The Digital Performer Tips Sheet

[James Steele]

Oh my my!! I am tickled silly right now. I just learned about Startup Clippings. I can't believe I have used DP for so many years and never realized how this works!

If you create startup clipping window in a project, it is saved with that particular project, and the special thing that it does is that it will OPEN any file that is in that window. Therefore, if you have a text file, for example, which logs where you are in a project or has notes about what you want to do next, you can drag that file into the startup clipping window and then whenever you open that project, this text file will open automatically. And EVEN BETTER, it opens up and presents itself to you before DP has finished loading so you have notes that you can read while you are waiting for the project to load.

To create your own, go here:
Project > Clippings > New Startup Clipping Window

When you have finished your project session, simply update and save the text file with any notes you will want to remember for the next time, and you will be reminded automatically.

And of course this will work with any other file type (from any application on your system) that you want to drag into this clipping window.

Nice, nice, nice!!

DANG!!! This is cool! I'm printing your post right now and going to print this sucker!

[Dan Worley]

Oh my my!! I am tickled silly right now. I just learned about Startup Clippings. I can't believe I have used DP for so many years and never realized how this works!

If you create startup clipping window in a project, it is saved with that particular project, and the special thing that it does is that it will OPEN any file that is in that window. Therefore, if you have a text file, for example, which logs where you are in a project or has notes about what you want to do next, you can drag that file into the startup clipping window and then whenever you open that project, this text file will open automatically. And EVEN BETTER, it opens up and presents itself to you before DP has finished loading so you have notes that you can read while you are waiting for the project to load.

To create your own, go here:
Project > Clippings > New Startup Clipping Window

When you have finished your project session, simply update and save the text file with any notes you will want to remember for the next time, and you will be reminded automatically.

And of course this will work with any other file type (from any application on your system) that you want to drag into this clipping window.

Nice, nice, nice!!

DANG!!! This is cool! I'm printing your post right now and going to print this sucker!

This is a HUGE convenience that I didn't know about. Since reading this, I started adding my Office Time files (my project timers) to the Startup Clipping window. So now when I open a DP project, the corresponding Office Time project and sessions open up.

Fantastic!!!! Thanks so much for this tip.

BTW, I highly recommend Office Time to anyone. It's a great little app and perfect for the studio.

c-ya,

Dan Worley

[FMiguelez]

BTW, I highly recommend Office Time to anyone. It's a great little app and perfect for the studio.

Can you elaborate on that a little more, please? How do you use that? What is it good for?

Thanks!

[Dan Worley]

BTW, I highly recommend Office Time to anyone. It's a great little app and perfect for the studio.

Can you elaborate on that a little more, please? How do you use that? What is it good for?

Thanks!

Sure.

Office Time (http://www.officetime.net/) is a Time Billing app, or a Project Timer. When I start a new project in DP I also create a new project in Office Time. An Office Time project can have many session timers (kind of like Chunks in DP). When you start working on a project you turn on the timer which creates a new session that is timed. So let's say you worked on a project for a few hours in the morning and an hour in the afternoon and a few more hours in the evening. That would be three sessions timed and stored in the main project. If you're inactive on the computer for a certain amount of time (set by the preferences), Office Time gives you the choice of adding that time to the session or subtracting it from the session, and also whether you want to continuing to time the same session, or stop, or create a new session to time.

The sessions are assigned hourly rates (I think there might be set rates too, though I'm not sure). You can have different hourly rates for different sessions. For example, a tracking session may be a different hourly rate than a mixing session or composing session. You can also time multiple sessions at the same time. It's very flexible.

You create categories for sessions to help keep track of all your time. That way you and your customers know what you spent the time on. There are reports and invoicing and expenses (I import all this information into our accounting software, but you can do it all from Office Time if you want). There's also Project notes and Session notes, which I find very useful.

It's just great! It's the best little app I've used for this kind of thing, and I've tried just about all of them, even some of the very expensive ones and the ones that run online. It's invaluable to me in the studio.

Now that I've been told about Start-up Clippings, I'm able to put the Office Time project files into the corresponding DP projects and they open whenever I open the DP project. It's just too cool!!!

I'd suggest you try the demo. I think it works for thirty days.

c-ya,

Dan Worley

[FMiguelez]

.

Hey, Dan.

Thank you so much for your detailed response

Yeah, it definitely looks like a very nice app to have in those situations. I haven't had the need to account for my time like this for billing in the past, but now I know what I'd get if I ever need to do it

Thanks!

[Dan Worley]

.

Hey, Dan.

Thank you so much for your detailed response

Yeah, it definitely looks like a very nice app to have in those situations. I haven't had the need to account for my time like this for billing in the past, but now I know what I'd get if I ever need to do it

Thanks!

I understand. Sometimes I also track my personal stuff, like how much time I spend on the internet (oh, that's depressing) or napping. Stuff like that. When you see the reports it's a real eye opener. It has an alarm, too (though it could be implemented better). I've started restricting my internet time because it was taking up too much time, so I set the timer to warn me when it's time to get off.

c-ya,

Dan Worley

[zed]

Oh my my!! I am tickled silly right now. I just learned about Startup Clippings....

DANG!!! This is cool! I'm printing your post right now and going to print this sucker!

This is a HUGE convenience that I didn't know about. Since reading this, I started adding my Office Time files (my project timers) to the Startup Clipping window. So now when I open a DP project, the corresponding Office Time project and sessions open up.

Fantastic!!!! Thanks so much for this tip.

Glad you liked it. I've been using Startup Clippings ever since I learned about them, and they have been very useful.

Here's a new tip, which I posted in another thread, but also belongs in this tip thread...


CONTROLLING WHICH VIS WILL LOAD FIRST WHEN YOU OPEN A PROJECT
The new version of PLAY is supposed to be much more efficient if it is loaded BEFORE Kontakt, when you load a project. There has been discussing about how to accomplish this. Fortunately, MOTU has already addressed this and built into a DP a simple method for controlling this (and I ran assorted tests in DP 7.12 to demonstrate to myself that this works consistantly).

Simply put, the VIs will load in the order they appear in the V-Rack (left to right), and/or the order they may appear in your chunks (top to bottom).

In order to change the loading order, simply change the order in your V-Rack or in your chunks, save the project and then reopen it. VIs will continue to load in that order until you change it.

Make it a habit to be put Kontakt instruments last on the list, or at least be sure that PLAY preceeds them.

[James Steele]

James "Marker Enter" trick... for jumping to Markers

This came up in another thread about not being able to jump back a marker during playback. It reminded me of something I posted once before, years ago, as a tip, and thought it might make a good addition to the Tips & Tricks thread. I used to call it James' "Markers Enter" trick. The origins go back to "Hiro's dot trick"... which by now we all regularly use-- it's when you hit the "." on the numeric keypad and enter the measure number and then enter to jump to a measure.

Note that my "Markers Enter" trick will not interfere with the dot trick or other uses of the "Enter" key on the numeric keypad. But... you must be willing to give up the "Enter" key on the numeric keypad for transport control and rely just on the space bar. If you can do this... proceed.

1) Open your Commands window (⇧L) and then search for "transport." The second search will get you to the Transport Controls section. Below the "Play/Stop Toggle" line, is the "Play" control and it is be default assigned the "Enter" key on the numeric keypad designated by this symbol that looks something like this: ⌤. Remove that key binding.

2) A few lines down in the Transport section you'll see "Go To Marker..." In the "MAC KEY 1" column you'll see it is assigned a key binding of ^⇧M. Click in the "MAC KEY 2" column just to the right of it, and hit the "Enter" key on the numeric keypad. The ⌤ symbol appears. Close the Commands Window.

Now during playback, all you have to do is quickly with one hand hit the "Enter" key on the numeric keypad, followed by the marker number, and then Enter again and you will jump instantly to that marker.

Hint: You can see and edit marker numbers in the Markers window. Instead of having to remember marker numbers, I like to change the marker names to include the marker number at the beginning so I can see it on the timeline. For example I'll change my Markers from:

Intro
Verse 1
Chorus 1

to...

1. Intro
2. Verse 1
3. Chorus 1

That way I can just look at the timeline and see what the marker number is, and to jump to "Verse 1" it's as easy as "Enter"-"2"-"Enter" on the numeric keypad. Easy.

[zed]

I was looking everywhere for a recent thread about surprise features in DP that you didn't know existed. I can't find it, but think that this information is quite worthy of being in the tips section anyway...

I just discovered that MOTU has introduced a feature to better help you edit meter changes in your project. I don't know which version of DP7 (or maybe it may have been DP6) that this was added, but I only discovered this feature today (by accident) after doing some meter change surgery the hard way. If anyone knows when this was added, please let us know.

SNIPPING THE METER
Want to convert a bar of 4/4 into 2/4 without affecting the rest of your track? Do you want a bar to have only 3 beats instead of 4 without any hassle?

Follow these simple steps:
(1) Simply select the beat (i.e. the portion of the bar) you want to eliminate by using the Tracks Overview or Graphic Editor windows.
(2) Make sure you include ALL tracks in the project in that selection (including the Conductor track). You can do this easily by dragging your mouse over the Track Names in the TO, or command-clicking the Track Names to add individual ones. This trick won't work unless every track is included in the selection.
(3) Snip the selection.

The bar from which you have snipped will automatically become 2/4 or 3/4, depending on how many beats you snipped, and the next bar will still be 4/4, without any unwanted shifts in your track data.

BETTER KEYBOARD COMMANDS
And for anyone who hasn't done this, I strongly recommend changing your Snip command to Option-X.

Everyone has their own way of doing things, but I think that this is a really good change to make. Cutting is Command-X while Snipping is Option-X. Makes perfect sense, right?

And by the same token, I encourage the changing of the Redo command as well, so that it becomes Shift-Z. Once again, this makes so much sense to the way my brain works. Undo is Command-Z while Redoing is Shift-Z. The finger placements are so natural that you don't even have to look at your keyboard to Undo and Redo in succession.

[spitfire31]

I encourage the changing of the Redo command as well, so that it becomes Shift-Z. Once again, this makes so much sense to the way my brain works. Undo is Command-Z while Redoing is Shift-Z. The finger placements are so natural that you don't even have to look at your keyboard to Undo and Redo in succession.

Well, personally I much prefer Shift+Cmd-Z, since that's a fairly well established command in many programs, for instance in my fave wp, Nisus Writer Pro.

Besides, shift-Z would be problematic I want to name a track Zack or Zeke, right?

/Joachim

[sdfalk]

Hey everyone

I did a quick search on this forum to see if this had been posted before..
I haven't found it as of yet, but in case I missed it..apologies.
I'm going to preface this tip with a quick comment regarding my opinion
of Motu's marketing;

It needs a little work.
The "day job" I have often puts me in the position of having to listen to
other software companies discussing the "new features" recently implemented
in their sequencers.

Steinberg Nuendo is such a sequencer.
They mention a feature called "clip packages" wherein a group of audio files
can be grouped together and exported to be later recalled with all the fade automation,
relative positioning, volume automation, etc, intact.
This type of feature is (of course) a boon to sound designers.
If you need to re use a group of sound fx on multiple tracks, over different points
in the timeline, this would speed up ones work flow tremendously.
As this feature has NEVER (cough cough) EVER been implemented in any other
sequencer, Steinberg had a right to be soooo proud of themselves.

Then I stood up and mentioned project clippings in Digital Performer.
This manages the exact same thing that Nuendo does, and has been doing it
for how long?
I've been using DP since version 3 and used it then..it may predate that, I don't
know.
Grab a group of tracks/edits with whatever automation exists on it, in whatever
relative points those clips exist on the timeline, drag them into a DP project clipping
window, and name it whatever you want.
Then when you need that group of audio files again, drag that clip anywhere you want in
the timeline, and all those audio files will appear in exactly the same relationship they
appeared originally..BRILLIANT!!
Even better then what Nuendo does, it uses a separate clippings window and references
the audio files in the soundbites window.
Nuendo puts it's clip packages into the media bay making it more of a convoluted mess
when you're trying to sort through your audio files.

Motu (IMHO) needs to remind people what an amazing postproduction tool it really is.
In other words remind them of features that they did FIRST! (and much better)
So again..my apologies if this tip exists elsewhere.
Also this is part tip part rant I suppose..

[zed]

I encourage the changing of the Redo command as well, so that it becomes Shift-Z. Once again, this makes so much sense to the way my brain works. Undo is Command-Z while Redoing is Shift-Z. The finger placements are so natural that you don't even have to look at your keyboard to Undo and Redo in succession.

Well, personally I much prefer Shift+Cmd-Z, since that's a fairly well established command in many programs, for instance in my fave wp, Nisus Writer Pro.

Besides, shift-Z would be problematic I want to name a track Zack or Zeke, right?

Actually no. When you are in any text/comment field the Shift-Z does capitalize the letter as you would expect it to and the REDO command is disabled. I wouldn't be using it if that were not the case!

But Shift-Command-Z is also good if that is what you use in other applications!

[Shooshie]

The bundled VI's in Digital Performer use non-registered parameters (NRPN's) for real-time control of their various parameters. The complete list of all those controls and their NRPN equivalents was first published in the 5.13 addendum (PDF) to the DP 5 manual. It can be found currently (February, 2011) on pages 950 - 961 of the DP 7 manual at the end of the chapter on Instrument Plug-ins.

How do you generate NRPN data? The easiest way to do that in DP is to use the MIDI Plugin named "Reassign Continuous Data." Note that this is a MIDI plugin, not an Audio plugin. Also note that it is not the Region menu command of the same name. The latter can be used to convert data from any controller to any other, including NRPN, but the MIDI Plugin does it in real time. You will find the MIDI plugins in the "effects" menus of each MIDI channel strip in the Mixing Board, or you can access it through the Region Menu via Region/MIDI Effects Plugins/[effect]. (yes, I know that's ALSO under the Region Menu, thus making two menu items sharing the same name under the same menu, but it's hierarchically removed from the main menu by a level)

Operation: decide on a hardware controller to use for your continuous controller data source. Let's say you choose the Mod Wheel of your input device. That would be CC#1. Open the Reassign Continuous Data plugin in your MIDI track's effects menus from the Mixing Board. Place your cursor inside the "Controller" field of the Reassign Continuous Data. Move the Mod Wheel. Its value (1) is now placed in the field.

Next, consult the MIDI Control Of Instrument Settings table between pages 950-961 of the DP 7 manual. If you're using a previous version, then it's at the end of the chapter entitled "Instrument Plugins," which precedes the chapter "MIDI Effects." Find the VI you wish to control. For example, that might be Polysynth. Then take the number for the parameter you wish to control. Insert that number into the Reassign Continuous Data plugin.

With the track record enabled, you should now be able to move the Mod Wheel and see the corresponding effect in the Polysynth window. You can capture the MIDI Plugin's effects to permanently alter data that's been recorded. Select the data (or the bars that contain it) and choose "Capture MIDI Effects" from the Region menu.

SUGGESTION: If you're going to automate multiple parameters in a VI, why not create a separate track for each parameter? That would mean a track for, say, Polysynth Volume, another track for Polysynth Triangle Wave, another for Envelope Sustain, etc. Place them all in a track folder, along with your Polysynth MIDI Track. Label that folder whatever you are calling your Polysynth track. Why use separate tracks? Because when you print that data it requires THREE controllers for each NRPN value. That's right. In order to create NRPN controllers, you must use Controllers 38 and 98 acting together to establish the NRPN number. Then it uses CC#6 for the value expressed by the NRPN controller. When you start printing a lot of these, it can get very, very confusing. Each NRPN really needs to occupy its own track. Trust me, it will be easier that way. You will have to place the plugin on each track and set each one for the hardware controller and parameter you want to automate, then capture them all to their tracks. After capturing them, you can remove the plugin if you desire.

Shooshie

[source: This Thread in the DP forum ]

[sergiococchi]

Hi there!
Ths one might be a quite stoopid question, but here it is :

Is it really better to install all the sound libraries of the virtual instr. on a hard drive different then the one it's used to record audio files to?

Thanx a lot

SirJo

http://www.sergiococchi.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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[zed]

Is it really better to install all the sound libraries of the virtual instr. on a hard drive different then the one it's used to record audio files to?

Definitely. If everything is on the same drive, you are demanding a lot from the drive as it must read and write to numerous different spots on the drive at virtually the same time. What that means is that the drive mechanism must go back and forth to a number of different locations on your hard drive at lightning speeds. Not only will performance suffer, but your hard drive will not last as long.