How did you come to using DP ?

Shooshie · Post by **Shooshie** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 6:36 pm

In 1984 I walked into a computer store and saw a Mac. After trying it out, I realized that computers had arrived at the point where they were actually useful, and I bought one on the spot. The primary use I had in mind was for writing scores. There was a MOTU poster in the store, showing Professional Composer. It took nearly a year before it was finished, and I had to upgrade my computer to run it, but when I finally got it, I began transcribing stuff like crazy.

I'd been a performer for all my adult life, and I wrote or transcribed most of what I played. I never settled for only the standard repertoire that everyone else played. Of course, I often found that something would work better in another key, so I'd have to start over and do it again. The computer meant that I could write it once, then print it in any key, for any combination of instruments. That was GREAT!

But Composer was buggy and incomplete. I sent them so many suggestions, they made me a beta-tester. Later MOTU dropped Composer and created Mosaic, which I liked even better. Meanwhile, they had released Performer, the MIDI sequencer, in early 1986. I bought that and began using it to arrange for MIDI ensemble, performing live instruments with it. I desperately needed something to record my acoustic instruments along with the MIDI, so when Digital Performer came out and was practical on a Mac I could afford, I soon began using it. First, I used it for a studio with whom I was working. A few years later I bought a MOTU 2408 and bought my own copy of DP. (Hey, it cost $1000 back then!) That was when we measured RAM in megabytes (200MB was a lot of RAM), so it was a while before I could do the projects I wanted to do in DP.

I used Performer professionally, and when I started using DP, I became a recording engineer. I had actually studied recording engineering privately from a good guy in Dallas, so the knowledge part wasn't a leap, but learning the digital side of everything took quite a long time on a curve that kept getting steeper every time I thought it was going to level out. I don't think you could ever learn all there is to know about that. Fortunately, DP's curve starts to level out after a few years. There are always new things to know, things you've missed, new features that slipped past you, but the basic processes are all pretty easy to understand and use.

I've tried several DAWs. I liked Pro Tools when I used it, but I doubt that I'd recognize it now. It didn't even have MIDI when I used it (or if it did, I didn't know). Logic? Well... I gave it a year. It gave me little in return for that year. Not a fan. Live? Acid? Reaper? I see their attraction, but they aren't for me. Vision? Sadly, it is no more, but it was interesting when it was around. I never owned it, but I tried it out with a friend. Garageband? Cute for an evening or two. Wears thin awfully quickly. I think I'll be staying with DP as long as it and I can still make music together.

Shooshie

billf · Post by **billf** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 7:22 pm

I was migrating from Atari to a Mac G3, and called Sweetwater ready to order Cubase (which I had been using on the Atari). The Sweetwater rep convinced me that I would be better off with Digital Performer, so I started on the Mac platform with DP 2.72 and never looked back.

dpg4macman · Post by **dpg4macman** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 7:29 pm

I was working in Studio Vision and ProTools 3 tracking and took the tracks to NJ studio for mixing where they used DP 2.7 - I loved it so much I had to buy it right away. Been using it every since. They all (DAW's) do what they do very well, I just prefer DP over all others. My thoughts

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 3:23 am

Ron! Great to see you're still here, mate. Ripper. Hope you're well.

mikehalloran wrote:
Switched again to 2 Adats with the big controller, can't remember the name, big something?
Alesis BRC. I think it stood for Big Remote Control, right?

Yup, and I had the LRC (little Remote Control), which was just fine for a single unit.

billf wrote:I was migrating from Atari to a Mac G3, and called Sweetwater ready to order Cubase (which I had been using on the Atari). The Sweetwater rep convinced me that I would be better off with Digital Performer, so I started on the Mac platform with DP 2.72 and never looked back.

Ha! That would've been 1999, Billy, as I started with the first G3 and 2.72 back then as well.

Jinx, brother.

Fellas, the Monty Python one-upmanship actually made my eyes water. Brilliant stuff! Thank you for that.

bolla · Post by **bolla** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 3:33 am

I dimly recall Performer 2.64. ?
Hooked up to a Tascam 1/4" 8 track with a Mac SE.......

I was horrified.
This was in the garage of a composer who wanted me to mix his stuff.
Ex LA.
I nearly walked.
I was used to SSL and Neve/ Mitsubishi 32 digi at Sydney's leading Studio.

Another writer called and wanted me to mix some stuff at his home studio.
Again Performer. Also ex LA.

I spent a fair amount of time asking can you do this for me in DP?
When the answer was no I would try and find the answer in the manual.
When that didn't work I would find the answer here.

When it came time to find a program for my own use the options were PT with its prohibitive pricing structure or DP which I had come to know by association.

Glad I chose DP.

Cheers, Bolla.

bolla · Post by **bolla** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 4:07 am

mikehalloran wrote: When I started, it was editing rusty wire recordings -- on second hand barbed wire with used masking tape. I had to pay for the privilege!!!

I should be so lucky....... We would scrape ear wax from sleeping roadie and hand roll cylinder to record broken amp noise in glorious living mono.

billf · Post by **billf** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 9:53 am

monkey man wrote: Ha! That would've been 1999, Billy, as I started with the first G3 and 2.72 back then as well

Lol, yes it was the late 90's. I actually had a Mac before the G3 line came out, but only had a sequencer on it. My digital audio stuff was mainly from an ADAT synced to either the Atari or the Mac. When I acquired the G3, I thought I wanted Cubase, but my Sweetwater rep was on top of things and fortunately I was put on a better path.

monkey man wrote: Jinx, brother.

The only time I felt anything close to jinxed with DP was around the 6.0 release, but even that wasn't too bad. But really, given all the major transitions that Apple foisted on us since the G3, I have to say DP overall has been great.

wylie1 · Post by **wylie1** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 10:38 am

When I try to think back I remember an old prophet that would take forever to load sounds off floppy disks a few MIDI modules some keyboards a little Mac plus synced to tape and Performer was on one 3.5" disk.
O ya and an Echo plex that we use to make our own tape loops that ran loose off the edge of the table in to a pile on the floor.

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 11:21 am

wylie1 wrote:When I try to think back I remember an old prophet that would take forever....

No religion alert! But the old prophets always take for-ever when their loaded.

dix · Post by **dix** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 12:13 pm

I'm another StudioVision refugee. When Opcode went out of business MOTU added several StudioVision-like features to DP to entice cross-graders. The MIDI Editor in DP was a direct emulation of how SV handled MIDI (with several improvements I might add). That editor was and still is crucial to my work method.

I remember talking to Jim Cooper at AES as Opcode was being dismantled and him telling me how MOTU were aggressively courting StudioVision users by adding SV-like features.

frankf · Post by **frankf** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 2:57 pm

dix wrote:I'm another StudioVision refugee. When Opcode went out of business MOTU added several StudioVision-like features to DP to entice cross-graders. The MIDI Editor in DP was a direct emulation of how SV handled MIDI (with several improvements I might add). That editor was and still is crucial to my work method.

I remember talking to Jim Cooper at AES as Opcode was being dismantled and him telling me how MOTU were aggressively courting StudioVision users by adding SV-like features.

I could have written your post. My story exactly.

Gravity Jim · Post by **Gravity Jim** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 5:02 pm

I was migrating from Notator on Atari STe to Mac. Tried Vision and Performer, liked Performer (1.7) better. Been a MOTU user ever since with a couple of infidelities... A year with ProTools, less than a year with Logic.

Michael Canavan · Post by **Michael Canavan** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 5:27 pm

MIDI Life Crisis wrote:Well, if you want to make it a pissing contest, I started out writing music notes on paper with a pencil (HB soft was preferred) the way they did in the 1400s. Actually, I still do that and find it more reliable than ANY DAW or notation program. What you put down (or print) will surely last longer than anything you record or sequence.

Back in the day when I was 4 I started out banging two rocks together and yelling a lot.
oh yeah!

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 5:40 pm

Ha! Not to brag, but I could make my flagellum sound like Jack Bruce.

mikehalloran · Post by **mikehalloran** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 6:12 pm

Back in the day when I was 4 I started out banging two rocks together and yelling a lot.

Two rocks? Ha!

MOTUnation.com

How did you come to using DP ?

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