DP7 THE WISH LIST

[bigwhitty]

Christmas is coming and I realise DP6 is barely functional and in some cases not functional but Why not ask the MOTU Santa for the things we would love to have included in DP in the future. Sometimes I think engineers at software companies come up with ideas that are cool but only a tiny fraction of folks can use on a daily basis. Try not to post about bug fixes, rather new features that other DAWs have that would help you or something entirely new!

So heres my thoughts (and Im sure I'll have others):

1.Comprehensive sample playback and library included (this is hands down why people chose Logic over Motu)
2.Auto tune feature that is automatic (I like the drawing thing but often times is too time consuming)
3.A MIDI (via keyboard) harmony generator that will take an audio track and create harmony in real time by simply playing chords on a keyboard along with the track..instant background vocals
4.Bring back the position bar! enough said (for that matter how about assignable buttons on the top for stuff you use a lot)
5. A "skin feature" that changes the looks from lighter to darker, colors etc
6. A bounce and send to FTP feature. Why launch another program to send mixes to clients?
7. better delay plugin
8. A good filtering plug in with more filter creativity
9. A bounce from 0 feature, wanna take your tracks elsewhere...automatically analyze sequence/ outputs and bounce all tracks...from 0 no inserting audio at 0 for a zero bounce
10.64 bit processing to use all avail mac memory
11. Add Sequential MIDI tracks (with the correct output and sequential MIDI channels) huge time saver
12. A polyphonic audio editor like melodyne
13. A doubler plugin
14. Loop sequence by highlighting bars like Logic
15. The ability to go to a marker by pressing any assigned key (great for live tours when artist calls an audible)
16. A guitar amp simulator

OK thats enough for now! Sure you have others

[csiaudio]

My biggest wish because of what I do on a daily basis (Spot Production) is the manual fade tools like the 'Pencil' & 'Finger'. I used Pro Tools for 12 years and I have to say I appreciate how you can manually draw in volume adjustments. There is one tool, a Finger like DP, however it doesn't change to a different multi-tool like DP does which is the 'Laso' AND you don't have to be 100% spot on the volume line to make the adjustment. Even if you were close to the line in DP where it wouldn't switch to the Laso would be fine you simply have to be spot on or it switches...drives me CRAZY. Then the 'Pencil' tool if you aren't 100% spot on there it will move the volume line to a different volume level...also drives me CRAZY. Also in Pro Tools the numeric read out of the adjustment that you are making pops up right next to the cursor point where you are making the volume adjustment so you don't have to move your eyes all over the place to see what level you are changing it to...it's just more simplistic and a better design...isn't that what this is all about? Making things more user friendly and simplistic?? Believe me I can't stand Pro Tools now and absolutely LOVE DP - it's much more stable, my UA plugs work perfectly without giving me errors that there isn't enough resources when bouncing out 4 tracks (really??), pretty much all around DP is better but this one thing for what I do. It probably would be a simple code change to get the Finger to have more playing room before it switches to the Laso...seems simple enough and would make it so much easier to work with. OR if you were able to hold down a key that makes it STAY as the Finger, another simple solution.

Next would love to be able to Normalize audio without having to go into a different window, select it, normalize it and then go back to the Sequence window....why? If I wanted to do all those redundant moves I would have bought a PC (hehe hehe). It should be as simple as click on the audio in the Sequence window do a quick key to normalize and done.

I would love the option to enlarge the over all programs font size...I'm 45 have 2 21" monitors about 3 feet away and dang it's tough to flippin' see sometimes.

There's my two and a half cents...hope MOTU is listening!

Thanks.

[David Polich]

Just get 6 fixed so it works with VI's. And third-party developers should get
their act together for DP6 as well.

I don't need anymore features, personally. I don't use all of the features
available in DP 5.13, let alone 6.

[Babz]

I would like the ability to solo and mute track folders.

Other than that, just get DP 6 more stable.

Babz

[sdfalk]

15. The ability to go to a marker by pressing any assigned key (great for live tours when artist calls an audible)

I've got X selected as an extra command and it then brings up a window to type in whatever number you want and
bring you to that marker..takes about a second or less to invoke.
Just check the commands window.

[tobysan]

deesser plug in

[philbrown]

Sadly, mine's the same as what I wanted for v6:
This is slightly edited from an email to MOTU 8-29-07

The one thing I would most like to see in DP is MIDI control (Attach MIDI controller) expanded to anything and everything possible, like Reason or Live. DP is way behind in this regard IMO. I don't mean control surface, I mean attach any generic MIDI controller to just about anything on screen. Short of that, my most fervent request would be the ability to Attach MIDI Controller to TRACK MUTES. Mutes are a basic function of linear recording and controlling them with a MIDI controller seems like an obvious thing that wouldn't be hard to implement. Reason has had this going since V2 years ago. Stylus RMX is a good example and even has Learn MIDI control inverted making it easy to create an instant crossfader or track mute toggle.

Right-click Context sensitive menus everywhere in DP like Live and Reason. I want this really really badly.

A better way to slide around MIDI clock output to sync external devices more closely. Live's way of doing this makes sense. DP's is a hit-or-miss guesswork affair and very clunky IMO. Also the ability to send Clock only to certain destinations and not every device hooked to the interface, and separate timing-slide for each device would be ideal. Another cool feature would be the ability to send half or double speed MIDI clock to certain devices. All this could even be track based or rolled into the conductor track with some thought, or maybe just a separate sync window kind of like a bundles window. I personally don't think this belongs in Preferences.

A MIDI aux routing scheme similar to audio aux's and bus's.

I edit long seminar files (CD length) every week. When I import these files, first DP does nothing for several seconds, then I get a spinning beach ball for several minutes. A standard progress meter would be quite helpful.

Change markers to where they are the same across all windows, e.g. option-click does the same thing in all windows. Also a preference to highlight marker text when one is created so the title text is immediately highlighted and ready to type a name in as soon as the marker is created- for working on the fly. This would save much needless mouse navigation. Control-M, type the name, hit return, done.
---------------------------------------------
added today:

A nice MIDI arpeggiator with a real GUI (like Reason).

A complete overhaul of the Consoles area. DP needs better routing than this clunky old thing. It reeks of OS9.

The ability to make MIDI tracks mutually exclusive in a group: Unmuting any single one mutes the others in the group. This would be very helpful sending different tracks/rhythms to Stylus RMX, BFD, etc. especially since there's no MIDI control of track mutes possible (see above). Quantizing this would be ideal so you could have these changes happen at exactly a barline if desired.

Tone down the GUI. I'm in the camp that finds it near impossible to look at v6 comfortably for any length of time. Sorry I know that's been beaten to death, and yes I did write MOTU about it. I just received my copy last week and now I realize what all the fuss was about.

Testing DP with common plug-ins we use would be nice. Having a new version that breaks a lot of common plug-ins we use is BS. What percentage of users use DP in complete isolation?? Some, but I suspect it's a small percentage. I know some of this might be bad coding of plug-ins, but you have to wonder when a plug-in works in Garageband, etc and not DP, or when DP's new version breaks something that worked fine before. Whatever you did to break these MOTU... cut it out!

And as always, better (read: any) communication about technical issues, bug fixes, etc.

My 2 Drachma
Phil

PS I'll save this so I can repost it verbatim when the v8 wish list is posted

[DMac]

...ability for the QuickScribe editor to display a MIDI track split into bass and treble clefs with assignable split point?

[conleycd]

Now DP5, and I assume DP6, does have sorta an "autotune" function already. Go to display pitch. Select all the pitches and then use the quantize function under the pitch correction menu. Sometimes it leaves things a little weird but so do all pitch correction programs. You can then go through and correct here there with the pitch markers or the pencil.

CC

[Shooshie]

Once again, I reiterate my desire for NO new features, just clean up what we have. That's not to say that I'd be against bringing back the level of convenience we've had in the past, but I don't want any big new features added. As for built-in sample and loop capability, I'm of the opinion that DP already does this well enough, and for those who want the whole 9-yards, then use UVIWorkshop or MachFive.2. When you add those -- especially the latter -- DP becomes the heavy on the block, not the wannabe. I'm beginning to wonder just what it is that people are wanting in this regard. Have they LOOKED at UVIWorkstation? Have they thought about getting MachFive2? There is no sample editor I've seen that surpasses it. Kontakt 2 is different, maybe equal. I haven't seen Kontakt 3, but even if it does surpass MachFive2 (and I have not heard that), the latter is a formidable loop editor, sample editor, playback engine, mix automator, and more. UVIWorkstation is the core engine of MachFive with a few bells and whistles of its own. While not as insanely powerful as MachFive2, it does add a dimension to DP that should be explored by those who need loop and sample capabilities that are not already built-in to DP.

Not meaning to be contrarian, and certainly not confrontational, I'm just adding an opinion that will probably be an extreme minority view. I absolutely believe that now is not the time to ask for more in DP. Now, more than any other time in the past, it is MOST important for MOTU to solidify their code and make DP the most stable DAW on earth, in which all features present and accounted for are also reliable. I implore others to explore what is there. I know this app like few people do, and yet I'm STILL finding new things all the time. Once again, I reiterate that in my opinion, the best of worlds is one in which we have the option of adding instances of MachFive.2 and Kontakt2, which give us the sample/loop environments we want, and that no DAW can replicate without becoming overbloated and losing its focus.

As for some of the other suggested features, again, I say explore what's there, first (it might surprise some). Let MOTU make it solid. DEMAND that MOTU make it solid.

Shooshie

[Frodo]

Now, more than any other time in the past, it is MOST important for MOTU to solidify their code and make DP the most stable DAW on earth, in which all features present and accounted for are also reliable.

Amen and Awomen!

We've had lots of new goodies already in DP6, which were a long time coming. But there is considerable fine tuning to be done. We also have a number of carryover issues from DP5 that require attention still. Stability and reliability have always topped my lists of desired "features". Without that, any new features added will only layer one problem on top of another, rendering the entire point of releasing an upgrade moot.

I know that some people find DP6.01 ready for prime time, but I can only wish I could say the same thing. I certainly have a list of features I'd like to see added-- but not before the current features are all working as they should, and that the critical third-party plugins are as stable in DP6 as DP6 endeavors to catch up with itself.

Two recent developments arrive as great news: that non-bundled MOTU instruments are beginning to appear with full off-line bounce capabilities (ie: pre-rendering) and that the notorious age-old volume surge quirk has been officially confirmed and is being worked on as of this week. There are still a number of features which are only functional in an obligatory sort of way rather than being fully useful, such as DAE and VI pre-rendering reliability along with a number of Cocoa graphics display quirks as well as some CoreAudio-MAS wrapping. Is the CD burn feature as useful as it might be? It's "there", but does it go far enough? Same for QuickScribe. There are also a number of strange third-party VI breakages which are unique to DP6, but perhaps some of this is the result of Leopard vs Tiger. Not sure.

But how nice would it be to *be* sure before adding "compliment" to injury.

[twistedtom]

I will go along with get DP to run with no crashing. That is the number one thing to me. A deesser would be cool.

[thelonecynic]

You forgot overhauling QuickScribe and making it a complete professional scoring facility with support for music XML import/export. Give me this and I wouldn't complain about DP for a long time about features...though I reserve the right to violate this pledge at any time.

[Frodo]

You forgot overhauling QuickScribe and making it a complete professional scoring facility with support for music XML import/export. Give me this and I wouldn't complain about DP for a long time about features...though I reserve the right to violate this pledge at any time.

I hinted at QS without getting into detail, but XML support would be one of many basic essentials I'd like to see. Other QS threads mention things like slurs (as opposed to ties) and other critical articulations (if orchestral film scoring is at all at issue), more accurate display functionality with "ignoring mistakes", the ability to assign split points directly on a grand staff, consistency with rhythmic interpretations and beamings-- where the same data on two different staves are displayed differently, the option of using better notation fonts.

I know that no DAW notation editor is going to (or needs to) offer all the features of their standalone counterparts (ie: Finale/Sibelius, etc), but QS has been at a standstill for years. The last MOTU rep I spoke to said that there were no plans to update it.

I'm with Tom and Shooshie on this to the extent that if moving a note in QS will incite a crash, then slurs and XML support might not top MOTU's priority list of things to do, for as much as I'd love to see these features.

[bigwhitty]

Man, I hear you all on the stability thing. Its unbelievable that they released dp6 with all the problems it has.