AVID/Digidesign skipping AES 2009

Posted on the DUC today:  http://duc.digidesign.com/showthread.php?t=251977

For those of you planning on attending the 2009 AES Convention in New York (October 9-12), we want to let you know about our plans for the show this year.

After much thought, Avid has decided not to exhibit at AES 2009. While Avid won’t have a booth presence on the show floor, we will have a team of sales managers, application engineers, and executive staff in attendance, and will be hosting meetings at a nearby hotel suite.

Avid will also be interacting with customers, prospects, and the media on a more highly personalized level through various initiatives planned through the year.

This decision is not a financial one nor is it a permanent one — AES is an important show for Avid, and the company is 100% committed to the audio community. This decision has no impact on plans to attend other tradeshows this year.

Avid has decided to use its resources to plan more customer-focused initiatives to work with and support the artists, musicians, producers, engineers, mixers, composers, and sound designers that make up a vital part of the Avid community.

What do I see from this? The next version of Pro Tools will not be announced in October. The version with all the bugs fixed that came with PT 8. Traditionally new software and hardware is announced at either AES in October or NAMM in January/July. If it’s not in October it’ll be January and that will be far too late.

Personally, I’ll likely be pretty cozy with Logic 9 by October.