Digital Performer 8 from MOTU is a significant upgrade from the previous version and provides features that ease workflow while delivering a deep set of tools. On a technical front, the application provides 64-bit support while still allowing for 32-bit operation where 32-bit plug-ins are still required. Punch Guard confidence recording means never having to worry about losing the head or tail of an otherwise perfect take, with the feature always capturing extra time before and after punch points.
Seventeen new effects plug-ins are included, everything from modeled guitar tones to mastering processors, adding to a total of over eighty effects. A new video playback engine allows for full screen viewing of 720p or 1080p HD clips within the program or on a secondary computer monitor, or on an HDMI or SDI video monitor via the company's video interfaces. An in-line control panel can be customized and embedded in the consolidated window, or popped out and placed anywhere on the screen.
A plug-in chooser offers comprehensive plug-in management in any preferred manner, regardless of format. ReWire and VST plug-in support is provided, and the entire user interface can be modified to taste using the fifteen additional themes along with those already available. All these features compliment an already very capable DAW with its extensive MIDI implementation, scoring capabilities, and a refined audio recording and mixing engine.
What's New in Version 8
- 64-bit operation ensures that you can take full advantage of all the memory space in your computer for optimum performance
- Seventeen new plug-ins add to the already over 80 included effects, everything from modeled analog EQ to realistic convolution reverb, modeled guitar tones to world-class mastering processors
- Dozens of user interface themes (15 new) that completely transform the look of the application
- Punch Guard confidence recording always captures extra time before and after punch points, so you can simply uncover any additional material with a simple edge edit
- 100% Cocoa UI for Mac OS X
- Video playback engine delivers full-screen viewing of 720 or 1080 HD video clips on a primary or secondary computer monitor, or on a conventional HDMI or SDI video monitor connected to a MOTU video interface like the HD Express or HDX-SDI
- In-line control panel conserves screen real estate and can be embed in the consolidated window and customized
- Plug-in chooser lets you organize and quickly find an effect or preset, factory and third-party alike, regardless of format
- Rewire and VST plug-in support
Seventeen New Plug-Ins
- Dynamic Equalizer - precise control of frequency, volume and dynamics
- Precision Delay - correct delay and phasing issues with a single click
- Spatial Maximizer - mid-side processing for vinyl mastering and beyond
- De-Esser - precise removal of unwanted frequencies
- Subkick- kick drum enhancer
- Springamabob - vintage spring tank reverb
- Ensemble Chorus - transform vocal tracks or instruments into chorused multiple voices spread across the stereo soundstage
- ACE30 - legendary guitar amp
- Soloist - epic Mesa Rectifier sound
- Live Room / B - physically modeled bass guitar speaker cabinet
- Live Stage - CPU efficient cabinets for live performance
- Analog Delay - modeled vintage "bucket-brigade" delay pedal
- Analog Flanger - old-school flanger
- Hi-Top Booster - models the Dallas Rangemaster treble booster
- Clear Pebble - authentic model of an Electro-Harmonix classic pedal
- Dyna-Squash - guitar sustain switch
- Analog Phaser - MXR '74 Vintage Phase 90 phaser
MasterWorks Series
MasterWorks Equalizer
- Modeled analog console EQ inspired by legendary British analog console
- Graphic editing with real-time FFT
- Seven filters
- Modeled gain and Q behavior
- Four EQ styles
MasterWorks Leveler
- Accurate model of the LA-2A optical leveling amplifier, known for its Automatic Gain Control (AGC) characteristics
- Four different LA-2A models - Slow Vintage, Fast Vintage, Slow Modern, and Fast Modern
MasterWorks Compressor
- Precision three-band compressor
- Graphically adjustable crossover frequencies
- Individual solo/bypass controls
- Precision peak/RMS metering
- 64-bit internal processing
MasterWorks Limiter
- Precision limiting
- 64-bit floating point processing
MasterWorks Gate
- Stereo gating with side-chain and look-ahead
- Independent control of the left and right channel of stereo signals
- Trigger the gate with side-chain input, in stereo or separately for each channel
Creative Music Production
ProVerb
- CPU-efficient convolution reverb plug-in
- Delivers the sound of realistic acoustic spaces from soaring cathedrals to studio plates
- Dozens of presets
eVerb
- CPU-efficient classic synthesized reverb with dozens of presets
- In-depth programming and graphic control
Plate
- Classic plate reverb effect
- Reproduces the classic sound of the plate reverbs of the 1950's, 60's and 70's
- Up to six seconds of reverb
- Detailed control over frequency distribution, filtering, mix, predelay, crossover frequencies, and diffusion
Multimode Filter
- Automatable filter effects including sweeps, beat-synced rhythmic burble, talkbox chatter, etc. vDraw automation curves, play notes on a MIDI keyboard, twist LFO knobs, or push envelope depth with the modulation wheel to sweep, twist, contort and otherwise animate low-pass, high-pass, peak and notch filter effects
Sonic Modulator
- Modulation machine
- Incoming signal is split into two separate frequency bands and all settings can be applied independently to each band
- Four phase sync-able LFOs and an amplitude envelope, combined with pitch, filter, amplitude and delay modulators
- Everything beat sync-able
- Dozens of presets
Pattern Gate
- Rhythm-based effect
- Choice of metric resolution, pattern length and depth (mix) for fully (or partially) muted steps
- Click the sixteen LED-illuminated pads to program rhythmic patterns in seconds
- Three stage envelope gives provides fine-tune control over the shape (attack/sustain/release) of each played step
- LFO can be applied to any of the shape parameters, such as attack, release, depth or sustain (or any combination)
Delay
- Dozens of presets
- Edit parameters with the precision of millisecond timing, or dial in rhythmic pulsations locked to the beat and tempo of a sequence
- 5.1 surround mix compatible
Guitar FX
Custom '59
- Three iconic guitar amps modeled in one plug-in
- Fender Bassman, Marshall JTM45 and Marshall JCM800
Live Room / G
- Physically modeled guitar speaker cabinet
- Four microphones, mixable positions (close, near and far)
- Two mono plus one stereo microphone channel each with their own pre-delay, sidechain output, 3-band EQ, solo/mute and volume
Live Stage
- CPU efficient cabinets for live performance
- Single microphone version of Live Room / G and B
Analog Chorus
- Authentically analog chorusing modeled after Boss CE "Chorus Ensemble" series of foot pedals from the late 1970's and early '80s
- Includes the CE-2 and CE-3
- Simple controls and very low CPU overhead
Tuner
- Tune a guitar, bass, sax, or other pitched instrument
- Load it as a plug-in before or after any other plug-in inserts
- Includes adjustable tuning reference and test tone generation
Virtual Instruments
BassLine
- Analog-style monophonic bass synthesizer with controls dedicated solely to the bass
- Single oscillator that blends two waveforms (saw and square)
- One low-pass filter with cutoff and resonance, simple decay envelopes for the filter and amplifier and several additional analog synthesizer features
PolySynth
- Retro analog pad synthesizer with the distinct look of the classic Roland Juno 106
- Digital controlled oscillator (DCO) can be adjusted with varying amounts of de-tune, triangle wave, sawtooth, rectangle (square) wave, sub-oscillator 1 and 2 and noise
- Single LFO can modulate pitch, pulse width, or filter depth
- Resonant low-pass filter with frequency and resonance controls, key tracking, velocity control and an ADSR envelope
- Chorus and distortion
Modulo
- Subtractive synthesizer
- Two oscillators plus noise, fifty-eight available digital waveforms for each oscillator, oscillator phase and symmetry modulation, two LFOs, resonant multimode filter, three envelopes, and a 5 x 7 modulation matrix
- Built-in bank and patch management features and dozens of clearly organized presets
Nanosample
- Easy way to play samples
- Drag an audio file from any other DP window, or the computer desktop, and then drop it into the LCD display to instantly play it from a MIDI controller
- Basic sampler features include setting a sample start/end time, setting a crossfade loop, applying the multimode filter and automating cutoff frequency or other parameters, applying an envelope to the amplitude or filter, and adding LFO effects
Model12
- Twelve-part programmable drum module
- Each part has two sends for applying any effects or external processing
- Velocity parameter maps note-on velocity to pitch, allowing you to "bend" up or down into the root pitch of the drum, depending on how hard a drum pad or MIDI controller key is struck
- 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
- Multimode filter on each part for a wide range of filter effects, all applied simultaneously
Proton
- Two-operator FM synthesizer
- Easily programmable with a streamlined 2-op architecture driven by a wavetable knob, instead of the complexity of additional operators
- 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
General Features
- Complete desktop studio production
- MIDI, audio and virtual instruments
- Consolidated Window with quick access to the Sequence Editor, Mixing Board and Waveform Editor amongst others with tabs across the top of the window
- Customizing the workspace with various themes
- Custom level meters
- Custom waveform colors
- Floatable Control Panel provides essential information in compact strip across the top of the computer screen
- Extensive customization of the workspace
- Work with multiple sequences in a single project
- Track folders and groups provide clarity by organizing tracks
- Sample-accurate editing
- Up to two trillion PPQ MIDI resolution
- Recording and playback features including editing during playback, "partial-solo" mode, configurable event chasing, scrubbing, advanced click programming, input filtering and quantizing
- Multi-track recording of both MIDI and audio simultaneously, manual and auto punch-in, overdub recording, recording while slaved to external sync
- POLAR loop recorder inspired by the Echoplex tape delay allows you to continuously loop-record vocal comps, beat-boxing, guitar, or pretty much anything, overdubbing each pass to build up vocal stacks or layered audio loops of any length with any number of layers
- Step record
- Record an unlimited number of takes and then combine them into the perfect composite or "comp" take
- Comprehensive MIDI and audio editors
- Sequence Editor provides detailed multi-track overview of all MIDI, audio and instrument tracks
- Track list
- Piano-roll style editing for MIDI and instrument tracks
- Grid editor for drums and percussive material
- Single-track, endlessly-scrolling music notation editor
- Multi-track notation editor for lead sheets, scores and parts with page layout
- Waveform editor
- Event list
- Mixing Board window provides an 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
- Inline multi-band EQ and dynamics processing in each Mixing Board channel
- Complete mix automation
- Work with audio, instrument, and MIDI automation side by side
- Draw automation by hand using a variety of tools with various shapes
- Record in real-time with mouse gestures or a hardware control surface
- Overwrite new automation or trim existing curves, in real time
- Take automation snapshots across any or all tracks
- Create beat-based, tempo-locked automation effects
- Plug-ins can be fully automated with ramps, stair steps or other behaviors appropriate for each parameter
- Channel Strip sidebar cell in the main window displays all the mixer channel settings for the track being worked on
- Every edit window can display a "miniature" mixer channel for quick access to mix settings for the track being edited
- Mix Mode menu in the Mixing Board lets you create, save, edit and switch between multiple mix downs of your project
- Control surface support with third-party surfaces such as the Avid Artist Series controllers, Mackie
- Control Universal, or other HUI-compatible controllers
- Correct pitch or transpose audio graphically
- Pitch effects
- Scale the pitch curve
- Quantize pitch
- Transpose and harmonize pitch
- audio to MIDI data
- DP Control App provides wireless control of the software (downloadable)
- V-Rack loads virtual instruments and effects that are available to all sequences in a project
- Use V-Racks to build a mastering chain to which you feed the master output from multiple sequences to achieve absolute consistency during mastering
- V-Racks also useful for virtual instruments or effects processing during live performance
- Create professional-looking lead sheets, scores, and parts using sophisticated music notation transcription
- Accurate real-time MIDI transcription
- Dynamics, text, and score arrangement
- On-screen page layout
- Create and print lead sheets, complete with multi-stanza lyrics, transposable chord symbols and score arrangement features
- QuickScribe film cues view for scoring to picture
- Live search for enhanced workflow
- Right-click menus