Anyone heard of "Opcode" for Mac??

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gbondo9

gbondo9

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I read an article that announced that Gibson was no longer charging for "opcode" and you could download it free from their website www.opcode.com
The website displays "The Future Sound of Music" and the 2 downloads are "Studio Vision Pro 4.5.1" and "Vision DSP 4.5.1"

What Are these programs? and are they any good?

Thanks,
Todd
 
Opcode is the name of a software maker that makes music software.
Vision is a midi sequencer, and I guess these are that and digital recorders.

Why don't you download them and try them?
 
If its not a good program, I dont want to install it on my computer. Ive had bad experiences installed low grade music software on my computer before. Ive never heard of either of the programs, so I just wanted some feedback from anybody that used it.
Thanks for the info,
Todd
 
tip for installing programs on a mac

download Installer Observer . It's a great
free app. You run it before you install something, then you do the installation. It'll tell what was added, removed or modified during the installation, and it will let you go back to the previous state.
Cheers, Andrés
 
Vision was THE mac daddy sequencer back in the day. I learned on that in the early 90's. I'm not sure what their latest versions were like but it was a cool program.
 
I remember a sequencer called MasterTracks which was very old, yet it was the best sequencer I ever saw due to its simplicity. It was never matched by modern sequencers, it was simple cut and paste thing.
 
Opcode has been owned by Gibson for a few years, and all development on their products has stopped. When Gibson bought the company, there was a huge internal war that basically left Opcode with few developers and no support. You can read about it here.
Opcode - Gibson struggles

Vision used to be the best sequencer out there, but it is a few years out of date now. Vision DSP was there attempt at a combined sequencer/audio multitracker. Since it probably hasn't been updated in 3 years, it's not going to compete with any other apps you own for features or power or flexibility, but it's also not going to blow up your system. And since it's a Mac app, getting rid of it is pretty simple.
 
Haven't thought about Opcode for a while.

They were also the premier VCA Fader/Mute automation package manufacture for big frame consoles for many years. You can probably still see Opcode VCA Fader/Mute Automation listed in many studio gear lists, IF, they still have a modest big frame analog console.

They outfitted MANY big name consoles for automation, Trident, Harrison, etc.... But alas! Moving fader automation was just better!

Much of that software listed were included with the VCA circuits. The fader automation was stored via midi....blah blah blah....

Like said ealier, it may not be "all that" by todays standards, but it certainly will run stable enough, and probably still offers some great features you could find usable if your setup calls for it.

Ed
 
I remember when I was working at Digidesign, we picked up quite a few engineers from Opcode as the company slowly disintegrated. It was a major point of turmoil, because on the Mac we used OMS for all of our MIDI communication, and we could see it dying before our eyes.

At the end of my time there, I remember seeing this shaggy old hippie looking dude walking around the Digidesign offices in sandals, wokring out of a corner office... Then one day I saw him getting into his BMW with the "OPCODE" license plate, and I realized it was Dave Oppenheim (the "Op" in Opcode).

Even though I dig and play Gibson guitars, I think the way they destroyed that company is one of the most disturbing corporate horror stories I've heard.
 
hey Charger, you worked at Digi? Why is it such a strange company? It makes me remind of Apple. I think they have the best product, but they are so closed to other technologies. In the computer market, it always looked like the companies who shared their Research and Development expenses with others where the ones who succeded.
They are still using OMS, which I think is great. But it is an abandoned technology. I love technology even if it´s old (I still use More for the mac), but they are missing a lot of new synths with OMS, and the Oms Names application is very clumsy.
Why is it so hard for them to make certain things like Rewire compatibilty, so you can use Reason, or VST compatibility.
One thing that I hate is how their customers treat them in their forum. Is like they buy their products so they can complain in a bad way about the limitations.
Like I said, it reminds me of Apple. A company with the best product, but confined to a very small portion of the market share. I hope it doesn't happen with them.
 
You're right, it is a very strange company, and some of the users do remind me of Apple users, in that they buy everything, then complain endlessly about it. For what it's worth, when I was there I did see a great deal of focus on the user experience, and I do think they make good solid products. Like a Mac, they are a bit pricey though (although the LE systems are price-competitive). Of course, since I worked there I got a pretty good deal on my gear, so I don't complain about the pricing at all ;)

Many user forums you look at are full of people attacking the company that the forum is sponsored by, and I think that's more human nature than anything else. No one wants to buy something for a thousand bucks or 5000 bucks or 10,000 bucks, then find out that it doesn't do the three things they consider to be most important. It always makes me laugh when people compare the sound of a 10k Pro Tools rig to a 200k SSL console, and find that the SSL sounds better. I would hope so!

OMS is outdated, and there was a time when Digi was trying to purchase it from Opcode/Gibson, but now I think they're just waiting for the next big MIDI manager, which I think is being created by Apple.
 
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