Tokyo and tech through the eyes of a split pea

Shrinking DTM Landscape

Now this is interesting — the number of independent software-based mixing studio companies seems to be shrinking pretty fast, the latest being Adobe acquiring Syntrillium (makers of Cool Edit Pro). In the past year we’ve also seen Sony Pictures Digital acquire Sonic Foundry, and the well publicized Apple Computer purchase of Emagic.

In many ways these acquisitions make sense; in fact, I’m glad to see a level of recognition behind the importance of audio when producing media-rich content. It’s old news that graphics advances, especially in 3D, always seemed to get the brighter spotlight for the past few decades, even to the point that many considered audio to be a simple add-on. But the past couple years have been showing a slight shift in this mentality I think. Consider SIGGRAPH with it’s increasing audio-only panels, lectures and exhibits by audio companies. The Game Developer’s Conference also had a track just for “the audio guys” (also here).

So who’s left of the big software-based desktop music studio companies — Cakewalk? MOTU? How long before Microsoft jumps on this bandwagon?