Let's talk about the future - I have posted 2012 updates for InterChangeX and SynclavierX which are described below. These two updates are compatible with Mac OS X 10.6 ("Snow Leopard"), Mac OS X 10.7 ("Lion") and Mac OS X 10.8 ("Mountain Lion"). Both 32-bit and a 64-bit kernels are supported. Prior releases for earlier operating systems and for PowerPC computers are still available on their respective pages.

But, with the release of Mac OS X 10.8 "Mountain Lion", Apple as formally deprecated the QuickDraw graphics environment. This is bad news for the SynclavierX and TermulatorX applications, but it is catastrophic news for InterChangeX. InterChangeX is built upon Metrowerks PowerPlant framework which was originally created for Mac OS 9. It is a massive body of code and it is not feasible to re-implement all of PowerPlant for the new Mac OSs. No PowerPlant, no InterChangeX.

So, is there life for SynclavierX beyond InterChangeX? If not, then I'll go back to farming. But I am not going to give up quite that easily. I have begun converting SynclavierX and TermulatorX to use the modern Cocoa framework. I'm not sure I wanted to spend this portion of my life learning yet another framework, not to mention another computer language (Objective-C). But I have taken the plunge in that direction and I expect to have something to show by year's end.

But here is where I need your help - all of you - former N.E.D. customers, employees and well-wishers alike. I have to turn SynclavierX into a saleable product that has a larger potential customer base than just the original Synclavier® users. I hope to accomplish that expanding SynclavierX to actually recreate the sounds of the original Synclavier® system. This can be done by digitally modeling the original FM and Poly Sampling voice cards under the control of the SynclavierX Application. I have everything I need to do that except for possibly the time and the patience.

But the new application will have to be cross-platfrom Mac and Windows. The nitty-gritty software is written in straight C and C++ so it will be easy enough to port to other platforms. But I have no experience developing the user interface portion of Windows applications. I need someone to point me in the direction of a sample application and development environment that is appropriate to the task, or, better yet, put together a demo application that launches and opens a few windows on a modern Windows machine. Email me if you would like to help out in this way.

For existing customers, I am thinking of adding the ability to follow MIDI Timecode to SynclavierX (it currently generates MIDI Timecode, but cannot receive it). I will do this if there is sufficient interest and some new software sales that may result. Email me if are interested in this feature.

And, lastly, join my Facebook page if you want to stay up to date on progress. Email me if you want to add content to that page.

Cameron Jones, August 2012.