Course Technologys new DP-6 "power" users guide

[cloudsplitter]

I just wanted to let everyone know that Course Technologys has a new user guide for DP-6 that you can get on Amazon. I have it and it is pretty good..it streamlines a few things..has a few good tips..and is WAY thinner than "The big Black beast" Is it worth the $44.00....??? Probably not. but I like it anyway. the book is called Digital Performer 6 POWER! The comprehensive guide....

[James Steele]

I already bought it as it was mentioned before in another thread. Somehow though it was I think $32 when I bought it? I know it was less than $44.

[prjacobs]

It now $27 on Amazon.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

What is the advantage over the manual? The sampled pages on Amazon seem to just be a manual in different form.

[noah330]

Hi,

I posted about it earlier. I will say in the interest of full disclosure that I work for Cengage (Course Tech) and I spent about 4 years working on the music technology products.

That being said, I really like the book. Does it replace the manual? Nope, and I also think it's great that MOTU (and Cakewalk) are still providing big manuals. IMHO the .pdf manuals some companies are providing are horrible and I would gladly pay an extra 20 - 30 for a print manual.

I do find it a little easier to read. I read DP Power! cover to cover and it answered a lot of the little questions I had in the back of my mind but may have not bothered to look up in the manual. The manual is great but reads like a manual. The book kind of takes you through projects and explains how to do certain things. It's not as technical and is a good read and (as someone who is fairly new to DP) I found it very good.

The only other DP book I had read was a Berklee Press version and I found it too simplified - it would have been great for a novice (and that's who it's aimed at). The Power! series books are really good. I have all of them (again, I work for CT) and had bought a few (Sonar, ProTools) before I worked here.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Thanks. I also prefer paper to PDF but a combination of both is always the best IMO. Finale has PDF only and I miss a lot of stuff as I can't just thumb thru.

[James Steele]

Paper manuals are really the best... I tell ya. Case in point... ONE of the primary differences between Logic and Logic Express, is that you DO NOT get a paper manual with Logic Express. That remains the primary reason I gave up any real attempt at learning my way around in Logic Express. Trying to go back and forth between the app and a PDF file, even on my 30" monitor, trying to search for things and learn concepts was infuriatingly difficult and I gave up. The value of a separate paper manual, especially when you're new to an application cannot be overstated in my opinion.

[n2mpujack]

Hi,

I posted about it earlier. I will say in the interest of full disclosure that I work for Cengage (Course Tech) and I spent about 4 years working on the music technology products.

That being said, I really like the book. Does it replace the manual? Nope, and I also think it's great that MOTU (and Cakewalk) are still providing big manuals. IMHO the .pdf manuals some companies are providing are horrible and I would gladly pay an extra 20 - 30 for a print manual.

Correction here:
Cakewalk does NOT provide a printed full manual for Sonar anymore; I think the last version they did that for was S5 or S6. What passes for a manual is a pdf that the end user has to print out on their own, and it's in the neighborhood of 1100 pages. Best to print this using both sides of the sheets and split it into 2 binders - been there, done that. Sonar 8 user here.

[dewdman42]

I have mixed feelings about paper vs PDF. My DP manual is sitting here in my desk, and I often turn to it, sometimes when I'm not even using DP, just to page through it and look for something interesting to read about. The truth is, I find reading a paper manual 100 times more "enjoyable" to read. Its easier on my eyes, it feels more organic and I'm more compelled to keep reading, and its nice to take my eyes away from the computer screen.

On the other hand, sometimes when I wanna search for an answer, using the Search function in the PDF is a god send. The DP manual has a rather extensive index at the back, but sometimes I still don't quite find what I'm looking for and I find myself trying out this ter m or that in the book trying to figure out how MOTU indexed the answer to my question. PDF search is much more comprehensive that way. It would be nice if we could have both, but then the crack-heads would get the manual too along with their pirated copy of DP, unfortunately.

[cloudsplitter]

I like PDF's sometimes if it is a program that isn't extremely complicated, as I can just put the pdf up on one monitor and use the program on the other monitor. I use that technique with Ozone-4 -- and with Wave Editor by Audiofile engineering (which, by the way, is possibly better than Bias peak pro 6 at 1/5 the cost) One thing I like about DP-6 power is it takes you through DP 6 somewhat linerally instead of skipping all over the place like the manual. The manual may have the same information in ten different places. If Motu streamlined the manual a little better it would be about half it's thickness and many trees would be saved.

[James Steele]

I like PDF's sometimes if it is a program that isn't extremely complicated, as I can just put the pdf up on one monitor and use the program on the other monitor. I use that technique with Ozone-4 -- and with Wave Editor by Audiofile engineering (which, by the way, is possibly better than Bias peak pro 6 at 1/5 the cost) One thing I like about DP-6 power is it takes you through DP 6 somewhat linerally instead of skipping all over the place like the manual. The manual may have the same information in ten different places. If Motu streamlined the manual a little better it would be about half it's thickness and many trees would be saved.

I don't know. I suppose I could try half my 30" screen with Logic and half with the PDF, but it just seemed way more hassle than if I just had the bloody paper manual.

[cloudsplitter]

Yeah...... you can always print out the pages that pertain to you also in the pdf. I did that with BFD-2, I made little mini manuals of important aspects of the program, such as one manual just for the grooves feature. seems to work.

[mhschmieder]

I missed this thread at first due to not recognising the terminology in the topic's title.

I had forgotten that Thompson Publishing is no longer in charge of this series of technical books.

I have always found this series useful (the Power! series; not the Ignite! series which is too basic).

But the DP manual remains my primary reference. Some features are covered more deeply in Power! though.

Thanks for alerting us to this publication though; I would never have noticed due to change of publishers.

I notice it's 43 pages shorter than the previous edition. I'm guessing they cut material to save money.

This is the trend in travel guides as well as technical books: cut material to save money on paper.

[mhschmieder]

I received my copy of the new DP 6 book a week or so ago.

It's actually the same length as the DP 5 book, but the new publisher used a different font, so it's fewer pages.

I would say they did an excellent job of covering the new features. The rest of the material is the same.

[tonester]

I have mixed feelings about paper vs PDF. My DP manual is sitting here in my desk, and I often turn to it, sometimes when I'm not even using DP, just to page through it and look for something interesting to read about. The truth is, I find reading a paper manual 100 times more "enjoyable" to read. Its easier on my eyes, it feels more organic and I'm more compelled to keep reading, and its nice to take my eyes away from the computer screen.

On the other hand, sometimes when I wanna search for an answer, using the Search function in the PDF is a god send. The DP manual has a rather extensive index at the back, but sometimes I still don't quite find what I'm looking for and I find myself trying out this ter m or that in the book trying to figure out how MOTU indexed the answer to my question. PDF search is much more comprehensive that way. It would be nice if we could have both, but then the crack-heads would get the manual too along with their pirated copy of DP, unfortunately.

I agree. I think companies are trying to save trees by using PDF's, and that's a good thing. But I still prefer to be able to read a paper manual when i'm away from the computer.