Профессионалы звукозаписи призывают Avid сохранить поддержку консолей ICON для Apple Silicon

7 September 2026 | In News By Simon Moro: a Producer & Mixer at The Avenue Recording Studio I’ve been an Avid customer from the Digidesign days. I think I may even have an old VHS from a trade show when they first launched the Digi 001! These days, I operate a commercial studio, with multiple Pro Tools Ultimate licences, and 3 ICON D-Controls. These consoles are the centrepiece of our rooms, and are arguably still the best control surfaces ever built. I’ve built my career on Avid’s tools, and I’d do it again tomorrow. This isn’t a complaint, it’s a thank-you note, from one of many loyal customers asking for support from a company we’ve supported for decades. What support are we asking for? The ICON control surfaces only work on Apple Silicon Macs if you run Pro Tools in Rosetta mode, and Apple has announced that macOS 27, due for release later this year, is the last version with full Rosetta support. When that happens, these beautiful consoles slowly go quiet as software and machines require updating. Avid can change this. They can compile the ICON protocol and allow it to run in Native mode. Avid sold ICONs between 2004 and 2013, with the one thousandth going to Walt Disney Pictures and Television. Decades on, many of them are still being used to mix records and movies daily in studios, post houses, universities and home studios. Anyone who’s used an ICON knows they are as far from a ‘glorified’ mouse as you can get. They feel like an analogue console when you’re working on one. And they command the room when you see one on its iconic stand. Here’s the tricky part. The replacement for an ICON starts around $40,000 USD, and gets well into six figures when trying to create a similar system to a D-Control, but for most of the rooms the ICONs sit in, that figure is an impossible amount to cashflow, especially as our industry faces one of the toughest financial environments. So, for these rooms it’s the ICON or nothing. Earlier this month I published an open letter at saveicon.org asking Avid for one thing: bring the ICON protocol to Apple Silicon Pro Tools. Within a couple of weeks, more than a hundred producers and studios across twenty-two countries had signed. Among the signatories are Frank Filipetti, Tchad Blake, and others from Goldcrest, Company 3, Picture Shop and Yle. A sound designer from Finland described the ICON console perfectly, writing that his D-Command is simply “the heart of our studio”. The letter to Avid is not a complaint. It comes with a business case. Signatories have offered to chip in towards development costs, keep every licence active, and even pay a one-off ‘unlock’ fee, like the one Avid had for their old 192 Interfaces. Nothing about the ask threatens a console sale, because these rooms were never buying one. But it does protect the thing that drives Avid’s bottom line and valuation: subscriptions, and the loyal people who hold them. There is proof of demand. Aside from the users already signed up, a third-party developer released a tool to connect D-Commands (and just recently, D-Control) over HUI (a 1997 protocol)… Faders, pans, mutes and solos come back… but it’s limited to 32 channels, and most of the console stays dark. The deep integration of the ICON consoles is what makes them so special. When a third party can charge real money for a solution that only opens part of the console, the market has spoken. Here is the part I deeply believe. The past couple of years have felt different as an Avid customer. I felt a softening in their policies, and a much more personalised approach when dealing with their customer service department. The new leadership brings warmer support, evidenced by perpetual licences being brought back. Ask their longest-serving customers and most will agree there is a real, positive change. The ICON is a great opportunity to test this change, because the people who will be affected by the outcome are not Avid critics. They are its most devoted family, decades deep. So, this is the ask, made with appreciation and a lot of hope. If you mix on an ICON or just believe a company should support their long-standing customers because they’re long-standing, please add your name at saveicon.org. The more of us Avid can see, the clearer the message. And if you’re reading this from the other side of the glass working at Avid, come and talk to us. Simon Moro is a Producer & Mixer at The Avenue Recording Studio, Melbourne – www.ninetynine100.com