MOTU's Digital Performer (from another Cakewalk refugee)

[Leee1102]

Since Cakewalk made it's announcement that they are closing down shop, I (along with many other Cakewalk refugees) have been downloading trial versions of various DAWs to see which one's we may eventually migrate to. Along with Studio One, Ardour, and a couple of others, I also gave MOTU's Digital Performer a try.

I checked with other Cakewalk users who also downloaded DP, and we all basically have the same complaint:
The text size in the interface is WAY too small. It can barely be read, even on large, hi-def monitors.
And the options to make the font size larger or smaller are grayed out.

Question for any Digital Performer users: Is this option grayed out only on the trial versions?
Can you actually make the font size larger? If the answer is no, then that's a deal breaker for me.
It seems like a good DAW, but I really can't successfully try it out without being able to read the buttons on the interface!

[sfxsound3]

Since Cakewalk made it's announcement that they are closing down shop

Gibson made an announcement that they're stopping the development of Cakewalk products. Somebody in Cakewalk also made a statement and mentioned a 'transition phase'. If you have assets that can be sold for money AND you need money... you sell them, NOT throw them out.

You can't abandon your DAW just like that - if you have been serious about using it. It will still work years into the future.

To the question: text size is a major complaint from many DP users. It's old code, like ancient code. Will this be addressed at some point? Who knows?

[lfm]

Biggest flaw for me with DP(tested both 8 n early 9 on windows) - recorded midi does not become clips, like audio do.

Everything midi becomes just those midi CC/notes on a timeline.
And you have to learn a dozen key commands so select what you want to work on.

I just feel it is so useful to get container for what is recorded - even for midi.
Never saw anything like in DP anywhere else. Really odd.

One thing I really like about DP is chunks, and being able to reuse a section/chunk in various places and other projects too.

DP also were alone for custom patterns for metronome/click - but Cubase 9.5 remedied that really well.
Cubase also has something that reminds of DP chunks - arranger tracks.

Another downside with DP - they never bothered to get Waves VST officially supported for windows.
And at the time(two years ago now) it were not so well optimized for windows, at least.
About double cpu compared to competition( about 50% more than ProTools, also a bit of cpu hog).

[Leee1102]

lfm: Thanks for your reply. I appreciate it!
Unfortunately I've decided to give it a pass. I already uninstalled the demo because I already have trouble with my eyesight, and trying to read that super small font was just making my eyes glaze over. So right now, I've narrowed my alternate choices between Mixcraft and Studio One. Neither of them are as good (IMHO) as Sonar Platinum, which I'll keep on using until it doesn't work anymore.

But thanks again for your thoughts and observations!

[Leee1102]

Since Cakewalk made it's announcement that they are closing down shop

Gibson made an announcement that they're stopping the development of Cakewalk products. Somebody in Cakewalk also made a statement and mentioned a 'transition phase'. If you have assets that can be sold for money AND you need money... you sell them, NOT throw them out.

You can't abandon your DAW just like that - if you have been serious about using it. It will still work years into the future.

To the question: text size is a major complaint from many DP users. It's old code, like ancient code. Will this be addressed at some point? Who knows?

I didn't make that comment about Cakewalk closing down shop lightly. I am thoroughly depressed about this. It feels like I lost an old friend. But whether I quote from Gibson's announcement or Cakewalk's comments, the bottom line is that the majority of Cakewalk employees have been let go. The company will soon cease to exist. For awhile I was holding out hope and trying to read between the lines, and clinging on to phrases like "transition phase" and "Monthly updates to SONAR from Cakewalk will however cease during this time."

But I think we're just fooling ourselves that Cakewalk will be resurrected or purchased by another company. You don't fire all your employees and stop selling your products if there's a chance that the company will continue. I could be wrong, I hope I am. But I'm going to cover my bases either way.
One bad Windows update by Microsoft, could screw up Sonar completely. And if that happens I want to have a backup DAW to go to. I'll continue to use Sonar, but it doesn't hurt to start learning how to use another DAW program.

[tooneba]

Regarding Studio One you can't increase the text size on the piano roll label of drum track. It's absurdly small.

[Romantique Tp]

The text looks HORRIBLE on Windows.

I've used Digital Performer a few times in the past and the way certain things are implemented makes it seem like this DAW was developed in an underground cave isolated from civilization. They only began borrowing concepts from other DAWs again very recently.

The chunks concept is useful for scoring and some of the stock plugins are pretty nice, but overall I think that Cubase runs circles around DP.