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DP's handling of MIDI and audio is excellent.

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Although you might not be intimately familiar with MOTU's Mac-only Digital Performer DAW, it's huge in the worlds of film, TV and sound design in the USA.

It's a monster of a program that combines the MIDI expertise of apps like Logic Pro with magnificent audio handling on a par with Pro Tools. There's certainly a case to be made for DP being one of the best choices for anyone seeking a new DAW, or, indeed, their first serious music application.

Overview

DP's audio recording, editing, grouping and so on are all handled very elegantly. There are also instant beat-slicing and audio quantising functions, which can give great results. Beyond that, there's real-time pitch automation on any monophonic audio track source, and individual audio clips have an optional non-destructive 'automation stream' that's applied whenever the clip plays. All of this can be quite demanding on your Mac, so you'll need a powerful machine to make the most of the more advanced real-time audio features.

MIDI tracks sit alongside audio tracks in the main Sequence and Track windows. The various editing methods cater to all tastes: event lists, graphical editors, drum-orientated step sequencers and score sheets are all here, and the depth and ease of manipulation is comparable to that of Logic Pro.

Instrument tracks are automatically twinned with MIDI channels and there are several handy instruments included in the package to cover most areas of music-making (although nothing to write home about when compared to, say, Logic's Sculpture or Pro Tools' Hybrid).

"DP's audio recording, editing, grouping and so on are all handled very elegantly. There are also instant beat-slicing and audio quantising functions, which can give great results."

One area that's always been criticised in DP is the layout of its interface. As with any software, it's bound to take a little time to become familiar with its way of working, but MOTU doesn't always make it easy for newcomers to fathom its app. Proprietary language for common elements ('Sound Bites' for audio, 'Chunks' for a group of open songs) hampers understanding, and the plethora of confusing windows can be a frightening prospect to a newbie.

On a more positive note, the consolidated window has improved no end from earlier versions, and with a bit of delving, it's not hard to get your head around the arrangement and customisation of the various tabbed window options.

Worthy of special note is the aforementioned Chunks feature - it's this that makes DP so great for live playback, film scoring and other sound design-based work. You can have any number of Chunks open within a project and each can consist of individual songs or cues. This is quicker than opening and closing separate projects because shared samples, etc, don't have to be reloaded.

What's new?

A new window tab gives you direct access to the channel strip of the selected track, much like in Logic. New on DP's channel strip are in-line EQ and dynamic controls - essentially these are just default inserts that can be switched on and off as required, which is a neat aid to working quickly and efficiently.