Word from developers confirms what I had suspected: developers were as surprised as we were to learn Apple was shipping a new operating system on August 30.

If you have to ask yourself whether you want to upgrade, then the simple answer is – don’t, not yet. And via Christopher Wimbrow on Twitter, here’s the first tool that we can confirm will outright break if you jump too soon – PreSonus hardware. From their forum, earlier today, PreSonus’ Nick RICK Naqvi tells a user (unofficially):

Right now, we are planning to have support for Snow Leopard by the end of October. We had originally heard they were going to release it in September, so our plan was to test it thoroughly and then release a new driver about 30 days later. They moved up the date to August 28 so it looks like we will be a little more than a week later than we expected.

Please note, if you update your OS, your PreSonus hardware will not work.

If you have to install it to play with, I’d recommend doing a partition. But leave Leopard on it so that you can continue to record.

Ouch. I’ll let you know if this gets fixed sooner. And remember, this is an operating system that is being tested under a Non-Disclosure Agreement; more incompatibilities are likely to appear next week.

This illustrates a problem, too. Shipping an application early is great news. Shipping an operating system early – with countless hardware and software vendors pulling time from other work (like new features) to keep their stuff working – not so great news.

Fortunately, you have power over your computer. Ignore that Apple email that appeared on Monday saying Snow Leopard is “In store or at your door Friday,” and consider it a bleeding-edge operating system. Assume that for most users, the current build of 10.5 represents the best compromise of Mac stability, compatibility, and features – at least for the time being.

UPDATE – PreSonus WILL have beta drivers. And like the vast majority of vendors, real stable versions are expected in a few weeks.

Earlier in the week, I was told that we weren’t going to have Snow Leopard driver until October, but our engineers worked overtime the last week or so to release a beta driver that is fully functional. We have tested it internally and it is working well and allows for daisychaining of interfaces and full feature functionality. This driver will work with all of our Firestudio Family Interfaces including:

Firestudio 2626
Firestudio Project
Firestudio Lightpipe
Firestudio Tube
Firestudio Mobile
StudioLive1642

Our other interfaces are class compliant and are going to be immediately supported on Snow Leopard:

Firebox
Inspire1394
FP10 / Firepod
AudioboxUSB

Lastly, our new recording software, StudioOne is also ready for Snow Leopard. Here’s a link to the StudioOne page: http://www.presonus.com/products/SoftwareDetail.aspx?SoftwareId=11

If you are an early adopter, let us know your experiences.

I can’t say this was a mind-blowing week by any stretch – I’ve been perfectly happy to stay here in New York, thanks. (Germany, may I ask, why is that you don’t hold events in Berlin?) But there is some news, so let’s have a look:

Dark Energy is a standalone analog synth from Doepfer. For those of us who have looked enviously at big Doepfer racks, but couldn’t afford / find space for / lift them, this is huge news. It’s a monophonic, standalone synth with USB and MIDI (and, naturally, control voltage), weighing just over a kilogram. Once you get beyond the MIDI interface, everything is analog. VCO (triangle-based, FM, PWM control), VCF (24 dB low pass) with external audio input, VCA, LFO1 and LFO2, ADSR. It’s basically a standalone version of the A-111-5 module. As such, it’s a bit limited compared to what’s out there, but there’s still a lot you can do with it, and at EUR400 it’s a Doepfer you can more easily afford.

Dark Energy Product Page

I actually wish they hadn’t used the vintage-style look, because I like the distinctive, Cyberman-silver look of the Doepfer racks. (Maybe a Light Energy version for those who agree?) But that doesn’t make your credit card any less safe from this drool-inducing monster.

The Miniak is a new synth from Akai that crosses the Alesis Micron synth with an Akai body, adding a boom mic and a 40-band vocoder. There are also some Akai-style features – step and phrase sequencing, and a drum machine/rhythm sequencer. There’s no question this is an attempt by Akai to position the Miniak opposite Korg’s microKORG XL and R3 – and, perhaps, an acknowledgement that the “Alesis” nameplate doesn’t mean much to anyone these days. But given the fact that a lot of people like the sound of the Micron better than the Korg, I think it could be a contender. No pricing yet.

Akai Miniak

In other, if less earth-shaking, Akai news, Akai has added an 88-key MPK, their controllers with MPC pads on them. It also includes MPC Note Repeat and Swing. That’s cool, but for 88-key keyboards, action is everything, so I wonder how the quality may be. I haven’t been blown away with Akai on build quality lately. (As an aside, I think these are all variable — some people love them. You tend to hear positive and negative comments about any lower-cost items. I guess part of my concern is I don’t have much experience with 88-key keybeds from Akai or Alesis, so we’ll see what they use and judge then.) The MPK88 also suffers from the same thing I complained about on the Novation SL: the control layout is exactly the same to save cost, even with the added keys, so you get this oddly-cramped control layout in the center and then big blank spaces on either side. Then again, you have a place to store sheet music, sandwiches, etc.

There’s also the rather sad-looking MPD18, which is a 4×4 MPC pad controller with just one fader. I think most people would rather have the MPD24 or MPD32 which actually have other controls on them.

So, in other words, Akai’s APC40 Ableton controller from NAMM and the Miniak from this show are likely to be the big newsmakers.

Samplitude 11 / Sequoia 11: The beloved (if not terribly widely-known) audio software from Magix is getting a pretty significant update – and best of all, Magix is dropping the dongle in the basic version. (See KVR for some heated debate about the value proposition there.) Samplitude has a new integrated UI, a new effects suite, “artifact-free” timestretching, and a new EQ. Sequoia adds “multisynchronous cut” for easier comparison of takes and visual feedback when timestretching, AAF/OMF support, video export, and new user admin features. There’s also a new guitar amp simulation, though I’m unclear why the world needs another of those. Sadly, details are scant right now and someone had the terrible idea of spending time instead of Flash animations of bird woodcuts (see my caption for the image above), but go enjoy:

Samplitude

I love OpenLabs, in that they seem – kind of crazy. DBeat is the latest in their line of massive hardware-computer hybrids. Interestingly, their capacitive touch screen will be multi-touch capable with Windows 7, which is very cool. Otherwise, well, everything you could put on this, they did – that is indeed an iPod dock on the top and a trackball on the bottom right. It comes preconfigured with Ableton Live and their own Riff virtual instrument host, plus GURU running inside Riff.

DBeat [Open Labs]

What you get is an integrated hardware interface and pre-tuned software configuration – though I do wonder how you get inside for repairs / upgrades. It costs US$3999 – 3499 intro – but make one Geico ad and it should pay for itself, as the NeKo did for these guys:

Euphonix with their MC Transport have created what must be acknowledged as the world’s most beautiful jog wheel. It even has a gorgeous Time Code Display, made … well, quite small, apparently because it’s artier? Those are transport buttons, function keys, navigation controls, and of course a numeric keypad, and it all connects via Ethernet – something I’d love to see more of. The controls work with Euphonix’s own EuCon, plus HUI, MackieControl, and plain keystroke support. For those of you who can’t afford an entire Euphonix setup, get the jog wheel!

MC Transport

The surprise news of the store: PreSonus Studio One, a new DAW. Apparently we don’t have enough of those with Samplitude (see above) and Pro Tools and Logic and DP and Cubase and Tracktion and Live and Reaper and Ardour and … so on. As with Mackie’s Tracktion, the goal appears to be to build a new foundation from the ground-up, for easier ease of use and slicker features. But I’m still scratching my head as to what the real advantage is here. The primary selling point is a new audio engine that can switch between 32-bit and 64-bit floating-point audio processing on the fly. (They note “even with a 32-bit OS,” but that’s true of all 64-bit audio; it’s not directly related to the OS.) Other features seem Ableton-influenced – drag-and-drop, instant timestretching and (again, as with Tracktion) a one-window interface. But all in all, this looks like reinventing the wheel to the extreme. (A new virtual sampler!)

One interesting implementation detail: MIDI mapping is designed to be easier, by moving your hardware control and software control for linking. (That’s the way assignment works, for instance, internally in Kore.) And there’s full Mac and Windows audio interface driver and plug-in support, plus even VST3 support.

But if you’re building a new tool in a crowded marketplace, why not do something really different? Why not support OSC or build in clever new networking features or change the interface paradigm? This entire industry sometimes seems addicted to reinventing proprietary tools to create new “platforms,” without any real thought into why we’re doing it. And I personally can’t describe how little I want another DAW. (I could try breaking down and crying, for effect.)

Maybe it’s fantastic. But even if it is, it certainly didn’t take this opportunity to do something radically new.

PreSonus Studio One

And the oddest photo from Messe (snagged for us at CDM):

Messe Picks

These wound up being the biggest stories of the show for us personally – in part, just in terms of what I’m anticipating.

The synth that stole the show without making a sound (meaning, it had better sound great when it ships):

Teenage Engineering OP-1: Insanely Slick, Pocketable Controller + Synth

Operator-1 Details: The Casio VL-Tone of the 21st Century, Plus the Synth Alarm Clock!

High-Density Screens Due; OP-1’s Gorgeous Display

There was one actually-shipping software program that has made a big splash, naturally.

Ableton Live 8 Released (For Real)

A major announcement:

Garritan Rescues Giga Sampling Technology, Talks Open Standards (to me, the biggest news of this show)

Updated Novation ReMOTE SL Line, and the Controller Keyboard Battle Heats Up (cool, though not the “product of the show” Novation hyped it up to be)

Cakewalk V-Studio 100: Mixer + Recorder + Computer Audio Interface + Controller

And no, nothing I covered this week was an April Fool’s Joke. Jeez.

Did I leave anything of import out of this round-up? Let us know!

Disagree with my take? Say so. (That’s why we have open comments.)

How is PreSonus doing with released drivers? Reasonably well from what I can see — and what I’ve heard. But they do have some blips. There isn’t a Vista driver for their FaderPort or V-Fire, and there’s no Leopard driver for V-Fire though the rest of their product line is up-to-date with Vista and Leopard.

How have PreSonus drivers treated you? I see a number of improvements in terms of stability on Mac OS on their downloads page via recent releases.

But that’s not the only odd thing about the CC 121. There’s a little light that goes on to say it’s “Cubase Ready.” (The marketing materials say this gives it “instant plug and play.” I’m not entirely sure why you need an LED for that, but I guess it’s comforting or something.) Then there’s the control layout, which has so much blank space that it looks a little like someone dropped a stack of encoders and buttons on a piece of paper and glued everything where it fell.

But the oddest thing about the CC 121 is the controller choices themselves. The whole point of previous single-fader control surfaces — at least, so I thought — was creating a compact device that can sit by your mouse. The point of the CC 121 seems to be, well, EQ. There are a full twelve dedicated EQ encoders. For everything else, there’s … uh … one knob. (It’s the one that says “VALUE” on the right side.) It is supposed to be a really smart knob, at least. Here’s how Steinberg describes it:

“Ultra-precision Advanced Integration controller knob with ‘point and control’ support: controls any visual Cubase 4 parameter, internal FX setting or VSTi parameter using mouse pointer selection”

Translation: you can click on any setting in Cubase and control it with our encoder, one setting at a time. Want to control more than one setting at a time? Say, delay time and wet/dry mix? Sorry. There are four buttons so you can change the function of the one value knob, but not the obvious solution of having any more than one knob. I know what you’re thinking. There’s blank space all over this unit, so why couldn’t you just have four “Advanced Integration Controller Knobs”? I think I have the answer: if you did that, you wouldn’t have room for the “Cubase Ready” light.

You may think I’m just using this opportunity to beat up on Steinberg and be snarky, but I’m not.

The Magic of Third Parties and Broad Compatibility

No, on the contrary, this illustrates something I’ve suspected for a long time. Just as most screenwriters shouldn’t direct their own films, software developers shouldn’t necessarily make hardware controllers for their own software. Sometimes the magic works; sometimes it doesn’t. Either way, having choices beyond those the software vendor chose is a good thing. Third-party hardware can work with more than one app (in case you ever use something other than Cubase), it can provide more choices (in case your needs are different than someone else), and it provides the much-needed perspective beyond the folks who built the software. You may not get the brand name of your DAW on the unit, but smart software can still make the out-of-box experience just as integrated. That doesn’t mean I think the software vendors shouldn’t try — as Alan Kay is often attributed as saying, “People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware.” But, even assuming he did actually say that, and assuming we should all listen to him, he didn’t say that you had to make that hardware for your own software, or that you’d be successful all of the time.

Someone out there I’m sure really, really loves tweaking EQ. Congratulations: the CC 121 is for you. For everyone else, you have not one but four excellent choices: Novation’s SL line, Frontier’s AlphaTrack and TranzPort, and PreSonus’ FaderPort. They all integrate fairly automatically with Cubase (even older versions which are incompatible with the CC 121), and give you lots of control. And that’s just compact control surfaces.

Not only that, but Novation, Frontier, and PreSonus all make hardware that works with other stuff not from Steinberg. The AlphaTrack, for instance, just added extensive support for GarageBand 4 (adding to a long list of other supported software), plus software you probably haven’t even heard of — SAWStudio by RML Labs and MultitrackStudio from Bremmers Audio Design. SAWStudio support didn’t grab the Messe headlines the way a Steinberg control surface did, but I’ll bet if you’re a SAWStudio user, you’re really excited. And that’s the point: we choose our software personally, so we should choose our hardware the same way.

Here’s a quick review of the other compact control surfaces available — not only for Cubase, but a lot of other software, as well:

The PreSonus FaderPort does a lot less than the new Steinberg piece — but it also takes up a fraction of the space, meaning you could put this right by your mouse and keyboard and put a full-sized control surface somewhere else if you like. And it has a dedicated punch button, which it looks like the Steinberg unit may actually lack. (I hope I’m wrong about that.)

Works with: Cubase SX 3 / Nuendo 2, SONAR 5, DP 4, Pro Tools 6, Logic Pro 7/8, Logic Express 7 and later versions of each of those. (So, ironically, if you’re a Cubase user who hasn’t upgraded from version 3, you want this instead of the Steinberg-branded unit.)

The Frontier AlphaTrack is currently my favorite one-fader piece, for three simple reasons: it’s got knobs and a ribbon for more control, it has a screen so you can see what you’re doing, and it works with Ableton Live. That easily makes it worth sacrificing some additional space to me. Meanwhile, while you can click stuff and control it with the Steinberg unit, the Frontier has dedicated buttons for its EQ, plug-in modes, and so on, so you don’t have to click at all.

Frontier also makes a wireless unit called the Tranzport — no fader, but jog, shuttle, and key record buttons, plus a screen. It works with a huge array of software (even FL Studio), and since it’s wireless can be ideal for using when you’re recording.

Works with: Audition, Logic, Cubase, DP, Live, Final Cut, Guitar Tracks Pro, Nuendo, Pro Tools, REAPER, Reason, SONAR, Soundtrack Pro, Tracktion, GarageBand, and now SAWStudio and MultitrackStudio, and maybe more by the time you’re reading this.

It’s got quite a lot more than one fader, but the ReMOTE ZeRO SL (and the rest of the SL line) is worth a mention here, because a) it’s relatively compact (if bigger than the other options here) and b) it can automatically map to software parameters and plug-ins in the software. Like the Frontier, there’s a screen, which means you can use this without being glued to your computer monitor — or, via a new update, you can get even oversized screen feedback that you don’t have to squint at. It lacks a jog wheel, and the faders aren’t motorized and have a throw that’s too short for extended use. But for plug-in tweaking, it wins handily — and aren’t a lot of Cubase users VST nuts, anyway? (As I was saying, the point isn’t One Control Surface To Rule Them All, it’s One Control Surface That Fits You.)

Works with: Via Automap Universal, Pro Tools, Logic, DP, Ableton — and, yes, Cubase and Nuendo

What Will You Use?

With all of those choices, you can see one reason why you might get the Steinberg unit when it comes out: the jog wheel is nice. But you have a much broader array of choices. Heck, if you really like that Steinberg logo, print it out and tape it to your unit of choice.

Are you a Cubase user? Is the CC 121 what you want? What are you using to control your DAW of choice? Let us know in comments.

Some of my favorite audio interfaces are now available for Windows Vista. The INSPIRE 1394, FireBox, FP10 and FirePod are now all available for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Vista. A bit late? Yes, but at this point, I care more about quality than punctuality. Anybody with the PreSonus boxes and Vista, we’d love to know how they’re working.

PreSonus Vista Downloads

Note that when you’re talking about FireWire, you’re talking ASIO and the new driver model under Vista. “WaveRT”, technology that allows greater audio performance of some hardware under Vista, is a feature that’s not supported by any FireWire or USB devices. (GearWire posted a splashy headline saying Native Instruments wasn’t supporting WaveRT, when really that just translated to “NI Only Makes USB Interfaces.” I can forgive the confusion, given the various Vista driver complexities, but let’s just say — look for Vista-compatible and leave it at that.)

I still can’t see running 64-bit Vista, even for a marginal performance gain, as it knocks out some significant hardware and software compatibility. But, as Craig Anderton just observed in his preview of Cakewalk SONAR 7 for EQ, one advantage of the new SONAR is that it’s basically a complete 64-bit music toolkit, with some decent bundled instruments and the awesome Z3ta+ synth.

I’m pleased to announce the first-ever CDM Giveaway. We’ve got over US$4,000 of hardware and software tools for music creation, and we’d like to give you the chance to win them. To do that, we’re holding a good, old-fashioned prize drawing — I’ve been warming up my true random number generator — so that all you have to do is enter for a chance to win. To better your odds, each prize will get a different winner.

CDM Giveaway Info Page; official rules (no purchase necessary).

Here’s what we’ve got:

Akai MPC500 mobile music workstation
Ableton Live 6 music production software
Alesis ControlPad drum pad controller
Glyph GT 050Q 250GB eSATA/USB/FW400/FW800 hard drive
Moog Music Moogerfooger FreqBox VCO effects box
Native Instruments Absynth 4 soft synth
Native Instruments Elektrik Piano soft synth
Numark Total Control DJ control surface
PreSonus FaderPort

…plus boxes of Ableton beanies and AudioMIDI.com Synth Legends DVDs. You can check everything out on the giveaway page.

And get some link love, too: Eligible residents of the United States can enter to win any one of these prizes. Unfortunately, for legal reasons we can’t extend the whole sweepstakes to international readers. To make up for it, we’ll be watching international entries for the best blogs, project pages, and music websites to feature on CDM, and we’ll send out Ableton beanies and/or DVDs to our favorite entries. (American readers, we’ll be watching your pages, too, so be sure to include your URLs when you enter.)

We’ve been putting this together for a while now and it’s been a lot of work, so I’m excited to be able to roll it out. We’ve hand-picked some of our favorite gear and software makers to partner with, or we wouldn’t be doing this.

Full details on the giveaway page. Enter now, because at the stroke of midnight following Monday, June 11, the contest is over. And I really want to get these boxes of gear and swag shipped. It’ll be a lot more fun out of the brown cardboard boxes, I’m sure.

Update: If you’re not from the US – please do fill out the form, if you include nothing other than your URL (so we can check out your site) and your country. (Nothing else is required.)

We’re really sorry we weren’t able to go global on this one for legal reasons (I try to explain why in comments). But that’s all the more reason to find out where you’re from. Server stats provide a very incomplete picture of what country people are from, and we would like to know. And if you include contact info, I might at least be able to get some of you some swag.

PreSonus is the latest, with new 32-bit and 64-bit Vista drivers (and XP/XP x64) for its 10×10 FireWire-based Firepod interface. These are WDM Audio drivers, along with the usual ASIO drivers. Based on information from Microsoft and developers, it’s our understanding that only PCIe-based interfaces can support the new high-performance WaveRT driver technology, though we have heard from readers who claim better performance for USB and FireWire devices under Vista, as well.

Any PreSonus owners out there running Vista, we’d love to hear how this works for you — and if you can use the XP drivers for the other PreSonus hardware under Vista even without official “Vista support.”

PreSonus Downloads

You’re tired of using your mouse to grab on-screen controls. You want something physical to control, a motorized fader that will automatically pop to the right position. But you aren’t quite ready to surrender a bunch of workspace to a hulking full-sized control surface. You want something as compact and easy to grab as the mouse, but that makes sense for audio.

You’re evidently the target market for two new one-channel fader control surfaces, the PreSonus FaderPort and the Frontier AlphaTrack, both with a US$200 street. The FaderPort made an appearance at NAMM in January; I got to give the unit a try and it feels great. But Jerry Halsted, blogger at the Jer zone and an employee of Frontier, sent us a glimpse of Frontier’s take, and it could steal the FaderPort’s thunder.

The AlphaTrack, on paper at least, easily trumps the FaderPort in features:

More encoders: The AlphaTrack has three endless rotary encoders with a push-button function, which you could assign not only to pan but EQ, effects plug-ins, or anything else you like. The FaderPort has only a single knob, in place of the endless encoders.
1. Ribbon controller: A small ribbon touch controller above the logo works with one finger to scrub, two fingers to shuttle through your project (much like the one finger/two finger arrangement on the current Mac laptops).
2. More flexibility: You can flip settings from the knobs to the fader for fine control, which means the AlphaTrack could easily be seen as a virtual effects controller as much as a channel strip — in case your idea of music creation involves endless tweaking to granular effects in Ableton Live, a la Monolake.
3. LEDs and LCDs: There’s a 2-line backlit screen so you can see what you’re controlling, plus status LEDs for all the buttons on the AlphaTrack. The PreSonus doesn’t have the indicators or screen.

My only question is whether the motorized fader on the AlphaTrack feel as good as the one on the PreSonus? I believe it could, only because Frontier has been in the control surface business for a while (see Tascam US series, Tranzport). I just have to give it a try first-hand.

The idea is certainly appealing, especially for those of us who have already crammed our studio with keyboards and spend most of our time at the computer, and just need a way to quickly adjust levels, not necessarily two faders at a time.

Tranzport support in Ardour should mean FaderPort support will follow for this open source Linux/Mac DAW.

Availability: FaderPort now; AlphaTrack in January 07

More information:

AlphaTrack [the Jer Zone]
AlphaTrack [Frontier Design]
FaderPort announcement [PreSonus]

See also Music thing for more commentary.