Digital Performer 2.7 Preview from MOTU
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Stereo Delay
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Multimode Filter
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January 14, 2000
Mark of the Unicorn, Inc. (MOTU) demonstrated
several audio sequencing milestones in Digital Performer 2.7, MOTU’s
flagship audio sequencer for Macintosh. Highlights included adjustable
PPQ (parts per quarter note) resolution, a proprietary hardware-based
MIDI timing technology called MIDI Time Stamping™, beat-based effects
automation, a new Drum Editor window with a unique ‘Rhythm Brush’
tool, and several new audio plug-ins.
Adjustable
PPQ
"We’ve taken MIDI sequencing precision to a new level,"
said Jim Cooper, MOTU’s marketing director. "Digital Performer
now has an internal timing resolution of about 2 trillion PPQ. This allows
Digital Performer users to nudge a MIDI event by a little as one one-hundred
millionth of a quarter note. And Digital Performer’s new hardware-based
MIDI Time Stamping technology delivers this ultra high precision with
sub-millisecond timing accuracy. Practically speaking, we’ve turned
DP’s unmatched timing resolution into a wide range of useful features
that DP users can take advantage of every day."
For example, users can now choose any desired PPQ timing resolution
and use it throughout the program. Other MIDI sequencers have a fixed
PPQ resolution, usually in the range of 384 to 1920. Digital Performer
now allows the user to freely change to any resolution they want between
2 and 10,000 PPQ, with up to four decimal places. For example, Digital
Performer users could choose 480 PPQ, a resolution they’re familiar
with from previous versions, but add four decimal places (480.0000) to
achieve ten thousand times the editing resolution. Users that switch to
Digital Performer from other sequencers can use the PPQ they’re familiar
with, such as 960 or 1920. Regardless of the resolution chosen, live MIDI
data is recorded with a very high degree of internal resolution that is
much greater than the PPQ values available in other programs.
MTS - MIDI Time Stamping™
To record and play back MIDI data as accurately as possible,
MOTU has developed a new hardware-based MIDI streaming technology called
MIDI Time Stamping (MTS). MTS is now shipping in MOTU’s new line
of rack-mountable USB MIDI interfaces, and it delivers MIDI data from
Digital Performer to synthesizers, samplers, drum machines and other MIDI
devices with sub-millisecond timing accuracy - as accurately as a third
of a millisecond for every single MIDI event. Data is recorded with even
higher accuracy: a twelfth of a millisecond. According to MOTU, USB makes
this new level of accuracy possible with its increased bandwidth.
Complete Mix Automation
MOTU demonstrated other significant audio sequencing
advancements in Digital Performer 2.7 at MacWorld, including beat/tempo-based
plug-in automation. All of Digital Performer's fifty (50) included audio
and MIDI plug-in effects can now be fully automated in real time. Users
can change presets on the fly, and even adjust parameters smoothly with
sample-accurate ramp automation (which prevents zipper noise and other
artifacts produced by the buffer-quantized automation in other systems).
Digital Performer’s effects automation also includes discrete event
automation, such as changing an LFO from a sine wave to a square wave,
and stair-step automation for parameters that require it. Users can also
lock many parameters to a musical beat value that follows the current
tempo of the sequence. For example, Digital Performer’s new stereo
delay plug-in allows users to choose quarter, eighth, or sixteenth note
automation separately for its left and right channel delay paths to create
complex polyrhythmic stereo delay effects. Triplet/swing rhythms are also
supported, as are beat values from a 64th note up to a whole note. Parameters
that have been locked to beats stay in perfect time with the sequencer’s
tempo, and they even follow tempo changes, both instantaneous and gradual
alike. Multiple effects parameters can be viewed and edited graphically
in each track, and five advanced automation modes are provided, including
Touch, Overwrite, Latch, Trim Touch and Trim Latch. Digital Performer’s
effects automation implementation is exceptionally deep, with other advanced
features like mute/bypass/solo/send automation, and the ability to free
up system resources when tracks are muted.
Mackie HUI Support
MOTU also demonstrated complete support for the HUI
mixing control surface from Mackie Designs, of Woodinville, WA, a fully
automated control surface that features touch-sensitive motorized faders.
Users can call up plug-ins on-screen from the HUI, choose presets (on
the fly and during recording), change effects parameters, and perform
many other mixing tasks entirely from the HUI.
New plug-ins
MOTU has also revamped all of the MOTU Audio System
plug-ins included with Digital Performer, giving them a completely new
look and feel. Digital Performer now ships with over fifty real-time MIDI
and audio effects. MOTU has added three new audio plug-ins in Version
2.7: a ring modulator, the MultiMode Filter™, and a Stereo Delay.
The Ring Modulator and MultiMode filter plug-ins both feature sidechain
inputs and MIDI control of their parameters for real-time control. The
new Stereo Delay plug-in presents a clearly diagrammed signal path integrated
into its user interface design and includes beat-based delay taps for
rhythmic delay/echo effects.
More third party plug-ins for MAS
Several industry-leading plug-in developers recently
announced new plug-ins for Digital Performer and its MOTU Audio System
native plug-in format. Antares, the makers of the widely popular AutoTune
plug-in, have introduced their new Microphone Modeler with support for
MAS. This plug-in takes a source mic and makes it sound like another mic,
from historical classics to industry-standard workhorses to modern exotics.
David Zicarelli of Opcode MAX fame has ported his Pluggo plug-in to MAS.
Pluggo not only includes 74 quality plug-ins, it also works with Cycling
74’s MSP extensions for MAX, which let you build your own MAS plug-ins
from scratch. Finally, TC Works has ported their widely respected Native
bundle to MAS, including the stunning TC Native Reverb. All of these new
plug-ins are now shipping.
Drum Editor with Rhythm Brush
MOTU also demonstrated Digital Performer 2.7’s
new Drum Editor. Designed to satisfy even the most demanding drum programmers,
DP's Drum Editor includes many innovations, such as independent, vertically
resizeable rows for each drum note and a unique note insertion tool called
the 'Rhythm Brush'. The Rhythm Brush lets users quickly insert common
stylistic rhythmic patterns, like "triangle" and "bongo
drums", with one swipe of the brush. Users can make custom patterns
of any length, too. For example, a user might record or program a drum
fill that they particularly like. They can select it, make a pattern,
and then "paint" the fill at other locations in their drum part.
Another innovation is the ability to non-destructively shift, humanize,
quantize, groove quantize and otherwise modify individual notes (drum
instruments), even if they reside together in the same track. The Drum
Editor can display multiple tracks and output destinations in one window,
too.
Smoother audio editing during playback
Digital Performer 2.7 is now much smoother when users
make change to audio tracks during playback. Users can perform almost
any non-destructive edit, from splicing and dicing audio regions to dragging
around automation control points, and the music keeps playing smoothly
with no interruptions.
Find Tempo
Digital Performer's new Find Tempo window is a powerful
new feature for anyone who writes music for picture. Users can search
within a range of tempos to find the tempo that best hits all of the locked
markers in their sequence. Users can assign any amount of "slop"
to each hit, and they can even assign a ‘weight’ to each marker
in terms of its importance. The Find Tempo window operates interactively
with the user, continuously recalculating tempos as the user changes the
search parameters or makes adjustments to the markers in the sequence.
G4 support
Digital Performer 2.7 has been extensively tested and
deemed 100% compatible with all of the latest G4 Power Macs — including
Sawtooth models. MOTU has also confirmed 100% compatibility with their
2408, 1224 and 24i hard disk recording systems, as well as MOTU’s
new line of USB MIDI interfaces.
Digital Performer 2.7 has dozens of other enhancements.
Digital Performer 2.7 will be shipped as an automatic free update to all
registered Digital Performer 2.6 users. Retail price is $795. A competitive
crossgrade is also available for $395.
For more information, visit www.motu.com.
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