The reaons pro tools became a standard is not that its soooo great sounding.
its funny because all the mastering engineers say it sounds like crap thats why they just use it as a tape deck and use a SSL or Neve to get it to sound good.
In the old days of Audio there was the big dogs Waveframe,Fairlight and I think one other.
these where the go to systems that sounded great but was very costly. you had to choose these systems or settle for 2 inch Tape and a Large Console that was once again very costly.
Digidesign (now Avid) had there SoundDesigner Program. A 2 track editor program.
Then they came with sessions 8 on the PC ( windows ) platform.
When the other big Dog systems decided to get deeper into the film world. The Audio ( music world ) Was kinda left with no aforable choices.
This created an Opt for Digidesign they created ProToolsTDM
This provided all that wanted to play the Daw game to do this at a fraction of the cost compared to the Bigdog systems or Tape and a Desk.
Pro tools also for a while was also Mac Only. This also positioned Apple products in the Audio World as a standard.They was domimate already in Schools but now recording studios had macs and Pro tools and got rid of these Tape decks but did keep there desks due to feeling the sound of pro tools was kinda brittle.
So for years most engineer with major credits used pro tools as the replacement of the studder but the mix and sound of the music was really from the Console.
because no one else stepped to the challange or when did so they failed so badly
Pro Tools became the industry standard. These Studios did not want to abandon their cheaper 50 k investment so they just stayed loyal and just updated their systems ( bought DSP over and over and even bought new systems allout via hardware Tradeins )
The production world was full of choices and no real standard was there for Music production but then Logic Audio Came on the scene. Because Pro Tools had Limited if any Midi functions folks used Logic and Logic became the Production standard as far as a computer based Sequencer.
In todays Times Logic is still a choice but no longer "THE" Choice.
The same reality is with Pro tools.
Steinberg came on and became the subject of many Logic vs Cubase wars.
Steinberg was known for great midi and I found it to be very easy and Much better than Logic. It also ran on the mac. Strangly the folks that was pro tools users stricly used logic as their sequencer.I think thats due to a time when logic matured and supported TDM hardware. Cubase had a version that also supported TDM hard ware Cubase XT but was later scraped.
Cubased Matured greatly with Cubase Vst that opened the door for Audio but steinberg being such a small company, did not really understand how audio recording works and what engineers expected to see and how they expected to feel when mixing a record.
So Pro Tools dominated the Audio Mixing World and Logic Dominated The Sequencing Daw world.
Keep in mind pro tools domination was not in the area of sonic quality but in its editing ability. The SSL or Neve took care of the sonics.
Then along came Nuendo Orginally created for Silicon Graphics Machines, found its way to the PC platform ( Windows NT )
From Version 1 it was a Godsend! and Possed a real threat to Pro tools in the fact that it offerd a 500 track limitation Midi options and not being tied to expensive hardware.
Today Nuendo has matured greatly beyond anyones expectations.
What I will say to Yamaha and Steinberg is they need to learn and understand their strengths. Yamaha has been making consoles for years both Analog and Digital
They should take notes from The way Avid and Digesign worked with their product.
To Avids credit, they seem to really understand how the audio production world and mixing world works.They offer the engineer solutions that make him feel right at home.
If a engineer thats been sitting in front of a desk for years, he will be reluctant to sit down in front of a Mackie Control and take that seriously.
The only serious small format controller that I loved was the Original Mackie Hui.
to this date there is no small format controler that offerd what this one did in the way that it did. Steinbergs level of support for controlers are so very lacking.
they only support a few functions but dont go deep into the surface unless your willing to buy a System 5 Mc or Wk Audio you must use the small format controlers.
They are getting better. Smart AV has some nice desks.
The gripe I have with alot of them is that when your looking at faders you want to look right above it for the name of that ch. not look at a choke of buttons, then some knobs, then the display. They dont get it that the user is constanly looking up and down over and over. even if they are looking at the desk. I have a Mackie Hui and I can look down at my faders and know where I am at all times due to the scrible strip being just above the fader!
Taken from the Logic of Euphonix industry standards are a thing of the past.
standards are not standards of whats best its just standard meaning a base set.
Some sware by logic, some Nuendo ( LIKE ME LOL ) and some ProTools.
I would say this Use everything you can get your hands on. I have Nuendo,ProTools
Sonar,Samplitude everything. However the flag on my ship... "NUENDO"