Page 2: MOTU Digital Performer 10.1

Sound Station

The other box waiting to be ticked was DP's built-in collection of virtual instruments. DP10 does bring some progress here, but perhaps in a somewhat roundabout fashion. The v9 virtual instruments — BassLine, PolySynth, NanoSampler, Modulo, Model 12, MX4 and Proton — remain perfectly serviceable, if perhaps not cutting-edge. However, rather than add any new virtual instruments of MOTU's own design, DP10 sees two additions of a third-party nature: support for VST3 plug-ins, and a bundled 5GB library of multisampled instruments that use UVI Workstation as their front end.

MOTU have partnered with UVI to bundle a collection of sample-based sounds with DP10.Support for VST3 is obviously a good thing, and ensures that DP can take advantage of the full range of third-party instruments. If MOTU themselves are not going to develop new proprietary instruments for DP, at least you can take your pick of what the rest of the market has to offer. I had no problems running a number of VST2 and VST3 virtual instruments, including popular but demanding plug-ins like Kontakt 6 and Superior Drummer 3.

The UVI soundbank will open within MOTU's MachFive 3 or UVI's Falcon if you have access to either of those; if not, UVI Workstation presents a very straightforward user interface, and offers four-part multitimbral playback. Aside from a few 'macro' level controls on the Edit page, which change based upon the nature of the preset being used, you don't get to deep-dive into the sounds themselves, although there is a good range of effects possibilities for customising the included sounds.

The sounds themselves span a broad selection of conventional instrument types from acoustic and electric drums, acoustic and electric pianos, various organs, acoustic and electric guitars, percussion, voices and something from all of the orchestral sections. There is also a respectable selection of loops that are dominated by drums but cover a wide range of genres. There is not much here by way of synth-type sounds, so presumably MOTU think this area is already covered by the virtual synths amongst the existing instrument bundle.

All in all, if this is the starting point for your sample-based virtual instrument journey, or you are looking for a general all-in-one library that's fairly resource-light for use with a laptop/mobile rig, UVI Workstation would certainly allow you to sketch out all sorts of musical ideas. However, the depth of sampling for individual instruments, and the limited number of performance articulations, means this library is unlikely to be most users' first choice for more demanding applications.

Content With Your Content?

Sticking with the broad topic of supplied sounds, DP10 also bundles 6GB of loops and sample packs from Loopmasters, Lucidsamples and Big Fish Audio. This is obviously designed as a taster selection, but if you need some initial content as you begin to explore DP10, it's a good place to start.

The Content Browser provides easy access to all your media and plug-ins.It's also a good way to explore the possibilities offered by another new, and arguably overdue, DP10 feature; the Content Browser. This can be placed with the left/right sidebars or use as a floating window and provides a one-stop-shop window in which you can browse through the content of your project. This can mean audio files and bounces, but also plug-ins — you can, for example, drag and drop effects plug-ins into the mixer from the Content Browser — and any audio loops or sample content on drives attached to your system. Samples can be auditioned from within the browser and, of course, dragged and dropped into your project. And, as described above, loops can easily be made to match their playback tempo to your DP project.

Live Performer

My own experience with DP over the years has always reinforced a feeling that this was a serious, heavyweight, studio-based recording, mixing and mastering tool. I have to say, therefore, that one major new feature in DP10 took me a little by surprise; the Clips Window. This is a fully featured system for triggering audio and MIDI clips and is obviously designed with live performance in mind. MOTU have not reinvented too many wheels here and there are concepts that will be familiar to users of other programs, especially Ableton Live. That said, I suspect MOTU have also learned from what's already out there and, even in its first iteration, it's easy to see the potential the Clips Window offers.

The new Clips Window is an excellent addition.

Audio or MIDI clips can be placed into an expandable grid, with scenes (sets of clips that can be easily triggered together) running horizontally and tracks (either audio or MIDI; only one clip from any track can be playing at once) running vertically. When an individual clip, or a horizontal scene of clips, is triggered, they drop down into the Queue zone where they wait their turn until the currently playing set of clips reaches the end of their playing cycle. The playing cycle length (termed the Queue Grid) is user controlled and can be set anywhere between quarter notes and 32 bars (measures).

You can pre-load multiple layers of clips to the Queue for playback, and clips can be set to either looping or single-shot modes. Looped clips will continue to play back regardless of their length relative to other Clips currently playing, until they are either stopped or replaced by a different Clip at the end of the Queue Grid cycle. This means that you can, for example, easily have a two-bar drum loop playing alongside a four-bar bass loop: the drum loop will simply play twice. The option to define specific Clips as single-shots (they play once and then stop) means you can easily add Clips to create mid-song stops or endings.

Underneath the Clips grid you get a mini-mixer and, if you double-click on a Clip, a Clip editing panel opens. This allows you to set the key Clip properties, including loop behaviour, but also to edit the audio waveform or MIDI data without leaving the Clips Window, and bind a clip to a MIDI trigger. A full MIDI Learn panel is also available from the Clips Window's mini-menu, located top right.

The Record button can be toggled to a Clips Recording mode so you can capture (and then edit) your clip-based performance on the project timeline.

There are also many additional useful and creative touches to the Clips Window feature set. Clips can be dragged and dropped into the Clips Window pretty much from anywhere, including the Sequence editor, Tracks Overview and, of course, the new Content Browser. Playback within the Clips Window requires the main DP transport to be running but Clip playback is then actually overlaid onto the playback of any material within the overall project. So, if you have a sequence of audio/MIDI tracks that forms the basis of your song/performance, you can 'live perform' from the Clips Window over the top of that. Equally, leave your project empty, and you can improvise your performance based upon just the content of the Clips Window. As of version 10.1, you can also toggle DP's record button to Clip Mode and record your live clip sequence performance back onto the Sequence timeline. This is a great way to capture an improvised performance and, of course, the resulting arrangement — and the clips themselves — can be further edited as required.

As another nice touch, Clips can contain automation data. This means you can easily add cool effects automation to Clip playback or, and since there's also a Master audio output track within the Clips Window, you can add global effects automation to Clips on that track and 'drop' them into the queue system like any other clip.

I have to say I'm impressed with what the Clips Window has to offer, and it certainly goes some considerable way to dispelling the generalisation that DP is just targeted at film and TV composers. If you want a DAW/sequencer that could also form the centrepiece of a live performance or loop-based production system, MOTU are making a serious attempt to grab your attention!

Best Of The Rest

While the items above represent the major highlights, MOTU have all sorts of other new features and improvements elsewhere in DP10. For example, the quantise system now offers the option of moving MIDI controller data alongside any MIDI notes moved by the quantising process. The Control Panel now allows you to specify an Alternate Tool; you can flip between the main tool and the Alternate Tool using a key modifier. MOTU have also added a scaling feature that allows you to resize the interface — including all the windows and text displays — to best suit your monitor resolution. Or, of course, your eyesight: this is an addition that might be particularly welcome amongst users of a certain age!

The Run Command window is useful for new users finding their way around DP10's comprehensive feature set.New note display options have been added within the MIDI editor panel allowing you to see the MIDI note pitch and velocity within the note itself. Access to the various zoom options has been streamlined. And, addressing a failing Robin mentioned in his v9 review, the Snap To Grid process now includes a Snap relative option. Less experienced DP users might appreciate the new Run Command window: you simply start typing within the search box and the window will populate with commands featuring the search term, whereupon you can execute any of the commands found directly from the window.

Finally, amongst a few further features added in v10.1, and some performance enhancements, DP now includes a well-featured Retrospective MIDI Record function. Whether playback is in progress or not, DP is always capturing MIDI input. If you open either the standard MIDI Editor, or the Drum editor, you can then access the Retrospective MIDI Record function from the Region menu.

Going Up?

Three years might seem a long wait for DP10, but this does feel like a substantial step forward. While the upgrade pricing is not insubstantial, I think any dedicated DP user will be very tempted by features such as enhanced audio stretching/tempo-matching and VCA faders. You could argue there is a certain amount of catch-up being played here, but these are significant core additions to what was otherwise a comprehensive feature set.

I'm perhaps less convinced by the additional sound content. DP might still excel when it comes to scoring to picture and general recording duties, but you would be less likely to put it top of your DAW choices based upon the bundled virtual instrument collection. MOTU do have a line of virtual instruments within their catalogue, but this doesn't seem to have been the main focus of their developers for a while now. Though welcome anyway, improved VST support within v10 is therefore also a necessity, given that more demanding users will probably be turning to third-party sources for their virtual instrument needs.

Other new features introduced in DP10 plug some of the more obvious feature set gaps and must broaden the potential appeal of DP against the alternatives such as Logic, Pro Tools, Cubase or Studio One. The new Clips Window is a more surprising addition which has the potential to be both a creative tool within the studio and an interactive sequencing environment for live use. Even in this first incarnation, the Clips Window is both impressive and fun. Whether it will be enough to pull sales from the likes of Ableton Live is another matter, but it is an interesting development from MOTU and nicely implemented.

DP10 remains a heavyweight application, and will take some learning for new users. However, if you can't create professional-level recordings with DP10 at the heart of your studio, the problem isn't your DAW software! There are plenty of reasons here for existing users to upgrade, and plenty for potential new users to be wowed by in comparison with the obvious competition. MOTU may have taken a little time over version 10, but they have spent that time well. DP10 is an impressive package!