inMusic Brand | |
Founded | 1998 |
Headquarters | Cumberland, Rhode Island, United States |
Key people
|
Jack O'Donnell, President and CEO |
Products | Musical instruments, Audio/video, Electronics, Computer-related products, Pro audio, Music recording equipment |
Website | www |
M-Audio (formerly Midiman) is a business unit of inMusic Brands that designs and markets digital audio and MIDI interfaces, keyboards and MIDI controllers, synthesizers, loudspeakers, studio monitors, digital DJ systems, microphones, and music software. The company has independent offices in the US, Canada, UK, Germany, France and Japan.
M-Audio was founded in the late 1990s by Tim Ryan, an engineer and graduate of the California Institute of Technology who had co-designed the Con Brio Advanced Digital Synthesizer and helped develop MIDI software for Commodore and Apple 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 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.
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 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.