M-Audio
Encyclopedia
M-Audio is a business unit of Avid Technology
that designs and markets digital audio
and MIDI
interfaces, keyboards
and MIDI controller
s, synthesizer
s, loudspeaker
s, studio monitor
s, digital DJ systems
, microphone
s, and music software. The company has independent offices in the US
, Canada
, UK
, Germany
, France
and Japan
.
, an engineer and graduate of the California Institute of Technology
who had co-designed the Con Brio
Advanced Digital Synthesizer and helped develop MIDI software for Commodore
and Apple computers, including two of the best-selling MIDI software titles at that time, Studio One and Studio Two. After founding the company as Midi Soft and changing the name to Midiman due to Yamaha Corporation already owning the rights to the Midi Soft name, Ryan began the company with hardware solutions designed to solve the challenges of connecting MIDI, audio, and computer equipment together for the purposes of music production.
Midiman first established itself as a manufacturer of small, affordable MIDI problem solvers, sync devices, and interfaces. The first Midiman product was named the "Midiman," a MIDI-to-tape recorder
synchronizer, but the first products that experienced mainstream success were the Syncman and Syncman Pro VITC-to-LTC
/MTC
converters. The next products of note were the Midisport and Bi-Port range of MIDI interfaces which were far more commercially successful than any other Midiman product to date, and which established a core product category for the company for many years to come.
Following the commercial success of the MIDI interface line, Midiman introduced the Flying Cow and Flying Calf A/D
/ D/A
converters, and entered the audio interface product category for the first time with the 4-input, 20-bit DMAN 2044.
, Ableton
, ArKaos
, and Groove Tubes microphones, The success of the Midiman and M-Audio products, combined with the distribution revenues, resulted in 128% growth for the company in 2001 and 68% growth in 2002, making Midiman the fastest-growing music company in the US for both of those years.
Having now established themselves in the MIDI interface and audio interface product categories, Midiman entered the MIDI keyboard controller market In 2002 with the introduction of the portable 25-key Oxygen8. While not the first 25-key MIDI controller nor the first cost-effective keyboard controller with plenty of hardware MIDI controls, the Oxygen8 helped establish the new category of portable keyboard controller, and a significant product category for M-Audio in the years to come. Similarly, the same year marked M-Audio's entry to the studio monitor speaker market with the Studiophile SP5B. Later that same year, Midiman officially re-branded themselves entirely as M-Audio, the brand they'd been using for their audio division since 1999.
In 2003, Midiman acquired Evolution Electronics LTD, manufacturer of MIDI controllers, as a wholly owned subsidiary, and continued to sell Evolution-branded MIDI controllers and keyboards. The following year, Avid Technology acquired Midiman, Inc. (which was, at that time, doing business as M-Audio). Avid paid approximately $174 million, or nearly eight times the book value of the company. The payment was in the form of $80 million in cash, approximately 2 million shares of Avid common stock issued, and all M-Audio stock options assumed. Tim Ryan continued on with the company as general manager.
and M-Audio cooperated to release a limited version of Digidesign's flagship product, Pro Tools
, that was compatible with M-Audio's affordable audio interface hardware. This version of Pro Tools was named Pro Tools M-Powered. M-Audio's products continued to be aimed at computer-based home recording enthusiasts, with more and more emphasis on portability and hardware controllers for music software, like Trigger Finger, an early USB MIDI pad controller which utilized a 4x4 grid of 16 pads to trigger sounds via MIDI, the iControl controller for GarageBand, and the ProjectMix I/O integrated control surface/audio interface. The company's keyboard controller range expanded to 3 different sizes of Oxygen-series keyboard, the more affordable and more modestly featured Keystation series, and later the premium Axiom series USB MIDI keyboard controllers.
Audio interfaces remained a dominant category for M-Audio as well, with ongoing versions of the Delta series PCI interfaces, the FastTrack series USB audio interfaces, and the ProFire series firewire audio interfaces, among others. Similarly, studio reference monitors remained a strong category, and included the Studiophile BX series, Studiophile CX series, and premium Studiophile DSM series monitors, along with the consumer electronics-targeted AV series desktop speakers.
M-Audio also branched out into new product categories. In 2005, M-Audio released Black Box, a guitar processor and audio interface with guitar amp modeling, beat-synced effects, and drum tracks for computer based recording that they had co-developed with Roger Linn
Design. A digital stage piano, the ProKeys 88, introduced M-Audio to an instrument category. A partnership with Ultimate Ears brought about M-Audio IE-series earphones, and M-Audio joined the handheld digital audio recorder market with the MicroTrack series. With the introduction of Torq and its related hardware, M-Audio established itself in the growing digital DJ category.
, The Black Eyed Peas
, Brian Transeau
, Coldcut
, Depeche Mode
, Evanescence
, Jay Metarri, Jimmy Chamberlin
, Mark Isham
, Los Lobos
, Carmen Rizzo
, Jeff Rona
, Tom Scott
, Chester Thompson
, and The Crystal Method
, and many others
, notably the ICE 1712 chipset. Version 2.6 of the Linux kernel
supports M-Audio cards through ALSA without custom configuration or installation of proprietary applications or firmware
.
Avid Technology
Avid Technology, Inc. is an American company specializing in video and audio production technology; specifically, digital non-linear editing systems, management and distribution services. It was created in 1987 and became a publicly traded company in 1993...
that designs and markets digital audio
Digital audio
Digital audio is sound reproduction using pulse-code modulation and digital signals. Digital audio systems include analog-to-digital conversion , digital-to-analog conversion , digital storage, processing and transmission components...
and MIDI
Musical Instrument Digital Interface
MIDI is an industry-standard protocol, first defined in 1982 by Gordon Hall, that enables electronic musical instruments , computers and other electronic equipment to communicate and synchronize with each other...
interfaces, keyboards
Electronic keyboard
An electronic keyboard is an electronic or digital keyboard instrument.The major components of a typical modern electronic keyboard are:...
and MIDI controller
MIDI controller
MIDI controller is used in two senses.*In one sense, a controller is hardware or software which generates and transmits MIDI data to MIDI-enabled devices....
s, synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
s, loudspeaker
Loudspeaker
A loudspeaker is an electroacoustic transducer that produces sound in response to an electrical audio signal input. Non-electrical loudspeakers were developed as accessories to telephone systems, but electronic amplification by vacuum tube made loudspeakers more generally useful...
s, studio monitor
Studio monitor
Studio monitors, also called reference monitors, are loudspeakers specifically designed for audio production applications such as recording studios, filmmaking, television studios and radio studios where accurate audio reproduction is crucial....
s, digital DJ systems
Computer DJ
A Computer DJ is defined as a DJ who uses a computer or laptop to play digital music encoded audio files, to a public crowd. Originally due to file size storage issues this was usually using lossy codec files , however as drive space increased, this improved to using original uncompressed PCM files...
, microphone
Microphone
A microphone is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1877, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter...
s, and music software. The company has independent offices in the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
Midiman
M-Audio was founded in the late 1990s by Tim RyanTim Ryan (engineer)
Tim Ryan is an American engineer, inventor and entrepreneur who is best known for founding Midiman .-Early career:Ryan grew up the son of a concert pianist and developed a love of music from an early age, but he did not become a musician himself...
, an engineer and graduate of the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
who had co-designed the Con Brio
Con Brio, Inc.
Con Brio, Inc. was a short-lived but influential synthesizer manufacturing company which, from 1978 to 1982, produced its most famous product, the ADS .- Early history and the ADS 100 :Con Brio was founded in Pasadena, California, around 1979 by Tim Ryan, Alan Danziger,...
Advanced Digital Synthesizer and helped develop MIDI software for Commodore
Commodore International
Commodore is the commonly used name for Commodore Business Machines , the U.S.-based home computer manufacturer and electronics manufacturer headquartered in West Chester, Pennsylvania, which also housed Commodore's corporate parent company, Commodore International Limited...
and Apple computers, including two of the best-selling MIDI software titles at that time, Studio One and Studio Two. After founding the company as Midi Soft and changing the name to Midiman due to Yamaha Corporation already owning the rights to the Midi Soft name, Ryan began the company with hardware solutions designed to solve the challenges of connecting MIDI, audio, and computer equipment together for the purposes of music production.
Midiman first established itself as a manufacturer of small, affordable MIDI problem solvers, sync devices, and interfaces. The first Midiman product was named the "Midiman," a MIDI-to-tape recorder
Tape recorder
An audio tape recorder, tape deck, reel-to-reel tape deck, cassette deck or tape machine is an audio storage device that records and plays back sounds, including articulated voices, usually using magnetic tape, either wound on a reel or in a cassette, for storage...
synchronizer, but the first products that experienced mainstream success were the Syncman and Syncman Pro VITC-to-LTC
Linear timecode
Linear Timecode is an encoding of SMPTE timecode data in an audio signal, as defined in SMPTE 12M specification. The audio signal is commonly recorded on a VTR track or other storage media. The bits are encoded using the biphase mark code, also known as "FM": a zero bit has a single transition...
/MTC
MIDI timecode
MIDI time code , or MIDI time division, embeds the same timing information as standard SMPTE timecode as a series of small 'quarter-frame' MIDI messages. There is no provision for the user bits in the standard MIDI time code messages, and SysEx messages are used to carry this information instead...
converters. The next products of note were the Midisport and Bi-Port range of MIDI interfaces which were far more commercially successful than any other Midiman product to date, and which established a core product category for the company for many years to come.
Following the commercial success of the MIDI interface line, Midiman introduced the Flying Cow and Flying Calf A/D
Analog-to-digital converter
An analog-to-digital converter is a device that converts a continuous quantity to a discrete time digital representation. An ADC may also provide an isolated measurement...
/ D/A
Digital-to-analog converter
In electronics, a digital-to-analog converter is a device that converts a digital code to an analog signal . An analog-to-digital converter performs the reverse operation...
converters, and entered the audio interface product category for the first time with the 4-input, 20-bit DMAN 2044.
Growth, re-branding and Avid acquisition
In the year 2000 and in conjunction with the announcement of the Delta Series PCI audio interfaces, Midiman introduced "M-Audio" as the new brand for their audio products. In the years following, Midiman grew business further by entering into distribution deals with Propellerhead SoftwarePropellerhead Software
Propellerhead Software is a music software company, based in Stockholm, Sweden, and founded in 1994. They are most notable for the studio emulation Reason.- History :...
, Ableton
Ableton
Ableton AG is a Berlin-based music software company that produces and distributes the production and performance suite Ableton Live and a collection of related instruments and sample libraries.- History :...
, ArKaos
ArKaos
ArKaos is an application for live visual performance, conceived as a visual sampler for video loops that can be triggered from the computer, or through a hardware interface...
, and Groove Tubes microphones, The success of the Midiman and M-Audio products, combined with the distribution revenues, resulted in 128% growth for the company in 2001 and 68% growth in 2002, making Midiman the fastest-growing music company in the US for both of those years.
Having now established themselves in the MIDI interface and audio interface product categories, Midiman entered the MIDI keyboard controller market In 2002 with the introduction of the portable 25-key Oxygen8. While not the first 25-key MIDI controller nor the first cost-effective keyboard controller with plenty of hardware MIDI controls, the Oxygen8 helped establish the new category of portable keyboard controller, and a significant product category for M-Audio in the years to come. Similarly, the same year marked M-Audio's entry to the studio monitor speaker market with the Studiophile SP5B. Later that same year, Midiman officially re-branded themselves entirely as M-Audio, the brand they'd been using for their audio division since 1999.
In 2003, Midiman acquired Evolution Electronics LTD, manufacturer of MIDI controllers, as a wholly owned subsidiary, and continued to sell Evolution-branded MIDI controllers and keyboards. The following year, Avid Technology acquired Midiman, Inc. (which was, at that time, doing business as M-Audio). Avid paid approximately $174 million, or nearly eight times the book value of the company. The payment was in the form of $80 million in cash, approximately 2 million shares of Avid common stock issued, and all M-Audio stock options assumed. Tim Ryan continued on with the company as general manager.
2005–2010
After Avid purchased M-Audio, DigidesignDigidesign
Avid Audio is an American digital audio technology company. It was founded in 1984 by Peter Gotcher and Evan Brooks. The company began as a project to raise money for the founders' band, selling EPROM chips for drum machines. It is a subsidiary of Avid Technology, and during 2010 the Digidesign...
and M-Audio cooperated to release a limited version of Digidesign's flagship product, Pro Tools
Pro Tools
Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation platform for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, developed and manufactured by Avid Technology. It is widely used by professionals throughout the audio industries for recording and editing in music production, film scoring, film, and television...
, that was compatible with M-Audio's affordable audio interface hardware. This version of Pro Tools was named Pro Tools M-Powered. M-Audio's products continued to be aimed at computer-based home recording enthusiasts, with more and more emphasis on portability and hardware controllers for music software, like Trigger Finger, an early USB MIDI pad controller which utilized a 4x4 grid of 16 pads to trigger sounds via MIDI, the iControl controller for GarageBand, and the ProjectMix I/O integrated control surface/audio interface. The company's keyboard controller range expanded to 3 different sizes of Oxygen-series keyboard, the more affordable and more modestly featured Keystation series, and later the premium Axiom series USB MIDI keyboard controllers.
Audio interfaces remained a dominant category for M-Audio as well, with ongoing versions of the Delta series PCI interfaces, the FastTrack series USB audio interfaces, and the ProFire series firewire audio interfaces, among others. Similarly, studio reference monitors remained a strong category, and included the Studiophile BX series, Studiophile CX series, and premium Studiophile DSM series monitors, along with the consumer electronics-targeted AV series desktop speakers.
M-Audio also branched out into new product categories. In 2005, M-Audio released Black Box, a guitar processor and audio interface with guitar amp modeling, beat-synced effects, and drum tracks for computer based recording that they had co-developed with Roger Linn
Roger Linn
Roger Linn is an industrial designer, mainly of electronic drum machines, and has recently branched out into guitar effects pedals. His products have become underground hits, being used on many famous recordings...
Design. A digital stage piano, the ProKeys 88, introduced M-Audio to an instrument category. A partnership with Ultimate Ears brought about M-Audio IE-series earphones, and M-Audio joined the handheld digital audio recorder market with the MicroTrack series. With the introduction of Torq and its related hardware, M-Audio established itself in the growing digital DJ category.
Artists
M-Audio products are utilized by a wide range of artists, producers, and composers, including; 9th Wonder9th Wonder
Patrick Douthit , better known as 9th Wonder is a hip hop record producer, record executive, DJ, professor, and lyricist from Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S.A. He began his career as the main producer for the hip hop group Little Brother, and has also worked with Mary J...
, The Black Eyed Peas
The Black Eyed Peas
The Black Eyed Peas are an American pop group , formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1995. The group includes rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, and Taboo, and singer Fergie. Since the release of their third album Elephunk in 2003, the group has sold an estimated 56 million records worldwide...
, Brian Transeau
BT (musician)
Brian Wayne Transeau is a classically trained and Grammy-nominated American music producer, composer, audio technician, multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter better known by his stage name, BT. He is an artist in the electronic genre...
, Coldcut
Coldcut
Coldcut are an English dance music duo, comprising Matt Black and Jonathan More. Their signature style is electronic dance music, featuring cut up samples of hip hop, breaks, jazz, spoken word and various other types of music, as well as video and multimedia.-1980s:In 1986, computer programmer Matt...
, Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
, Evanescence
Evanescence
Evanescence is an American rock band founded in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1995 by singer/pianist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody. After recording private albums, the band released their first full-length album, Fallen, on Wind-up Records in 2003. Fallen sold more than 17 million copies worldwide...
, Jay Metarri, Jimmy Chamberlin
Jimmy Chamberlin
Jimmy Chamberlin is an American drummer, songwriter, and producer. He is best known as the former drummer for the alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. After a drug-related incident with touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin in 1996, Chamberlin was fired from the band and joined The Last...
, Mark Isham
Mark Isham
Mark Isham is an American trumpeter, synthesist, and film composer. He works in a variety of genres, including jazz, electronic, and film.-Life and career:...
, Los Lobos
Los Lobos
Los Lobos are a multiple Grammy Award–winning American Chicano rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional Spanish and Mexican music such as cumbia, boleros and norteños.-History:The...
, Carmen Rizzo
Carmen Rizzo
Carmen Rizzo is a producer and music engineer who has worked with Alanis Morissette, Oakenfold, Kate Havnevik, Huun-Huur-Tu, Temposhark, Jem, Niyaz and Esthero. In addition, he has recorded his own albums entitled The Lost Art of the Idle Moment , Ornament of an Imposter , and Looking Through...
, Jeff Rona
Jeff Rona
Jeffrey Carl “Jeff” Rona is an American composer for film. He was a member of Hans Zimmer's Media Ventures. His credits include Sharkwater, Slow Burn and Whisper.-Biography:...
, Tom Scott
Tom Scott (musician)
Tom Scott is an American saxophonist, composer, arranger, conductor and bandleader of the west coast jazz/jazz fusion ensemble The L.A. Express.-Biography:Scott was born in Los Angeles, California...
, Chester Thompson
Chester Thompson
Chester Cortez Thompson is an American drummer and session musician.-Biography:Thompson made his name as a session drummer, going on to play in Frank Zappa's touring band and with Weather Report...
, and The Crystal Method
The Crystal Method
The Crystal Method is an American electronic music duo that was created in Los Angeles, California by Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland in the early 1990s. The Crystal Method's music has appeared in numerous TV shows, films, video games, and advertisements. The most prominent is the US television...
, and many others
Timeline of product releases
- 1989 Syncman & Syncman Pro MIDI-to-Tape synchronizers
- 1996 AudioBuddy microphone preamp
- 1996 MultiMixer 6 & Micromixer 18 mini mixers
- 1996 GMan General MIDI module
- 1997 Digipatch12X6 digital patchbay
- 1998 Midisport, BiPort
- 1999 SAM (1999) mixer/S/PDIF-ADAT converter
- 1999 CO2 Co-axial-to-Optical converter
- 1998 Flying Cow, Flying Calf A/D / D/A converters
- 2000 Delta 66, Delta DiO 2496, Delta 1010 audio interfaces
- 2000 SuperDAC 2496 digital audio converter
- 2002 Oxygen 8 USB MIDI keyboard controller
- 2002 Studiophile SP-5B nearfield studio monitors
- 2002 Sonica USB audio interface
- 2002 DMP3 Dual Mic Preamp
- 2002 USB Duo
- 2003 Transit USB mobile audio interface.
- 2003 ProSessions Sound + Loop Libraries
- 2003 Ozone 25-key USB MIDI keyboard controller/control surface and audio interface.
- 2003 Audiophile USB audio & MIDI interface
- 2003 BX5 active nearfield reference studio monitors
- 2003 Solaris large diaphragm condenser microphone
- 2004 Evolution X-Session USB MIDI DJ control surface.
- 2004 Luna large-diaphragm cardioid microphone
- 2004 Firewire 410 firewire audio interface
- 2004 Octane 8-channel preamp with digital output
- 2004 Keystation Pro 88 88-key MIDI keyboard controller
- 2004 Nova microphone
- 2004 Firewire Audiophile firewire audio interface
- 2004 Firewire 1814 firewire audio interface
- 2005 Trigger Finger USB trigger pad controller
- 2005 iControl control surface for GarageBand
- 2005 ProKeys 88 digital stage piano
- 2006 MidAir and MidAir 37 wireless MIDI system and controller keyboard
- 2006 ProjectMix I/O integrated control surface/audio interface
- 2007 NRV10 Firewire mixer/audio interface
- 2007 Fast Track Ultra 8x8 USB and audio interface
- 2007 IE-40 reference earphones
- 2008 Pulsar II small-diaphragm condenser microphone
Audio interfaces
- Fast Track USB Manufacturer page
- Fast Track Pro Manufacturer page
- Fast Track Ultra Manufacturer page
- Fast Track Ultra 8R Manufacturer page
- MobilePre USB Manufacturer page
- Transit Manufacturer Page
- Firewire 410
- Firewire 1814
- ProKeys Sono 61,88 Manufacturer page
- ProFire 610
- ProFire 2626
Control surfaces
- ProjectMix I/O Manufacturer page
Digital DJ
- Torq Xponent Manufacturer Page
- Torq Connectiv Manufacturer Page
- X-Session Pro Manufacturer Page
MIDI keyboards
- Axiom 25, 49, 61 Manufacturer page
- Axiom Pro 25, 49, 61 USBkeyboardcontrollers Manufacturer page
- Keyrig 49, 61 USBkeyboardcontrollers
- Oxygen 25, 49, 61 http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?ID=USBkeyboardcontrollers&do=products.family
Free software
Some M-Audio products in the PCI Audio Interface category contain chipsets which support free softwareFree software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
, notably the ICE 1712 chipset. Version 2.6 of the Linux kernel
Linux kernel
The Linux kernel is an operating system kernel used by the Linux family of Unix-like operating systems. It is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software....
supports M-Audio cards through ALSA without custom configuration or installation of proprietary applications or firmware
Firmware
In electronic systems and computing, firmware is a term often used to denote the fixed, usually rather small, programs and/or data structures that internally control various electronic devices...
.