Digital Performer: Snapshots & Automation

The Automation Setup window lets you control which types of automation data and MIDI CCs you’d like to enable in your DP project.

DP’s Snapshots allow complex automation to be generated at a stroke.

Digital Performer provides multiple ways to create automation data. Fader and plug‑in parameters can be captured with mouse moves, control surfaces, and knobs and sliders on MIDI controllers (programmed with DP’s MIDI Learn feature). The pencil tool is also a precise way to insert automation and MIDI CCs in DP, with its control points, lines and preset curves. But there’s another fast and powerful way to insert timeline automation: Snapshots.

Much like a camera, a Snapshot captures and inserts automation anchor points in the timeline. The resulting automation points recall parameter states at the time the Snapshot is taken. Snapshots are not only important for recalling exact automation levels; the anchor points can also be used as pivot points for additional automation that comes before or after captured points. By default, DP will chase all automation points, but any parameter type can be excluded from event chasing, if desired. Use Setup / Event Chasing for MIDI controllers and Setup / Automation Setup for audio parameters.

Snapshots are not only important for recalling exact automation levels; the anchor points can also be used as pivot points for additional automation...

Data Mining

You’ll see this Automation Snapshot window when taking a Snapshot.When working with Snapshots, it’s important to differentiate between audio automation data and MIDI Continuous Controllers (CCs). Audio volume, pan, effect and virtual instrument parameters are all part of the audio automation system. MIDI volume (CC7), pan (CC10) and track mute messages are the only MIDI parameters captured with Snapshots. CCs like modulation (CC1) and expression (CC11) are omitted from Snapshots. These parameters are captured by recording, overdubbing, drawing and reshaping MIDI data.

Found in the Setup menu, the Automation Setup window displays the various MIDI and audio automation data types that can be enabled or disabled globally in a project.

It’s important to know how this window relates to Snapshots. Enabled data types captured by Snapshots will play back and chase the wiper position. Make sure the automation play button is enabled in the mixer, editors and effects windows. If the play button is disabled, or the parameter is deselected in Automation Setup, the lines representing the automation will appear with dashes and not as dark lines.

Flat versus ramp Snapshot automation.In Automation Setup, non‑enabled data types will be ignored when a Snapshot is taken. If you accidentally leave out a data type when taking a Snapshot, you can simply re‑enable that data type and take another Snapshot with that data type specifically targeted in the Snapshot window (more on this later).

Snappy Snaps

Snapshots are taken with the camera icon button at the bottom of DP edit windows. The default keyboard shortcut is Ctrl+’ (Mac) or Windows+’ (PC). (The quotation key is just to the left of the return key.) Adding the Cmd key (or Ctrl key for Windows) while invoking this shortcut bypasses the Snapshot dialogue and uses the previous settings in the window. The Mixer, Sequence Editor and MIDI Editor are the primary windows for taking Snapshots, although they can also be taken from the Tracks window, Event List, QuickScribe, and nearly everywhere in the program.

The Time Range menu gives you plenty of options for how to apply the Snapshot.

Important tip: the Snapshot window targets the currently active (focused) window, which will dictate and potentially limit what tracks, data types and selections will be captured. Snapshots in the Mixer, Sequence Editor and MIDI Editor will provide the most control, as discussed below.

Snapshots are applied over a time range. The Time Range menu provides useful options to choose from: ‘All time’ is the full length of your project, while ‘Selected range’ is based on your highlighted time range selection. The two ‘From counter’ options use the wiper position (counter) to define the start and end range. Chunk start and end boundaries are determined by the first and last data locations in your timeline. The Chunks window (Shift+C) provides editing of chunk start and end boundaries. The next four Time Range menu options provide counter (wiper) anchor points, with options to produce flat or ramp results. The flat options produce a static value, whereas ramp options produce a linear change. The last menu option uses existing data points to determine the range.

The Tracks menu gives you control over where the Snapshot automation will be inserted.

Target Acquired

Open a plug‑in effect or VI window to take a Snapshot of its parameters. In this example, the MasterWorks EQ is being targeted.The Tracks menu in the Snapshot window has options for choosing which tracks are targeted during a Snapshot. ‘All tracks’ and ‘Selected tracks’ are self‑explanatory. The availability of the remaining menu choices will be based on the focused DP window when taking the Snapshot. For ‘Tracks shown in Edit Window’, take the Snapshot from the Sequence Editor or MIDI Editor. Use the track selector in DP’s edit windows to show/hide specific tracks for targeting with Snapshots. For the Mixing Board option, focus on the Mixing Board by clicking on its title bar.

To Snapshot parameters for a specific plug‑in effect or virtual instrument, open its effect window. With this Data Type setting, all MOTU and third‑party plug‑in parameters are captured during a Snapshot. Published parameters can be viewed and edited in the Sequence Editor in each track’s Edit Layer menu.

Data Types

The Data Types menu provides options for choosing which types of data are targeted during a Snapshot. The ‘All enabled data types’ option includes all parameters enabled in Setup / Automation Setup. ‘Current data types in Edit Windows’ is based on the parameter shown in the active edit layer. Like the other Automation Snapshot menus, the availability of the remaining menu choices is based on the window that is in focus when the Snapshot is taken. Active data types are types that are already present in the track. In the Sequence Editor, use ‘All data types’ when taking a volume Snapshot for a MIDI track and audio track at the same time. Even if the MIDI track is viewing the notes layer, the volume Snapshot will still be successfully captured when you click the camera icon.

The Data Types menu lets you choose the types of data that will be captured by the Snapshot. In this example, only Pan automation will be captured for the Bell Tree track because it is the current (visible) data type.

Instrument & Mixer Snapshots

A track’s Edit Layer menu in the Sequence Editor shows a list of published parameters captured in the track by an effect or VI Snapshot.DP11 introduced instrument tracks, which combine both MIDI and audio in a single track. When taking volume and pan Snapshots of instrument tracks in the MIDI Editor, DP uses audio automation rather than MIDI CC7 (volume) and CC10 (pan) because audio automation provides higher precision than MIDI data. When using Snapshots with instrument tracks that contain data on multiple MIDI channels, only the overall volume, pan and track mute states are captured for the instrument track.

To capture individual MIDI channel automation, select all of the MIDI data in the instrument track and use the command Split by Channel. This will separate the MIDI data to individual MIDI tracks, each assigned to the corresponding instrument. Conversely, separate MIDI tracks assigned to the same instrument can be selected and the command Merge by Channel will absorb the MIDI tracks into the single combined instrument track. The MIDI data will stay assigned to the original MIDI channels.

The mixing board is another useful place to take automation Snapshots. All data types and visible data types can be captured. To change the visibility of data types, use the mixing board mini‑menu to show or hide parameters as desired.

Use the Mixing Board mini‑menu to show and hide sections as desired, when using the ‘Visible data types’ Snapshot option. In this example, track mute has been hidden, so it will be excluded from the Snapshot.As mentioned earlier, if a plug‑in or virtual instrument window is targeted with the Snapshot window, all of the parameters will be captured. In the Sequence Editor, use the track’s Edit Layer menu to see a list of the published parameters captured from the effect Snapshot. Select specific parameters to create new automation data or edit it. In the Sequence Editor, track lanes can be used to view multiple automation types at the same time.

Mix Mode

Digital Performer has a powerful feature in the mixing board called Mix Mode. By default, this mode is turned off. Choosing New Mix will keep the tracks, routing, and sends but remove automation data and insert plug‑ins. Each mix can have completely different automation states captured by the Snapshots window.

DP’s powerful Mix Mode menu is found in the Mixing Board, to the left of the horizontal scroll bar.Duplicate Mix could be used to create an alternate mix with different captured Snapshot settings. It’s a powerful way to quickly create different mixes while staying in the same project.

In Summary

The Snapshot window is a fast and powerful way to control automation data, making possible everything from minor tweaks in an individual track to project‑wide automation changes across all tracks in the DP timeline.