Digidesign owns Ableton???

Justin Thyme · Post by **Justin Thyme** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 10:37 pm

wilxon wrote: They are the ableton distributors - but have no say in how ableton is written, programmed etc.

Avid distribute Ableton.

Yes, it's important to understand the difference between the developer and the distributor.

That being said, having worked for a little while in the computer gaming industry, in that scenario, there are firm contracts with release dates and such between developers and publishers. I'm not sure if the connection with Avid is solely as "distributor" or also as "publisher" (typically, publishers also provide up front funding for future development, and as such, do have a say in the development process). It depends on the amount of involvement.

Not sure if this comparison has any value for music software development.

simpleton · Post by **simpleton** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 6:31 am

They will soon enough.

eyeknow · Post by **eyeknow** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 9:10 am

Ok, I didn't see the mention that prop's are now distributed (maybe "owned"?) by line 6, and it's been pointed out it used to be ableton and props were together.

Somehow, props split off and maudio took over the abe's distribution and maudio got bought by avid....which is digidesign.....not sure what that means as far as ownership but an example of how tied ableton is to avid/maudio would be summer namm. Maudio was the very first website to show/explain the new live 6. That could only be the case if the "parent" companies were the main info pipe.....so to speak.

what it means to me anyway, is the typical big gobbling up the small.. but the advantages are way too attractive. First, it makes more sense economically for smaller companies to be distributed by larger ones. More can get done. It's a fact that live/pt/mpowered/etc seem to get things done faster because they are all tied together. More heads to bounce ideas, get things done by deadlines, and for (supposedly) better integration. The larger companies have distribution/advertisment power on their side, with the idea being the company can be more or less free to do "what they do". Like maudio/digi/etc or not.....but let's be real, they do seem to keep ahead of the game.

Of course the HUGE downside of this is that larger companies have a tendency to take away what's "fresh" or "personal" and be all about business. Even those with the best tendencies have that happen.

mcconaghy · Post by **mcconaghy** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 3:36 pm

eyeknow wrote:Ok, I didn't see the mention that prop's are now distributed (maybe "owned"?) by line 6, and it's been pointed out it used to be ableton and props were together.

Somehow, props split off and maudio took over the abe's distribution and maudio got bought by avid....which is digidesign.....not sure what that means as far as ownership but an example of how tied ableton is to avid/maudio would be summer namm. Maudio was the very first website to show/explain the new live 6. That could only be the case if the "parent" companies were the main info pipe.....so to speak.

Not quite, both Props and Ableton were with M-Audio, then the Props went to Line 6, as far as I remember that was a few months after Avid bought M-Audio. The relationship between Ableton and M-audio is simple: Ableton uses M-Audio's well-established distribution and promotion channels.