QSC TouchMix

[WK154]

The aspect of no further software updates isn't something I'm looking forward to.  I've been thinking that whenever a company abandons software, that the software should become public domain.  I can see a difference in software support happening if that were to become law.  (Supported software is never abandoned.)  Will be interesting to see what happens over the years and how soon will Mackie stop working on the DL's software.  MicroSoft generally supports their OS for about 8 years.  (Even with new products taking over.)

Unfortunately making software public most times is a costly affair because copyrights to all the pieces need to be obtained. Not very enticing for a companies discontinued software. Very few if any companies wrote all their own software including all the libraries. If it was originally based on free software then it might be possible. Sun Microsystems found that out the hard way when they made Solaris public but never succeeded completely.

[Wynnd]

basically, I want to force software companies to not casually abandon software.   And if they abandon it, someone else who wants should be able to pick up and modify or improve the product.  Even if it were easy, I doubt that many software companies would be willing to allow it to occur.

[Jerrylee]

What wrong with a company saying that they have completed the software on a product and will no longer be supporting further updates?  I have a couple tc helicon pedals. Both are no longer supported. These are current models too. The company did say because they feel that the product is performing exactly how it should be no further updates are necessary. They also did say if a bug comes up they will address the issue. That's was a few years ago and no bugs. So they are not touching it. Some times a product is just done. If Mackie stopped at 2.1 it still would be a great mixer. Hell, they could have stopped at 2.0. At some point they will stop. Its not because they are giving up. Sometimes they feel as if it is a great product and they are done, or it's just been pushed to it limits and no more can be done. And when they are done I hope they just come out and say so. The only way to continue on will be to focus on new products with the DL brand. This happens all the time with many, many companies. Please find me a hardware/software company that at some point doesn't ditch a piece of hardware. How many people do you see with an original iphone running ios 7? (Hint: none)

[sam.spoons]

I'm still waiting for a modern version of this http://www.fostexinternational.com/docs/products/LR16.shtml If Fostex could do this in 2009 why isn't anybody doing a DL/X32/QU with an I/O rack and separate physical control surface connected by cat5 or, preferably, wifi, built in hard drive 

Like Jerrylee, I have no problem with companies discontinuing updates for their software, it has to stop sometime. It doesn't stop the gear being useful (at least until the hardware becomes incompatible with the associated computing equipment, anybody want a M-Audio Audiophile 24/96, old PCI standard....)

[nottooloud]

They also did say if a bug comes up they will address the issue.

Then they haven't stopped supporting it, have they?

[Jerrylee]

That was 3 years ago when they said that. Since then all they have said is that they are no longer supporting the pedals because they are at their full potential and doing exactly what they were designed to do.

The only reason they originally said they would address it only if a bug appears is to give people some feeling of safety. Since no bugs have been found they stopped supporting the device a few years ago. They are both working flawlessly to this day. I'll probably never replace them. They are exactly what I need and more.

[Keyboard Magic]

Been doing some serious looking around since taking the DL back for a full refund. The QSC TouchMix looks very interesting indeed. Got a glimpse of the iPad app from their demo. Looks like it should be fairly easy to use. But can't get the app to play around with it until the product ships. I still think Master Fader is hard to beat for ease of use.

L.A. Music here in Toronto, is taking pre-orders and it looks like the unit is supposed to ship late June, but I won't hold my breath on that one for now. For myself since I still have my ZED 10, it would be smarter to wait for the unit to come to market first, download the app and play with it thoroughly before purchasing and keep doing research. It does look it might fit the bill. Who knows what may come along in the near future? X18 

[nottooloud]

B&H says their preorders ship in September. That seems much more likely.

[robbocurry]

Been doing some serious looking around since taking the DL back for a full refund. The QSC TouchMix looks very interesting indeed. Got a glimpse of the iPad app from their demo. Looks like it should be fairly easy to use. But can't get the app to play around with it until the product ships. I still think Master Fader is hard to beat for ease of use.

L.A. Music here in Toronto, is taking pre-orders and it looks like the unit is supposed to ship late June, but I won't hold my breath on that one for now. For myself since I still have my ZED 10, it would be smarter to wait for the unit to come to market first, download the app and play with it thoroughly before purchasing and keep doing research. It does look it might fit the bill. Who knows what may come along in the near future? X18 

Buy a QU-16 and be done with all the speculation!
You like the brand, you know you can trust it, save yourself a lot of hassle

[Wynnd]

I just love that "you can trust it".  I'm with the people who think you should never buy the first year of a brand new car.  I did have the first year of a Pacific Coast Motorcycle and everything that was a known issue in the end, hit me.  I was lucky that none of that was unGodly expensive or prevented the bike from running over 100,000 miles.  (Many bikes aren't good for much more than half that.)  I currently own the second year model.  On the other hand, QSC hasn't given us any recent reasons to distrust them.  (Don't know their full history.)  And as current vaporware, it looks good.  Be interesting to see it after its release and a bunch of people have had a chance to experience any problems.

[walterw]

Unfortunately making software public most times is a costly affair because copyrights to all the pieces need to be obtained. Not very enticing for a companies discontinued software. Very few if any companies wrote all their own software including all the libraries. If it was originally based on free software then it might be possible. Sun Microsystems found that out the hard way when they made Solaris public but never succeeded completely.

so "opening up" retired software can actually cost real money? that's a pity.

as for long-term support, what's a current DL gonna be worth in 5 or 6 years? why would anyone bother? by then there will probably be lots of other stuff that smokes it, and for cheaper. maybe we'll have that rack-mount DL 24-8-3 stagebox, running some more robust wi-fi setup for our ipad pro or some kind of android tablet.

(or maybe we'll just have the wi-fi mixer/stagebox built into the back of one of the powered sub cabs! K-array is already doing this with their little bose stick-killer setup.)

[Wynnd]

The real question is what will the DL1608 be worth to the owner.  Not what it's worth to others who might buy it.  The functionality of the DL leads me to think this could be the last mixer I purchase.  Don't think I'll be in the industry in 10 years.  (Never know.)  My Father passed on in his early 70s.  My Uncle in his early 80s.  Their sister is still living on moving on her own power at 102.   (I'm 61.)

[WK154]

The June/July time-frame has started for the estimated delivery dates of the QSC Touchmix but September dates are starting to appear on most large suppliers websites. The real indicator will be when the iPad app finally makes it to the iStore which it hasn't. Why is it that Yamaha is the only co. in this business that has product on the shelf when they announce stuff.
.

[Wynnd]

delivering on time is so hard when you're trying to keep your potential customers from purchasing something else.

[WK154]

So you're saying that a few sales justifies the bad press from missing deadlines?