Digital Performer

Digital audio workstation and sequencer

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Digital Performer

Developer(s)| MOTU
Stable release|

11.23 / October 2023; 1 year ago (2023-10)

Operating system| Mac OS X
Microsoft Windows
Type| MIDI sequencer \+ digital audio workstation
License| Proprietary
Website| www.motu.com/products/software/dp/

Digital Performer is a digital audio workstation and music sequencer software package published by Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU) of Cambridge, Massachusetts for the Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows platforms.

## Ancestry

[edit]

In 1984, Mark of the Unicorn released Professional Composer, one of the first application programs for the Apple Macintosh. The program used the Macintosh's high-resolution graphics and printing to allow the user to print professional quality music scores.

In 1985, the company released a music sequencer named Performer, also based on the Macintosh platform, for arranging and performing with synthesizers and other devices which recognized the then-newly developed MIDI standard. Sending a series of numerical values, such a sequencer could direct many instruments, commanding which notes to play, at what loudness, and for how long to sustain them. There are many deep features in the MIDI protocol; MOTU developed extended capabilities in Digital Performer for handling these controllers and other actions (including remote operation of the software itself) through user-customizable graphical consoles, allowing the operator direct access to deeper features of instruments, stage lighting and various types of machines, all via MIDI interfaces and custom graphic buttons and sliders.

## Digital Audio Workstation (DAW)

[edit]

In 1990, MOTU added the ability to synchronise audio (digital audio) to Performer and released it as "Digital Performer," months after Opcode added this capability to Vision. Digital Performer was originally designed as a front-end to Digidesign's Audiomedia hard disk recording system, which later became Pro Tools. Digital Performer's specific appeal was its MIDI environment, which was fitted into the same transport system as the audio environment. This enabled users to record their MIDI instruments and mix the results with other live audio recorded in the studio (or vice versa). Personal computers of this time were too slow to handle high quality recording via their own CPU, so the addition of Digital signal processing co-processor cards was necessary to create a functioning audio recording studio. As the Mac's CPU became powerful enough to record the digitized audio directly to hard disk, the DSP cards were gradually rendered unnecessary. Foreseeing this, MOTU created its own Motu Audio System (MAS) which helped Digital Performer to tap the Macintosh's native power to record music directly to its own hard drive without the need for external co-processing and dedicated drives. By 2000, Digital Performer allowed users to record, mix, and master audio for commercial releases.

## Version history

[edit]

Version 3 of Digital Performer was the last to run on Mac OS 9, the Classic Macintosh operating system. After a complete rewrite, MOTU released Digital Performer 4.0 in May 2003, which ran exclusively on Mac OS X.

Beginning with version 4.5, MOTU introduced a number of important new features to Digital Performer. The two most important of these are built in pitch correction capability, and the professional Masterworks EQ plugin. Beginning with version 5.0, MOTU also introduced a set of virtual instruments. The software was updated to version 5.13 on 19 November 2007 to provide compatibility with Mac OS X v10.5. and available in Universal Binary.

Version 7.2 was introduced in 2010. Digital Performer remains one of the popular audio workstations on the Macintosh. Faster Apple CPUs continue to increase its capacity and performance. Chief among its competition on the Macintosh platform are Pro Tools and Apple's Logic.[citation needed]

In October 2012, MOTU released Digital Performer 8 for OSX. Digital Performer 8 is available on Windows as well.[1]

Version 9 of Digital Performer was released in June 2015 for Mac OS X and Windows. This version contains workflow enhancements, some new effect plugins, including emulations of the 1176 Peak Limiter and Craig Anderton's MultiFuzz. MOTU also included a 64-bit version of its software synth (synthesizer) MX4 which used to be sold as a stand-alone product.[2]

Version 10 of Digital Performer was released in February 2019 for Mac OS X and Windows. This version includes a new 5 GB instruments soundbank, a time/pitch audio stretching feature, and a real time loop triggering function.[3]

## AudioDesk

[edit]

AudioDesk is a more basic version of MOTU's Digital Performer for mac only. It is a multi-track recording, editing, and mixing application, with both offline file-based processing and realtime effects. Much of the graphical user interface (GUI) and its operation are similar to Digital Performer, although it lacks some of Digital Performer's features. Most notably, it does not include MIDI sequencing capabilities, and thus does not include some of Digital Performer's MIDI-specific editing windows. Also, AudioDesk is only available as a bundled application with MOTU audio interfaces; this also means that AudioDesk requires a MOTU audio interface to be used as its soundcard.

AudioDesk version 1 was first released in 1998, as bundled software with the MOTU 2408 PCI-based audio interface. Version 1 is compatible with the Classic Mac OS. Version 2 for Mac OS X was released in 2003, with numerous updates (many of which corresponded to updates from Digital Performer 3 for the Classic Mac OS to Digital Performer 4 for Mac OS X).

## Awards and recognition

[edit]

2001 Electronic Musician Editors Choice Awards

* Best Digital Audio Workstation/Audio Interface[4]

2002 Electronic Musician Editors Choice Awards

* Best Digital Audio Workstation/Audio Interface[5]

2004 Electronic Musician Editors Choice Awards

* Best Digital Audio Workstation/Audio Interface[6]

2010 Electronic Musician Editors Choice Awards

* Best Digital Audio Workstation/Audio Interface[7]

## Notable users

[edit]

Some notable users include:

* Alexandre Desplat[8]
* Steven Bryant
* Hermitude[9]
* John Adams[10]
* Juno Reactor
* Don Davis[11]
* Danny Elfman[12]
* Sparks[13]
* Michael Giacchino[14]
* Scott Gibbons[15]
* Elliot Goldenthal[16]
* Paul Hipp[citation needed]
* Geddy Lee[17]
* Pat Metheny[18]
* Joe Renzetti[citation needed]
* Brad Gillis[19]
* David Bryan[20]
* Yasunori Mitsuda[21]
* Matmos[22]
* Autechre[23]
* They Might Be Giants[24]
* Alan Menken[25]
* Roger O'Donnell[26]
* Kenji Kawai[27]
* Howard Shore[28]
* Bob Sinclar[29]
* Bear McCreary[30]
* Hideki Naganuma[31]
* Wendy Carlos[32]
* Trevor Rabin[33]

## See also

[edit]

* Music portal

* Ableton Live
* Cubase
* Nuendo
* Logic Pro
* Pro Tools
* REAPER
* Reason
* Samplitude
* Cakewalk by BandLab
* Acid Pro
* FL Studio
* LMMS

## Bibliography

[edit]

* Ben Newhouse: Producing Music with Digital Performer. Berklee Press u. a., Boston MA u. a. 2004, ISBN 0-87639-056-4

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "MOTU.com – Download". motu.com. Archived from the original on 31 December 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
2. ^ "MOTU.com – Overview". motu.com. Archived from the original on 30 December 2004. Retrieved 2 January 2005.
3. ^ "MOTU.com – Digital Performer 10". motu.com. Archived from the original on 19 December 2019.
4. ^ "2001 Editors Choice Awards". Archived from the original on 30 October 2007.
5. ^ "Editor's Choice Awards 2002". Archived from the original on 30 December 2007.
6. ^ "Electronic Musician 2004 Editors Choice Awards". Archived from the original on 29 December 2007.
7. ^ samples, Electronic Musician – featuring gear reviews, audio tutorials, loops and. "Electronic Musician – featuring gear reviews, audio tutorials, loops and samples > defaultpage". emusician.com. Archived from the original on 16 November 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2017.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
8. ^ "MOTU.com – And the Oscar goes to...Alexandre Desplat". motu.com. Archived from the original on 5 May 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
9. ^ "Want to know how we made 'The Buzz'?". Archived from the original on 22 December 2021. Retrieved 20 May 2020 – via YouTube.
10. ^ "John Adams on his Violin Concerto". Earbox. Archived from the original on 20 December 2007. Retrieved 31 December 2007.
11. ^ "Digital Performer for Film Scoring". MOTU. Archived from the original on 12 March 2007. Retrieved 19 May 2007.
12. ^ "Danny Elfman: Building Music for the Movies". Apple Inc. Archived from the original on 2 April 2007. Retrieved 19 May 2007.
13. ^ "TalkTime: Ron and Russell Mael". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
14. ^ "Digital Performer Scores the Impossible". MOTU. Archived from the original on 15 June 2011. Retrieved 9 March 2010.
15. ^ "Scott Gibbons of Orbitronik, Lilith and Strawberry". Last Sigh. Archived from the original on 21 May 2008. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
16. ^ "DPUser Update: Elliot Goldenthal". Digital Performer Users. 11 July 2006. Archived from the original on 28 March 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2007.
17. ^ "Geddy Lee – Off the Record". Anthem Entertainment. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
18. ^ "First Look: Pat Metheny". MOTU. Archived from the original on 4 June 2008. Retrieved 8 July 2008.
19. ^ "'62 Strat, '86 Fernandes Brad Gillis Model, a Gibson Moderne and More". Gearwire. Archived from the original on 16 September 2008. Retrieved 11 July 2008.
20. ^ "DPUser Update: David Bryan". Digital Performer Users. Archived from the original on 10 June 2007. Retrieved 19 May 2007.
21. ^ "Le journal de Mitsuda » Blog Archiv » ProTools 11". kijimuna.fr. Archived from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
22. ^ "Matmos". Sound on Sound. Archived from the original on 20 November 2008. Retrieved 30 November 2007.
23. ^ "Autechre". watmm.com. Archived from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
24. ^ "Conversing With Giants". Electronic Musician. Archived from the original on 4 November 2008. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
25. ^ Musical Talk podcast 15/01/08 Archived 13 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine
26. ^ "Used on demos for Disintegration (The Cure album)". Fiction Records. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
27. ^ "Profile". kenjikawai.com. Archived from the original on 14 April 2010. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
28. ^ Howard Shore
29. ^ "Vous avez interviewé le DJ Bob Sinclar, pour son nouvel album "Paris By Night"". 20 minutes. France. Archived from the original on 16 April 2014. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
30. ^ "I Am Bear McCreary (@bearmccreary), composer for "Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome," "The Walking Dead" and other cool stuff. AMA! • r/IAmA". reddit. 30 November 2012. Archived from the original on 27 November 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
31. ^ 英樹, HIDEKI NAGANUMA｜長沼. "Many people asked me "Which DAW do you use to make music.?" I answered "I use Digital Performer". But no one tried to use Digital Performer". Archived from the original on 19 October 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
32. ^ "Wendy Carlos on MotU's DP". www.wendycarlos.com. Retrieved 5 March 2025.
33. ^ Kirn, Peter (17 August 2006). "Music of Snakes on a Plane: Trevor Rabin, Former Yes-Man Now a Mac-Using Composer". CDM Create Digital Music. Retrieved 31 July 2025.

## External links

[edit]

* Digital Performer website
* MOTUNation.com Digital Performer user group
* Digital Performer 5 review by Music Tech Magazine writer Keith Gemmell
* DP Tips--Techniques and tips to enhance knowledge of Digital Performer's many features
* Digital Performer How-To database

* v
* t
* e

Audio editing software

Free and open-source|

* Ardour
* Audacity
* Ecasound
* Gnome Wave Cleaner
* Jokosher
* LMMS
* MusE
* Qtractor
* Rosegarden
* SoX
* Sweep
* Traverso
* WaveSurfer

Proprietary|

* Ableton Live
* Acid Pro
* Acoustica
* Adobe Audition
* Anvil Studio
* AudioDesk
* Bitwig Studio
* Cakewalk by BandLab
* CapCut
* DC-Art
* Digital Performer
* FL Studio
* FL Studio Mobile
* GarageBand
* GoldWave
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* KRISTAL Audio Engine
* Logic Pro
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* Mixcraft
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* Z-Maestro
* Zynewave Podium

Defunct|

* Adobe Soundbooth
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* Ensoniq Paris
* Logic Express
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* Record
* SoundDroid
* SoundEdit
* Soundscape Digital Technology
* Soundscape R.Ed
* Soundtrack Pro
* TC Works Spark

See also|

* Comparison of digital audio editors
* Comparison of free software for audio
* List of music software
* List of Linux audio software
* Comparison of MIDI editors and sequencers

* Comparison
* Category

* v
* t
* e

Digital audio workstations

Free and Open-Source|

* Ardour
* BespokeSynth
* LMMS
* MusE
* Qtractor
* Rosegarden
* Traverso

Proprietary|

* Ableton Live
* ACID Pro
* Adobe Audition
* Anvil Studio
* BandLab
* Bitwig Studio
* Cakewalk by BandLab
* Digital Performer
* FL Studio
* FL Studio Mobile
* GarageBand
* Harrison Mixbus
* Logic Pro
* MAGIX Samplitude
* Making Waves
* Mixcraft
* MuLab
* MultitrackStudio
* n-Track Studio
* Pro Tools
* Reason
* Renoise
* SAWStudio
* Steinberg Cubase
* Steinberg Nuendo
* Steinberg WaveLab
* Studio One
* Tracktion
* Z-Maestro
* Zynewave Podium

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