![motu digital performer 9 cg motu digital performer 9 cg](https://dt7v1i9vyp3mf.cloudfront.net/styles/news_large/s3/imagelibrary/D/DP9_01_16_02-LoQaf_nKYSOaUVPkETQ2d1xKwIpX6v2d.jpg)
- #MOTU DIGITAL PERFORMER 9 CG UPDATE#
- #MOTU DIGITAL PERFORMER 9 CG PRO#
- #MOTU DIGITAL PERFORMER 9 CG SOFTWARE#
- #MOTU DIGITAL PERFORMER 9 CG WINDOWS#
Track types in DP are strictly role-specific: MIDI, mono/stereo/surround audio, instrument, aux and master. For many jobs you will only need one, but having multiple Sequences on hand, entirely independent from one another, allows for good organisational flexibility, and it’s also possible to arrange them into larger Song structures: another ‘old DAW’ concept, but one that suits some ways of working. A Project can contain multiple Sequences, of which one can be open for editing at any one time. Getting to work in DP involves creating or opening a Project, represented on your hard drive by a folder containing a project document along with other associated files and subfolders for audio files, bounces and so on.
#MOTU DIGITAL PERFORMER 9 CG WINDOWS#
But that also makes it flexible, allowing users to set up (and if necessary save and recall) the exact complement of editing and information windows required for individual jobs, whether working on a laptop or at a desktop with several monitors. All in all, the DP environment, and its whole approach to user interaction, is notably more rooted in ’90s and noughties interface concepts than some more recent DAWs. There’s an extensive tool palette that docks to other windows or floats. Hundreds of commands lurk in the main menus, window-level mini-menus, or right-click contextual menus, nearly all of which can be offloaded to keyboard shortcuts. Then, most complex interactions with the application take place via separate role-specific windows, all of which can appear with tabbed title bars to allow them to be stacked up in a single ‘cell’, or un-docked to become completely separate windows. Main editing windows open in a wide central column, flanked by optional left and right sidebars, with transport above.
![motu digital performer 9 cg motu digital performer 9 cg](http://cdn.rekkerd.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Motu-Digital-Performer-9.02.png)
#MOTU DIGITAL PERFORMER 9 CG PRO#
DP’s multi-purpose Consolidated Window can be made to look a bit like those, or Logic Pro X, or Pro Tools for that matter, but it’s really a different animal. The user interface is highly configurable - much more so than single-window, browser-centric, drag-and-drop-driven DAWs like Live, Studio One and Bitwig Studio. So here’s DP9 in a nutshell, which will hopefully give a bit more perspective for when I get to the new features in a little while. But as any serious user knows, there are vast differences, in capabilities, operation, design and appearance, and above all in the working approaches they facilitate. There’s a school of thought that says all DAWs are really the same, and in some limited ways that’s true. First, a whistlestop tour of what makes DP DP. For once, there isn’t an obvious central focus for this release, but many enhancements covering dozens of aspects of use. Many users perceive much more of a buzz around DP, and a feeling that it’s going places, where once all was silence and secrecy.Īnd that brings us nicely to DP9, released in June 2015 and with identical features on OS X and Windows.
#MOTU DIGITAL PERFORMER 9 CG UPDATE#
Nowadays you can download a demo, purchase online, enjoy electronic versions of DP’s extensive documentation, and check out full update notes for each incremental release. It has also not gone unnoticed amongst DP users that the ethos of MOTU as a company has evolved as well. All the while, too, the overall user experience has steadily improved, with thousands of smaller productivity enhancements, new bundled plug-ins, other major new features, and under-the-hood gains in general operational smoothness and processing efficiency. Then, in 2012, DP8 went 64-bit, added VST plug-in compatibility, and shortly afterwards became available for Windows for the first time. The last few whole-point releases of DP have tended to focus on developing different aspects of the application DP6, in 2008, introduced big user-interface and audio format changes, while DP7, in 2010, bundled lots of guitar effects plug-ins. MOTU have, of course, been a driving force in that transition, with their popular, well-regarded and ever-expanding range of audio interfaces. As such, DP has some claim to be amongst the most mature DAWs out there, one that’s ridden out tumultuous changes in computer architecture and operating systems and overseen the gradual march from a hardware/analogue to digital/virtual world. We’re talking about a time when MIDI was still quite new, Junos got traded in for DX7s, and tent-size T-shirts were all the rage. The roots of MOTU’s Digital Performer go back a staggering 30 years. Do the improvements in the latest version keep it bang up to date?
![motu digital performer 9 cg motu digital performer 9 cg](https://assets-global.website-files.com/56bb1a5a0758a4b421e9be4c/57991fbe4cab51ad690f28a4_Latency-Diagram.jpg)
#MOTU DIGITAL PERFORMER 9 CG SOFTWARE#
MOTU’s sequencing software has been around longer than some SOS readers. The on-trend dark grey look is the default appearance for DP9.
![motu digital performer 9 cg motu digital performer 9 cg](https://cdn.rekkerd.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/MOTU-Digital-Performer-9.5.jpg)
A typical view of DP in action, with a well-stocked Consolidated Window.