Tools Redux: Digital Performer 6
Last year on my page ‘Tools’ I said:
“I use Logic and Live for composition. I used to use Digital Performer a lot. I’m still a big fan and love the workflow and interface…but Logic and Live seem to be more “sympatico” with each other…Don’t know; I really go back and forth between Logic and DP. Currently, the pendulum has swung to Logic. Check back in six months…”
Well, it took a little longer than 6 months, but I’m definitely back in the DP camp. Especially with the release of DP6. There’s an awful lot to like about it:
- The new user interface updates the look of DP 6 and makes things a bit more sensible . And that’s a good thing. Unfortunately it is REALLY BRIGHT and if you have a couple of monitors and the room is dark, you need sunglasses. This redesign has been a big source of consternation over at MotuNation. Hopefully MOTU will offer some color customization options.
- Track comping that goes beyond that offered in LOGIC.
- MasterWorks Leveler plug-in and the ProVerb convolution plug-in. The Leveler is modeled on the Teletronix™ LA-2A optical leveling amplifier. Folks who know what that sounds like (I don’t), swear by Leveler’s accurate reproduction of that unit. As to the reverb, it sounds very nice to my ears and it allows you to adjust parameters in real time without pauses for recalculation. Sweet. Altiverb is pushed down on my list of things to buy for a little while.
- Final Cut Pro integration and film scoring enhancements. This WILL be important to me one day, so I list it here.
- Enhanced plug-in operation & softsynth operation. As I understand it, DP6 renders VSTI tracks when the application is idle. It’s sort of like automatic track freezing with out all of the administrative headaches. Theoretically, DP can render this stuff when not doing anything else and have it ready to go when it’s needed. In reality, this causes issues with Kontakt and other samplers reloading samples unnecessarily, and other weird behaviors. Seems like most folks are turning this option off. (DP6 DOES finally have a plug-in manager though so you can dynamically load different sets of plug-ins without relauncing the program. Sweet.)
- Direct audio CD burning for replication or archiving.
Note however that DP6 is a “.0″ release so has some definite bug-type issues for some users. For me it’s been a smooth upgrade, and I have not had very many issues at all. (You can head over to MotuNation to get a run down on the good, the bad, and the ugly with the release.) But my set-ups/templates/songs/projects tend to be fairly simple compared to some of the pros over at MotuNation.
FWIW, here are a couple of things that seem to help.
1) Rebuild your templates if possible. When people have had problems, it seems like they are trying to work with old pre-DP6 song files and templates. The two times DP6 crashed on me, I was working on an old DP 5.1.3 project file. Rebuilding that song in a new ‘from scratch’ DP6 file increased stability significantly. (Easy to do…unless the old template is something with dozens of stems, loads of chunks, and multiple sequences in the file. Then it must be a PITA.)
2) Trash all of your preferences (except for customized key bindings and the like) before installing DP6.
