Changes and new features
For a comprehensive list of new features, please refer to New Features in Digital Performer 10, available in Digital Performer's Help menu, which provides the page number in the manual for each new feature.
Clips window — The Clips window is a dynamic, interactive environment for triggering audio and MIDI clips during live performance. You can prepare any number of MIDI and audio clips and then individually trigger them during playback. The Clip Editor lets you view, edit and create clips.
Audio stretch edit layer — Both the Sequence Editor and Waveform Editor have a new Stretch edit layer that allows you to grab audio beats and stretch them earlier or later in time to modify their timing.
Beat Detection Engine 2.0 — DP’s Beat Detection Engine has been re-engineered to make beat and tempo operations on rhythmic audio easier than ever.
Enhanced Waveform Editor — The Waveform Editor has been greatly enhanced and streamlined.
Content Browser — The new Content Browser gives you immediate access to assets that you can quickly drag and drop into your Digital Performer project, such as audio files, loops, plug-ins, virtual instruments and clippings.
VCA tracks — Modeled after classic analog consoles, VCA tracks allow you to control the relative level of any number of tracks from a single fader. With complete flexibility, you can control VCA tracks with other VCA tracks, creating nested sub-groups. Mix automation is maintained throughout, even for sub-grouped faders.
VST3 support — VST3 plug-ins and virtual instruments are now supported in Digital Performer.
MOTU Instruments soundbank — DP10 includes a 5.5 GB library of multi-sample instruments, synths, loops and phrases, including over 300 different instruments, 1100 instrument presets and 500 loops. Categories include acoustic and electronic drum kits,
pianos, guitars and basses, along with church organs, electric organs, strings, brass, woodwinds, synths, ethnic instruments, choirs, voices, percussion, sound effects and more. For more information, go to the Help menu in Digital Performer and choose Digital Performer Plug-ins Guide.
User interface scaling — You can now scale Digital Performer’s entire user interface, including all windows and text, larger and smaller. This is especially useful on today’s high-resolution Retina displays.
Run command window — Type shift-spacebar (or choose Setup menu > Run Command...) to open the Run Command window, which provides a command-line style interface for quick access to commands. Essentially, it’s like Spotlight (in macOS) or Windows Search (in the Start menu) for commands. Several preferences are also provided.
Enhanced Quantize — The Quantize command now offers the option to move MIDI controller data along with its associated MIDI note when it is being quantized. This allows you to preserve the timing between the note and any controller data affecting it. A separate option provides the same functionality for plug-in automation data for soundbites when they are being quantized, or even beats within soundbites.
Enhanced Groove Quantize — The Groove Quantize command now offers the same option as above for moving MIDI controller data and audio automation along with its associated MIDI notes and audio beats to help preserve the timing between them.
Alternate Tool — The new Alternate Tool can be chosen in the Control Panel and invoked using the 'x' key (or any customized keystroke), allowing you to switch quickly between the main tool and alternate tool without repeated trips to the Tool palette.
Absolute vs. relative grid snapping — Now, by default, Snap to Grid (in the Snap Information window) snaps data to the absolute time line grid. There is a new Snap Relative check box option that snaps data relative to its original position with respect to the absolute grid.
Auto Snap to Grid — Snap to Grid now has two modes: Fixed and Auto. In Fixed mode, you can specify the grid size, as usual. In Auto mode, DP chooses an appropriate grid size based on the zoom level of the edit window you are working in.
Incremental transport cueing — In Digital Performer’s main transport controls, the cueing buttons (fast/slow forward and rewind) can now be configured to cue in fixed increments in any time format. For example, you can program the slow forward/rewind buttons to cue by one measure and the fast forward/rewind buttons to cue by four measures. You can also cue by any number of beats, ticks, frames and seconds.
Region command presets — You can now create and save presets for Region menu commands such as Quantize, Transpose, Change Duration and Split Notes.
Event list “quick” filter — The event list now displays a “quick filter” section at the top of the list to easily hide types of data temporarily.
Effects inserts in the Sequence Editor — The Sequence Editor now displays effects inserts in an expandable panel to the right of the track settings panel.
Enhanced track reordering — You can now select multiple tracks in the Track list (even a non-contiguous selection of tracks) and then drag them together as a group up or down in the Track list to move them all to the destination location in one step.
Overdub recording of MIDI CC data — When overdub recording MIDI continuous controller data, existing data in the track is now replaced by new data according to the track’s automation mode setting (Touch, Latch, etc.)
Enhanced track data clippings — Clippings that consist of track data can be dragged and dropped into the Track List, Track Overview and Sequence Editor. When doing so, you can now simultaneously create new tracks and drop at a specific location on the time line, in one operation. In addition, any busing between multiple tracks within the clipping is preserved.
Consolidated zoom menus — The zoom menus in the Sequence Editor, Drum Editor, MIDI Editor and Waveform Editor have been consolidated into a single menu item in the main menu bar (View > Zoom).
Enhanced soundbite dragging — When dragging soundbites in the Sequence Editor to move them, Digital Performer now displays their complete waveform while dragging to make it easier to align the waveform with surrounding tracks. In addition, a new information tab appears while dragging to convey metrics such as the new position, offset, start time and end time.
New MIDI note display preferences — There are several new preferences for the way MIDI notes can be displayed in the Graphic Editor note grid. For example, you can display the MIDI note number and on-velocity bar inside the note.
Canceling while dragging — You can now cancel in the middle of a dragging operation by pressing the escape key.
Cell focus — When a cell in the Consolidated Window becomes the focused cell (by clicking its title bar), it now displays a color-configurable border around the outside edges of the cell, to more clearly indicate that the cell has the focus.
Bite Gain fader — When audio tracks are resized vertically in the Sequence Editor, and expanded far enough, each soundbite displays its Bite Gain setting and fader in the bottom left corner.
Playback wiper snaps to grid — When you drag the playback wiper, it now respects grid snapping, if enabled. To disable wiper snapping at any time, simply hold the
command key (control key on Windows).