Well, the buzz on the street was the NAB announcement that Avid (aka The Borg according to many, unimaginative detractors) have struck a deal to acquire well respected console manufacturer Euphonix. The full news story is here.
There’s pretty much two camps on this one – those who use Pro Tools love the idea, those who use other systems are wetting themselves they will lose the only viable market alternative to ICON, their Eucon protocol.
Basically, Euphonix make great consoles and when ICON came along, realised that integrated with a DAW would be a good thing, so they made a communications protocol for a DAW to send and receive mix information to their mixing hardware, a bit like HUI but on steriods. Its a bit like HUI becuase it’s seen as an “open platform” that many developers can use, such as Logic, Pyramix and Nuendo and the like. Nuendo and Euphonix have very tight integration today using Eucon and have sometimes been mentioned as a viable alternative to ICON and ProTools, but most clients still go ICON due to price, support, and most importantly industry adoption of PT over Nuendo.
So what does this mean going forwards? Well, I dont work for them anymore so this is just conjecture, but here’s a few ideas Ive seen posted by folks in LA and discussed around the world in the last 24 hours:
Eucon protocol on Digi hardware – ICON and C24 working as a control surface for Logic, Nuendo and Pyramix? Sounds like a good idea to an ex Digi sales guy. It expands the possible candidates who would buy Avid Audios mid prices offerings (c24 vs Tango, what would you buy?)
Eucon protocol in ProTools – I dont know how long this will take with the current economic climate, lack of resources etc but I’m guessing this HAS to happen to make this acquisition make sense. I just dont think it will happen overnight…
Eucon in Media Composer – this would be a good thing when you look at the Artist series. Its a modular control surface with jog/shuttle wheel and programmable touch screen. Why should it just be an audio device? The Command8′s buttons can be used to control anything in Media Composer, the Artist series would simply be a new and improved version of the same thing. Sexeh…
Euphonix not only make consoles for audio post, but many of them are used in broadcast situations for live to air mixing. Venue and ICON sit really on either side of this industry and have wanted inroads for some time. I would expect Euphonix style technology would be an asset to the ongoing product line when it comes to Avid Audio selling consoles into broadcast alongside their video offerings where the own that space.
Console automation? In feature film post storing your mix automation on the console would seem to me like a PITA. Any time you have to chase a picture recut and reconform your mix, you can do that fairly easily in ProTools using third parties like VK, Conformaliser, Editrace etc You would then have to reconform your mixing console automation as well and hope the two marry up nicely! If I were a large scale euphonix user, chances are I’m using Pro Tools as a dubber and to me I’d be begged to access the Pro Tools automation features from the desk, or at least store the desks automation inside the PT session.
Then there’s the automation tree – a Euphonix consoles has an incredibly elegant way to following the progress of your mix. A bit like a labelled undo tree where you can see where decisions have been made and you’ve changes directions in the mix. In the real world, Ive heard its great but you only use the three most current levels most of the time, whereas the tree is sold as a feature with many levels of recall. Still, this sort of feature would be great integrated with ProTools. Either into the software so all Avid Audio’s surfaces benefit or just some level of communication between the two to restore a saved PT session that matches that tree state. who knows?
Really, looking at the existing Euphonix product line, there aren’t that many places they and Digi overlap:
Artist series – replaces the aging Command 8 and makes it much more attractive to a wider market
MC Pro – I had no idea this existed until today and it looks pretty much like the mock ups Ive been shown by clients wishing for an “edit station” for sound designers using Pro Tools for years. Again and again folks have said “yes, you do good mixing surfaces, but I just want something intuitive to edit on and ride a few faders” Looks like a winner if it starts to talking to PT soon.
System 5 MC…well, there’s the rub. Its a controller only and sits in the same space as DControl in many ways. I’m guessing ICON and system 5 MC will have some sort of love child down the track and this area will get tidied up.
System 5 Fusion – brilliant! A tracking room solution! Clients wanting to record many audio channels into ProTools have often bemoaned the existing mixers and how to set up headphone mixes and latency etc A System 5 fusion that talks to PT would be ideal for Pro Tools based recording facilities as you’d have the brilliant sounding front end and then could use it as a mixing surface inside the box when the session is finished (with all the automation benefits, third party plugs, and conforming assistance etc)
System 5 – well, some folks would say ICON sits here as well but I think we all need to sit up and smell the roses and know that isnt the case. System 5 has a brilliant reputation for sound quality, expandibility and automation ease of use/ergonomics. ICON just doesnt have the same build quality, largely because the System 5 is about 4 times the price! You get lovely meters and feedback on this sort of console, a common gripe with ICON ops. If a system 5 could talk to PT with regards to automation, again you’d have this lovely integration. Set up the PT rigs to playback audio through the Euphonix mix engine, but some vapourware future feature allows you to send your mix state to PT, EQ/Dyn as virtual plugins (ie plugins in the mix window for automation but the processing is being done by the console) then when a picture cut comes along, you reconform your PT session and your console now tracks to the new automation. THAT would be quite cool I would imagine.
Anyways, lots of conjecture and ideas on where this could go. To me, as a PT op, I see it as a brilliant thing and wish the team at Avid Audio all the best on bringing everyone’s wish list to fruition over the coming years.
