Avid Quells Fears Of Torq’s Demise

Posted on Aug 4, 2010

After we posted our story about Native Instruments’ acquisition of Chad Carrier, formally of M-Audio, many Torq users became anxious about the future of their beloved Digital DJ system. Even though we mentioned that Torq 2.0 was being handled by the AIR group in Germany, and will most likely debut the fruit of their labors at the upcoming NAMM show in January of 2011, there was still some users who needed something official from the Avid camp. Well, Avid just posted this response on their forum:

To the Torq-DJ Community:
A lot of customers lately have been asking us about the future of Torq software. We wanted to take this opportunity to share some exciting news and updates with you…
Product Development
Earlier this year, Avid assigned the Torq software development project to the Digidesign AIR (Advanced Instrument Research) group based in Germany. This all-star team of software developers, product designers, and sound engineers developed the award-winning Transfuser, Strike, Velvet, Structure, Xpand, and Hybrid virtual instruments—plus many of the plug-ins and effects included in Pro Tools software.

You’ve already witnessed the first fruits of their labors—the recently released Snow Leopard-compatible Torq 1.5.3 update. The new team is actively working on the next major release of Torq, and we’re looking forward to showing you the new innovations they will bring to our DJ product line in the coming months.

Personnel Changes
Many of you probably know Torq product manager Chad Carrier. Recently, Chad made the decision to pursue career opportunities outside of Avid. While we wish Chad all the best, we’re also excited that the Torq development and support team has never been larger and will continue to grow. There’s an extremely talented group of people at Avid dedicated to making Torq the most innovative platform for forward-thinking DJs. This team is now focusing all of its attention on the new version of Torq—and we’ve already been witness to a number of significant new features and improvements that are sure to impress.

In the meantime, we’d like to introduce you to select members of the Torq team who will be participating in the Torq-DJ.com forums. Your thoughts are really important to us, so they’ll be listening to your feedback and feature requests. Here they are:

Wolfram Knelangen, Head Software Manager (Bremen, Germany)
Andy Ramm, Director of Product Management (Mountain View, CA)
Johann Lau, Market Solutions Manager (Daly City, CA)
Shawn Parker, DJ Development (Irwindale, CA)
William Marshall, Beta Program Manager (Irwindale, CA)
Michael Parker, DJ Marketing (Irwindale, CA)
Vince Chen, DJ Quality Assurance (Irwindale, CA)

This team is poised to take Torq to a whole new level. There’s more DJ activity going on here than ever before—and now’s your chance to have your voice heard. See you on the forums…

Sincerely,
The Torq DJ Team

Now don’t you all feel so much better?