Who's using DP Live?

[Dragonwind]

Hi all,
I've been using DP for live use on and off for some time but have been out the scene and in the studio for too long (other than a once a year gig).

Now that I am actively back doing some shows I decided to take a look at Ableton 9 for backing tracks. I use Live8 on another Mac for simple video playback but never have used it beyond that in years.

Now that I look more closely I still see that for my style of music (NeoClassical, instrumental) that can have a number of varying tempos and signatures in a song just doesn't work in Live and DP's chunks still look like the best solution.

So I decided to look around the internet and see who's currently using DP just to see how others incorporate it and most every video I find is about using Ableton Live instead, even in a linear fashion.

That leads me to ask here if anyone is still using DP8 live?

Chris

[David Polich]

Umm, yeah..I use DP live in my two tribute bands, to play back parts I can't duplicate or can't
play. I have a click track and music mix routed to a separate send from my Ultralite to the drummer. Been doing this since 2007.

I was the keyboard tech/programmer for Michael Jackson's "This Is It" rehearsals and we used
DP on that show. Back then it was DP5.

There are more people using DP live onstage or for show playback than you might think.

[daniel.sneed]

I would not use any other daw program on stage. Simply for its depth. Anything I can think of, there's a way to do it in DP.
And, yes, of course, YMMV.

[magicd]

Although he's not the only guy who does this, I have to give a big shout out to my buddy Viggy.

Viggy has started a company that builds playback rigs that are based on Digital Performer. Check out who uses Viggy/DP rigs at http://www.playbackcontrol.com



And if you want some additional high end credentials, check out Mike McKnights' page:
http://www.mikemcknight.com

Mike lists as a few of his credits:

Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Roger Waters, Madonna, U2, Earth, Wind & Fire, Shakira, George Michael, Paula Abdul, Fleetwood Mac, Bruce Springsteen, Whitney Houston, Lenny Kravitz, Celine Dion, Jennifer Lopez.

Dave

[Dragonwind]

Thank you gents. As always the DP community is much appreciated.
Chris

[Shooshie]

Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Roger Waters, Madonna, U2, Earth, Wind & Fire, Shakira, George Michael, Paula Abdul, Fleetwood Mac, Bruce Springsteen, Whitney Houston, Lenny Kravitz, Celine Dion, Jennifer Lopez.

When i say that some of the larger touring shows use DP for live production, that's what I'm talking about. (and of course, McKnight isn't the only one using DP backstage, onstage, and/or offstage)

Thanks, Dave.

Shoosh

[FMiguelez]

And then we also have our very own member Kwiz...

[Shooshie]

And then we also have our very own member Kwiz...

Oh yeah... who's that new kid he's helping out? Seance? Beyond?... Brianna?... oh, right: Beyoncé. I hear she's been selling a few tickets. Seriously, she's lucky to have Kwiz, just as he's lucky to be directing such a meteoric diva!

And there have been many more, all the way up to top of this industry, who have depended on DP in critical roles. Then there's film... Don't even get me started there. DP's been represented at the Oscars, Tonys, Grammys, Emmys and many other awards. Suffice to say that DP has earned its place, and probably more music directors of such renown have been members here than you realize.

Shoosh

[Dragonwind]

And if you want some additional high end credentials, check out Mike McKnights' page:
http://www.mikemcknight.com

Mike lists as a few of his credits:

Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Roger Waters, Madonna, U2, Earth, Wind & Fire, Shakira, George Michael, Paula Abdul, Fleetwood Mac, Bruce Springsteen, Whitney Houston, Lenny Kravitz, Celine Dion, Jennifer Lopez.

Dave

Right on. I watched the Motu artist spotlight on him. That's a lot of chunks he's using.
I've got a 2nd mac that runs video and lights. Before I was using MIDI commands to start things up but now will switch to SMPTE.

Chris

[dhoeber]

i am using DP7 live for a couple projects. one is all MIDI, and the other audio. it always works flawlessly.

[dpart]

Hey are you all talking about using DP Live with it just doing audio & MIDI playback, or also e.g. what I'd like to be able to do is use the guitar effects boxes (or NI guitar rig) with backing tracks. But to do that I've always had to cut the buffer to 128 (or 64) to cut latency, while if there are several tracks being played back the buffer has to be ~512, i.e. the opposite end.

So can you clarify that you are using multiple tracks in playback AND no input (processing or recording) for the DP Live application.

Thanks in advance

[Michael Canavan]

But to do that I've always had to cut the buffer to 128 (or 64) to cut latency, while if there are several tracks being played back the buffer has to be ~512, i.e. the opposite end.

So can you clarify that you are using multiple tracks in playback AND no input (processing or recording) for the DP Live application.

Thanks in advance

There's no reason playback of tracks makes the buffer size need to be 512.. I suppose if you're adding FX on the tacks this could be the case, but you really want only FX and virtual instruments you'll be using live as CPU robbing and buffer size growing plug ins.

[Tidwells@aol.com]

I'm able to run DP 8.07 at 128 buffer setting on my 2012 MacBook Pro with 16 GB of ram & a 480 GB SSD from OWC. I have several backing tracks, plus automated in-the-box mixing of 3 live microphone channels, plus I run two instances of MachFive 3 and one instance of Aria player within DP to play sounds triggered from my Alesis wireless key-tar. I also send out a couple of tracks of MIDI automation to a cheap Behringer lighting controller, plus I send out a MIDI track via Ethernet to a software program called Pro Video Player on a second 2012 MacBook Pro which is hooked up to a Matrox Triple-Head-2go box which sends video footage to three onstage video projection screens.

I use a MOTU 828 MK3 (firewire version) for audio inputs and outputs to power amps and speakers. I use the MIDI out on the MOTU 828 to send MIDI automation to the Behringer lighting controller. I also use a MIDI input on a Motu MTP AV for input from my wireless MIDI receiver from the key-tar. I could ditch the MTP and just use the MIDI input on the MOTU 828.

I created a custom TouchOSC layout for my i-pad so I can manually control lighting from on stage if needed. I also use DP control on my i-Pod Touch to manually cue up and start/stop songs. I can also start and stop a song from the start/stop buttons on the Alesis Key-tar if needed.

This setup allows me to automate the audio mix for our whole 45-minute show, as well as automating all video playback and lighting cues during songs. The only manual lighting adjustments I have to perform occur while my wife is talking between songs.

Although this is not what DP was designed to do, it works pretty well. On average, we get a half-second audio glitch about one concert out of three, but DP keeps running after the glitch.

Doug Tidwell