Apogee Ensemble Non-Beta Driver Released...

[KazRemark]

So after emailing apogee support to complain about my new Ensemble, I got the following email a few minutes ago:

Dear Ensemble owner,

Apogee Electronics is pleased to announce the
release of a new Firewire Audio driver for
Ensemble. Please consult the press release below
for details.

If you've already downloaded Apogee's Ensemble
Updater v1.2 software application, simply connect
your Mac online,open Updater, and press Update.


APOGEE ANNOUNCES NEW MAC OS X FIREWIRE AUDIO
DRIVER VERSION FOR ENSEMBLE; BETA TEST PERIOD NOW
CONCLUDED

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Santa Monica, CA-February 26, 2007 -Today, Apogee
Electronics Corporation announced the release of
a new version of the FireWire Audio Driver for
Ensemble, Apogee's multi-channel, digital audio
interface designed specifically for use with
Apple Macintosh computers. With this release, the
Beta test period for the driver is now concluded.

This Firewire Audio driver supports a single
Ensemble used with any G4, G5 or Intel-based
Macintosh in conjunction with OS X v. 10.4.8 or
later, providing consistent sample accurate
performance at all sampling rates. This version
also features enhanced stability on supported
Macintosh computers and resolves the few
remaining issues associated with previous
versions of the beta driver.

"We are pleased to announce the release of a new
Mac OS X FireWire Driver Version for Ensemble,
and thus bring beta testing to a close," says
Betty Bennett, Co-Founder and CEO of Apogee
Electronics. "This driver will allow our users to
achieve the full benefits of Ensemble's sonic
quality, flexibility and integration, without
compromise."

The new FireWire Driver Version for Ensemble is
available immediately via Apogee's Ensemble
Updater software.

[Rick Shepherd]

Wow, you sure spent alot of money on something that is only setup for mac! So, they still haven't worked out all the issues with it? Jeez! What a bunch of crap!

[KazRemark]

Originally Posted by Rick Shepherd

Wow, you sure spent alot of money on something that is only setup for mac! So, they still haven't worked out all the issues with it? Jeez! What a bunch of crap!

Well, its been working relatively well for me lately actually (had some initial issues, but in the last week worked fairly solid). What i was going to bitch to them about was that I need to get it configured in standalone mode, which seems like it isnt supported yet. After reading above press release who knows whether it is supported in this new driver. I am currently installing it, so we will see....

[mixerguy]

Originally Posted by Rick Shepherd

Wow, you sure spent alot of money on something that is only setup for mac! ...

yeah well PC's suck

[classicalrecord]

ahh.... let the games begin....

god i'm still glad i returned my ensemble within days after i bought... gee, they finally released real drivers-- how long has it been and will they actually finally be reliable?

hopefully for the sake of those still trying to use this box those new drivers will actually do what they're supposed to.

[Rick Shepherd]

Ya, I won't get into the PC/Mac which is better war, but ya it appears they released this product way too soon, and why for just mac? At least there are plenty of other options.

Anyway, I hope the latest drivers take care of the problems.

[Tibbon]

Hey guys, let's remember that this is what we ASKED them to do.

There were massive delays in the Ensemble (for whatever reasons, apparently some Core Audio stuff held it up among other things), and we were all bitching and complaining that it wasn't coming out soon enough. We asked that they just release what they had for Beta drivers.

We knew that some features weren't implemented, but so many of us were whining that we'd have to buy something else, or not be able to get work done... so they released it. Just like we asked. With a few bugs, and minus a few features.

Now i'm happy that Apogee has kept up and released the non-beta driver. Some companies (Akai) never update their OS's and don't even implement buttons on the front panels (The Akai S-5000's undo button... grr). EVER. And if you email Akai's tech support about it they basically say, "forget about it..."

And Rick, yea it's Mac only. So was Protools for the longest time. So is Final Cut Pro. I'm not happy that Apple cut the Windows support on Logic but they umm... make competing computer and operating systems. Seems to make sense. And anyways, a HUGE percentage of studios use Macs. Duh. Much more than the ~6% market share that mac has otherwise. I'd say that more like 70% of studio computers are Macs.

Anyways, I could care less what OS it runs on, as long as it does it well. I don't care what OS a Radar system has underneath it. I just care that it works perfectly.

[blackfinder]

Originally Posted by Rick Shepherd

Ya, I won't get into the PC/Mac which is better war, but ya it appears they released this product way too soon, and why for just mac? At least there are plenty of other options.

Anyway, I hope the latest drivers take care of the problems.

ensemble is a product developed in "joint venture" between APPLE and APOGEE...that's why there isnt any PC version.

APPLE would sells its machines... not PCs

[rystro]

I'm very happy with Apogee's amazing tech support and with how quick they are with trying to work on the bugs and releasing updates.

[goldphinga]

Yeah hats off to Apogee, they have dealt with this very commendably. The Ensemble sounds amazing and now should work great as well.

I watched a vid of Thomas Dolby on tour the other day and he was using the Ensemble live with no problems, and this is with the beta drivers. Plenty of folks were getting work done as soon as they bought their ensembles.

And for pc users its tough luck. Youll have to buy a mac. There are alternatives but the Ensembles worth its price just for the pres alone which kick aside everything else in the price range.

[pace]

I saw Thomas Dolby live and he had the Ensemble right on stage. For the entire tour he was running not only whole show off it but also his lead vocal! (unsing ensemble mic pre's too) It was a great show.

Apogee's been updating the driver like every 3 weeks. At this point isn't it pretty evident that Apogee has commited whole heartedly to fixing every bug that comes up? Geez is right.

[rystro]

Is there a video of this on YouTube?