Greatings! Can You tell me why SoundGrid Studio is not supported anymore? I think this is a big mistake. There are many people around the world who still can’t afford a powerful computer, especially Apple users. Many have long known that you can use an old server with SoundGrid Studio to increase more performance. Just think about how many Intel Mac users are currently struggling financially and can’t afford MacBooks with M-chips. But they can boost their Intel Macs’ performance with SoundGrid technology, simply by buying an inexpensive server with an older processor and gain 30-40% to performance much cheaper than buying an expensive MacBook. And when someone considers buying a new plugin, they’ll first buy something that can be processed using a SoundGrid server. Think about how many people live in low-income families and countries with difficult political situations, where citizens fall victim to corruption and poverty. For us, this is a chance to survive, and for you, it’s a market share. This is still in demand and will be in demand for at least the next 2-3 years. V14 still working but have compatibility problems. New StudioVerse & StudioRack don’t have a panel with Native & SoundGrid switcher.
I’m not a SoundGrid user myself, but I hear your concerns. I have no idea why they pulled the plug on it.
I can say though, that Intel Mac users are going to have even bigger problems soon. Come the next OS there will be no Apple support from them and soon after the third party developers will stop support. Though, the writing on that wall was over 5 years ago.
Despite that, I agree with the issues that low income families face, especially for Americans under Trump. I do think more should be done to keep tech thriving longer and for cheaper. I’m mot advocating for big tech. I do understand, though, that the more things progress the more capable technology becomes and the less capable older technology is.
A good example is AI/Machine Learning. A few years ago that wasn’t even a thing, computers just weren’t powerful enough to handle the complex computations. It wasnt until the M1 that Apple decided to throw in a co-porocessor dedicated to just that. The Intel chips don’t even have one. So now, of course, every bit of software that utilises AI can’t run on those older machines, because they lack that co-processor and its far to demanding to run on a regular CPU. It’s the advancement of tech itself that makes older systems obsolete.
I don’t know why The SG Studios are not being supported any more, but there’s more than a reasonable chance that it has to the ever forward march of technology. To continue supporting aging tech ends up costing the developer more down the road, to the point that it just becomes expensive and progressively futile. That’s usually why the more on.
But it’s not just about technology development. In fact, adding SoundGrid connectivity to StudioVerse, like StudioRack, is no problem. The software code already exists, and simply transferring and adapting it to new plugins is straightforward. Furthermore, even with Apple Silicon computers, SoundGrid technology will be a great bonus. After all, new versions of legacy plugins are updated, and analog modeling algorithms are improved. All of this increases CPU load. And the ability to use a server with something like m3max later won’t seem out of place for people with low incomes. And as I said earlier, this will encourage people to buy Waves plugins.
I’m inclined to agree, but I’m not management. I have absolutely no idea what their plans are or what they are thinking. Usually, the only time a company drops a product, is if they’re losing money or badly making any profit from it.
That would just be speculation, though,
I hope they will understand that times have changed and the market is playing by different rules again. Global conflicts have a significant pact on the economy and the population’s solvency. What seemed obsolete yesterday is now in demand again, and it needs to be used wisely. It needs to be positioned as an anti-crisis product. I personally purchased several plugins from Waves because I use SoundGrid technology, which finally worked through SoundGrid Studio after some minor difficulties.