It is clear -- Apple is expanding aggressively into the music market. Having already acquired Beats Audio, with Beats Music included, for a hefty price tag of $3 billion, it appears the Silicon Valley giant has quietly taken over a London-based music software firm, Camel Audio, according to a report from MacRumors.
Camel Audio was a reputable software company that produced the highly-touted Alchemy suite, which included a wide variety of plug-ins, effects, synthesizers and sound libraries. Contained in these sound libraries are over 1,000 sounds, 5.5GB of samples, spectral resynthetis, a virtual analog synthesizer, an additive resynthesis engine and more according to Beatport News.
Things got fishy when, without warning, the company shut down on Jan. 7, 2015 and left only a short statement on their website telling customers that their products "were no longer available for purchase," but did not detail why.
Below is the statement posted online in January.
We would like to thank you for the support we've received over the years in our efforts to create instruments and effects plug-ins and sound libraries.
Camel Audio's plug-ins, Alchemy Mobile IAPs and sound libraries are no longer available for purchase. We will continue to provide downloads of your previous purchases and email support until July 7, 2015. We recommend you download all of your purchases and back them up so that you can continue to use them.
Thank you again for your support.
The reasoning is now clear. According to the Macrumors report, Apple apparently purchased Camel Audio for an undisclosed amount. They point to a document filed with the corporate registry site, Companies House, that now lists a new address for Camel Audio at 100 New Bridge Street, which is Apple's London address. The company's sole director is also listed as Apple lawyer, Heather Joy Morrison, which would suggest that Apple is control of the software company.
The shuttering of Camel Audio, like it has done with Beats Music, would suggest that it is attempting to integrate the software into what it does now. It could be trying to launch an upgraded Logic X or GarageBand, both used by composers and producers to create music, but for now details are unknown.
