MOTU Unveiled Digital Performer 3.0
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January 24, 2001MOTU, Inc. unveiled Digital Performer 3.0 (DP3), a major upgrade of their award-winning
audio workstation and MIDI sequencer software for Power Macintosh. DP3 includes
a redesigned user interface, complete surround production features for all current
surround formats (including 10.2), a new Sequence Editor window for editing MIDI
and audio along a single timeline, fifteen new plug-ins, numerous editing enhancements,
a new tool bar, enhanced QuickScribe™ notation engine, new musical symbol
palettes, and many other new features.
"When you look at the whole picture - software, audio hardware, MIDI interfaces,
and industry-wide compatibility - MOTU offers the most complete music and audio
production system currently available," said Jim Cooper, Director of Marketing
at MOTU. "As the core component of the system, DP3 is another major leap
forward in desktop music production that places MOTU right at the fore-front of
audio workstation and MIDI system technology. DP3 users can do it all under one
roof: music composing, MIDI sequencing, surround mixing, album production, ADR,
foley, sound effects, mastering - you name it and DP3 users can do it."
Here are just a few of DP3's new features:
Productivity Enhancements
- Completely new look and feel - DP3's user interface has been completely redesigned
from the ground up, taking on a more streamlined, visually efficient look and
feel based on Apple Computer's forthcoming OSX "Aqua" appearance. DP3
emphasizes important elements in a project, such as MIDI and audio data, while
guiding the user's eye via subtle framework elements such as window borders and
time rulers.
- Apple G4 Multi-processor support - On a dual-processor G4 Power Macintosh,
DP3 effectively doubles the available processing power for plug-ins running across
multiple tracks. DP3 dynamically manages CPU load across multiple processors,
including third-party plug-in processing bandwidth, so that all existing MAS-compatible
plug-ins can immediately take advantage of DP3's multi-processor support.
- Multiple plug-in windows - Users can open multiple plug-in windows and surround
panners simultaneously.
- Audio CD import previewing - Digital Performer users have long been able
to import audio CDs by simply popping the disc into their Mac and dragging the
desired track into Digital Performer. Now, DP3 users can preview and import any
portion of an audio CD track, from a few seconds to the entire track. For example,
if they only want to import a small portion of a song, they can save time by previewing
the source track and only importing the section they want.
- Pro Tools™ import/export - DP3 can now import (as well as export) entire
multitrack projects from (and to) Digidesign Pro Tools (or any other OMF compliant
system) via DigiTranslator™ and OMF. For example, DP3 users can import a
Pro Tools session, work on it in DP3, and then deliver it again as a Pro Tools
session, with all tracks, regions, crossfades, and time-stamps in tact.
- Stationary play head - DP3's new "Continuous Scrolling" preference
causes the playback wiper to stay anchored to the center of the window while the
data in the window scrolls behind it. Users can opt to view a moving wiper as
in previous versions, if they wish.
- Wiper-centered zooming - DP3's playback wiper now serves as the anchor point
for zooming (in and out). Users can quickly zoom in to a specific location and
then zoom back out, and the focus point always remains in view. This makes zooming
much faster and more convenient, even during playback and recording.
Audio post production enhancements
- VocAlign™ support - VocAlign™, the ground-breaking ADR (Automatic
Dialog Replacement) tool from SynchroArts, allows DP3 users to conform new dialog
in seconds. The user selects the original dialog, presses a key, selects the new
dialog, and presses another key. VocAlign then automatically time-stretches the
new dialog to exactly fit the timing of the original dialog and replaces the original
audio file in the track. Together, DP3 and VocAlign can reduce hours of ADR work
to minutes.
- QuickTime spotting - DP3's QuickTime movie window now scrubs during edits.
For example, the movie window will scrub frame by frame as the user trims the
edge of a soundbite or moves an automation control point. If a soundbite has a
cue point somewhere in the middle, the QuickTime movie window scrubs to the location
of the cue point, making it easy to place sound effects, for example, that have
a reference point that is not at the very beginning. If the soundbite doesn't
have a cue point, DP3's movie window scrubs with the beginning of the soundbite.
- Movie track - this feature is covered later in this press release.
Surround sound recording, mixing and mastering
DP3 provides a complete environment for creating surround recordings, start
to finish. Surround feature highlights include:
- Open architecture for surround - DP3 supports mono, stereo, quad, LCRS, 5.1,
6.1, 7.1 and 10.2 surround formats. New formats (n.n) can be supported in future
versions, as they become available.
- Support for independent surround panners per track - DP3 allows users to
choose any panner they want for any track, including third-party panners. Users
can mix and match panners across a multitrack project as desired. For example,
they might choose a localizer panner for a sound effect track and a stereo panner
for a stereo musical instrument track. Regardless of which panner they choose,
they can control it with the surround panning dish directly in the track's channel
strip in DP3's Mixing Board window. Panners can also be opened as separate windows
(just like a plug-in) by clicking a button in the track strip next to the track's
surround dish, but they remained linked to the surround dish in the Mixing Board
track strip. Therefore, users can choose any panner they want for a track, and
then control it from one of two places: the panner window or the panner dish in
the Mixing Board window itself.
- Four advanced panners included - DP3 includes four panner plug-ins that go
well beyond basic surround panning.
- ArcPanner™ - provides a large, hi-resolution surround panning dish.
- n-Panner™ - provides customary surround panning via Cartesian coordinates.
- TriPan™ - provides three-knob positional panning with sophisticated,
graphic three-way divergence control. TriPan allows users to make precise panning
maneuvers along a diagonal path, for example, with complete control over the degree
to which the sound bleeds into any speaker.
- Auralizer™ - localizes sound in space within any surround matrix using
perceptual proximity cues such as the doppler effect and early reflections.
- Intelligent stereo surround panning - DP3 users can choose from several panning
modes (mirror, parallel, asymmetric, balance and mono) to steer stereo signals
in a surround matrix with a single automation pass.
- Audio bundles window - DP3's new Audio Bundles window allows users to create
preset "bundles" of inputs, outputs and busses. For each bundle, the
user chooses a name and a set of physical inputs or outputs on their audio interface,
or a series of busses within DP3's virtual mixing environment. Then the bundle
appears by name throughout DP3 wherever I/O or bus assignments are made. Bundles
allow users to quickly rewire the internal routings of their project with a few
mouse clicks, regardless of how many surround formats or other routing scenarios
they use. Users can create multiple output setups - from a simple, tape-deck-style
'direct line out' mode to advanced surround configurations.
- MacOS Input Sprockets™ support - DP3 supports the standard MacOS Input
Sprocket protocol. This allows DP3 users to connect a compatible USB joystick
to their Power Macintosh and then use it to control any MOTU or third-party surround
panner.
Editing enhancements
- Tools for inserting and editing audio automation and MIDI controllers - DP3
provides the following new tools for inserting and modifying audio automation
data and MIDI continuous controller data: flat line, straight line, parabola curve,
spline (with adjustable control point), free and random, as well as the following
periodic waveform tools: sine, triangle, sawtooth, and square. Users simply choose
the desired tool and drag across the track in any graphic editor. Hot keys provide
on-the-fly adjustment of period, amplitude, phase and other waveform parameters.
These tools are ideal for creating automation effects, controlling synthesizer
parameters in real time and other tasks.
- Tool palette - new tools include: arrow cursor, pencil, waveform tool, waveform
selector, rhythm brush (for painting percussive patterns in the Drum Editor),
magnifying glass, loop insert, and scrub. These tools now operate consistently
across all applicable windows. If a tool does not apply to the currently active
window, it grays out.
- Multiple MIDI tracks can be edited and displayed in one window - a new preference
allows users to display and edit multiple MIDI tracks in one Graphic Editor window.
The notes for each track are displayed in the track's color. A track selector
list is provided along the left edge of the window to show/hide tracks as desired.
Users can also choose to view each track in a separate Graphic Editor window (as
in previous versions).
- New MIDI controller editing modes - DP3 now offers three ways to view and
edit MIDI CC data: 1) DP's classic 'points' mode, 2) 'Vision-style' colored bars,
and 3) audio-style break-point automation lines. DP3 intelligently interpolates
new streams of CC data when you work with break-point automation lines. Users
can freely switch between CC edit modes at a any time, and they can choose the
desired mode independently for each MIDI track.
- MIDI controller modifying tools - scale, limit and otherwise modify midi
CC data graphically with many convenient tools: straight line, curve, sine wave,
square wave, triangle wave, sawtooth, random and free. For example, a user could
add 20% to an existing stream of controller data shaped like a sine wave. The
same hot keys mentioned earlier provide on-the-fly control of period, amplitude
and other parameters.
New Sequence Editor window
- Side-by-side display of MIDI and audio tracks - The Sequence Editor window
provides combined viewing and editing of MIDI notes, audio soundbites, audio automation
and MIDI controller data in one window along a single timeline.
- Independent vertical zooming - Both MIDI and audio tracks can be independently
resized vertically. Many zoom shortcuts are provided, including the ability to
enlarge one track and automatically scale all other tracks to fit in the window.
- Movie track - DP3's Sequence Editor includes a QuickTime movie track that
displays movie frames side by side with MIDI and audio data. DP3 intelligently
displays more frames as the user zooms in and fewer frames when the user zooms
out, so that frames are never obscured by overlapping one another.
- Complete MIDI graphic editing - The Sequence Editor provides complete MIDI
graphic editing in the same window with audio tracks. Users can scale the vertical
resolution and track height of each MIDI track on a per-track basis. For consistency,
users can choose the break-point display of MIDI controller data to match the
breakpoint automation in adjacent audio tracks.
- Complete multitrack audio editing - The new sequence editor inherits all
of the powerful audio workstation features from DP's earlier Audio Graphic Editor.
In addition, users can scale individual audio track size, and even adjust the
waveform height within each track.
New Plug-ins
DP3 ships with fifteen new plug-ins. Here are a few plug-in highlights:
- Surround speaker calibration - Users can calibrate their listening environment
for accurate, reliable surround sound monitoring.
- Bass Manager™ - DP3's Bass Manager plug-in allows users to redirect
and extend the frequency response to and from the LFE channel. This ensures that
the user has full awareness of the low-frequency content of their surround mix,
so that it can be faithfully reproduced when decoded and played back on a surround
playback device such as a home theater receiver.
- Parametric EQ Surround Edition - Provides n-channel parametric EQ for surround
mastering.
- MasterWorks™ Limiter Surround Edition - A flexible, integrated n-channel
limiter designed specifically for mastering surround mixes. Includes completely
independent LFE limiting and an assignable detector path, which allows the user
to feed any single n-speaker channel to the limiter detector path, resulting in
an entire mix that is limited based on that individual channel. For example, the
center channel could be fed to the limiter's detector path to duck the entire
surround mix for dialog on that channel. Users can also choose to limit the entire
mix based on all n-speaker channels.
- Feedback Delay Surround Edition - The surround Feedback Delay plug-in provides
detailed control over every channel in a DP3 user's surround matrix. Users can
graphically draw the path that delay taps will take as they bounce around a surround
speaker matrix. All surround formats, from LCRS to 10.2 are supported. DP3's surround
feedback delay plug-in is capable of producing a hundred discrete feedback paths.
A panic button is provided so that users can experiment freely and quickly mute
the entire plug-in if feedback gets out of control.
- MasterWorks™ Gate - The third plug-in in MOTU's premium 64-bit MasterWorks™
plug-in series, the MasterWorks Gate includes real time, look-ahead gating, which
opens the gate before the signal crosses the threshold. The look-ahead amount
(in milliseconds) can be set by the user. The MasterWorks Gate can also be triggered
by MIDI note data. For example, the user could create a drum pattern in the Drum
Editor and then feed that pattern during playback to the MasterWorks Gate, which
in turn could be applied to a continuous sound (such as a synth pad). The result
would be a percussive rhythm made up of brief snippets of the continuous sound.
- Trigger™ - This plug-in can convert audio waveform peaks in an audio
track into MIDI notes, perfect for replacing drum sounds, doubling audio percussion
parts with MIDI percussion, and other tasks.
- Plate™ - An entirely new MAS plug-in that simulates vintage plate reverbs.
- Quan Jr™ - Provides dithering and noiseshaping in a simple, low-bandwith
plug-in. Quan Jr can also be used for 'lo-fi' effects.
- MS Decoder™ - Decodes a 'mid-side' mic matrix without external hardware.
Includes adjustable stereo width control. Detailed information about this micing
technique is included on the DP3 installer disc.
QuickScribe™ notation enhancements
DP3's QuickScribe notation window provides multi-staff notation transcription
of MIDI tracks for viewing, editing and WYSIWYG printing. DP3 ads many new features
to this window, including variable on-screen zooming (with enlargement up to 700%),
paging buttons to page through the score, new dynamic symbol palettes that include
hairpin crescendos and decrescendos, context sensitive note spelling, and dynamic
hand splitting during real-time notation transcription. Also new is the switch
staff feature, which allows users to click a note on a piano (grand) staff and
send it to the opposite clef for proper hand positioning.
DP3 Availability
DP3 is expected to ship during Q2, 2001. List price is $795. Competitive cross-grades
are available, as are upgrades from previous version of Performer and Digital
Performer.
For more information, visit their web site at www.motu.com. |
