M-Audio Responds: Update on Driver Situation, New
Drivers

M-Audio has actually gotten in touch in response to frustrations about incompatibilities with OS updates — updates which, admittedly, have recently been frequent and sometimes troublesome on both the Windows and Mac sides. Niels Larsen, General Manger at M-Audio, responds in comments with some specifics on where drivers are, some new drivers that were released literally today, and some comments on the OS situation in general.  (I’ve copied it here just in case you missed it in comments.)

I’ve also heard from Digidesign/M-Audio public relations; I hope to have additional updates soon.

This is well worth reading whether or not you own M-Audio hardware.

From comments:

Hi all,

I’m Niels Larsen, General Manager of M-Audio. I am posting here not to throw things at Peter:-) for writing this article but to recognize to you all that we are aware that we are disappointing many of our users. With OS updates not being entirely voluntary anymore it gets increasingly frustrating for users to suddenly find that their systems don’t work from one day to the next.

I am sorry that we are prolonging this frustration by being late in delivering compatible drivers. It affects many of our loyal users and it therefore also affects our business.

So what’s the current status? I have tried to outline for you below where we are as of today:

Leopard
Today we posted release drivers for our Firewire Solo/Audiophile/410/1814/Ozonic and NRV-10. We still have work to do on Profire Lightbridge and Projectmix but outside of these two products our Leopard development is complete. I hope users who have experienced problems with the beta drivers will find the new drivers trouble-free.

http://www.m-audio.com/news/en_us-1267.html

XP SP3
The statement from http://www.m-audio.com that Peter referenced in his article above was correctly quoted. We actually did ourselves a disservice by not providing more information and have corrected that today in the following link:

http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=support.faq&ID=620a9083da49326e05cbb00e653a528d

Of course we also have to fix the installers that don’t work under SP3. It’s not only frustrating for our users, its also a burden on our tech support team. We will provide more information about that during next week as we get a better overview of the timeline.

Projectmix and Vista 32
We posted the 32 bit release driver for Projectmix about a week ago and that leaves Transit, Mobile Pre and Ozone still in beta.

Vista SP-1 & Vista 64
We have been recruiting for beta testers on our website for a little while but the truth is that we are still some way off with both of these two projects. We have to finish our other Windows projects completely before we can fully engage but I hope you are getting a sense from the above that things are looking up on that front. Before long, our development should be focused entirely on these two issues and as we are in beta already we hope that development will go relatively smooth.
We are fully aware that Vista 64 is a big deal particularly because of the RAM constraints within Vista 32, so we take this seriously. We plan to give a timeline update on our website once we have put Vista 32 and XP SP3 behind us.

Going forward, I hope you will see an improvement in our support as our driver team is growing with new hires and an increased commitment to support OS updates in a timely fashion. I appreciate that we are not perfect until the day that we are able to launch driver update within minutes of a new OS revision. Recently we have been far off that mark and need to at least get closer to perfect.

Thanks for listening.

Niels

Thanks, Niels, for being so open. It may not make people any less frustrated with various updates being out of sync, but I think we do appreciate knowing more about what’s happening behind the scenes. (And based on feedback we’ve gotten, M-Audio/Digidesign are far from alone with difficulties with some of these recent OS updates.)

We have some more stories on 64-bit Windows and other operating system changes forthcoming; if anyone has more they’d like to know, do say so. I will follow up more on M-Audio specifically next week once I’ve had a chance to talk to them.

And this also illustrates why, when you are having trouble, don’t be quiet about it. Let the folks you bought your gear from know specifically what’s happening. We’ll continue to track how responsive they are to your needs.

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Ghosthustler - Only Me To Trust

80’s esque synth lines and a booty shake rhythm make this track.  Ghosthustler is from Dentron, Texas and produces some get up and dance tracks.  However, recently one member from the group has left (Alan Paloma), but Ghosthustler lives on and promises the following:

“With respect to Alan’s decision to leave the band, we’ve axed all the songs with his vocals. Don’t fret though!!! Look forward to our new single that will blow up on the scene in about 2 weeks. -Ghosthustler” (taken from their myspace page)

Ghosthustler - Only Me To Trust

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Van She - Sex City (The Teenagers Remix)

Great retro vibe and smooth progressions on this track from Van She.

Bio from last.fm:

Formed in the early part of 05, Van She are a new band from Sydney. Unashamedly taking bits and bobs from 80?s post punk, funk and synth pop, 90?s grunge, French house, film scores, 70?s Krautrock and the latest collection of innovative artists like Tom Vek and M83, Van She are that unique beast that one was beginning to believe no longer existed ? a band that takes all these influences from days gone but makes them sound unique, modern, and?. fresh. A lazy pastiche this isn?t.

Van She formed when Nick Routledge [vocals, guitar], Matt Van Schie , Michael Di Francesco and Tomek Archer [drums] all responded to an ad in Sydney?s Drum Media and arrived at an audition for a vocalist for a doom metal band with influences including Sepultura, Entombed, Black Skull and Phil Collins to find the whole thing was a sham. You could call it the result of Satan at work, or you could call it fate.

Since the chance meeting Van She have been playing out and about around Sydney, headlining their own shows and supporting the likes of The Presets and Wolf & Cub.

They?ve also been in the studio, the fruits of which we now see in the shape of a 6 track, self titled EP. Opener Mission acts as a gloomy but punchy entry point into the Van She world, while Kelly is like the epic, lovelorn cousin to The Presets? Girl And The Sea. Sex City throbs and blips like a restless adolescent, and Survive is the greatest post post punk tune to make use of slap bass. Kelly Reprise blisses out for just a few seconds before Here With You brings us to a beautifully textured, melancholic close.

Van She - Sex City (The Teenagers Remix)

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All in the Way You Found Me - Richard X Heyman

All in the Way You Found Me - Richard X Heyman . mp3

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/gcLp/~3/292076691/all-in-way-you-found-me
-richard-x.html

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Taylor Hicks To Star On Broadway

American Idol winner Taylor Hicks will join the Broadway production of Grease next month for a three-month stint as The Teen Angel. The 31-year-old singer, whose Idol fan base was dubbed The Soul Patrol,[...] Read more!

Read The Full Article:
http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2008/05/16/taylor_hicks_to_star_on_broadw
ay

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New Kids On The Block Are A Hit With TV Comeback

Eighties boyband New Kids On The Block performed their first concert in 14 years to legions of screaming fans who camped outside for two days awaiting their comeback on Friday's "Today Show."[...] Read more!

Read The Full Article:
http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2008/05/16/new_kids_on_the_block_are_a_hi
t_with_tv_

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New Coldplay Video - "Violet Hill" (Alternate
Version)

Yesterday we showed you Coldplay's video for "Violet Hill." Not content with just one clip for the Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends single, the Brits have turned in an alternative take directed by Mat Whitecross that one-ups the original's dusty Italian backdrop, magnifying lenses, and violet hills and skies with a dancing George W. Bush and some unexpected pogoing from Dick Cheney. Even though the political commentary's as obvious and light as the song, it's entertaining.

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Foxy Brown Parts With Manager

Rapper Foxy Brown has parted ways with her manager Chaz Williams, accusing him of compiling her new album "without her approval" during her time in jail. The star - real name Inga Marchand - [...] Read more!

Read The Full Article:
http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2008/05/16/foxy_brown_parts_with_manager

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Video: DIY Musical Oddities at Handmade Music in
Brooklyn

Current TV has done a video featurette on a Handmade Music event held by CDM, Etsy.com, and Make in the fall. We’re finally getting back to these this summer, but this gives you an idea of the kinds of projects people are up to in the NYC area — hope some of you in the rest of the world can enjoy it.

Via The Storque, Etsy.com’s excellent online magazine. (See their previous coverage of these events.)
We could really use your help raising the visibility of DIY music tech — if you’re a Current member, or can register quickly, you can give the video a thumbs-up and give it a shot of being on the Current TV network. The way it works is, Current takes popular online videos and sticks them on the actual tube. And if you want your own fame and fortune and are near NYC, be sure to check out our call for projects.

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CDM Call for Projects: Summer Events in NYC

If you’re on the East Coast of the USA and want to share some of your musical (and visual) projects with us, we have a number of opportunities.

Submit now!

• Internet Week — Evening with MAKE Magazine: Thursday June 5, 6:30-9:30pm. We’ve already programmed part of this, but there should be a couple of spots left for unique DIY music/visual hardware and software projects. Part of a week-long celebration of the Internet in NYC.


• Hackers on Planet Earth Conference: Friday, July 18. This legendary assemblage of hackers at NY’s Pennsylvania Hotel is one of the world’s great geekfests. Tech author Steven Levy is keynoting. We’re throwing a big music and live visuals party, combining forces with some of the local 8-bit community.
• Handmade Music with Etsy + Make: We’re re-inaugurating our regular series with Make Magazine and Etsy.com. Dates TBD but we hope to bring this back as a regular event in Brooklyn.
• Mystery Event in Boston! If you’re in the Boston area, stay tuned. (Providence, New Haven, you’ll want to make the trip.)

Here’s what we’re looking for: DIY music software, hardware projects, 8-bit, custom gaming and gaming interfaces for music, live visuals, hacked solutions, visualizations and sonifications of Internet data (would seem especially appropriate during Internet week), interactive projects, physical computing, oddities, custom cases, weird stuff … the usual.

For HOPE, I’m particularly interested in keeping with the hacking theme, including open source projects, Linux audio, and unusual projects built with computers. With all the cool stuff happening in DIY electronics and hardware, software often falls by the wayside. And with all of these, I’d love to see more audiovisual projects.

Deadline: Right Now

Sign up here if you’re interested in doing these. I thought about setting a deadline, but honestly, with Make it’s first-come, first-serve, and with everything else, I’d rather know sooner than later, so if you’ve got something in-process, don’t be shy!

Summer of CDM - NYC Call for Projects [Google Docs Live Form -- email me if you have trouble with it]

Feel free to forward the call!

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