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You can't do that with the stock DP instruments unless you're really into minimalist analog synth techno. You can open any of Digital Performer's key competitors (aside from the $60 Reaper) and compose a complete piece of music using the bundled virtual instruments. It may not matter if you've already got extra-cost third-party instruments you like, but it's a curious omission given that Logic Pro, Cubase Pro, Ableton Live, and most others all come with so much these days. In comparison, though, nearly all competitors to Digital Performer include vast collections of multisampled instruments (pianos, guitars, organs, orchestral instruments), acoustic and electronic drums, and copious loop packages, none of which you'll find here. Okay, the "LA Trailer Production" kit is a ton of fun to play with, thanks to its melodramatic, room-shaking rises and crashes I'll give it that. Model12 offers roughly two dozen, mostly cheesy-sounding acoustic and electronic drum kit presets that aren't even balanced correctly. Synthesizer fans have a good palette to work with, as each of the five instruments (Bassline, Modulo, MX4, Proton, PolySynth) offer decent arrays of pads, basses, leads, stabs, and drones. ![]() There's no bundled sampler plug-in aside from the extremely rudimentary Nanosampler 2, and there isn't even a sample-based synthesizer workstation plug-in. Instruments, Mixing, and Film ScoringÄigital Performer's biggest weak spot remains its instrument bundle. Version 11 adds multi-channel MIDI tracks, and the program's Retrospective Recording feature now monitors audio as well as MIDI, so you'll never lose a good idea just because Record wasn't running. The Notation view now supports slurs and text articulations, and you can assign characteristics to them with Articulation Maps. Tracks have non-destructive quantize and transposition, like Logic Pro, so you can test out grooves and key signatures on the fly without extensive editing. In recent years, Motu has added many features that fans of the program have long asked for, such as MIDI event muting, automatic grid resizing, and lane-based track automation. MIDI editing remains as robust as always, with plenty of detailed adjustments and available tools. The one main bugaboo is the tiny size of the text and labels, although you can finally address it these days with the built-in scaling features. Extra themes give you plenty of options for the overall look of the program, but it's not just about color-the sliders, pan pots, and meters also change with each theme. I found that I liked working with the Tracks view on top and the mixer on bottom except when editing specific clips or MIDI notes, but you can create just about any setup using the horizontal and vertical drawbars in each window. The consolidated interface lets you display multiple views simultaneously, including the arrangement, the mixing board, and notation, if you so wish. If you've used Digital Performer before-even 20 years ago-you'll find the main user interface environment instantly familiar. Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buying decisions. ( Read our editorial mission (Opens in a new window) & see how we test everything we review (Opens in a new window).) Digital Performer installs very quickly, as it takes up just 1.7GB of hard disk space. #Digital performer 6 user guide proFor this review, I tested Digital Performer 11.1 on a MacBook Pro 16-inch (Late 2021, M1 Pro) running macOS Monterey 12.3.1. Motu recommends at least 8GB of RAM, which is pretty light for a DAW these days. Motu says the program "appear to be compatible with Windows 11, although final compatibility testing is still ongoing" as of last October, but has yet to fully certify it. Motu sells Digital Performer in a single $499 version that works on any system running either macOS (version 10.13 and up) or Windows 10. How Much Does Motu Digital Performer Cost? This latest version is a true pleasure to work with-that is, as long as you're not expecting much in the way of bundled virtual instruments. #Digital performer 6 user guide macI've been using Digital Performer on and off for 30 years, with my first experience being with the MIDI-only Performer in a college music lab on a Mac IIsi. In the digital audio-enabled version's 11th iteration, Motu's flagship DAW remains a premier tool for MIDI composition and film scoring, and it contains enough audio-editing tools to serve as a solid all-around multitrack recorder. If there's a single digital audio workstation package that's more closely associated with the Mac than any other, it's Motu's Digital Performer. #Digital performer 6 user guide how to
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