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Convert Opcode Studio Vision Pro to Pro Tools, Logic

Sat, 02/12/2011 - 14:54 — Nick

We are often asked about the software we use for composition and are meet with strange looks. Opcode Vision was the first midi sequencing software for the Mac back in 1985 and the first software to integrate midi sequencing and digital audio multitracking.

They also offered a line of midi interfaces for Mac and later for Windows after acquiring MidiQuest. You can read about its history here. In 1998 they were acquired and then suddenly dissolved by Gibson Guitars who then became the enemy of many electronic musicians. More about that here. However, Studo Vision Pro on a Mac is still the choice platform for some composers today, and they continue to use it.

We have uploaded an Opcode Studio Vision Pro 4.0 demo video to YouTube from a demo CD-ROM distributed in 1998.

The last versions of Vision ran on Mac OS 8 and 9. Soon after, Apple released OS X and Macs without serial ports. Since Opcode no longer existed, it did not get ported to Mac OS X. You can run OS9 in emulation in OSX with SheepShaver, but without midi and audio output abilities, and you need to be a bit of a computer geek/hacker. Otherwise, a vintage Mac, vintage midi interface, and vintage audio interface must be used. You may have sold, given away, or (gasp) left your old Macs out on the curb for trash collection, but still have Vision files which at this time cannot be read by any current software. You may have kept the files thinking that one day that can revisit, finish, or remix songs on a newer system and possibly start the arduous task of importing the midi and audio data to a modern DAW. We can convert Opcode Vision, Studio Vision Pro, Vision DSP, Vision, EZVision and Musicshop files into standard midi files with .aiff or .sd2 tracks or as modern Pro Tools sessions with midi. We can also read floppy and Zip discs. But wait, there's more! We can play the midi of your tracks through any of our synths and track it back into the Pro Tools Session. We can also convert Galaxy libraries into standard midi files. Self-serve VNC is also available. Contact us for more info.