The simplest way to share a surround mix is simply to put the audio data files on a CD-ROM, but this means that the person you're giving the disc to has to a) know what to do with the files, and b) have enough equipment to play them back, even taking the speakers out of the equation.
However, with many musicians and audio engineers now working (or moving towards) surround sound on a day-to-day basis, it's a lot less obvious how to share a surround mix with the same convenience - in terms of both creation and playback. As recording your own CDs became affordable towards the end of the '90s, CDs became a pretty easy way of distributing your work as one-offs for clients, friends and family, or even preparing masters for distribution. When everyone worked in stereo, letting other people hear your work was pretty easy. So here's to an Emagical Christmas, and an Intel new year! I Want My DVD And with Apple's other 'Pro' applications moving onto what seems to be a yearly development cycle, September 2004's Logic 7 announcement is starting to seem rather distant. Speaking of Apple's music offerings, it'll be even more interesting to see what happens with Logic Pro in 2006: despite a strong presence, Apple have never made a major product introduction at a NAMM show. Personally, I'll be interested to see whether iLife gets its annual makeover, and, if so, whether a Garage Band 3 will be introduced, and whether last year's rumours concerning Apple offering a consumer audio interface might still yield some substance.
If the current rumours are to be believed, a media-orientated Mac Mini might be in the offing, offering features such as the Front Row interface from the new iMac, and there's even speculation about Intel-based Macs appearing sooner than originally expected.
And while, at present, the move to PCI Express seems daunting for new Power Mac customers, it will be interesting to see how music software developers respond to the challenge of Universal Binaries (the term used to describe an application that contains the code to run on both architectures) as Intel Macs appear in 2006.īy the time you read this month's column, Steve Jobs will already have been on the stage at the San Francisco Macworld show on January 9th and, hopefully, will have started the year with a selection of new and interesting products.
In fact, just before Christmas, Apple announced new content from channels such as NBC and the Sci-Fi channel, including, er, Knight Rider! But 2005 was also about transitions - including the transition from Power PC chips to Intel's x86 architecture, a move that was both expected and shocking.
The iPod Shuffle was the first new iPod of 2005, and by the end of the year Apple had replaced its entire iPod line-up: the unbelievably small iPod Nano was introduced, along with a new video-capable iPod, while video content - most notably, TV shows - became available to US customers of the iTunes Music Store. And even though it's not the most powerful system Apple markets, a Mac Mini and Logic Express is a pretty remarkable 'first' system for anyone new to computer music. The Mac Mini (reviewed in May 2005's SOS) was a turning point for Apple: a low-cost, entry-level Mac computer. The year 2005 started well, with a Macworld show that brought the Mac Mini, iPod Shuffle and iLife 05, featuring Garage Band 2 with its new score-editing options and more, into the world.
With the rumour mills already grinding away in preparation for next month's Macworld show, we make a brief survey of 2005, as well as taking a look at using Apple's DVD Studio Pro application to distribute surround mixes.ĭecember is always a good month for nostalgia, and while the date on the front of this magazine says February, as I write this it's still December, which made me think about what a good year it's been for Apple. Note how the image and audio files appear on the timeline, on the V1 and A1 tracks respectively, at the bottom of the main window. Apple's DVD Studio Pro application can be used to create full-featured DVD-Video discs, but it's also a useful way for musicians and audio engineers to conveniently share surround mixes.