Re. Avid, etc.....
It's been 30+ years so my memory of exact timeframes/years is hazy. Plus, it was all from "flyover country" where I was working. lol...I can hear the older list members from The Coasts chuckling about the backwoods!
The original Sound Design (? Sound Tools?) DAW, running on Mac hardware, was a ground breaking system for our studio. We mainly did audio tracks for ads and "industrials" with our 2" 24 track tape and desk The Sound Tools (?) system allowed us to set up a separate room/system for doing final product . Typically editing VO tracks and then mixing a background music track. The analog I/O box was 4 in/4 out.
Within a few years, the products were absorbed into Avid. Then it began a treadmill of forced upgrades and "subscriptions" for (non) support. I DO recall a situation with one of our 888 interfaces died after a thunderstorm. Power supply had smoked, and Avid told us we we had to buy an entire new 888 unit. I was pissed and looked inside the interface. The switching PSU was made by OneHungLowChopstick Ltd (g). Somehow in the VERY early days of the internet I found the exact PSU card used by Avid and had it shipped from the Far East. That 888 box lasted for more years after I decided that Avid was a worthless company.
I have many more Avid stories from the other department which did the video production. And years of battles with them and their terrible audio hardware.
I am NOT a fan of Avid and hope they don't survive.
Bri