Boston: The Hidden Hub of Music and Technology

Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU)
Headquarters: Cambridge, MA
Year Launched: 1984

MOTU is famous among musicians for its Macintosh and Windows audio recording software. The company created Performer, one of the first MIDI music programs for the original Macintosh, in 1985. Its current products include Traveler, a small, portable, audio-recording console that plugs into a Mac’s FireWire port and allows users to record up to eight audio tracks at a CD-quality bit rate of 192Khz. Musicians can plug their microphones, guitars, synthesizers, keyboards, drum machines, and effects synthesizers directly into the Traveler, then mix and monitor these channels through the device’s headphone output, while the attached computer can concentrate on recording or playing back the audio signals.

Author: Wade Roush

Between 2007 and 2014, I was a staff editor for Xconomy in Boston and San Francisco. Since 2008 I've been writing a weekly opinion/review column called VOX: The Voice of Xperience. (From 2008 to 2013 the column was known as World Wide Wade.) I've been writing about science and technology professionally since 1994. Before joining Xconomy in 2007, I was a staff member at MIT’s Technology Review from 2001 to 2006, serving as senior editor, San Francisco bureau chief, and executive editor of TechnologyReview.com. Before that, I was the Boston bureau reporter for Science, managing editor of supercomputing publications at NASA Ames Research Center, and Web editor at e-book pioneer NuvoMedia. I have a B.A. in the history of science from Harvard College and a PhD in the history and social study of science and technology from MIT. I've published articles in Science, Technology Review, IEEE Spectrum, Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Technology and Culture, Alaska Airlines Magazine, and World Business, and I've been a guest of NPR, CNN, CNBC, NECN, WGBH and the PBS NewsHour. I'm a frequent conference participant and enjoy opportunities to moderate panel discussions and on-stage chats. My personal site: waderoush.com My social media coordinates: Twitter: @wroush Facebook: facebook.com/wade.roush LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/waderoush Google+ : google.com/+WadeRoush YouTube: youtube.com/wroush1967 Flickr: flickr.com/photos/wroush/ Pinterest: pinterest.com/waderoush/