M-Audio (formerly Midiman) is a business unit of inMusic Brands that designs and markets

audio Audio most commonly refers to sound, as it is transmitted in signal form. It may also refer to: Sound *Audio signal, an electrical representation of sound *Audio frequency, a frequency in the audio spectrum * Digital audio, representation of sou ...

and

MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and ...

interfaces, keyboards and

MIDI controller A MIDI controller is any hardware or software that generates and transmits Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) data to MIDI-enabled devices, typically to trigger sounds and control parameters of an electronic music performance. They mos ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

loudspeaker A loudspeaker (commonly referred to as a speaker or speaker driver) is an electroacoustic transducer that converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound. A ''speaker system'', also often simply referred to as a "speaker" or ...

s, studio monitors, digital DJ systems,

microphone A microphone, colloquially called a mic or mike (), is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and publ ...

s, and music software. The company has independent offices in the US, Canada, UK, Germany, France and Japan.

History

Midiman

M-Audio was founded in the late 1990s by Tim Ryan, an engineer and graduate of the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

who had co-designed the Con Brio Advanced Digital Synthesizer and helped develop MIDI software for

Commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore'' * Air commodore ...

and

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancest ...

computers, including two of the best-selling MIDI software titles at that time, Studio One and Studio Two. After founding the company as Music Soft and changing the name to Midiman due to

Yamaha Corporation is a Japanese multinational corporation and conglomerate with a very wide range of products and services. It is one of the constituents of Nikkei 225 and is the world's largest musical instrument manufacturing company. The former motorcycle divi ...

already owning the rights to the Music Soft name, Ryan began the company with hardware solutions designed to solve the challenges of connecting MIDI, audio, and computer equipment together for the purposes of music production."Dial M For Audio"
Paul White,

Sound on Sound ''Sound on Sound'' is an independently owned monthly music technology magazine published by SOS Publications Group, based in Cambridge, United Kingdom. The magazine includes product tests of electronic musical performance and recording devices, ...

, Dec 2002 Midiman first established itself as a manufacturer of small, affordable MIDI problem solvers, sync devices, and interfaces. The first Midiman product was named the "Midiman," a MIDI-to-

tape recorder An audio tape recorder, also known as a tape deck, tape player or tape machine or simply a tape recorder, is a sound recording and reproduction device that records and plays back sounds usually using magnetic tape for storage. In its present ...

synchronizer, but the first products that experienced mainstream success were the Syncman and Syncman Pro VITC-to- LTC/ MTC converters. The next products of note were the Midisport and Bi-Port range of MIDI interfaces which were far more commercially successful than any other Midiman product to date, and which established a core product category for the company for many years to come. Following the commercial success of the MIDI interface line, Midiman introduced the Flying Cow and Flying Calf A/D / D/A converters, and entered the audio interface product category for the first time with the 4-input, 20-bit DMAN 2044.

Growth, re-branding and Avid acquisition

In the year 2000 and in conjunction with the announcement of the Delta Series PCI audio interfaces, Midiman introduced "M-Audio" as the new brand for their audio products."M-Audio Delta 1010"
''

'', Jan 2000 In the years following, Midiman grew business further by entering into distribution deals with Propellerhead Software, Ableton, ArKaos, and Groove Tubes microphones, The success of the Midiman and M-Audio products, combined with the distribution revenues, resulted in 128% growth for the company in 2001 and 68% growth in 2002, making Midiman the fastest-growing music company in the US for both of those years. Having now established themselves in the MIDI interface and audio interface product categories, Midiman entered the MIDI keyboard controller market in 2002 with the introduction of the portable 25-key Oxygen8. While not the first 25-key MIDI controller nor the first cost-effective keyboard controller with plenty of hardware MIDI controls, the Oxygen8 helped establish the new category of portable keyboard controller, and a significant product category for M-Audio in the years to come. Similarly, the same year marked M-Audio's entry to the studio monitor speaker market with the Studiophile SP5B. Later that same year, Midiman officially re-branded themselves entirely as M-Audio, the brand they'd been using for their audio division since 1999. In 2003, Midiman acquired Evolution Electronics LTD, manufacturer of MIDI controllers, as a wholly owned subsidiary, and continued to sell Evolution-branded MIDI controllers and keyboards. The following year, Avid Technology acquired Midiman, Inc. (which was, at that time, doing business as M-Audio). Avid paid approximately $174 million, or nearly eight times the book value of the company. The payment was in the form of $80 million in cash, approximately 2 million shares of Avid common stock issued, and all M-Audio stock options assumed. Tim Ryan continued on with the company as general manager.

2005–2011

After Avid purchased M-Audio, Digidesign and M-Audio cooperated to release a limited version of Digidesign's flagship product,

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture ( sound design, audio post-produ ...

, that was compatible with M-Audio's affordable audio interface hardware. This version of Pro Tools was named Pro Tools M-Powered. M-Audio's products continued to be aimed at computer-based home recording enthusiasts, with more and more emphasis on portability and hardware controllers for music software, like Trigger Finger,"M-Audio unveil Trigger Finger"
Sound on Sound, March 2005 an early USB MIDI pad controller which utilized a 4x4 grid of 16 pads to trigger sounds via MIDI, the iControl controller for GarageBand,
Sound on Sound, Dec 2005 and the ProjectMix I/O
Jason Scott Alexander, Mix Magazine, Apr 2006 integrated control surface/audio interface. The company's keyboard controller range expanded to 3 different sizes of Oxygen-series keyboard, the more affordable and more modestly featured Keystation series, and later the premium Axiom series USB MIDI keyboard controllers. Audio interfaces remained a dominant category for M-Audio as well, with ongoing versions of the Delta series PCI interfaces, the FastTrack series USB audio interfaces, and the ProFire series firewire audio interfaces, among others. Similarly, studio reference monitors remained a strong category, and included the Studiophile BX series, Studiophile CX series, and premium Studiophile DSM series monitors, along with the consumer electronics-targeted AV series desktop speakers. M-Audio also branched out into new product categories. In 2005, M-Audio released Black Box, a guitar processor and audio interface with guitar amp modeling, beat-synced effects, and drum tracks for computer based recording that they had co-developed with

Roger Linn Roger Curtis Linn is an American designer of electronic musical instruments and equipment. He is the designer of the LM-1, the first drum machine to use samples, and the MPC sampler, which had a major influence on the development of hip ho ...

Design. A digital stage piano, the ProKeys 88, introduced M-Audio to an instrument category. A partnership with Ultimate Ears brought about M-Audio IE-series earphones, and M-Audio joined the handheld digital audio recorder market with the MicroTrack series. With the introduction of Torq and its related hardware, M-Audio established itself in the growing digital DJ category.

Sale to inMusic (2012-present)

In mid-2012, Avid sold M-Audio to inMusic as part of an attempt to streamline operations and reduce operating costs. Along with its consumer music hardware products, inMusic also acquired the AIR software group's IP and engineering team, responsible for many of the virtual instruments and plug-ins for the Pro Tools audio production software platform. Avid retained the Mbox range of audio interfaces and some other formerly M-Audio-brand products.

Artists

M-Audio products are utilized by a wide range of artists, producers, and composers, including; Accordion-SuperStar Emir Vildic,

9th Wonder Patrick Denard Douthit (born January 15, 1975),
better known as 9th Wonder, is a The Black Eyed Peas Black Eyed Peas (also known as The Black Eyed Peas) is an American musical group consisting of rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo (rapper), Taboo. The group's line-up during the height of their popularity in the 2000s featured Fergie (singer ...

, Narensound,

Brian Transeau Brian Wayne Transeau (born October 4, 1971), known by his initials as BT, is an American musician, DJ, singer, songwriter, composer and audio engineer. An artist in the electronic music genre, he is credited as a pioneer of the trance and intel ...

Coldcut Coldcut are an English electronic music duo composed of Matt Black and Jonathan More. Credited as pioneers for pop sampling in the 1980s, Coldcut are also considered the first stars of UK electronic dance music due to their innovative style, ...

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depech ...

Evanescence Evanescence is an American rock band founded in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1995 by singer and musician Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody. After recording independent EPs as a duo in the late 90's, and a demo CD, Evanescence released their debut ...

Jimmy Chamberlin James Joseph Chamberlin (born June 10, 1964) is an American drummer and record producer. He is best known as the drummer for the alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. Following the 2000 breakup of the band, Chamberlin joined Pumpkins fro ...

Gary Numan Gary Anthony James Webb (born 8 March 1958), known professionally as Gary Numan, is an English musician. He entered the music industry as frontman of the new wave band Tubeway Army. After releasing two albums with the band, he released his d ...

Mark Isham Mark Ware Isham (born September 7, 1951) is an American musician and film composer. A trumpeter and keyboardist, Isham works in a variety of genres, including jazz and electronic. He is also a film composer, having worked on numerous films and ...

Los Lobos Los Lobos (, Spanish for "the Wolves") are an American rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, zydeco, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional music such as cu ...

Carmen Rizzo Carmen Rizzo (born April 8, 1964) is an American record producer, mixer, programmer, DJ, remixer and recording artist, based in Los Angeles. The two-time Grammy nominee has worked with Seal, Coldplay, Paul Oakenfold, Alanis Morissette, Dido, Je ...

Jeff Rona Jeffrey Carl "Jeff" Rona (born March 3, 1957) is an American composer for film. He was a member of Hans Zimmer's '' MediaVentures''. His credits include ''Sharkwater'', ''Traffic'', ''God of War III'', ''Phantom'' and '' Veeram''. Jeff Rona wa ...

, Tom Scott,

Skrillex Sonny John Moore (born January 15, 1988), known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ and music producer. Growing up in Northeast Los Angeles and Northern California, he joined the post-hardcore band From First to Last as the lead si ...

Chester Thompson Chester Cortez Thompson (born December 11, 1948) is an American drummer best known for his tenures with Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, Weather Report, Santana, the progressive rock band Genesis and Phil Collins as a solo artist. Thom ...

, and

The Crystal Method The Crystal Method is an American electronic music act formed in Las Vegas, Nevada, by Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland in the early 1990s. They were pioneers of the big beat genre and their music has appeared in numerous TV shows, films, video gam ...

and many others

Timeline of product releases

* 1989 Syncman & Syncman Pro MIDI-to-Tape synchronizers * 1996 AudioBuddy microphone preamp * 1996 MultiMixer 6 & Micromixer 18 mini mixers * 1996 GMan General MIDI module * 1997 Digipatch12X6 digital patchbay * 1998 Midisport, BiPort * 1999 SAM (1999) mixer/S/PDIF-ADAT converter * 1999 * 1998 Flying Cow, Flying Calf A/D / D/A converters * 2000 Delta 66, Delta DiO 2496, Delta 1010 audio interfaces * 2000 SuperDAC 2496 digital audio converter * 2002 Oxygen 8 USB MIDI keyboard controller * 2002 Studiophile SP-5B nearfield studio monitors * 2002 Sonica USB audio interface * 2002 Midisport Uno * 2002 * 2002 USB Duo * 2003 Transit USB mobile audio interface. * 2003 ProSessions Sound + Loop Libraries * 2003 Ozone 25-key USB MIDI keyboard controller/control surface and audio interface. * 2003 Audiophile USB audio & MIDI interface * 2003 BX5 active nearfield reference studio monitors * 2003 Solaris large diaphragm condenser microphone * 2004 Evolution X-Session USB MIDI DJ control surface. *2004 Ozonic (37-key MIDI and audio interface over FireWire) * 2004 Luna large-diaphragm cardioid microphone * 2004 Firewire 410 firewire audio interface * 2004 Octane 8-channel preamp with digital output * 2004 Keystation Pro 88 88-key MIDI keyboard controller * 2004 Nova microphone * 2004 Firewire Audiophile firewire audio interface * 2004 Firewire 1814 firewire audio interface * 2005 Black Box * 2005 Trigger Finger USB trigger pad controller * 2005 iControl control surface for GarageBand * 2005 ProKeys 88 digital stage piano * 2006 MidAir and MidAir 37 wireless MIDI system and controller keyboard * 2006 ProjectMix I/O integrated control surface/audio interface * 2007 NRV10 Firewire mixer/audio interface * 2007 Fast Track Ultra 8x8 USB and audio interface * 2007 IE-40 reference earphones * 2008 Pulsar II small-diaphragm condenser microphone * 2011 Venom 49-key VA synthesizer * 2013 M3-8 * 2014 Oxygen MKIV series * 2014 Trigger Finger Pro * 2014 M3-6 * 2014 HDH50 Headphones * 2014 BX6 Carbon, BX8 Carbon * 2014 M-Track II, Plus II * 2014 M-Track Eight * 2015 CODE series (25, 49, 61) * 2015 Deltabolt 1212 * 2015 M40 Headphones * 2015 M50 Headphones * 2016 CTRL49 * 2016 M-Track 2x2, 2x2M * 2017 M3-8 Black * 2017 Hammer 88 * 2017 BX5 D3, BX8 D3 * 2017 Uber Mic * 2018 AV32 * 2018 Keystation MK3 (Mini 32, 49, 61, 88) * 2019 AIR series (Hub, 192, 4, 192, 6, 192, 8, 192, 14) * 2020 BX3, BX4 * 2021 M-Track Solo, Duo * 2021 Oxygen MKV series * 2021 Oxygen Pro series * 2021 Hammer 88 Pro * 2022 BX3BT, BX4BT

Current products

Audio & MIDI interfaces

*M-Track Solo *M-Track Duo *AIR 192, 4 *AIR 192, 6 *AIR 192, 8 *AIR 192, 14 *AIR 192, 4 Vocal Studio Pro *AIR Hub *M-Track Eight *Midisport Uno

Keyboard controllers

*Oxygen 25, 49, 61 MKV *Hammer 88 Pro *Oxygen Pro 25, 49, 61, Mini 32 *Hammer 88 *Keystation MK3 49, 61, 88, Mini 32 *Oxygen 25, 49, 61 MKIV

Studio monitors

* BX3BT * BX4BT * BX3 * BX4 * BX5 D3 * BX8 D3 * AV32 * BX5 GRAPHITE * BX8 GRAPHITE

Microphones

* Uber Mic * Nova

Accessories

* HDH-40 (Over-ear studio monitoring headphones) * Bass Traveler (Portable headphone amplifier) * SP-1 (Sustain pedal) * SP-2 (Piano style sustain pedal) * EX-P (Universal expression controller pedal)

Free software

Some M-Audio products in the PCI Audio Interface category contain chipsets which support

free software Free software or libre software is computer software distributed under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, and distribute it and any adapted versions. Free software is a matter of liberty, n ...

, notably the ICE 1712 chipset. Version 2.6 of the

Linux kernel The Linux kernel is a free and open-source, monolithic, modular, multitasking, Unix-like operating system kernel. It was originally authored in 1991 by Linus Torvalds for his i386-based PC, and it was soon adopted as the kernel for the GNU ...

supports M-Audio cards through ALSA without custom configuration or installation of proprietary applications or

firmware In computing, firmware is a specific class of computer software that provides the low-level control for a device's specific hardware. Firmware, such as the BIOS of a personal computer, may contain basic functions of a device, and may provide h ...

M-Audio Pro Sessions releases

* Pro Sessions vol 01 - Discrete Drums :World Rock Drums & Percussion * Pro Sessions vol 02 - Discrete Drums :R'n'B Drums and Percussion * Pro Sessions vol 03 - These Drums Are Loud * Pro Sessions vol 04 - World Beat Cafe * Pro Sessions vol 05 - Latin Element * Pro Sessions vol 06 - Latin Street * Pro Sessions vol 07 - Hydrosonix 1 * Pro Sessions vol 08 - Hydrosonix 2 * Pro Sessions vol 09 - Hella Bumps 1 * Pro Sessions vol 10 - Hella Bumps 2 * Pro Sessions vol 11 - Mechanically Separated * Pro Sessions vol 12 - Electro Crash * Pro Sessions vol 13 - Vector Field * Pro Sessions vol 14 - Sounds Logickal * Pro Sessions vol 15 - Elektron: Machine Drum * Pro Sessions vol 16 - Alien Radio * Pro Sessions vol 17 - AdrenaLinn Guitars * Pro Sessions vol 18 - Hard Desert Breaks * Pro Sessions vol 19 - Underground SoundSystem * Pro Sessions vol 20 - Ambient Alchemy :Open Source * Pro Sessions vol 21 - Skillz 2 Pay the Billz Electricity * Pro Sessions vol 22 - Sound of Unseen Worlds * Pro Sessions vol 23 - Beats from Beyond 1 * Pro Sessions vol 24 - Pop/Rock Guitar Toolbox * Pro Sessions vol 25 - Liquid Cinema - Cinematic Impact * Pro Sessions vol 26 - Liquid Cinema - Cinematic Ambience * Pro Sessions vol 27 - Liquid Cinema - Cinematic Pulse Audio Loop * Pro Sessions vol 28 - Liquid Cinema - Tabla Science * Pro Sessions vol 29 - Liquid Cinema - Junkyard Sessions * Pro Sessions vol 30 - Liquid Cinema - Late Nite Sessions 1 * Pro Sessions vol 31 - Liquid Cinema - Late Nite Sessions 2 * Pro Sessions vol 32 - Dope Beatz * Pro Sessions vol 33 - Scratch'n Elements: Disc 1 Drums * Pro Sessions vol 34 - Da Joints * Pro Sessions vol 35 - Dance Static * Pro Sessions vol 36 - Tension Theory * Pro Sessions vol 37 - Field of Visions * Pro Sessions vol 38 - Absolute World Fusion II * Pro Sessions vol 40 - Electro Groove * Pro Sessions vol 41 - Spooky Ghost * Pro Sessions vol 42 - Discrete Drums : Funky Beats * Pro Sessions vol 43 - Discrete Drums : Rock Drums * Pro Sessions vol 44 - Discrete Drums : Slow Rock Drums * Pro Sessions vol 45 - Discrete Drums : One Big World * Pro Sessions vol 46 - Discrete Drums : More Funky Beats * Pro Sessions vol 47 - Authentic Latin Hip Hop Funk Breaks * Pro Sessions vol 48 - Hella Bumps 3 * Pro Sessions vol 49 - Dirty South * Pro Sessions vol 50 - Rice and Beans * Pro Sessions vol 51 - Elektron: Monomachine * Pro Sessions vol 52 - Dance Remix Toolkit 1 Essential dance music elements * Pro Sessions vol 53 - Dance Remix Toolkit 2

References

External links

*
ICE1712 ALSA configuration
{{Authority control American brands Audio equipment manufacturers of the United States Companies based in Rhode Island Companies established in 1988 Microphone manufacturers Music equipment manufacturers Sound cards