See 
http://www.emagic.de/english/products/hardware/amt8_3.html:
"USB operation requires Mac OS 9.04 or higher"

Rob replies further:
I said 'it DIDN'T state this on the emagic site', ie. past tense. 
Inference being, it now does; ie. the updated MINIMUM system 
requirement (not the 'recommended' system but the 'minimum' system) 
was sneaked onto the site rather than being announced (except on this 
list).

3. Michael Haydn also wrote:
At the time the user manual was written, version 8.6 was the latest
Mac OS version. As it was written right in the middle of the beta
test, we could not include results from it (i.e. 8.6 does not support
USB correctly).

Rob replies:
Hmmm. If I'm reading you correctly, you seem to be saying that the 
AMT8 interface was released and promoted as a USB interface even 
though the most up-to-date then-available MacOS (8.6) couldn't 
reliably deal with USB. Ouch. Surely, therefore, releasing the 
interface was a gamble: hoping that Apple would solve the USB 
problems that existed in MacOS 8.6. It seems that though these 
problems have disappeared for some people using OS 9.0.4, others 
still almost constantly suffer dropped/hanging notes and crashes when 
using usb midi interfaces (including emagic's own range). Perhaps a 
better approach would have been to delay the release of the 'USB' 
midi interfaces until you were sure that Apple had sorted out the USB 
implementation in their OS and, in the meantime,explore a switch to 
firewire interfaces. (Aah, the joys of hindsight). Of course, ethics 
and business rarely go hand in hand.

4. Rob B wrote:
>My point is: why can't companies come clean when they spot
>bugs/incompatibilities?

Michael Haydn replied:
Incompatibilities are often limited to certain computer models.
Although we try to test with as many different computer models as
possible, it is impossible to check any thinkable combination of
hardware and software.

Rob replied further:
I truly understand (though, given that I stick to the more restricted 
Mac platform and use Emagic soft & hardware - AW8 and AMT - I am also 
doing my best not to leave room for incompatibilities). My point was 
just that a little openness would do no harm. In other words, rather 
than surreptitiously changing the system requirements on the site, 
why not ANNOUNCE it (as news) on the site (not just on the list which 
only a few people see).

It's not a big deal; just a request for a friendlier approach that 
respects the fact that some people have paid emagic (and Apple) a lot 
of money and aren't yet at the stage of earning that money back 
themselves! Or, if the customers are earning money, they don't want 
to waste time and money (AND risk their reputation with clients) 
while troubleshooting for something that is already common knowledge 
at emagic, ie. that OS 9.04 is a MINIMUM system requirement for USB 
MIDI operation.

Anyway, thanks for showing an interest, Michael. No need to reply: 
just please get on with improving your already-excellent program.

Rob.