Native Instruments don't need WaveRT; so they won't build support for it, at least not now

Mar 26, 2007 10:56 GMT  ·  By

Native Instruments (NI) is a world-famous brand among music producers, be them producers and sound engineers or even artists themselves; they (NI) offer a very broad range of sound technology applications from the smallest to the biggest, covering almost any need one might have (sound-related, obviously). Software and even hardware like Guitar Rig/Kontrol, Traktor, Kore and so many more, are well-known and respected in the industry so once with the fresh OS (Vista, of course) something was expected from NI.

Well, things really happened but they didn't happen exactly as most of us (including myself) expected. Native Instruments have researched and finally developed a massive amount of new specs for all their products so they would run in compliance with Windows Vista. In either 32 or 64-bit environments, NI promises that their code will work and be stable and reliable as if they ran on the actual XP. "And everybody made merry."

Now, after all, it was truly a natural move from a company which constantly spearheads audio technology and comes every now and then with groundbreaking stuff: Vista had to be supported and so it came to be. One thing though, didn't happen and Native Instruments stated it clearly: no WaveRT support from them!

For those who may happen to know nothing on WaveRT, it is the new audio format Vista brings in and so far, it looks like it is a very cool thing. One thing is amiss: there is rather small serious full support for WaveRT so far! Things like "In compliance with..." and "Will work with..." fill up the news headlines these days and everybody clear-minded enough knows they are most likely to let you down...

Native Instruments motivated their decision with a very rational reason: since there are so few truly native-WaveRT hosts (Cakewalk Sonar 6 or Fruity Loops FL7) and even fewer WaveRT really ready soundcards, working on emulating and the like, it's by far a waste of time and effort. Even more, the WaveRT affects mostly PCI-based operation while NI relies on USB and FireWire more and more.

The bottom line is that while delivering very good Vista support, Native Instruments won't have the WaveRT covered, at least not until it becomes heavily popular (hence more gear and software made according to the WaveRT specs) or one of the following happens: NI goes PCI (hell, they won't) WaveRT goes USB, FireWire or whatever may come in the future (MS should think about this!)

Want to know more? Read the Vista-related press release from NI themselves here!

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The made WaveRT
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