Digital Performer 8.01

[SteakMonster]

So the update addresses the following:

The Consolidated Window now supports the full-screen feature in Mac OS X 10.7+.

The behavior for opening the Plug-in Chooser from a Mixing Board insert slot has changed slightly. If the insert slot already holds a plug-in, hold down the Command/Ctrl key while clicking the existing plug-in to open the Plug-in Chooser (instead of clicking the right side of the insert slot, as shown in Figure 67-7 on p. 769 of the DP8 User Guide).

If you use three or more monitors connected to your Mac, and you are running Mac OS X 10.6.8, we strongly recommend that you upgrade to Mac OS X 10.7 for improved stability.

Improvements, optimizations, and refinements can also be found in the following areas:

- Hardware video output (both DV and MOTU video interfaces)
- Movie window performance
- Sysex messages in 64-bit operation
- Rewire support
- Operation with Kontakt 4/5
- Importing sound files and soundbites, including possibly corrupted sound files
- AAF export
- Clippings
- Consolidated window info panels and channel strip
- Scrolling in the Sequence Editor, MIDI Editor, Drum Editor, and Notation Editor
- Meter animation throughout the program

Hows everyone getting on with this? On paper it seems Motu have addressed most of the issues reported here.

[Movies]

I haven't been able to use DP 8 reliably at all yet. Before the update, DP would crash every time I closed a movie. After the 8.01 update, while I could close movies just fine, EVERY session ended with a crash -- even simple, non-film projects -- and I couldn't get things started again without a full system restart.

As I await the next update (which, I was told by a MOTU, should be released any day now -- it's currently in Beta), I'm back to DP 7.24, which is working perfectly.

The only upshot to my situation is that, though I've deleted DP 8.01 from my machine, I still have all of the DP 8 effects plug-ins and they work just fine in DP 7.24.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I just finished a slew of short film projects in DP 8.01 and while it performed well (using QT movies only) I have to admit it's getting old waiting for MOTU to issue a workable version that functions as the manual says it's supposed to function. An engineer friend who is sick of PT is thinking of moving to Cubase. We were chatting at a session yesterday and i suggested DP 8 instead, but I had to add: "it [DP8] doesn't export the movies the way the manual says it should yet and while waiting for the update DP 7 works. Also there are a lot of GUI issues which should also be fixed in the next update."

First: Another lost sale for MOTU.

Second: Will these be fixed and why did MOTU release a version that is as non-functional for film folks as they did?

I'm giving MOTU the benefit of the doubt here, but if within the next few weeks they don't issue a solid release that performs at least as well as DP 7, I will also be looking at other DAW options. I love ya, MOTU, I really do, but I can't wait forever.

[FMiguelez]

Goog luck with that, MLC!
Would you not rather go back to DP7 instead (in the mean time)?

The other day I was watching a Mixing videotutorial (from Groove 3), and it was presented with Sonar.
All I can say is:


What a HORRIBLE DAW!
It still looks like Cakewalk too much. All those Windows look like one is filling out Excel spreadsheets or something. Not very inspiring to work like that. And the workflow seemed like it just doesn't flow at all.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I just want a tool that does what it says it does. Clearly I've got a lot of time and money invested in DP, and I don't know I'd be better off with something else. But it is getting both frustrating and quite frankly, a little insulting to this end user to have features disabled in a PAID update. I feel like those who updated are paying to be beta testers without the benefit of seeing the stuff work one way or another.

Yeah, I'm a little angry about this, especially given the apparent timecode errors that added an extra day to a very expensive mastering layback to film.

[David Polich]

I'm back to 7.24 on everything. Not that I'm having serious issues with
DP8 - just that as long as I'm staying in 32-bit mode until all my plugs
are 64-bit, there doesn't seem to be any advantage to using DP8 in 32-bit
mode...and actually, it's a little less efficient in 32-bit mode than
7.24 is.

I still hope MOTU fixes the way selecting tracks in the T.O. window and
then calling up the mixer window works - in DP 8.01, that is. I prefer
the way 7.24 works in this regard - select tracks in the T.O. window,
press Shift+M, and the mixer opens up with those tracks selected.

[Shooshie]

I'm back to 7.24 on everything. Not that I'm having serious issues with
DP8 - just that as long as I'm staying in 32-bit mode until all my plugs
are 64-bit, there doesn't seem to be any advantage to using DP8 in 32-bit
mode...and actually, it's a little less efficient in 32-bit mode than
7.24 is.

I still hope MOTU fixes the way selecting tracks in the T.O. window and
then calling up the mixer window works - in DP 8.01, that is. I prefer
the way 7.24 works in this regard - select tracks in the T.O. window,
press Shift+M, and the mixer opens up with those tracks selected.

Not that this is the only issue that drove you back, but I'm just suffering from spotty memory: can you refresh my memory as to why you won't use Spaces to keep your mixing board open full-screen, full-time? That works so well for me that I wouldn't have known about the track selection problem if I hadn't read about it here. (because I never open the mixing board that way anymore)

I remember that people had reasons, but I do not remember the reasons. Would appreciate a refresh. Thanks,

Shooshie

[David Polich]

I'm back to 7.24 on everything. Not that I'm having serious issues with
DP8 - just that as long as I'm staying in 32-bit mode until all my plugs
are 64-bit, there doesn't seem to be any advantage to using DP8 in 32-bit
mode...and actually, it's a little less efficient in 32-bit mode than
7.24 is.

I still hope MOTU fixes the way selecting tracks in the T.O. window and
then calling up the mixer window works - in DP 8.01, that is. I prefer
the way 7.24 works in this regard - select tracks in the T.O. window,
press Shift+M, and the mixer opens up with those tracks selected.

Not that this is the only issue that drove you back, but I'm just suffering from spotty memory: can you refresh my memory as to why you won't use Spaces to keep your mixing board open full-screen, full-time? That works so well for me that I wouldn't have known about the track selection problem if I hadn't read about it here. (because I never open the mixing board that way anymore)

I remember that people had reasons, but I do not remember the reasons. Would appreciate a refresh. Thanks,

Shooshie

I've never used spaces, ever. I don't even know how to turn Spaces on.
Never used Quick Keys, Front Row, Time Machine either. I have Dashboard
and Spotlight disabled. Not connected to the cloud and never will be.

Guess I just like things old school. Rather spend my time improving my
arranging and songwriting.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I've never used spaces, ever. I don't even know how to turn Spaces on.
Never used Quick Keys, Front Row, Time Machine either. I have Dashboard
and Spotlight disabled. Not connected to the cloud and never will be.

Guess I just like things old school. Rather spend my time improving my
arranging and songwriting.

I can get pretty old school about music as well and I'm with you on Front Row and Spaces, although since ML went fullscreen, essentially I am using Spaces - just not for anything but separating apps from each other. I find that I am less distracted with bgr apps and the CW in DP now makes sense to me.

I find dashboard extremely helpful for all sorts of reasons and it's nice that now you can have a separate bgr images for dashboard and the desktop. Slight difference, but it puts my mind in a different place and gives me a bit more separation from the machine. I think that's extremely important in the creative process.

Spotlight is important as I often need to find things. It hasn't impacted my system one bit (or bite) and saves me time. Conversely, Time Machine saves me timed pictures of my files every hour. For me, backup is sometimes not enough. I need access to recent deletes, plist, etc., and I get them fast and reliably from TM. It's restored complete systems perfectly and I have no reason to not want a tool that both assists in productivity and covers my ass.

As far as Quickeys, it's the same argument against alternate mouse drivers such as Steer Mouse or USB Overdrive. Again, they're tools to increase productivity by eliminating more complex and/or mundane, repetitive actions. Yeah, a few minutes to setup and little excursions every so often to tweak a setting to work in a particular environment, but overall these are time savers and potentially, finger and wrist savers.

I realize that some people actually have a mental condition whereby repeating an act over and over and over and over and over again and again and again is somehow comforting to them.

I am not one of those people.

I find it difficult to accept the premise that using these tools might somehow negatively impact improving one's musical skills (whether it be arranging, composing, songwriting, editing, recording, etc.) I find it quite the opposite. They increase productivity and actually free up more time for improving my chops, overall. Editing in particular (where I usually spend the most time) is greatly enhanced and would be severely impacted were I to stop using QK or Steer Mouse. Same for notated and engraved scores in Finale.

FWIW, they all work in ML quite well. FORWARD!

[David Polich]

MLC - I'm not dissing any of the available Mac tools. Maybe someday
I'll look into them....maybe...

[Shooshie]

Not that this is the only issue that drove you back, but I'm just suffering from spotty memory: can you refresh my memory as to why you won't use Spaces to keep your mixing board open full-screen, full-time? That works so well for me that I wouldn't have known about the track selection problem if I hadn't read about it here. (because I never open the mixing board that way anymore)

I remember that people had reasons, but I do not remember the reasons. Would appreciate a refresh. Thanks,

Shooshie

I've never used spaces, ever. I don't even know how to turn Spaces on.
Never used Quick Keys, Front Row, Time Machine either. I have Dashboard
and Spotlight disabled. Not connected to the cloud and never will be.

Guess I just like things old school. Rather spend my time improving my
arranging and songwriting.

Old school, New School… it's all good, and neither detracts from your ability to arrange or write. I'm naturally curious, so when Spaces came about, I immediately wondered if I could use them like multiple monitors within a single app. Turns out you can, and it works very well. There's little to set up. It turns on in the System Prefs, same as most other things we use.

But if you've wasted a lot of time resizing and/or scrolling around every time you open the mixing board, it seems like you'd really appreciate the ability to have it always available, always full-screen (or full-window), and always just like you left it, without having to install another monitor on your desk to do so.

And it's here today, ready to go, so you don't have to wait on MOTU to fix it. There's just one little trick you need to know to make it very quick when you open a file. The windows won't go to their spaces by themselves, and it takes too long to drag each window to its space, so there is one little trick that makes that very fast. Reminds me of dealing cards. I need to make a video to show how quick and easy it is.

Shooshie

[labman]

Reminds me of dealing cards. I need to make a video to show how quick and easy it is.

Shooshie

Please do. My card dealing is pretty rusty.

[delcosmos]

Yes Shooshie, please show us! I'm very interested.

I don't quiet undestand how it works.

Best regards.

delcosmos.

[Padank]

Reminds me of dealing cards. I need to make a video to show how quick and easy it is.

Shooshie

Please do. My card dealing is pretty rusty.

Plus 1- Shooshie!
Padank

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Knock yerselves out...