Blue Cat Audio recently announced that new versions of its plugins are Vista-ready. When Gearwire got the press release, we immediately got in touch with Blue Cat Audio's Guillaume Jeulin to get the scoop on the news, and what it took to get Blue Cat Audio products ready for Vista. Gearwire's Joe Wallace was also pushy enough to ask for an exclusive on what new developments are coming down the pike from Blue Cat Audio. Here's what he learned:

Joe Wallace: You recently made an announcement on Vista compatibility. What has Blue Cat has done to make its products useable with Microsoft Vista?

Guillaume Jeulin: The main issues usually encountered with Windows Vista are the restricted access to system folders and registry-- "User Account Control". Once we knew Windows Vista would be more careful about security, we first worked on that topic so that a non-administrator user could run our plugins on Windows XP. So it was almost straightforward to have it work on Vista. Note that our plugins do not use the registry to store data, as advised by Microsoft since Windows XP.

What kind of research and development was involved with the process of making Blue Cat software compatible with Vista?

Not much R&D was required for Vista Compatibility, it's more about technology watch and keeping an eye on what is going on. We had to make sure the advanced capabilities we were using in our user interfaces would still be supported in Windows Vista, and we implemented new visual functionalities so that our plugins look really integrated into the Windows Vista user experience. A good example is the window opacity management feature that we introduced before Vista was released, and one month before Cakewalk released their 'X-Ray' feature!

How does it feel to be leading the way with Vista compatibility when so many other vendors are still trying to catch up with Vista? Or do you preceive this situation differently?

We always try to include the latest technologies in our software as soon as possible, when it may help our customers make music and feel happy using our software. We believe Windows Vista will be a great platform for music production, and it was just not an option not to support this system as soon as possible. The main issue was to find a truely Vista-Compatible host application!

Which products are specifically available for Vista users at this time?

All our products are available for Windows 2000, XP and Vista.

Are Blue Cat products "Vista-native" or "Vista-compatible" at this time?

We are not technically using Vista-specific functionalities, but our plugins are totally integrated in Windows Vista, so I guess our products can be qualified as "Vista-native". There is actually not much difference in my opinion, as far as audio plugins are concerned.

What is in the future for Blue Cat? Care to give us any exclusive info on something you are developing?

For the short term we are currently working on several major products updates such as the Parametr'EQ series that are being totally re-written. There are also several new products to be released in the coming months, but you will have to wait to know more about it!

On the longer term, there have been many requests for a Mac version of our plugins lately, so I guess we will have to have a closer look at this platform this year... I am sorry but I can't tell you more right now!