Digital Performer 7 from MOTU lets you record, edit, arrange, mix, process and master audio and MIDI tracks side by side for songwriting, studio production, live performance, film and television sound tracks, audio post production, surround mixing and other professional audio production tasks.
For beginners and experts alike, the software delivers advanced features in an intuitive, streamlined design. With support for built-in Mac audio and MIDI, you don't even need additional audio hardware. Whether you're completing a surround sound DVD (for which you will require hardware), or you just want to write a song and burn a CD or MP3 file, Digital Performer gets you there quickly with elegance and ease.
New features include a suite of accurate classic guitar pedal emulations, a meticulously detailed guitar amplifier emulator modeled after classics from Fender and Marshall, and a superb physical modeling speaker cabinet emulator with mixable microphone positions (close, near and far). Other enhancements include inline EQ and dynamics in the mixing board and a consolidated V-Racks display alongside your sequence in the mixing board, and much more.
Products that qualify for this Competitive Upgrade include - AudioDesk, Audition, Cakewalk (any version), Cubase (any version), Live, Logic (any version), Nuendo, Pro Tools, Sonar, SoundForge (any version), Soundtrack Pro, Vegas, Vision
Note:
Proof of competing product ownership required for the Competitive Upgrade.
What's New in Digital Performer 7
Custom '59
- Three of the most famous guitar amplifiers of all time, meticulously and faithfully modeled in a single Digital Performer plug-in:
- Originally designed for the Fender Precision Bass, the Fender Bassman amp was quickly adopted by guitarists and eventually became perhaps the most famous and sought after guitar amp of all time. With its classic 4 x 10 design and vintage lacquered tweed cover, the Bassman sound is a bona fide icon among guitar tones and a must-have for any tone aficionado
- Introduced in the early 1960's, the Marshall JTM45 was essentially a clone of the Fender Bassman. Made popular by Eric Clapton, the so-called "Bluesbreaker" amp is named after Clapton's band at the time, in which he popularized the now signature sound of playing a Les Paul through the heavily distorted JTM45
- As guitar tones evolved during the '60s and '70s, the hunger among guitarists for more power became insatiable. By the early '80s, Marshall had developed the JCM800 to satisfy this craving, with higher power tubes and a power boost from 50 to 100 watts
- Custom '59 let's you play the sound of each amp with perhaps the most faithful reproduction ever devised. Even better, you can mix and match the preamp tube, preamp circuit and tone stack from each model to create your own custom amp. The possibilities for tone are virtually limitless, all born from the iconic pedigree of 3 authentic originals
Live Room | G
- A superb physical modeling speaker cabinet emulator with 4 microphones, mixable positions (close, near and far) and 3-band EQ per channel
- Adds unprecedented realism to guitar and bass parts - or any amped instrument
- What convolution did for reverb, Live Room | G does for speaker cabinet emulation, thanks to the next-generation physical modeling technology at its core. Engineered for the power of today's personal computers, the modeling technology captures every nuance and detail of the hundreds of factors that interact to recreate the rich, detailed sound of a speaker cabinet in a real room, recorded by 4 separate microphones
- Live Room | G provides 5 cabinets:
- 4 x 12 Modern - intended for ultra-distorted chunks and sludge, yet versatile enough to handle smooth Santana-style leads
- 4 x 12 Vintage - based upon an aging, road-worn British monster held together with gaffer's tape and AquaNet
- 2 x 12 Combo - for Muscle Shoals-style southern-rock and country guitar tones
- 4 x 10 Combo - tuned for blues, jazz, rock and country
- 1 x 8 Junior - this one was set up to record distorted rhythm guitar tones for rock and pop. If you like Eddie Money then this is your cabinet. You can hear the tube shields rattling in the rear microphone when you drive it really hard
- Provides 4 mixable microphone channels (two mono plus one stereo), each with their own pre-delay, side-chain output, 3-band EQ, solo/mute and volume. In addition, each mono microphone has 5 positions around the cab, while the stereo ones have 4 possible positions
- Live Room | G opens a world of possibilities for hearing any track through a speaker cabinet. What might take you hours of setup and tinkering with a real cabinet in a room with multiple mics will take just a few moments to set up on screen in your Digital Performer project. Try experimenting with just about any sound source to add depth, dimension and organic feel
Classic Guitar Pedal Effects
- A suite of stunningly accurate classic guitar pedal emulations are modeled after all-time favorites from Boss, MXR, Electro-Harmonix, Ibanez and others
- You get hundreds of dollars worth of classic stomp boxes, meticulously modeled after the originals
- Dial in your favorite pedal settings, and the resulting sound is identical to - and indistinguishable from - the real thing
- Experiment with hundreds of tones and thousands of combinations:
- Tube Wailer models the venerated Ibanez TS-9 Tube Screamer overdrive pedal, named for the "light" distortion it produces similar to an overdriven tube amp. Digital Performer's Tube Wailer emulation provides its own mod - flip the "Diode" switch to simulate replacing the stock silicon clipper diodes with germanium diodes to extend bandwidth
- D Plus emulates the MXR Distortion+ overdrive pedal, one of the great classic pedals heard on countless recordings and used as a signature sound by many artists including Randy Rhoads (Ozzy Osbourne), Jerry Garcia (Grateful Dead), Bob Mould (Hüsker Dü/Sugar), Dave Murray (Iron Maiden) and many others. Just like the original, D Plus produces a surprisingly wide range of tones considering the simplicity of the circuit design, from low-gain mild distortion, to warm tube-like overdrive, to crunchy overdrive "fuzz" with lots of sustain. Suitable for many musical styles, from jazz to heavy metal
- Delta Fuzz faithfully emulates the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff π pedal, first introduced in the early 1970s and made famous by artists like Carlos Santana and David Gilmour
- Diamond Drive emulates the Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive pedal, which is itself an Ibanez TS9 clone, but with an innovative clean/saturated crossfader. By mixing the original clean signal back in to the overdriven signal, this pedal restores the "bite" and feel masked by the saturation, resulting in a perceived "cleaner" saturated tone
- RXT is an emulation of The Rat distortion pedal by Pro Co Sound, first produced by hand in 1978. Over the next several years, the Rat quickly gained widespread notoriety via artists such as Jeff Beck, Joe Walsh, Andy Summers and many bands like Nirvana, Sonic Youth, and Radiohead
- Über Tube is an emulation of the Ibanez Super Tube overdrive pedal, a close but rare cousin of the Ibanez Tube Screamer, with added mid boost control, introduced at around the same time as the original TS-9. A few years later, the Tube Screamer migrated to the Master Series where it was renamed simply Super Tube
- Analog Chorus emulates the Boss CE "Chorus Ensemble" series of foot pedals from the late 1970's and early '80s, including the CE-2 and CE-3. Boss originated the chorus pedal effect with these ground-breaking products, and they are widely considered to be the ultimate analog chorus sound, especially for guitar, bass and electric keyboards
- Wah Pedal simulates the wah pedal experience with authentic flair and all the controls you expect, plus customizations any tweaker will love. Use it for guitar parts, bass parts, keyboard parts and even other instruments. Play it live for a conventional sound or use automation to create more unusual effects
- Intelligent Noise Gate is a noise gate designed specifically for recording instruments that are prone to AC mains interference. Easily eliminate buzz and/or hum, with fine-tune adjustments for slight variations in power frequency
In-Line EQ and Dynamics
- Allows for control of EQ and dynamics processing directly in each mixing board channel with multi-band graphic EQ display and vintage-style compression meter, using any included EQ or dynamics processor, such as Digital Performer's award-winning MasterWorks Series modeled British console EQ, and a leveling amplifier faithfully modeled after the legendary LA-2A
- 9 automation modes are provided - Overwrite, Latch, Trim Latch, Touch, Trim Touch, Range Latch, Range Touch, Range Trim Latch, and Range Trim Touch. These last 4 range modes are new in DP Version 7 and let you raise, lower or write automation moves within any selected range, preserving everything before and after
- The range automation modes are useful when mixing groups of tracks, such as background vocals or horn sections, within a specific time range, where you want to jump in and change the mix just for that range without changing it before or after
- Every edit window in Digital Performer provides a configurable information bar across the top of the window to display critical information such as cursor location, edit grid settings and more
- The Info Bar includes a "miniature" mixer channel for quick access to mix settings for the track you are working on. The Info Bar mix settings always follow the track you are editing
Channel Strip
- In sidebar cells (in Digital Performer's Consolidated Window) you can display info panels of your choice, such as the Channel Strip
- The Channel Strip displays all mixer channel settings for the track you are working on, and it follows you as you move from track to track while editing in the main area of the Consolidated window, giving you instant access to mix settings at all times
- It can also be popped out as a separate floating palette
- It can be displayed as one long channel strip (just like it appears in the mixing board) or collapsed into two, three or more columns
Music Notation Enhancements
- Digital Performer makes it easy to create and print lead sheets, complete with multi-stanza lyrics, transposable chord symbols and score arrangement features (endings, codas, etc.)
- In an arranged score, you use repeat barlines, endings and other similar arrangement symbols to condense your linear sequence. For example, lead sheets are usually condensed to one or two pages. In Digital Performer's QuickScribe window, you simply point and click to add repeats, multiple endings, consolidated rests, segnos, codas and even double codas. Then choose Show Arranged Score and your linear score is displayed in arranged form
- Playback proceeds through the arranged score as it should, and measure numbers are preserved through repeats and endings
- Advanced features are provided for choosing what measures are displayed during multiple repeat sections
- Click with the Lyric tool to enter lyrics directly on the page. Or type text into the Lyric window. You can even paste in lyrics from an email or text editor and then automatically flow the text into one or more parts (tracks) with one click
- Add multiple stanzas. Lyrics even follow the QuickScribe window's advanced score arrangement features (repeats, multiple endings, codas, etc.), flowing through repeats and ending as required
- Choose any font and format the type as you wish
- Click with the Chord tool to add chord symbols directly on the page. Digital Performer can easily handle complex chord spellings and extensions. Best of all, you can select and transpose chord symbols at any time, together with or independently from notes
- Numerous recent enhancements give you even more control over the look of your score and help speed your notation workflow, including improved editing of page text objects, the ability to associate page text objects with more than one track (so it can appear on multiple tracks, such as individual parts, for example), and improvements to the way that dynamics symbols are displayed
Other Features of Digital Performer 7
Design
User Interface
- Vertically resizable track list gives you a clear look at each track's settings and graphic overview
- Streamlined window design allows windows to look clean and make information easy to see
- Zooming and navigation controls are unified throughout
- Live window resizing allows you to see the contents of the window as it is resized
- Waveform coloring options with 3 different styles available
- Freely resize the main Counter window to any size you wish, even with the entire width of your screen, so you can stay in time, even from across the studio
- Both the counter in the main Control Panel and the Counter window can now display sequence markers. Click the marker name to access and instantly jump to any other marker
- By displaying markers in the resizable main Counter, you can expand it to fill the screen and then use markers as a teleprompter during live performance or recording sessions, with lyrics and cues that are perfectly timed with the music and your sequence timeline
Streamlined Operation
- You can create as many tabs as you wish in any consolidated window sidebar cell
- Important settings and information appear in Inspector Palettes, which can float as independent windows or "pop into" the consolidated window as sidebar cells with tabs
- Inspector palettes include Snap Info, Event Info, Cursor Info, Selection Info and others
- The Channel Strip palette is particularly useful because it gives you instant access to all of a track's mixer settings, and it always follows the track you are working on
- The unified Universal Track Selector conserves screen space by offering one track selector that updates when you switch to a different window tab
Track Folders
- Organize your lengthy track lists into folders and sub-folders and show or hide track groups with a single click on the disclosure triangle
- You can put folders within folders for as many levels as you need. Assign a unique color to the tracks in each folder to further enhance your project organization
- Track folders appear throughout Digital Performer in all windows that show multiple tracks, including all track show/hide selectors
- Option-click and command-click shortcuts help you quickly collapse and expand multiple folders, or even all folders
Meter Bridge
- Can be opened as its own separate window or as a central pane in the Consolidated Window, is dedicated to monitoring all signal paths in the Digital Performer mixing environment
- With a single click, you can independently show or hide available hardware inputs, available hardware outputs, busses, bundles, virtual instruments and tracks as desired
- The Meter Bridge provides long-throw, scalable meters with extremely fast, smooth and accurate ballistics
- You can quickly toggle between two different layouts:
- The linear layout shows all meters side by side in one row that scrolls left and right. Resize them vertically as high as you want for detailed metering, or shrink them as small as you need. Zoom in on a specific level range for extremely detailed, hi-resolution level monitoring
- The wrap-around layout displays all meters in multiple rows that fit in the space available in the window for an instant bird's-eye view of all signal paths currently being viewed
- Meters turn red to clearly alert you when clipping occurs
- The entire meter changes color to be highly visible, even from across the room
MIDI Keys
- The MIDI Keys window provides convenient, basic MIDI note entry - right at your fingertips
- Trigger synths and enter MIDI notes from your computer keyboard
- Step record MIDI notes without a MIDI keyboard
Audio Click
- A click can be a very personal thing. Some prefer a more musical click sound, such as a side stick or closed hi-hat. Others require the precise snap of the venerable UREI Metronome. In Digital Performer, the choice is yours
- The Click & Countoff preferences let you load any sound you want for the accented and unaccented click, played back through any audio output in your Digital Performer studio with sample-accurate precision
- Several click sounds are provided to get you started - the time-tested and true DP click (from earlier versions of Digital Performer), the legendary MPC click, and of course the UREI click
- Want to add your own click sound? Just drop it into the Clicks folder (in mono SDII or AIFF format) and then choose it from the Click & Countoff preferences menu
Productivity
- MIDI Device Setup allows you to conveniently configure your external MIDI gear directly in the program. Everything you do is reflected in Mac OS X's Audio MIDI Setup utility
- Need to transfer your DP project to another computer, or exchange it with a colleague? Your MIDI device setup can transfer with the project, with all settings and track assignments still intact
- Audio tracks can be enabled or disabled to free up their system resources. There's no need for you to be involved in cumbersome audio voice management chores. Digital Performer handles all of this automatically for you
- All of the preferences and general settings in Digital Performer can be found in one consolidated Preferences and Settings window for immediate access
- Mouse scroll wheel support
- Marker Window displays a column that allows you to control the locate number assigned to each marker. You can then quickly locate to that marker by using the customizable Go To Marker keystroke and then typing in the desired locate number
- This means you are never forced to relearn locate points when adding a new marker somewhere in the middle of a project's timeline. Instead, you have complete control over locate numbers, and you can preserve numbers you've memorized during the course of a project
- The Drum Editor edit grid provides all standard note durations, as well as triplet, dotted and double-dotted resolutions
- For the seasoned pro, Digital Performer's floating tool-tip "Help" tags can be toggled off
Editing
Track Comping
- Digital Performer allows you to record multiple takes into a track, and then choose one take in the track for playback and editing
- Choose "Show Takes" to view all takes side by side
- With the Take Tool, you can easily make split points across all takes and then simply click the desired section from each take to quickly create a composite (comp) take consisting of the sections selected from each take.
- In the resulting comp take, crossfades can be applied, along with all standard operations for editing audio regions in a DP track
- When you've perfected your comp track, you can use it as yet another take itself, which allows you to "comp the comp" by incorporating any portion of an existing comp take into a new comp take
- Each comp appears side by side with all the other takes for a track
- The "Turn All Takes Into Tracks" and "Absorb Tracks" commands allow you to explode takes into tracks, or collapse tracks into takes, respectively - although in many respects, takes behave just like tracks with their own play/mute buttons, output assignments, automation settings and so on
- You can freely move tracks between the two models (takes and tracks), which is especially helpful for working with projects created in earlier versions of DP, where takes may have been spread across multiple tracks. Now you can instantly convert them to takes to begin using the new comping features right away
Advanced Editing Tools
- The Digital Performer tool bar contains 4 audio editing tools to speed up your edits:
- Trim lets you drag the edge of an audio region. This feature was available in earlier versions of DP, but now it can be explicitly invoked with the new tool in the tool bar. This allows you to trim audio regions more quickly by clicking somewhere inside the audio region, rather than having to find and drag the edge, which may be offscreen
- Slip allows you to move the waveform inside an audio clip earlier or later without affecting the left or right edge of the audio region
- Slide does the opposite of Slip. It allows you to move the edges of the audio region earlier or later by the same amount in one drag operation while the audio inside the clip remains anchored to its current position in time
- Roll allows you to drag the border between two adjacent audio regions in one operation, "covering up" a portion of one region while "uncovering" the other
- The software provides powerful and fast crossfade editing for audio regions, with a variety of fade types, including equal gain, equal power and custom fade curves
- Fades and crossfades can be applied to mono, stereo and n-channel audio regions, and they can be applied across multiple audio regions simultaneously in a single operation
- In DP Version 7, fades and crossfades are calculated in real time, during editing, for smooth and seamless editing. No additional files are created on disk. Projects created in earlier versions are automatically converted to real-time fades and crossfades, and any fade files on disk are deleted
- Audio edits that you make often produce gaps between sound bites. This is especially true when editing dialog, or splitting sound bites into small slices using Digital Performer's beat editing features. These gaps of silence can be audible and usually sound unnatural. The Smooth Audio Edits feature can save hours of tedious editing by automatically filling gaps with "room tone" to mask them, complete with automated crossfades for 100% seamless transitions
- You can create your own room tone or have Digital Performer find room tone for you in the original audio files so that it exactly matches the natural silences in the audio
Waveform Editor
- Provides a complete "destructive" waveform editing environment
- Permanent modifications can be made to mono, stereo and multi-channel audio files using the standard editing commands in Digital Performer's Edit and Audio menus, including the "destructive" application of audio effects plug-ins
- Pencil tool editing is provided, even when zoomed out
- Many navigation, selection and auditioning features are provided, along with dozens of key bindings for quick, convenient operation from your Mac keyboard
- Basic sample loop editing is also provided
- A special feature, automatic crossfading, can be applied to all edits for artifact-free editing
- The Waveform Editor also gives you direct "hands-on" access to Digital Performer's very powerful audio tempo maps, beat grids, pitch maps and audio region volume data, where you can view and edit them all with sample-accurate precision and ergonomic flexibility
- Use Digital Performer's sophisticated Beat Detection Engine to find beats and automatically generate a tempo map. Then use the Tempo tab to refine the resulting tempo map
- The Lock button in the Waveform Editor title bar lets you use all of the familiar controls in DP's main transport panel to control playback and selection in the Waveform Editor. You'll even see the same playback wiper as in the Sequence Editor
Mixing
- The Mixing Board window provides a powerful integrated mixing environment for MIDI, audio and instrument tracks, in channel configurations from stereo up to 10.2 surround, along with real-time effects processing and virtual instrument plug-ins
- The Mixing Board will seem familiar to beginners and experts alike because it is modeled after standard hardware mixing consoles. Lurking under the hood, however, are many powerful features, as well as many time-saving shortcuts
- Digital Performer delivers one of the most advanced digital audio mixing engines ever engineered. With internal 32-bit floating point precision throughout the mixing path, combined with 64-bit precision during the mastering stages, audio quality is unparalleled
- Live input monitoring provides each audio track with its own separate input monitor button, allowing you to listen to a live audio signal from the track's assigned input, independent of the track's record-enable state. This is similar to "Record Safe" mode on a conventional mixer
- To further enhance input monitoring, the Audio Patch Thru sub-menu gives you four flexible input monitoring behaviors. For example, just like large-format consoles, Blend mode lets you hear both the live input and the disk audio during playback, before you punch in for recording
- Complete mix automation spans both audio and MIDI tracks, and includes automation of effects plug-in parameters, track muting/unmuting, send levels, send mutes/unmutes and even pitch automation
- Automation data can be drawn by hand using a variety of tools with various shapes, and it can also be recorded in real-time with mouse gestures or a hardware control surface
- Plug-ins can be fully automated with ramps, stair steps or other behaviors appropriate for each parameter
- The management of automation parameters is optimized throughout the program for efficient and intuitive operation. For example, only parameters that are actually being automated are displayed in lists and menus
- Automation snapshots provide many options. For example, they can include all parameters or only those currently being automated (i.e. parameters that exist in a track or that are enabled for automation)
- Draw a volume curve on an audio clip and it stays with all instances of the clip
- Apply an overall, non-destructive amount of gain or attenuation to a soundbite. All instances of the soundbite are affected
- The Mix Mode menu in the Mixing Board lets you create, save, edit and switch between multiple mix downs of your project. For example, you could create several completely different mixes of the same sequence
- A mix consists of all the volume, pan, plug-in and other mix automation data in all the tracks of the sequence, as well as all of the current plug-ins inserted on tracks. This feature has been enhanced to include initial track settings (regardless of whether there is currently any automation data in the track). By adding these track attributes to each saved mix down, the Mix Mode menu provides complete independence among separate mixes, even if they don't have any automation data in them. For example, you could simply set initial volume and pan settings for each track, create a mix, duplicate it, adjust the faders and then switch back and forth between the two mixes
- You can then freely switch between them, comparing the fader settings, without the need to insert or print any automation data
- The bussing architecture can be configured with any combination of mono, stereo or n-channel (surround) busses
- The Mixing Board provides the appropriate style panner, depending on the channel format you choose. Surround panners are provided for n-channel busses
- In addition, multi-channel signals can be summed to a mono send. Each send also has a pre/post fader switch
- Digital Performer supports up to 20 sends per track in the Mixing Board window. Choose as many sends as your needs require
Mastering
- Mastering is the processing of preparing your song, album or other audio project for final delivery. Digital Performer provides all the tools you need to bring your project to completion
- The software ships with mastering tools including MasterWorks Limiter, Multi-Band Compressor, Leveler and Parametric EQ. With 64-bit, floating-point precision, these tools preserve and enhance the natural sound and fidelity of your 24-bit audio with no added noise
- Bounce to Disk and Export Audio features output directly to a variety of interleaved stereo file formats provided by Mac OS X
- You can even bounce and export directly to MP3's - a huge time saver
- A wide variety of MP3 export options are provided, including constant bit rate and variable bit rate encoding
- DP allows you to save your bounce-to-disk settings by name so that you can quickly "re-bounce" any material after making further changes to the source tracks. You can re-bounce by either pressing a user-assignable keystroke or choosing the bounce operation by name from the Bounce Settings sub-menu
- The Multi Bounce command lets you run multiple saved bounce settings in one operation. You can even run bounce settings from multiple DP projects. For example, you might have 7 or 8 different multi-track DP projects from which you are bouncing stereo mixes for an album. After making minor tweaks and adjustments during the final stages of mixing, you could conveniently re-bounce all 7 or 8 tracks in one operation. At the end of the multi bounce session, a summary window provides detailed information regarding each bounce
- Direct audio CD burning allows you to simply drop your songs into a track, add markers for index points anywhere you want (even in the middle of a song)
- You can use DP's powerful fade and automation tools and apply mastering plug-in processing as desired. Then, choose "Bounce to Disk" with a format of "Burn Audio CD"
- DP creates a standard audio CD for use in any CD player, or it can create a disk image for easy replication and archiving
Pitch Automation
- Pitch automation features provide the ability to adjust the pitch of monophonic audio material (in mono, stereo or surround track formats) using DP's intuitive track-based automation tool set
- Digital Performer automatically detects the pitch of audio that you record or import. As long as the audio material is monophonic in the sense that it consists of a single instrument or voice (such as a lead vocal or saxophone track), then you can apply a wide variety of tools in Digital Performer to adjust the pitch
- Pitch correction can be achieved by selecting the pencil tool and simply drawing in the corrections. You can even loop the audio and make changes in real time, within the context of your entire mix
- Use formant-corrected pitch shifting for more natural-sounding results or standard pitch shifting for creating special pitch effects
- For truly unique pitch-shifting mayhem, use DP's automation drawing tools to shape the pitch curve into periodic waveforms (sine, saw, square, etc.)
- Need to actually change a note in the vocal or other recorded instrument track? Just grab the pitch segment for the note and drag it up or down to the desired pitch. Command-drag to make micro-tonal adjustments. Digital Performer adjusts the pitch curve accordingly, ensuring a smooth transition between the note you drag and surrounding notes
- You can even scale the pitch curve to either reduce or enhance vibrato or other variations in pitch
- Need to just clean up an overall badly pitched vocal performance? Select the whole track and choose the "Quantize Pitch" command. All notes snap to their nearest centered pitch. Don't like the results? Simply Undo. Or hand tweak individual notes
- All of the pitch changes occur in real-time, so your original audio is perfectly preserved, down to the sample
- The Transpose command gives you complete freedom when it comes to transposition. From simply transposing up or down by a fixed interval to transposing entirely from one mode or key to another, the creative possibilities are endless. Try a different key. Harmonize a vocal. Use the custom pitch map to transpose specific notes to another note. Transpose audio and MIDI tracks in one operation
- Got an audio performance that you'd like to convert to MIDI data? Copy Digital Performer's pitch segments from the audio track and paste them into a MIDI track. Clean them up a bit with quantize, etc. and you've now got a MIDI track that matches the audio performance
- Layer a vocal with MIDI instruments, or sing in a melody and then convert it to MIDI for further development and orchestration
Beat Detection Engine
- The Beat Detection Engine and tempo analysis features give you unprecedented rhythmic and tempo control over your audio
- Employing sophisticated transient detection technology, the Beat Detection Engine analyzes audio loops and audio files that contain rhythmic music to determine where the beats are in the music
- Apple Loops, REX files, ACID WAV's and other audio material is just the beginning - as soon as you import them, or record audio tracks, the Beat Detection Engine goes to work. Audio immediately conforms to the tempo of your project and you can then begin applying a wide array of beat and tempo related features
- Align any audio to the tempo of your project. Even if the loop you just imported doesn't have embedded tempo information, Digital Performer can immediately snap it to the tempo of your project.
- Long audio files can be easily conformed to match your project's tempo, using the Beat Detection Engine. Just drag and drop them into a track in your project, and Digital Performer takes care of the rest, even conforming the audio to your project's tempo automatically, if so desired
- The convenient "Set Sync Point at First Beat" command lets you quickly align the first beat (or any beat you wish to use as a reference) to your sequence time ruler
- Tighten up the timing of audio tracks with Digital Performer's Quantize command, applying just the right amount of strength, offset, randomization or even shuffle/swing
- Use the same familiar Quantize dialog for both MIDI and audio, even together in one operation
- Quantize full audio files - there's no need to split them up first
- Apply grooves to MIDI and audio tracks in one operation, including both timing and "velocity" (the relative strength) of each beat
- Extract a groove from audio and apply it to MIDI tracks, or vice versa.
- If your drummer lays it down, just extract his/her feel and apply it to your programmed MIDI tracks in seconds for the tightest, most natural sounding composite rhythm tracks ever
- A beat grid can truly match the beats of your audio, perfectly aligned with the placement and feel of each beat
- You can create loops with perfectly aligned end points by just sweeping across the peaks in the waveform with beat snapping enabled
- For extreme tempo changes and other drastic rhythmic and tempo operations, it's best to split loops and drum tracks into individual beats to minimize extreme time-stretching artifacts. Digital Performer lets you do this directly in your audio tracks - there's no need to work in a separate window
- You can choose a guide track to apply the same splits across all selected tracks for consistent editing
- Since Digital Performer's editing environment is sample-accurate, phase coherence is maintained at each split point across all tracks - a critical factor when editing drum tracks recorded simultaneously from different microphone positions, for example
- The Beat Detection Engine is capable of being accurate down to the sample in finding the true initial transient for each beat
- The software lets you edit both the location and velocity (relative strength) of each beat
- Tweak the beats for the exact feel you're aiming for. Then apply all beat and tempo related features based on your fine-tuned adjustments
Effects Plug-Ins
Plug-In Manager
- To perfect your recordings, dozens of effects plug-ins are included that can be used during every step of the recording, mixing and mastering process
- Digital Performer's plug-in management features help you manage large numbers of audio plug-ins - from the dozens of included plug-ins to hundreds of third-party plug-ins sold separately
- You can enable or disable individual plug-ins, create plug-in sets, make plug-ins load even if they don't pass Audio Units validation, re-examine updated plug-ins for validation and more
- User plug-in presets are now saved independently from Digital Performer documents or the Digital Performer application itself. Instead, they are now stored as preset files on disk. This makes it easier to access them across projects and share them with colleagues and clients
- User plug-in presets are grouped into a User Presets sub-menu. In addition, many factory presets are organized into convenient, categorized sub folders
V-Racks
- A V-Rack is a place to load virtual instruments and effects that are available to all sequences in a Digital Performer project
- It looks and operates just like a sequence, except that it holds auxiliary tracks, virtual instrument tracks and master faders - no disk tracks
- Use V-Racks any time you have multiple sequences that share the same effects processing or virtual instruments. For example, you might load one instance of MachFive in a V-Rack and then play it from each of three different sequences, rather than having to load MachFive 3 times (once in each individual sequence). This saves you tons of CPU power and RAM, not to mention load time
- You can also use V-Racks for building a mastering chain (via a master fader), to which you then feed the master output from multiple sequences to achieve absolute consistency during mastering. You can use the same technique for consistent effects/return loops
- V-Racks are also great for virtual instruments or effects processing during live performance
- The Mixing Board allows you to view and mix V-Rack channels side by side with all of your sequence tracks, for a seamless integrated mixing experience. Tabs at the top of the Mixing Board channels clearly identify V-Rack and disk track channels. In all other respects, mixing is entirely consistent and intuitive across all channels
Plug-In Latency Compensation
- Running under MAS and DAE, Digital Performer's plug-in latency compensation is sample-accurate for any MAS, Audio Units, TDM or RTAS plug-in (including virtual instruments)
- It's fully automatic - just load your plug-ins and go
- Latency compensation is especially useful for users of hardware-accelerated plug-ins such as the TC Electronic PowerCore and the Universal Audio UAD-1 or 2
Previewing Effects Plug-In Region Operations
- When you apply a plug-in as a region operation from the Audio menu Plug-ins sub-menu and then click the Preview button, the currently selected region loops continuously until you click the Stop button (or click anywhere outside the effect window)
- Parameter adjustments can be heard in real time as you change them
- A preroll and postroll amount can be added to the beginning and end of the currently selected region for previewing purposes
- These previewing enhancements have also been made for Audio Units being applied as region operations
MasterWorks EQ
- Inspired by legendary British large console EQs, the MasterWorks EQ gives you the look, feel and sound of the most sought-after classic equalizers
- 5 bands of EQ filtering are provided, each with 4 EQ types that provide current popular EQ styles and vintage analog EQ styles alike
- 2 mid-bands (LMF and HMF) include shelf filtering. Two additional bands of variable slope low pass and high pass filtering are provided
- The filter response display provides comprehensive control and visual feedback of the EQ curve being applied
MasterWorks Leveler
- An accurate model of the legendary Teletronix LA-2A optical leveling amplifier, known for its unique and highly sought-after Automatic Gain Control (AGC) characteristics
- Conventional compression and limiting with threshold, attack, ratio, release, etc. do not apply here - the heart of the LA-2A is the T4 opto-coupler, a photoelectric device with almost magical (signal dependent) self-adjusting behavior that makes optical compressors the tool of choice for smoothing out just about any audio material, from vocals to bass guitar to full-program mixes, without destroying perceived dynamics
- The MasterWorks Leveler controls match the front panel of the original LA-2A with Gain Reduction and Makeup Gain knobs, along with Limiter/Compressor buttons and an accurately modeled VU meter that adheres to IEC standards
- The LA-2A evolved over the years, producing slightly different characteristics in each generation, so the MasterWorks Leveler also provides four different LA-2A models - slow/fast vintage and slow/fast modern
ProVerb
- A CPU-efficient convolution reverb plug-in that delivers the sound of stunningly realistic acoustic spaces to any track or mix
- Convolution is a process where the characteristics of a real acoustic space, such as concert hall, cathedral or sound stage, are "sampled" (captured) and then faithfully reproduced, down to the last detail and nuance
- Dozens of preset acoustic spaces (impulse responses) are included, from halls and stages, to plates and cathedrals. Plus, you can simply drag and drop any standard audio file into ProVerb's waveform display to add your own
- ProVerb has been heavily optimized so that all parameters can be adjusted in real time, including those that modify the impulse response waveform itself. What might take 10-15 seconds in other convolution products occurs in real time in ProVerb, as you adjust the parameter
- You can quickly and efficiently sculpt your sound with pre delay, damping, 4 bands of EQ and 4 modes for adjusting the wet/dry mix
- Includes a Dynamic Mix feature that automatically "ducks" the wet signal as the dry input signal rises, then raises the wet mix as the dry signal level subsides. Properly tuned, this feature allows a "wetter" mix while retaining intelligibility of the input signal
- Threshold, sensitivity and strength settings are provided, allowing the feature to function just like a mix engineer expertly "riding" the wet/dry mix control during playback
- ProVerb supports all of Digital Performer's channel format variations, including mono-to-stereo, stereo-to-stereo, and even stereo-to-n and n-to-n
Pattern Gate
- Pulsating, rhythmic, hypnotic, groovetronic - these are just some of the words that can be used to describe the rhythm-based effects in the Pattern Gate plug-in
- Choose a metric resolution (such as 16th notes, 8th notes, etc.), a pattern length from 1 to 16 steps, and depth (mix) for fully (or partially) muted steps. Click the 16 LED-illuminated pads to program rhythmic patterns in seconds
- A 3-stage envelope gives you fine-tune control over the shape (attack/sustain/release) of each played step
- An LFO can be applied to any of the shape parameters, such as attack, release, depth or sustain (or any combination). The result is a gradual modulation over time that makes the pattern "breathe" in time with your music
Virtual Instruments
General
- From classic FM to vintage analog, 6 virtual instruments will spark your creativity and get you making music in minutes
- You get 2, one-oscillator subtractive synthesizers, a single 2-oscillator subtractive synthesizer, a sample player, a drum module and an FM synthesizer
- Browse the hundreds of supplied presets, choose a sound or drum kit, and then hit the record button
- Load your own samples or program custom sounds
- All 6 instruments are designed for easy, streamlined operation and CPU-efficient performance
- The Add Instruments feature lets you add virtual instruments to your project even more quickly and conveniently. In one simple operation, you can add as many instances of the instrument plug-in as you need, with MIDI tracks already assigned to the instrument and both tracks placed together in a new track folder, if you wish
- If the instrument is multi-timbral and receives MIDI data on multiple MIDI channels (like MachFive), you can choose to create as many pre-assigned MIDI tracks you like, saving you even more time
- Digital Performer delivers fast, CPU-efficient performance for DP's included MAS instruments and third-party Audio Unit instruments alike
- You can run many sequenced virtual instrument tracks, as the software pre-renders instrument track output before playback actually begins, allowing the computer's CPU to distribute the required processing beforehand, rather than in real time. You can run many more instruments than would be possible if they ran in real time
- Because they are pre-rendered, instrument tracks can be included in Bounce to Disk operations without the need to "freeze" the instrument track beforehand
BassLine
- An analog-style monophonic bass synthesizer that is capable of putting out monstrous low end
- Controls are dedicated to the bass, the whole bass, and nothing but the bass
- BassLine has one oscillator that blends two waveforms that are perfect for bass sounds (saw and square)
- It also includes one low-pass filter with cutoff and resonance, simple decay envelopes for the filter and amplifier and several additional analog synthesizer features
- The classic design will feel instantly familiar to retro analog synthesize enthusiasts, and for those not so familiar with its legacy, BassLine offers an easy-to-understand introduction to early synthesize design
PolySynth
- A retro analog-style polyphonic pad synthesizer inspired by the Roland Juno 106 and other one-oscillator analog synthesizers from the '80s
- PolySynth has one oscillator, but it is capable of a much wider variety of sounds, thanks to its digital controlled oscillator (DCO), which can be adjusted with varying amounts of de-tune, triangle wave, sawtooth, rectangle (square) wave, sub-oscillator 1 & 2 and noise
- The single LFO can modulate pitch (for vibrato), pulse width (for the square wave and sub-oscillators) or filter depth (for the classic "wah" effect, among others)
- The resonant low-pass filter is equipped with frequency and resonance controls, key tracking, velocity control and an ADSR envelope, which can also be applied as an overall envelope for each note
- Chorus and distortion provide plenty of punch for the thickest of pads and searing lead lines
- Classic filter and envelope design make for quick, intuitive programming
Modulo
- Highly programmable 2-oscillator subtractive synthesizer that provides the perfect balance of intuitive yet advanced classic subtractive synthesizer programming combined with a flexible yet straightforward modulation matrix
- At its heart, Modulo is built on 2 independent oscillators each capable of producing 58 digital waveforms (including the basics such as sine, square, saw, rectangle, etc.)
- The oscillator waveforms can be further adjusted with symmetry, tuning and a unique phase shift that allows you to split the oscillator, offset the resulting waveforms by up to 180°, and then either subtract or multiply the two split waveforms to produce interesting timbral shifts
- This effect can even be modulated with several possible modulation sources, such as one of the two LFOs
- Provides 5 different modulation sources and up to 7 destinations. Sources include the two LFOs, modulation envelope, external mod wheel and note-on velocity, all of which can be flexibly assigned to filter frequency, oscillator pitch, oscillator phase shift, oscillator symmetry, and many other controls
- The resonant multi-mode filter, 3 envelopes (for the amplifier, filter and general purpose modulation), detune, noise and modulation matrix provide plenty of additional sound shaping control
- Provides built-in bank and patch management to help you organize patches and banks for quick and easy browsing, recall and exchange with your colleagues
Nanosampler
- The easiest way to play samples - load a sample and play it
- Provides the power and convenience of being able to drag an audio file from any other DP window, or even your Mac desktop, and then drop it into the Nanosampler LCD display to instantly play it from your MIDI controller
- All of the basic sampler features you need are included - set a sample start/end time, set a crossfade loop, apply the multi-mode filter and automate cutoff frequency or other parameters, apply an envelope to the amplitude or filter and add some LFO effects
- Build your own personalized library of samples, organized as you wish in the Mac OS Finder and accessed instantly from Nanosampler sub-menus that reflect your customized folder organization
- You can even "collect" the samples being used, regardless of their source location, into your DP project folder for easy archiving and session exchange with your colleagues
- Open as many Nanosamplers as you have samples to play
Model 12
- A 12-part programmable drum module (sample player)
- Instant drums. Hundreds of drum samples. Dozens of kits. Load and go
- Build your own kits with deep programming features, including all of the traditional features you'd expect in a drum module, such as part linking for open and closed hi-hats
- Each of Model 12's individual parts has 2 sends, allowing you to independently apply any effects or other external processing you wish to each part. For example, you can apply heavy gated reverb to the snare while adding just a bit of multi-tap delay to the hand clap
- Use the Velocity parameter on a part's tuning knob to map note-on velocity to pitch, allowing you to "bend" up or down into the root pitch of the drum, depending on how hard you strike your drum pad or MIDI controller key. This, and other similar techniques, can be applied to sample start, filter cutoff, and other parameters
- Choose either a decay or gated envelope for each part independently. Each part even gets its own multi-mode filter for a wide range of filter effects, all applied simultaneously
- If you have more extensive percussion parts, you can instantiate multiple instances of Model 12. For example, one instance might be devoted to your basic kit, while another could supply all of your percussion parts. Need more percussion parts? Just add another Model 12
Proton
- 2-operator frequency modulation (FM) synthesizer that delivers classic, bright, shimmering and expressive FM synthesizer sounds
- FM synthesis involves modulating one oscillator's frequency (the carrier) with another oscillator (the modulator) at rates in the audible range. Different frequency ratios of modulator and carrier operators produce a world of interesting timbres
- Proton delivers a broad palette of sounds with the streamlined 2-operator architecture driven by its unique wavetable knob, instead of the added overhead and complexity of additional operators
- A real-time display shows the spectral content or periodic waveform being generated by the current settings
- Additional controls include an FM LFO, modulation pitch envelope, FM amount envelope and overall ADSR envelope
Notation
MIDI Transcription
- Digital Performer employs an advanced notation transcription engine that allows you to play in your music and get the most accurate transcription available - instantly
- Advanced features include floating split points, dynamic hand-splitting, multiple voices per staff, and n-tuplet recognition
- The Straighten Swing feature displays swung eighths as straight eighths (instead of triplets)
Advanced Tools
- If the notation display looks like a train wreck because it wasn't recorded to the metronome, DP's Adjust Beats feature lets you graphically drag beats and bar lines to line them up with MIDI note data - without changing how it plays back
- Need to move a note in the piano part from the treble staff to the bass staff for proper hand positioning? Just select it and use the Switch Staff command
- Sometimes, you'd like to preserve the way the MIDI data in your score plays back, but you'd like to adjust the way it looks as notation so that musicians can easily read it. Digital Performer lets you create Display Only notes and Playback Only notes for just this purpose
- You can make your score look and sound EXACTLY the way you want
Formatting
- Simply point and click to add adjustable dynamics symbols, articulations and page text items such as rehearsal numbers, title, composer, copyright notice and directions to musicians
- QuickScribe window provides an on-screen, full-page, what-you-see-is-what-you-get environment for page layout and formatting
- Control staff spacing, system spacing, measure spacing, measure numbering and many other layout features
- Format and print separate multi-staff scores and individual instrument parts, all from the same sequence
- Each instrument part can have its own clef and instrument transposition
- Make edits either in the score or when viewing individual parts - or even in the event list or MIDI Graphic Editor. All are dynamically linked to the source MIDI tracks and update instantaneously across all editor views
Studio Production
Timing and Synchronization
- Digital Performer is accurate to the sample for recording, editing, and playback of MIDI, audio, and automation
- Work at the sample level with audio and MIDI within a single window
- Synchronize with sample address accuracy to virtual instruments and external devices alike
Instant Access
- A Clippings windows give you a palette of frequently-used items
- Store segments of MIDI, audio, or a combination of both for quick arrangement
- Hold aliases to any application or file - great for keeping track of lyric files or session notes
- You get easy, drag-and-drop access to loops, song sections, sound effects, even effects chains
- For one project or globally across all projects, Clippings windows put it all at your fingertips
Track Grouping and Folders
- Track grouping feature allows you to create an unlimited number of track groups
- Link any combination of MIDI and audio tracks for mixing, editing, or any set of operations that you specify
- Group solo functions, mutes, editing functions, and automation on a parameter-by-parameter basis
- Track groups give you more efficient control to help you get your work done faster
- Organize your track groups into unlimited, nested track folders to effectively manage large multi-track projects on screen
Destructive and Non-Destructive Effects
- Ships with over 65 MIDI, audio plug-ins
- Apply effects to MIDI and audio tracks alike as non-destructive playback effects - with full automation - or as permanent edits for final mastering
- Apply effects to individual notes or groups of notes in a MIDI track, or to any slice of audio you select, down to the sample level. Or apply it to the entire track
Instant, In-Memory Recording with POLAR
- Digital Performer has always let you build up MIDI tracks by looping and overdubbing. The POLAR module lets you do the same thing with full digital audio
- POLAR records into RAM, writing to disk only when you decide
- Loop newly-recorded material or overdub new audio with existing audio, in real time.
- For background vocals on a pop song, drum loops on a hip hop project, or sax solos for your jazz composition - POLAR is the powerhouse overdub tool
Customizable Interface
- The Commands window allows you to completely customize your computer keyboard interaction with the software
- You can assign keystrokes or MIDI events to trigger virtually any function in Digital Performer
- You can even save and load entire sets of commands
Compatibility
- Provides industry-leading support for Apple Core MIDI and Core Audio protocols, and includes patch lists and expansion bank support for most available synthesizers
- Supports multiple Core Audio drivers, the latest Apple Audio Unit standard for plug-ins and virtual instruments
- Use any MIDI or audio interface supported by Apple OS X
- Easily import audio from Acid, REX, and many other popular formats - just drag and drop
- For audio with tempo information, Digital Performer automatically adjusts tempo to match your project
- Digital Performer even opens and creates Pro Tools (and legacy OMF) sessions, allowing import and export of audio, region edits, crossfades, SMPTE times, and volume and pan automation with the DigiTranslator utility
Built-In Waveform Editor
- Built-in waveform editor lets you use all of Digital Performer's editing capabilities to destructively edit an audio file
- A powerful unlimited undo history to reverse any change
- With the pencil tool, you can actually redraw the waveform with sample-level accuracy
Film Scoring
Find Tempo
- To score a film effectively, you need to hit cue points accurately. Digital Performer's Find Tempo feature lets you find the right tempo in seconds
- Set up your master list or import a cue sheet. Choose the type of hit for various markers and assign weight according to the importance of the hit. Then let Digital Performer search your markers and suggest a tempo that hits critical cue points
- If you write music to picture, whether its film, video, animation, jingles or Quicktime, Digital Performer's Find Tempo feature will be a huge time saver for you
Insert Measures
- Have you ever wanted to add more time to the beginning of the sequence without moving any existing material? Insert Measures is a feature that film composers will really appreciate
- Let's say you have a SMPTE sync point that starts a piece of music you have composed. This music is perfect, but the director wants to add some lead-in music to build some tension. Simply drop in as much space as you need and Insert Measures preserves all times including SMPTE hit points following the insertion point
Track Grouping
- Allows you to create an unlimited number of track groups, and tracks that can be linked for mixing, editing, both or for a customized set of operations that you specify
- Tracks can be a member of more than one group
- Groups can also be "nested" within each other
- Track grouping allows you to apply operations to the tracks in the group as a single unit. For example, for a mix group, moving the volume fader for one track in the group moves the faders in all tracks in the group
FireWire QuickTime Video Playback and Frame Rates
- The movie window has the ability to output a DV-formatted QuickTime movie via FireWire
- You can then use a standard DV camera or FireWire conversion box to convert the FireWire video into composite video to view it as full screen video on a standard TV or video monitor - even on iMacs or laptops
- Digital Performer supports 23.976 fps and 30-drop fps as the project frame rate
Final Cut Pro Integration
- Both Digital Performer and Final Cut Pro (FCP) offer complete end-to-end production workflow - Final Cut for picture and DP for complete soundtracks including music, dialog, Foley and sound effects
- The two most pressing challenges for any soundtrack producer are tight deadlines and last-minute picture edits. DP7 now allows for a dynamic link between the FCP editor and the soundtrack producer working in DP7
- This link can be managed remotely via emailed XML interchange files (which are very small) or via a dynamic link between DP7 and Final Cut running side by side on the same computer
- When picture edits are made in Final Cut, the FCP editor can export an XML file that describes all current edits, which the DP7 composer/editor can simply import
- All changes are displayed in DP7's "Import Final Cut Pro XML" window, which provides a complete, detailed list of every new picture edit
- Double-click any edit in the list, and DP7 scrolls to and highlights the location of the edit in the Sequence Editor timeline. The highlight shows a blue border (old position) and red border (new position) for each picture edit. The DP7 composer/editor can then adjust their conductor track, audio data and/or MIDI data as necessary to conform to the new edit, "snapping" their edits to the vertical red line if necessary
- If DP7 is running on the same computer as Final Cut Pro, the "Export Final Cut Pro XML" command sends all tracks (and all sequences) in the current DP project to the project currently open in Final Cut Pro (or any FCP file on disk, if desired), allowing easy transfer of all work done in DP7 into Final Cut at any point during the production process, from previewing dailies to final conform and export from Final Cut
- In the pressure-cooker world of film and broadcast, soundtrack production most often happens late in the overall production cycle, and these time-saving features offer the possibility for a quantum leap forward in up-to-the-minute delivery of changes to music and sound for picture
Streamers, Punches and Flutters
- Visual cues that help composers, conductors and musicians to anticipate visual hits and, more generally, synchronize their music to what is happening on screen
- Digital Performer can superimpose streamers, punches and flutters directly on a QuickTime movie playing in DP's movie window. This allows film and TV composers to collaborate more efficiently with music editors and better prepare for and conduct live orchestra sound stage scoring sessions
- By bringing these visual cues to the native desktop, without expensive and cumbersome additional hardware, Digital Performer also paves the way for anyone to conduct small to medium scale scoring sessions in their personal and project studios
- Film scoring events can be activated in the Preferences pane
- Streamers, punches and flutters are highly configurable. You can specify default settings and override them at any time on a specific streamer, flutter or punch event
- Streamers can be triggered by markers or by independent streamer events inserted in the Conductor track
- Flutters and punches can also be inserted in the Conductor track as independent events
- Once visual cues have been programmed as desired, they can be exported as part of the QuickTime movie, which can then be shared with colleagues for review or approvals before costly sound stage recording sessions with a full orchestra
- When time is ticking during costly sessions, changes can be made directly in your DP project quickly and effortlessly
- The ability to trigger these visual cues has also been expanded to support the CueLine ProCue 1m1 and ClickStreamMachine, two third-party devices commonly used in the industry for live orchestra sound stage scoring sessions
- You can also use a MOTU Digital Timepiece or Video Timepiece
- DP7 can now apply streamers, flutters, punches and all other visual cues directly to DV output (for NTSC monitoring) without the need to bounce them to a QuickTime movie beforehand
Click
- A visual click has been added to complement Digital Performer's visual cueing features (streamers, flutters and punches)
- You can choose the size and color of the visual click, which then flashes in tempo, as a large circle on Digital Performer's own QuickTime movie window or on an external video screen (via external hardware triggered by Digital Performer)
- The visual click, together with the audio and MIDI click, can be programmed with unlimited flexibility
- You can insert click change events wherever you like in the Conductor track, independent of meter changes. This allows you to quickly and easily program customized audio, MIDI and visual click tracks for a wide range of situations
- 3 types of click change events are provided:
- Beat Click makes clicks on regular beats or beat sub-divisions, just like the beat click that is part of a meter change event, except that a beat click event is independent of any meter change events
- Tacet Click silences clicking until the next click change event (or meter). For example, you might create a count-off in which the last two clicks before the downbeat are silent. Or you may want to create a period of click silence in which you then program visual elements in the Conductor track (punches, flutters or streamers) during the silence in order to provide a visual timing reference
- Pattern Click allows you to program any imaginable click pattern you wish using a convenient shorthand method of entering the click pattern
- The click defaults feature lets you choose a preferred click pattern for any meter and tempo range that you specify. For example, at a slow 6/8 time, you might prefer to click on eighth note sub-divisions, while for a fast 6/8 you might prefer to only click every dotted-quarter note
- You can create as many default click patterns as you wish for any variety of meters and tempo ranges
- These default preferences can go far beyond the convention of clicking once per beat
- Once you customize your default click patterns as desired, Digital Performer will automatically use them whenever the click is enabled and your sequence Conductor Track matches the meter and tempo of each default click
- The program now lets you specify the count-off in any number of beats and bars (instead of just bars). This allows you to include pick-up beats, count-off for only a portion of a measure and many other applications
- In addition, you can specify any click pattern you wish for the count-off, and even program a visual count-off, just like the visual click, with its own customized settings
QuickTime Movie Support
- You can open a separate movie window for each sequence in a project. For example, if you score TV commercials, and you have one Digital Performer project with several versions of the soundtrack (:15, :30 and :60 second versions), each sequence can reference a different QuickTime movie
- When you switch from one sequence to another (by clicking its play-enable button in the Chunks window), the movie window will update itself to show the movie you chose for that sequence
- There is also a preference to have all sequences reference the same movie, as in previous versions of Digital Performer
- Allows you to export your DP soundtrack directly into a QuickTime movie with the Bounce to QuickTime movie feature
- The software can compensate for the slight playback offset inherent in DV video playback devices. You can now achieve frame-accurate lock-up to picture with QuickTime movies both stopped and during playback
- The Movie window now has an option to always "float" on top of other windows
Film Score Notation
- Developed in collaboration with film composer Howard Shore during the scoring of the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, the QuickScribe window provides a special Film Cues view, which displays cue points (markers) with respect to beats on a time line above each staff system, complete with SMPTE time code locations, beat locations and the nearest beat or half-beat
- Meter changes, key changes and tempo changes can be inserted directly on the staff with convenient pop-up menus
Live Performance
Bulletproof Reliability with Unrivaled Flexibility
- When you're playing live, you need backup support systems that won't drop the ball - ever
- With sample-accurate playback, you can even set up redundant DP workstations with instant, transparent cutover
- Wholesale, large-scale editing is as easy on the road as it was during rehearsals
- Need a few more bars for your solo? Want to tweak your signature vocal effects? Make your changes at the hotel tonight - or even backstage - and you'll have a new show tomorrow
Cueing Control and Customizable Interface
- Powerful cueing control lets you keep multiple sequences in a single file
- Arrange your sequences as multiple cues within a song, or even an entire set
- You can chain sequences together and trigger sequences by mouse, keystroke, remote MIDI message, or even slaved to specific SMPTE time code locations. Just load one file and your whole show is ready to go
- The Commands window allows you to completely customize your computer keyboard interaction with the software
- You can assign keystrokes or MIDI events to trigger virtually any function in Digital Performer
- You can even save and load entire sets of commands, and pre-built command sets for Pro Tools and other software products make it even easier to switch to Digital Performer
Multi-Track Playback with No Bouncing
- Play your tracks live just like you recorded them
- Easily play 120 or more full audio tracks on a standard dual G5 Macintosh, with EQ and compression on every track
- Digital Performer's efficient design means you get reliable playback without having to bounce your mix down to fewer tracks
Pro Tools Session Exchange and Control Surface Support
- Drag Digital Performer files directly into ProTools sessions or import from Pro Tools into Digital Performer, with no loss of region edits or time stamps
- You can read and write Standard MIDI files for import and export of MIDI tracks with Pro Tools
- The software opens and creates OMF files, allowing import and export of audio, region edits, crossfades, SMPTE times, and volume and pan automation with the DigiTranslator utility
- You can control every function of Digital Performer with standard MIDI messages
- The software ships with support for Mackie Universal Control, Radical Technologies SAC2, Tascam remote control, and Mackie HUI control, and you can use any device that generates MIDI notes and controller messages
Remixing
Tools and Effects
- Perfect for remixing, including support for REX and Acid loop import
- Ships with over 50 real-time MIDI and audio effects to help you get the signature sound you're looking for
- Effects let you lock their parameters to the tempo of your mix
- Lock an LFO filter sweep to quarter notes or delay taps to triplet sixteenths
- When you change the tempo of your mix, the effects stay with you
Virtual Instruments and Drum Editing
- Virtual instrument support let's you bring it all into one integrated environment. For example, you can bring in MOTU's MachFive universal sampler, import your samples, and go. Play MIDI into MachFive, get audio out, all within Digital Performer
- Drum editing is as simple as a hardware step editor, but gives you control over every detail of your beat
- The unique Rhythm Brush lets you "paint" percussion instrument parts into your sequence
- You can choose from a menu of many common presets, tweak them as much as you like, or create your own presets
Freeze Tracks
- Lets you "print" fully-rendered audio of any track, complete with effects and other processing, for efficient playback
- You can un-Freeze the track any time with all editing features preserved to build the track up even more
File/Session Interchange
AAF File Interchange
- Widely adopted pro audio file interchange standard that allows you to easily exchange Digital Performer projects with the latest version of Pro Tools, Final Cut Pro (via 3rd-party utilities) and other professional audio and video applications
- You can receive and deliver projects from colleagues and clients, regardless of which AAF-compliant audio or video software they use, and complete your projects on or before schedule working within the comfortable and familiar environment of Digital Performer
- When you transfer a session between Digital Performer and Pro Tools, Digital Performer provides numerous interchange options to accommodate different versions of Pro Tools - and even other audio and video applications
- Convenient options are provided for DigiTranslator 1.0, DigiTranslator 2.0, Avid Xpress and Logic compatibility
OMF Interchange, Apple Loop Import and Audio File/Plug-In Support
- The ability to import and export OMF interchange documents has been improved, especially to and from older versions of Pro Tools and Avid Media Composer
- Drag and drop Apple Loops directly into Digital Performer audio tracks, where they immediately and automatically conform to the tempo of your music
- While DP has historically supported a wide variety of audio export formats, it now allows you to choose Broadcast WAVE, AIFF or Sound Designer II (SDII) as the native audio file format for your DP projects. This allows you to record, play and import audio directly in the chosen format
- Separate preferences are provided for project file formats and default file formats
- Digital Performer serves as the perfect host for all 3rd-party Audio Units plug-in products
Pro Tools | HD Support
- Operates as a complete audio sequencer front end for Pro Tools | HD and Accel systems
- Fully qualified for use with Pro Tools 8 systems
- You can use the VST-RTAS wrapper from FXpansion when running Digital Performer under DAE
- Fully automate any parameter for any TDM or RTAS plug-in
- Draw filter sweeps, sync LFOs to the beat, record track mutes on the fly - harness the full power of your TDM mixing environment using Digital Performer's advanced plug-in mix automation features
- Digital Performer provides complete plug-in latency compensation automatically
- Run all of your favorite TDM and RTAS instrument plug-ins and take full advantage of Digital Performer's many virtual instrument features, such as Freeze/Unfreeze tracks
- Timing is ultra-accurate, thanks to Digital Performer's native support of Digidesign's DirectMIDI protocol
- Use all of your favorite RTAS and AudioSuite plug-ins together with TDM plug-ins, just like in Pro Tools
- Create as many busses as you need in either mono or stereo (TDM resources permitting). And you can add up to 20 sends per track in the Mixing Board
- Fully automate TDM send levels and panning using Digital Performer's comprehensive mix automation features
- No more fiddling with DAE voice assignments. Digital Performer handles them for you
- Fully supports TDM and RTAS plug-ins that receive MIDI data, including the click (accented/unaccented beats), MIDI Beat Clocks, MIDI Time Code, and meter/tempo information
- Punch in and out of record as many times as you like during a record pass (up to 200 times in a single pass)
- Digital Performer provides complete support for TDM plug-in side chain in