Avid to Acquire M-Audio (Midiman)

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Surprised that nobody's mentioned this here yet. Read about it at
http://tinyurl.com/46gnn

Congrats to Tim Ryan, who built a little company with niche products
into something big enough to be worth buying for a whole lot of money.

They say that nothing will change. We'll see.



--
I'm really Mike Rivers (mrivers@d-and-d.com)
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

On 15 Aug 2004 13:11:09 -0700, genericaudioperson@hotmail.com (xy)
wrote:

>wow!
>
>i think m-audio is pretty cheezy. but they do build excellent drivers
>for their soundcards.
>
>i wonder why Avid would be wanting to "slum it" with a pro-sumer
>brand.

More market share, and they probably see people upgrading to their
other products in the future...

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

xy wrote:

> wow!
>
> i think m-audio is pretty cheezy. but they do build excellent drivers
> for their soundcards.
>
> i wonder why Avid would be wanting to "slum it" with a pro-sumer
> brand.

Because there is a much greater demand for cost effective
products than for prestige products with all the people that
are recording now without it being a business expense.

Cost effective does not equate to slumming and cheezy unless
one is buying prestige.


Bob
--

"Things should be described as simply as possible, but no
simpler."

A. Einstein

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

"Roger W. Norman" <Roger@SirMusicStudio.com> wrote in message
news:4120a8f3$0$5920$61fed72c@news.rcn.com

> Well, the one thing we don't know is whether M-Audio is on the verge
> of some new technology or development of a higher end product for
> significantly less, so that would make a difference.

I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to realize that a big chunk of the
M-Audio product line is near the end of competitive life, and needs some
serious money spent to reengineer it, and all that goes with it.

Just speculating here, but I think its been a while since they came out with
a new product that was succesful as say, the Audiophile 2496. It was fairly
unique in its day, but a few weeks ago when I last checked, it was currently
selling for about half its historic street price, due to competitive
pressures from newer designs.

In short, they need an infusion of capital to remain competitive.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

In article <4120a8f3$0$5920$61fed72c@news.rcn.com> Roger@SirMusicStudio.com writes:

> Well, the one thing we don't know is whether M-Audio is on the verge of some
> new technology or development of a higher end product for significantly
> less, so that would make a difference.

They've been innovative in the past, but not really radical. I don't
think that Avid is looking for new breakthrough technology here, but
perhaps a putting-together-of-heads to make some products that will go
along with Avid or Digidesign systems. After all, M-Audio has modestly
priced keyboards, microphones, and monitors, all of which can be used
with a Digidesign system. It makes sense for the (big) company to get
the profits from those sales rather than leave them for someone else.

> Perhaps they have stepped into M-Lan or MADI development, giving
> Avid an in to a market without having to make the development investments.

That's certainly possible. It's the sort of thing they do.

--
I'm really Mike Rivers (mrivers@d-and-d.com)
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

In article <20040817080108.16562.00002379@mb-m22.aol.com> eganmedia@aol.com writes:

> I read the announcement on the Digi site, and their main reason seems to be
> that they're trying to fight for the bottom portion of the market. I don't
> know retail sales, but entering into the fray with a hundred other small
> vendors selling entry level digital recording systems seems like a lot of work
> without a lot of potential.

M-Audio already has a really strong foothold there with a wide range
of products, while Avid has only the M-Box in that segment in the
market. But the fact that it's really ProTools is a strong selling
point.

I don't expect much to change, at least in the near term, with either
product line, but we may see some joint marketing efforts and product
bundling arrangements for the dealers. Could be that the deal on an
M-Box system with an Evolution or Oxygen keyboard, a pair of M-Audio
monitors, and a couple of mics will get better from a retailer.

Digidesign has a few different categories of customers:

- Love, it, need it, gotta have it, will keep it up to date because it
brings in a lot of money.

- Gotta have it, pisses me off that it costs so much to keep it up so
I can retain the clients bit they really want ProToos and Nuendo
just won't do.

- Spent my last dollar with Digidesign, I'm moving to something else.
No problem. No clients to tell me what to do.

- Gee, whiz! A ProTools system for under $500! I can make CDs at home
using the same gear that the big studios use.

It's the last group that will benefit most from the acquisition.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers (mrivers@d-and-d.com)
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

mrivers@d-and-d.com (Mike Rivers) wrote in message news:<znr1092666668k@trad>...
> In article <4120a8f3$0$5920$61fed72c@news.rcn.com> Roger@SirMusicStudio.com writes:
>
> > Well, the one thing we don't know is whether M-Audio is on the verge of some
> > new technology or development of a higher end product for significantly
> > less, so that would make a difference.
>
> They've been innovative in the past, but not really radical. I don't
> think that Avid is looking for new breakthrough technology here, but
> perhaps a putting-together-of-heads to make some products that will go
> along with Avid or Digidesign systems. After all, M-Audio has modestly
> priced keyboards, microphones, and monitors, all of which can be used
> with a Digidesign system. It makes sense for the (big) company to get
> the profits from those sales rather than leave them for someone else.
>
> > Perhaps they have stepped into M-Lan or MADI development, giving
> > Avid an in to a market without having to make the development investments.
>
> That's certainly possible. It's the sort of thing they do.

I think M-audio use to be Midiman correct? So they have been macing
gizmos for a long time? I wonder if Avid/Digidesign thinks that
Digi001 systems are bringing the brand recognition of pro-tools down
and they want to separate them. I mean now everyone says they have
"pro-tools" and that often means the Digi001 system.

Mike http://www.mmeproductions.com

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Mike Rivers <mrivers@d-and-d.com> wrote:
> In article <4120a8f3$0$5920$61fed72c@news.rcn.com>
> Roger@SirMusicStudio.com writes:
> > Perhaps they have stepped into M-Lan or MADI development, giving
> > Avid an in to a market without having to make the development
> > investments.
>
> That's certainly possible. It's the sort of thing they do.

maybe avid just wanted an audio buddy.

--
Aaron J. Grier | "Not your ordinary poofy goof." | agrier@poofygoof.com
"someday the industry will have throbbing frontal lobes and will be able
to write provably correct software. also, I want a pony." -- Zach Brown

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Mike Rivers wrote:
>
> Yes, quite a long time. In the early years they didn't a very large
> engineering department and some of the products they marketed were
> actually designed and sometimes built by other small companies. They
> had a few time code devices that were like that, and sold some nifty
> "backwards" rack screws that had threaded studs that went into the
> rack rails and large knurled nuts on the front for quick removal of
> rack mount gear.

Like these? <http://rackrelease.com/>

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

"Arny Krueger" <arnyk@hotpop.com> wrote in message
news:V5udndX7A48uKrjcRVn-jA@comcast.com...
>
>
> Which would you rather have, given that the Terratec's normal street price
> is about 2/3 of what the AP2496 cost for most of the past year (not
> considering M-Audio's recent summer sale).
>
>

What surprises me is how Creative can sell the Audigy for what it does
considering what you can get a "pro" (for what little that word means) for
less money.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

"Ricky W. Hunt" <rhunt22@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:hijVc.51556$TI1.29041@attbi_s52
> "Arny Krueger" <arnyk@hotpop.com> wrote in message
> news:V5udndX7A48uKrjcRVn-jA@comcast.com...
>>
>>
>> Which would you rather have, given that the Terratec's normal street
>> price is about 2/3 of what the AP2496 cost for most of the past year
>> (not considering M-Audio's recent summer sale).

> What surprises me is how Creative can sell the Audigy for what it does
> considering what you can get a "pro" (for what little that word
> means) for less money.

If you are talking about the full-tilt Audigy Platinum with the neat jack
panel, note that its street price has fallen into the sub-$170 range from
about $200. I don't know how many they actually sell any more. In the audio
production market they have competition above and below that price porint
from themsevelves via their own Emu product line.