Marcus Moore
Forum Replies Created
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I think they hobble their argument in a couple of places by building in conditions that make no sense. Expansion via Thunderbolt isn’t real expansion? Two of the other peripherals they mention can easily be added this way. Two GPUs isn’t REALLY multiple GPUs? And ANY Mac, regardless of it’s form factor would require Windows to run 3DStudioMax.
I’m sure I’m being too sensitive.
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Cause I don’t think I’ve posted it here and it seems apt.
https://disproportionatepictures.blogspot.ca/2014/05/roles.html
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Apple isn’t buying it for the existing user base- or even the potential user base of the existing product. BeatsMusic will eventually get folded into something Apple-branded. I think it’s mostly a technology buy on that side. For a billion or two in value Apple gets to jumpstart their subscription music offering.
Ultimately I don’t think the Beats brand survives this- I mean 5 years from now.
And until then Apple still gets the 1Billion a year Beats makes on headphone sales- so they recoup their 3 billion investment in 3 years.
But lets be honest- that’s small potatoes to Apple.
Apple is notoriously stingy with acquisitions- usually small technology companies that have stuff they want for their hardware or services offerings. They have to see something here. Or a mixture of things: People. Technology. Brand.
As Cue said tonight- this has been in the works for a while.
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Separately the components may not make sense. But together I think it equates to a “good” deal in comparison to other high-value purchases made recently. By that I mean when you consider the 18billion purchase of WhatsApp by Facebook.
I think it’s a 50/50 really on the subscription music service and Iovine/Dre. Iovine has apparently been very close with Apple for nearly a decade, involved with iTunes from very early on. Has a lot of pull with the record industry and Hollywood. Apparently sales of digital music is on it’s way down with the rise of these subscription music services like Spotify. BeatsMusic is still young (200,000’ish subscribers)- so Apple still getting in before it gets too big to buy.
I think the headphones thing is honestly something they just had to take as part of the package. It’s a profitable and popular brand (regardless of what us pros think of their quality)- so there’s way worse ways to spend money. And I’m sure it will eventually merge into something else. Eddie Cue talked tonight about speakers being a big opportunity.
Cue also talked about AppleTV. I think there is a big opportunity to do away with a lot of the complexity of home theatre. Getting rid of complexity on both the software and the hardware side. Again, to meet consumer needs.
Regardless, since the deal won’t even be finalized until later this year, and HP still has a Beats licence until the end of 2015, I don’t think we’ll see the real results of this for several years.
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I very much look forward to people’s opinion on this. Reading thru the ProToolsExpert author’s replies in the comments- it seems this is not a calculated move or some collaberative venture.
While I don’t see myself moving back to avid- I think they fill an important place in the industry. Hopefully this isn’t a sign of the end times!
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For my money, Apple’s “1.24.14” spot is a better example of this. It’s better produced & edited overall and the message in relation to the shooting methodology is much more clear.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJahlKPCL9g
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[Franz Bieberkopf] “NLEs are DAWs – though their functions may be limited, it’s hard to come up with a definition of DAW that an NLE doesn’t fit. The fact that most editors will not extensively use the DAW functionality doesn’t change that.”
I’m not sure I agree here. A DAW is exclusively audio focused- so the toolset can be optimized specifically to be the best audio tool possible.
An NLE by its very nature is at cross purposes. What works best for lean, fast, and efficient picture editorial is certain to compromise what may be best for audio. Conversely, a NLE which is a great DAW is probably making all sorts of compromises to picture cutting, especially as the audio stack becomes more complex.
This is why I think it’s a foregone conclusion that top tier audio finishing (in the same way as graphics) will always be done in specialized apps.
Of course, the balance that has to be struck in any NLE is what level of features is “enough”, and what level of compromise do you make between being a great picture and sound editor within that NLE.
There’s no right answer here. Everyone has their own level of functionality and compromise that they find sufficient to meet their needs for NLE audio. And this depends entirely on individual workflows in question- How much responsibility the editor has for audio in the production? What level of complexity is required?
It’s always an interesting topic. As it relates to FCPX- it’s obviously the least DAW’ish NLE out there, with it’s forsaking of conventional track structure. Apple is clearly putting the emphases on picture first- and i’m curious as anyone to see how more complicated audio functionality is figured into that structure.
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Agreed. Many people’s needs could probably be served by an enhanced, but still relatively limited toolset.
Invariably, the X team must know that after a certain budget or level of production- audio is going out to a DAW no mater what. You’re not going to compete with that.
Where that “feature horizon” line is surely hotly debated. Some will always want more within the NLE.
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As I said, performance and stability comes first. It’s not sexy, but it makes the experience of running the app that much better.
I’d just say that overall Audio must be high on the list of priorities for upcoming feature development. As was discussed in a thread below, I just don’t think the makeup of any software team like X must have makes it possible that performance and stability is everyone’s job. There must be parallel tracks of features in varying disciplines (audio, colour)- when that work is ready to be integrated is another matter.
Incidentally, someone on the fcp.co forums was contacted by Apple and asked some specific questions regarding colour correction. It seems like they were tying to get info for future development of the toolset.
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Audio MUST be high on the list. Besides “Send to Motion” it’s probably one of the most requested features I can think of (besides overall stability and performance).
Besides that, there were job postings for audio positions on the X team early last year.