Sonic Foundry's Focus

BarryB wrote on 6/11/2002, 1:45 PM
No question, just some thoughts: I bought Vegas Audio because I want to record and mix music. Then I hear it's being phased out as a stand alone product and will now only be integrated with VV3. So I now I need VV3 to get future upgrades and fixes. So I upgraded to VV3. While the audio engines in VV3 are supposedly the same as in Vegas Audio 2, my concern is that Sonic Foundry seems completely fixated on the video end of things. This is apparent from their website, marketing, and product manuals. The Vegas Audio 2.0 manual was 90% about video which really confused me at the time. Now, my perception is that Sonic Foundry wants to offer an all around multi-media production tool which makes sense for a lot of people, maybe even me because I am a multi-media/video producer/editor by day. But I mainly wanted an audio program for home and I'm wondering if I made a bad choice with Vegas and should have gone with a product where audio as it's primary focus. Don't get me wrong, I really like the audio features in VV3 but my main concern is that they are going to comprimise on further development on the audio end of things in the future. I guess time will tell.

Comments

HPV wrote on 6/11/2002, 3:37 PM
My take on it is this: SF needs money, plan and simple. They must (as they are doing) grow Vegas in the areas that will bring in the most money at this time. Looks like they are pulling it off. If they didn't get the big numbers onboard, there would be no future Vegas of any kind. I bet the code studs want to spend time on the audio side as much as you do, maybe more. I bet ACID 4 is getting heavy attention now, and Vegas 4 will be next. I look to see background rendering as the major video upgrade, and a strong set of audio upgrades. They really do seem to listen and add what they can, as they can. The fact that they don't seem to be too bad at breaking things as they add new stuff speaks volumes. What audio upgrades are you looking for ?

Craig H.
BillyBoy wrote on 6/11/2002, 4:27 PM
If you want to see the offical word as to what SF has been up to, plans and finanical condition other stuff, just click on news & events at the top of this window. For those that don't know SonicFoundry is a publicly traded company on Nasdaq symbol SOFO. So if you want to support SF, that's one way I'm sure they would appreciate.
seeker wrote on 6/11/2002, 9:09 PM
Barry,

> ... my concern is that Sonic Foundry seems completely fixated on the video end of things. <

As a fellow user of Vegas Video 3, I share your concerns about Sonic Foundry's business focus. Particularly I am shaken up by Sonic Foundry's proclivity for orphaning or abandoning products. Vegas Audio would be just the latest in a string of products that have been orphaned by Sonic Foundry, including CD Architect and Soft Encode.

I am interested in making my very own movies and videos, but I believe that the sound of a video production is not just equally important, but actually more important than the visible part. That is one of the reasons why I really like Vegas Video 3.

As you can see at the entry to Sonic Foundry's forums, there are separate forums for Vegas Audio and Vegas Video, and Vegas Video gets "the lion's share" of messages. When this year began, Vegas Video and Vegas Audio were in a combined forum, but requests were made for separate forums. Sonic Foundry was commendably responsive to those requests and promptly split the forum into Vegas Audio and Vegas Video. I guess if at that time they were already considering dropping Vegas Audio as a separate product that would explain their willingness to create separate forums.

Several other Sonic Foundry products are primarily audio products, like Sound Forge and the ACID series of products. Even they have some video capabilities, primarily for users who wish to add their sound handiwork to existing video files. But the mere existence of these primarily audio products is evidence that Sonic Foundry still has a commitment to audio that goes well beyond their name.

Like many businesses in our downsizing economy, Sonic Foundry may be concerned with profitability problems. I can't really fault them for discontinuing a product that isn't making money now and doesn't have prospects for becoming profitable in the near term or mid term.

For their own good, as well as ours, I hope that Sonic Foundry will continue to be very aware of the changing nature of their market. I am optimistic because the "hardware agnostic" software architecture of Vegas Video speaks volumes for the competence and vision of Sonic Foundry's software engineers and designers.

I am also encouraged that Sonic Foundry has not made the mistake of going nuts with an oversized advertising campaign. I have seen aspiring companies advertise themselves into bankruptcy, with the mistaken idea that all the dollars spent on advertising automatically return with interest as profit. The best advertising is the kind you don't have to pay for, including word-of-mouth from users to others and the "buzz" in cyberspace. In order for that "buzz" to influence the market, you need a "critical mass" of users. A key to getting that critical mass is lowering product prices to get more users. Sonic Foundry's restraint and intelligent targetting with full page magazine ads encourages me that they intend not to "self destruct."

Sonic Foundry seems to be very aware of the burgeoning popularity of digital video camcorders. Vegas Video 3 has given top priority to making DV movies and videos for burning to DVDs. Recently there has been a virtual explosion in sales of low-priced "set top" DVD players (everyone in my immediate family got one this last Christmas season), which further validates the DV/DVD marketing strategy.

I am concerned that Sonic Foundry's products do not currently support mixing, mastering, or encoding surround sound. DVDs and surround are practically synonymous. In the past, including the very recent past, surround authoring has been the exclusive domain of professionals, and the current crop of surround tools reflect that with price points that are beyond the reach of enthusiastic amateurs. But just as desktop publishing escaped from the ivory tower of the professional priesthood to the desktops of the masses, surround sound authoring is just too damn much fun to remain the exclusive property of the professionals.

Sonic Foundry, we don't have to have every esoteric feature, but please make surround sound tools accessible to "the rest of us."

-- Burton --