DP7 review in SOS

[n2mpujack]

Just picked up the March 2010 issue of SOS and there's a pretty decent review of DP7 in there written by Robin Bigwood. Got high marks with just a couple of dings vis-a-vis Logic & PT. Started off mainly from the point of view of guitarists (which isn't necessarily a bad thing).

[mrbillet]

I seem to recall in this article DP took a hit yet again for not having flexible or stretchable, or whatever, audio like Logic and Pro Tools. The author wasn't specific about what feature DP was lacking. He just said it was too bad it didn't handle time/beat manipulation in general.

I mean DP does have some soundbite stretching, tempo shifting, beat quantizing functions. I don't recall seeing any mention of this in the article.

Double check me here.

Overall a favorable article though.

[n2mpujack]

Yeah, it was more of a what does DP not have versus other daws rather than what it did have that was good (other than the guitar stuff). It would have been nice to have a true full review of the current version of DP rather than refer readers back to earlier reviews of earlier versions. But considering the hatchet job that could have been done (even if the review was written by the lone wolf DP supporter of Robin Bigwood at SOS) it was nice to see Digital Performer 7 getting a shout out.

[Armageddon]

First of all, I'll be really happy when the DAWs out there stop specifically trying to cater to guitarists (no offense, guitarists!) and go back to just being, well, DAWs. Logic was first on the bandwagon and they even have a guitarist-specific floor controller built by Apogee. This means, Logic has a ton more guitar plugs, a floor controller and STILL stinks on ice for pretty much everything. Digidesign issued Eleven for ProTools, but it's still an overpriced PT interface with some Line 6 features. DP 7 has a ton of great guitar plugs, MOTU will probably end up manufacturing a guitarist-oriented floor controller to compete with Logic and PT and it STILL winds up pretty much being DP 6 with a couple of new flourishes. Don't get me wrong, I dig DP 7, and it certainly isn't a setback from 6, but I firmly believe that any guitarist who was gonna invest in a DAW would invest in Logic, ProTools or DP regardless of the new guitarist-oriented features, and augment it with Guitar Rig, Amplitude, Line 6 or whatever else. The DAW manufacturers should address everyone's needs, not just the guitarist's.

[James Steele]

First of all, I'll be really happy when the DAWs out there stop specifically trying to cater to guitarists (no offense, guitarists!) and go back to just being, well, DAWs.

Speaking as a guitarist, I COULDN'T AGREE MORE!!!

It's as if all the DAW developers decided guitarists were the next gold rush and fell all over themselves trying to cater to that. Honestly, apart from the Analog Chorus plug which I like a great deal, all the amp emulations, cab emulations, and overdrive and distortion pedals mean nothing to me. I have an amp that I like and I stick a mic in front of a speaker and call it a day.

If this is a passing fad, then I hope it passes soon. I would have preferred to see any number of features or fixes made to DP and leave the amp emulation stuff (for those who want it) to the third party developers who do it better anyway.

That's my two cents anyway.

[waterstrum]

As another guitarist/bassist, I totally agree.

I want DP to be a stable and state of the art recording platform.

If I want cool guitar sounds, I'll record my amp and/or use 3rd party plugs.
I have no need for DP to be a guitar-centric platform.

I would prefer DP to concentrate on the highest quality audio and solid reliability.

[philbrown]

As another guitarist I totally agree. Lots of other requested features would help DP users across the board and there are plenty of guitar plug packages out there now if that's what you need, not to mention all the Pods, Tonelabs and Digi-zoom thingies. My question these days is always "Geez, doesn't anybody mic up a real amp any more??" ... but I guess not if you're recording in mom and dad's basement.

All in all it wasn't a bad review and nice to see DP still out there visible in the marketplace. Funny even the follow up how-to article the next month was about - you guessed it - DP's guitar emulations.

I'd much rather see DP's core functions enhanced rather than these stapled-on features.

[Michael Canavan]

Another guitar player agreeing on the embedded plug ins.
Personally I've never cared for the concept. It made sense on a G4 400 running DP 2.7, as plug ins spiking your CPU could crash OS 9 hard, but nowadays with only DP crashing because of this, and fast CPUs etc. it's not important to have plug ins that are guaranteed to work, besides I've run into far less issues that ever before plug in wise.

Also I like running multiple DAWs, I'm a glutton for punishment and my loyalties to a DAW are only as good as the next stable upgrade. Give me stability and I'll stick around, give me embedded plug ins that mostly don't get the kind of R&D that you get with the likes of NI, IK, Urs, Sony etc. and I yawn.

[DigitalTube]

As another guitarist/bassist, I totally agree.

I want DP to be a stable and state of the art recording platform.

If I want cool guitar sounds, I'll record my amp and/or use 3rd party plugs.
I have no need for DP to be a guitar-centric platform.

I would prefer DP to concentrate on the highest quality audio and solid reliability.

Same here!

[Armageddon]

I think all the DAW manufacturers tend to forget that guitarists not only use the same DAWs that everybody else does, but that they're often multi-instrumentalists, or they have a guitar-to-MIDI system that allows them to control the same VIs and parameters through their "controllers" that everyone else's does. I haven't messed around with DP 7's new guitar-oriented features -- they certainly look neat! -- but these companies should either create guitarist-specific DAWs, like Cakewalk has been doing, or just implement these features along with the regular stuff.

It was definitely odd that all the major DAW manufacturers suddenly went "guitar DAW" simultaneously. Even more weird was when I got the last Sweetwater catalog and noticed that the DAW/computer audio section, which has always been in the front of the catalog for as long as I remember, was suddenly switched with the guitar section, much further back in the catalog.

[crduval]

I use the guitar plug-ins on non electric guitar sources (keys, VI's, vox, DI Bass); although I have played with splitting my guitar signal and mixing DI guitar running through plugs with mic'ed guitar through an amp. The results have been interesting - sometimes it adds a nice texture.

I will say though that some of the guitar presets sound pretty good on DI guitar - it doesn't replace a mic'ed up amp, but if that's not an option, or if you want a different texture, its pretty interesting what you can come up with.

Having said that, it does seem like the amount of work invested in guitar emulation is out of proportion to its value.

[brek]

I am a guitar player and I disagree with all of you!

In my work environment, I will compose in Cubase (am in the process of transitioning to DP) record reference guitar tracks using the built in plug-ins. Once my piece is finished there, I will work with an engineer and we will record guitar tracks through a PT rig using some high quality amps/pedals/mics, etc...

So while I'm composing guitar parts, it is not essential to have the highest quality sounds, but it is much easier to be creative when you working with respectable guitar tones. Sometimes the tracks I write in Cubase will even make it to the final mix...saving the studio time and money...

I dont get why everyone apparently thinks its ok to use plug-ins for reverb, compression, drummers, violin players -- but draw the line at guitar tones..


Also, I think the reason we are seeing an explosion of guitar plug-ins in the last few years is because they have become so much better. I remember it not being too long ago that the Roland VG was THE most coveted virtual guitar sound.

[James Steele]

So in other words you're using the plugs for scratch tracks and re-recording them when you've worked out the arrangement. That's exactly what I do except that I already own a PodXT which is easier for me to use and I don't have to lower the buffer of my already-taxed G5 in order to play through plug-ins.

[KEVORKIAN]

DAWs have been including synths and samplers for keyboardists for a long time now. Why is it any stranger to include guitar emulation now that the technology is readily available?

[brek]

yep...exactly. I had been using a Boss MFX unit for the last few years too. Probably because it's a bit of an older unit, but the plug-in amps have grown on me. I also like being able to use them on my virtual instruments, but you are definitely right about that CPU hit...