MOTU releases Digital Performer 9.5 with ZTX Pro Time-stretching and Pitch-shifting Technology

MOTU is now shipping Digital Performer 9.5, a free update at motu.com/download for all DP9 owners. Version 9.5 introduces ZTX PRO technology: cutting-edge audio time-stretching and pitch-shifting DSP developed and refined through years of advanced R&D by the renowned engineering team at Zynaptiq.

ZTX Pro time-stretching

ZTX Pro has been deployed throughout Digital Performer 9.5 wherever audio time-stretching can be applied and produces dramatically improved results, even when slowing down or speeding up audio by extreme amounts. Users will experience state-of-the-art time-stretching quality on any type of audio material: drum loops, solo instruments, multi-timbral material, vocals, full mixes, mono, stereo, n-channel, etc. Users can easily conform imported loops and audio clips to their project tempo, apply wholesale tempo adjustments to entire mixes, create conductor track tempo maps (including gradual tempo changes) and many other operations that alter the length and speed of audio clips.

ZTX Pro pitch-shifting and relative pitch editing

ZTX Pro pitch-shifting provides extremely high-quality pitch-shifting on both monophonic and multi-timbral audio material, even full mixes. Formant-corrected or standard pitch-shifting can be applied as desired. Global preferences can be set, with the ability to specify the pitch-shifting mode for any individual audio clip. A new relative pitch editing layer in the Sequence Editor allows users to graphically transpose any audio material up or down by interval using a draggable pitch bar or a pencil tool for fine-tuned pitch correction, adding or removing vibrato and so on.

ZTX Pro quality presets

ZTX Pro quality presets allow users to achieve the best results for a wide variety of audio material, including "solo" for monophonic material and "efficient" for fast processing that adapts variably to the characteristics of the audio signal. PureDSP pitch-shifting has been preserved as an additional option, as it often produces best results on solo vocals (or other monophonic instruments), especially when fine-tuning vocals.

Effect performance

DP 9.5 also adds a new Effect Performance window, which monitors the processing load of all currently instantiated virtual instruments and effects plug-ins, allowing users to identify and manage plug-ins that impose high processing demands on their computer. Plug-ins can be sorted by name, processor load or the exact location (bar and beat) in the sequence time line at which they reach peak processing. Each plug-in is identified as either pre-gen or real-time, with hints as to why any plug-ins are currently running in real time.

Availability

DP 9.5 is now available as a free download for all DP9 owners at motu.com/download. Anyone else can run the same free download as a 30-day trial version. Upgrades from previous versions, or a competitive DAW, are available in the MOTU store.