MOTUnation.com

I've built a PC to take advantage of the i9-X series chips for my intensive DAW projects. I'm coming from Logic so I need to choose a new DAW.

I'm considering buying DP10, but I have a few questions:

1) The product page for DP10 touts improved latency specs on MacOS, but doesn't mention Windows. I'd be using a Presonus Quantum 2 Thunderbolt interface, which is rated among the best interfaces for low-latency performance. Is there anything about the Windows version of DP10 that would prevent me from getting great low latency performance (playing VIs with several plugins on them, project set to very low buffer settings, etc)?

2) How many threads of processing does DP10 support? I can't find this noted anywhere. My CPU has 14 cores, so 28 threads. Will DP support all 28 threads? I know some DAWs have been slow to add high multi-thread support, so I'm wondering what the situation is here.

3) Is there any GUI lag? For instance when zooming in on a heavy arrangement, quickly scrolling side to side, tabbing through window layouts, etc. Is the GUI experience in this regard slow in any way?

4) Does the GUI scaling work as well as advertised? I have a high resolution monitor -- Windows 10 at 100% scaling makes things a bit too small, and scaling via Windows display settings leads to some awfully blurry text. The idea of being able to press shortcut keys to instantly scale DP10's GUI larger or smaller based on what I'm doing/which window I'm in, is very attractive. But does this actually work well on Windows?

Thanks for your time and help.

First off: there's a free demo, so there's that.

Re: multi core threading, yes (at least on my Mac) but there's a trick to take advantage of it.

In large and/or heavily scripted VIs, it's important to place the large instruments in their own instantiation of the VI (as opposed to having several large instruments in on instance of the player/shell. DP will then take each running version of the player and sign it to a different core.

The only thing to really remember is this: as long as each player has it's own volume fader in the mixing board, then each player will get assigned to a different core (until you run out of cores, of course). Just to be clear, what I'm saying is you might have multiple Kontak or VSL players running at the same time. While this seems inherently inefficient, it allows for CPU load distribution much more effectively. A fine benefit (IMO) is also having individual plug ins per instantiation.

I can't answer Windows questions.

The GUI is super fast on my system, one person has reported a lag when they have multiple takes. I'm not seeing that behavior.

Next size can be adjusted. Obviously, this also means the windows will zoom a bit larger if you chose the global method (which is new to DP this version). DP has long been able to expand data and text on an individual window (like the tracks window and others). I don't believe that is true of all windows (especially ones that are called up in a dialogue box).

You'll also not find reference to the Notation window (AFAIK) in the DP specs. What that does is display the track(s) on a grand staff (transposable to visually show in the range that is most readable - but not transpose the actual track. For musicals who read music (OMG, people actually READ music these days... lol) this is super useful. Sadly, MOTU hasn't updated that feature in decades. Quickscribe will do a similar thing, but that's more for getting notation out of DP. A lot of guys i know use that for quick and dirty lead sheets, etc. I'm a died in the wool Finale user and never use QScribe.

I hope that's helpful. And no, I'm neither a beta tester nor an employee or paid spokesperson for DP or MOTU. lol

The biggest feature for me (as a composer) is having multiple sequences (what MOTU likes to call "Chunks" [how I hate that choice]). That allows me to have many cues ion the same project. Also, especially when using large VIs (as above) you can use V-Racks. If you do, switching between sequences (I mean chunks... I mean sequences) is instant. If you assign each chunk to a VI NOT running in the v-rack, it will need to reload every time you move from chunk to chunk.

OK, I've already told you more than I know. I gotta get some work done around here.

I'm here all week. Try the demo, tip the waitresses!

As to the multiple instances/multi-core feature, here is a video from Christian Henson running 112 instances of Kontakt with two plugs each in a 2017 128GB 10-core 1TB iMac Pro. This lets the computer balance the load.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EouLohgmvrI

The samples are stored on an external 2TB SSD in a Thunderbolt dock. The DAW is Logic Pro X

Note that the comparison is with a 2013 64GB 8-core 1TB Mac Pro 6.1 where he's running over 56 instances — then he adds the two plugs (FabFilter Pro & Apple's Space Designer Convo Reverb) to each channel — then he doubles it to 112 — then he triples the number of microphones before he notices any channel stealing... in case anyone wonders if the Vader helmet doesn't have a lot of life left in it.

OK, not Windows but it demonstrates the principle.

Oh yeah, samples on an SSD for sure!

mikehalloran wrote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EouLohgmvrI

Nice!

@MIDI Life Crisis thanks for all the info you provided. I prefer using individual Kontakt instances per instrument anyway, so it's good to learn that DP handles this well. I have my samples spread across numerous SSDs. It seems like the Windows community for DP is very small. I actually cannot find one single YouTube video demonstrating DP10 on Windows. I'm concerned about Windows' crappy scaling preventing DP's global scaling from working properly. I didn't know about the demo, I'll download it once my interface arrives.

@mikehalloran thanks, but I'm coming from Logic and a Mac Pro so I already know how well that combo works with hyperthreading. I'm specifically interested to know if DP10 in Windows 10 has a limit to how many threads it can utilize. I have 28 threads at my disposal and hope to hear from a Windows user who might know if the program can actually utilize all of them. For instance Cubase, till recently, could only utilize a low count, so some processors' extra cores were wasted. Ableton has a 32 thread limit, which would make the 18-core i9-X overkill. So there are limits, and I'm wondering what DP's is.

Anyway, it seems like Windows users, especially "power-users" are sparse in the community. I may have to call MOTU and see if I can get a tech on the line.

DP on Windows is pretty new over the past year or two (maybe a bit longer). There were definitely some early growing pains when it was introduced. The forum here is probably a pretty good barometer as to where any inherently bad problems might be. The demo should tell you everything you need to know. I believe you have access to earlier versions of DP and 9 was pretty stable, but does lack a few of the features you're looking for in DP 10. Also, rumor has it that an update is forthcoming.... and we know how reliable rumors are! lol

Since version 8, DP does not have an uninstaller. Every update is a complete installer so, if you want to check out 9.52, you can by clicking on Older Versions on the download page.

The 9.x demos are time limited only. The 10 demo, likewise but there are additional sample libraries that you can't download till after purchase.

Besides the application, there are shared libraries that are overwritten. This will help understand what goes on.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=66298

Yes, I know it discusses the Mac but it applies to Windows, too.