MAS Power
Mar 1, 2003 12:00 PM, By Erik Hawkins
Every digital-audio sequencer has its own unique bag of tricks. Sometimes, it manifests as features that the competition lacks; other times, it's a totally original way of doing a common task. MOTU's Digital Performer has a wealth of such tricks in both categories. If you already use Digital Performer, you probably know what I'm talking about, but chances are, there are still some tricks up this program's sleeves that you may not be aware of. If you're still trying to find your digital-audio sequencer soul mate, this article will likely open your eyes to the program's many powerful features and user-friendly interface.
Digital Performer has a long history within the industry. It has been a staple application in my production studio since I connected MIDI instruments to an 8MHz Mac SE computer. That was nearly 10 years ago, when the program just sequenced MIDI, no audio yet. Since then, Digital Performer has evolved into a fully integrated audio-production powerhouse. And its MIDI sequencer hasn't fallen by the wayside, either; it, too, has grown markedly alongside the audio.
The latest version to drop is 3.1, and it's packed full of fresh new features, such as unlimited, branched undo and REX-audio-file support. The program is still exclusively Mac, which is unfortunate for PC users. Version 3.1 is compatible with OS 9.2.x; OS X compatibility is promised soon — possibly by the time you're reading this.
REX AND ACID IN EFFECT
In the beginning, the REX format was only supported by one digital-audio sequencer, Steinberg's Cubase VST. But the format, developed by Propellerhead in cooperation with Steinberg, was just too cool to ignore indefinitely: Digital Performer can now import REX files, as well.
Because the format has been around for a while, there has been ample time for boatloads of great REX libraries to float down river and into your favorite music stores. In fact, version 3.1 ships with a sample CD-ROM that contains bunches of REX files from several top-notch libraries, including AMG, PowerFX, SonicStop and Sonomic. There are lots of drum loops and a smattering of synth and instrument lines that will have you experimenting with REX files straight out of the box.
To place a REX file in your Digital Performer session, simply drag it from your desktop and drop it into an audio track. The only thing to keep in mind is that there are mono and stereo REX file types, and you can't drop a mono type into a stereo audio track or vice versa. You can often tell which is which by the file's extension: The original .rex files are mono, whereas the new .rx2 files support stereo. Digital Performer converts the REX file's slices to a series of consecutive sound bites that mirror the original loop. You can change Digital Performer's tempo, and the converted loop's tempo will follow because the individual sound bites stay locked at their relative bar, beat and tick positions. You can also mute, edit and arrange the sound bites.
Acidized loops are WAV sound files that have been trimmed to the perfect loop and include the loop's tempo as part of the file's information. Although they were originally developed to be used with Sonic Foundry Acid, any program that supports WAV documents can read them. However, not every program can put the tempo information to good use. Digital Performer 3.1 can use the tempo information as a starting point for automatically time-stretching (or compressing) acidized loops to your project's tempo.
To make the time compression and expansion automatic, you must set the Convert to Sequence Tempo function to When Bite Is Added to a Track. You'll find that in the sound bite's minimenu under Automatic Conversions. Once that is set, importing an Acidized loop and converting it to your session's tempo is as easy as dragging-and-dropping a file from your desktop into an audio track. Most Acidized loops are stereo, so try dragging the file to a stereo track first before you drag it to a mono track.
Like REX libraries, a ton of great Acid libraries are available. The same sample CD-ROM with the REX loops also has a collection of Acidized loops. Both REX and Acidized WAV files are offered for some loops. Just remember: Although you will have complete tempo control of a converted REX loop, you don't have the same flexibility with a time-stretched (or compressed) WAV file.
GET YOUR GROOVE ON
Groove templates are essential when working with REX files and MIDI parts. A custom groove template can function as the glue that locks the feel of several different loops into a single tight, cohesive groove. For example, you could lock MIDI kick and hi-hat parts to a REX file's groove. Digital Performer comes with several nice presets, including LinnDrum, Akai MPC and the venerable DNA grooves. You can extract and save your own grooves from any MIDI track or the sound bites of a converted REX loop.
To create a custom groove template, select the bars of the track you want the groove based on. Then, choose Create Groove from the main Region menu. Assign your meter and note divisions (16th notes work in most cases) and give the template a name. To apply your groove template, select the region you want to “groove-quantize” and choose Groove Quantize from the Region menu. You can groove quantize sound bites and MIDI notes and data. Before writing it to your track, it's possible to preview a groove template's effect when the Instant Preview button is checked in the Groove Quantize window. The exact feeling of the groove quantize can be adjusted using timing, velocity and duration sliders that appear when you press the More Choices button.
DRUM DREAMS
Digital Performer has a great-looking and user-friendly built-in drum programming window called the Drum Editor (see Fig. 1). It lets you see your notes on a grid, complete with LEDs that blink at each passing beat, in the style of a classic Roland drum machine. Grid size can be freely adjusted from whole to 64th notes, but it is probably the most useful set to 16th notes. Events can be displayed as just the note on, note on with velocity, or note on with velocity and duration. One of the best features of the Drum Editor is that each note on a track has its own subtrack (row). That lets you easily name, mute, quantize and groove-quantize the performance for each drum sample on a note-per-note basis.
Programming beats in the Drum Editor is as simple as opening its window, choosing the Pencil tool from the Tool Palette and drawing in beats. A more advanced method of programming is to use the Rhythm Brush tool to quickly “paint” in preset rhythms. You can use the presets that come with Digital Performer (they're in the Extras folder within the Custom Rhythm Brushes folder of the program's main CD-ROM) or create your own. When you choose the Rhythm Brush from the Tool Palette, its parameters appear below the tracks in the Drum Editor. Just make sure to click Custom for the Rhythm choice; then, you can choose a preset from the Select a Rhythmic Pattern submenu. If you don't see any presets, they may not be properly loaded; directions for this operation are also in the Custom Rhythm Brushes folder.
VST INSTRUMENT ADVANTAGE
Many virtual instruments support MAS, the MOTU Audio System engine. The audio outputs of these instruments can be fed directly into Digital Performer's mixer, and MIDI control of the instrument can also be gained from within Digital Performer. However, as cool as MAS instruments are, VST Instruments are more convenient. While MAS instruments must be opened as separate applications each time you boot up Digital Performer and must remain open in the background, VST Instruments operate just like effect plug-ins: Insert a VST Instrument and save it with your project — that's it, no additional applications to open or set up.
However, Digital Performer does't directly support VST plug-ins, so you'll need to use a VST plug-in shell. One of the best is Audio Ease's VST Wrapper (version 3.01 and higher), which supports VST Instruments and effects. It's only $39 and can be purchased and downloaded at www.audioease.com. With VST Wrapper in your MOTU plug-ins folder, all of the VST effects and instrument plug-ins in your VST plug-ins folder are available as inserts. If you plan to use several virtual instruments at the same time, I suggest purchasing the fastest computer you can afford, because they do eat up a lot of processing power. A powerful computer — say, a dual 800 MHz or faster — will also let you set the Samples Per Buffer in the Configure Hardware Driver dialog to 256k or less for the lowest latency possible.
You can insert a VST Instrument on either an aux or a disk track. Aux channels have Solo Exempt enabled by default, letting you solo an instrument's MIDI track without muting its associated audio channel. When you insert an instrument on a disk track, you don't need to record-enable the channel to hear the instrument. Once an instrument is inserted, it automatically appears among your MIDI output choices. If you're having problems getting an instrument's MIDI output to show up, make sure that you have the latest version of the plug-in and that your MIDI communications program is up-to-date. You should also make sure that the Interapplication MIDI preference is checked in FreeMIDI. VST Wrapper works with FreeMIDI and OMS.
GOOD REASON
Propellerhead's Reason 2.0 packs one of the hottest racks of virtual instruments on the market. If you're going to have a bunch of software instruments running in the background, go for Reason. Its assortment of sound modules and effects can be routed directly into Digital Performer's mixer, and its instruments can be controlled from Digital Performer's sequencer. I've found that a rack of Reason instruments can be less of a drain on your computer's CPU than a comparable number of VST Instruments. Having several virtual samplers, synths, REX-file players and drum machines open at the same time in Reason, with automation capabilities for practically every instrument parameter using Digital Performer's sequencer, is a mighty powerful setup.
Getting Reason 2.0 to operate as a fully functional ReWire slave (audio and MIDI) with Digital Performer is a tricky procedure. First, make sure that the ReWire extension (I recommend version 1.4.2 or higher) is properly installed in your System Extensions folder. (You should install it when you install Reason.) Make sure that Play in Background is enabled in Digital Performer's Preferences. I highly recommend using FreeMIDI only if you plan to use Reason with Digital Performer, because OMS can introduce problems with this setup. (If you have OMS installed, turn it off and create a separate FreeMIDI extension set.) The FreeMIDI Preferences must be set for FreeMIDI Applications Only and to allow Interapplication MIDI.
Here's the tricky part: Reason uses OMS for its MIDI communications. To fool the program into thinking OMS is available, you'll need to use MOTU's old OMS Emulator extension. This extension was part of FreeMIDI in the days before it could use OMS directly (which it can do now). OMS Emulator is no longer part of the FreeMIDI installer pack, but I've posted version 1.3.1 at my Website (www.muzicali.com/erikhawkins_articleextras.html) for you to download. Once it's installed and you've restarted your computer, Reason should boot normally. FreeMIDI will automatically subscribe to the ReWire engine, and MIDI channels 1 through 16 for Reason will appear in Digital Performer's MIDI output choices. Reason's audio-out channels will appear as input choices for Digital Performer's aux and audio channels.
In Reason's preferences, go to the Advanced MIDI dialog and set External Control, Bus A (the other buses aren't presently available) and Miscellaneous, Remote Control to Digital Performer (see Fig. 2). Make sure that each instrument in Reason is assigned its own MIDI channel in the rack's MIDI In Device for Bus A. Also, make sure that each instrument is patched to an audio output. In Digital Performer, create an aux channel and assign it the Reason Audio Output for the instrument you want to hear. Create a MIDI track and select the Reason instrument's MIDI channel. Record-enable the MIDI track, and you should hear the Reason instrument. Now, you can process the instrument's audio with Digital Performer's great effects plug-ins and automate its parameters using controller curves right inside Digital Performer's Graphic Editor (see Fig. 3).
There are some things to keep in mind when using Reason in ReWire slave mode with Digital Performer: Always launch Digital Performer first and Reason second. To shut down, quit Reason first and then Digital Performer. Play and Stop transport control can be handled from either program. Loop points and tempo are set for both programs, from either program — watch out for this, it can be confusing if the loop and tempo of your Reason file are set to something different than Digital Performer. To play back an instrument's pattern (for example, a Dr. REX Loop Player or ReDrum Drum Computer pattern) from Digital Performer, use Reason's Copy Pattern to Track function to transfer the pattern to its sequencer and export the sequence as a Standard MIDI File (SMF). Then, you can drag-and-drop the SMF document into the appropriate MIDI tracks in Digital Performer.
TAKE AFTER TAKE
Have you ever wished for a way to record bunches of audio takes without cluttering up your hard drive? Polar, a RAM-based loop-recording tool that is exclusive to Digital Performer, is the answer (see Fig. 4). It's hands down one of the coolest recording tools I've ever used. With its own dedicated window and plug-in-like design, its controls are easy to understand. Use Polar to quickly record a bunch of takes into your computer's RAM; then, save just the takes that are keepers to your hard drive. Playback is synchronized, so you can jam along with your Digital Performer project while you record and audition takes. Looping and recording is seamless and instantaneous: Because the entire operation takes place in RAM, your computer doesn't waste any time searching and writing to its hard drive.
To have the most recording time possible in Polar, your computer should be loaded with as much system RAM as it will hold. Allocating a minimum of Memory Requirements to Digital Performer and using a bare-bones system extension set also helps to free up RAM resources. Polar is not available in DAE mode, because it depends on the MAS engine. For best results, I recommend recording to Polar through one of MOTU's audio interfaces (such as the 828 and 896 FireWire units).
You can find Polar under the Windows main menu. Its playback mode (like whether Memory Cycle loop is on or off) is a mirror of the main Control Panel. From Polar's front panel, you can assign input-record and output-monitor sources. The input source can be mono or stereo, and there's a level control for Polar's main output. Polar can begin recording automatically at the first sound it hears. The Record Gate Threshold parameter lets you adjust the start-recording sensitivity. While recording this way, each newly recorded pass is auto-incremented. Recording can also be started manually by pressing Polar's Record button. When you record this way, one pass is continually recorded over, causing a cumulative overdubbing effect, until you press the New pass button or leave record.
To write Polar's passes to your hard drive, choose the passes you want to keep by play-enabling only those passes; then, press Polar's Print button. If the passes are short, writing them to your drive is immediate. You can choose to have the passes automatically named (Polar-1, Polar-2 and so on) and added to the Tracks window or just placed in the project's sound bites' pool for dragging into your arrangement later. Passes can be printed individually or comped together as a single take, with each pass having its own level and pan right in Polar. And there's no need to decide right away which passes you want to keep, because a Polar session can be saved as its own file type separate from the Digital Performer project it was recorded in.
DOING THE UNDO
Most programs have some sort of undo function; many even feature multiple levels of undo and redo. Version 3.1 of Digital Performer introduces branched undo. Branching is what happens when you jump back in time, to a particular action and then begin a new set of actions from that point. Digital Performer can remember every branch of actions in a project, and the branching undo and redo history is saved as part of the project. Even after working on a project during the course of several months, it's possible to return to any point in the project since it was started.
Under the Edit main menu, you'll find the Undo History window, where all of a project's actions up to the present, including branches, can be viewed (see Fig. 5). Every action is given a short but descriptive name and is time-stamped. If you know that your project was sounding really great at a particular point in time, you can jump back in time to that exact point. Of course, such a comprehensive undo feature can eat up a lot of memory, so preferences exist for choosing the number and type of actions that will be remembered and for how long they will be remembered.
The quickest way to skip forward and backward through your undo history is with keyboard shortcuts. Command + Option + Z steps you backward in time while Shift + Command + Z steps you forward. Command + Z still functions as usual: to undo or redo your last action. If you want to jump directly to a particular time, or revisit a specific branch, simply double-click on the action where you want to be in the Undo History window. Each audio file also has an undo history separate from the project's undo history. A button for the audio file's Undo History window is found in its Waveform Editor window. A Polar session also has its own Undo History window, though its history cannot be saved with the Polar session.
PROPS AND ACCOLADES
Digital Performer is deep, and I've only covered a few of its many noteworthy features. I'll just name-drop a few of the other cool features to give you a taste of what I'm talking about: Users can import and export OMF files; drag-and-drop audio files between a supported hardware sampler and DP3; build MIDI control consoles to program your external sound modules; draw controller curves using bpm-grid-based, periodic waveshapes; and create killer harmony parts using Spectral Effects (see Fig. 6). Furthermore, DP3 offers DAE mode for use with Digidesign's TDM and HD products, awesome stock MIDI and audio effect plug-ins, as well as support for Mackie Control surfaces and Synchroarts VocAlign audio-alignment software. The next version of DP for Mac OS X will also support ReWire 2.0 and the Audio Units plug-in format.
Of course, none of those features mean much if a program's user interface is lacking. Fortunately, not only is Digital Performer's user interface easy on the eyes, it's very intuitive. Rarely do I find myself frustrated and searching for a menu item or a way to do something. And its 900-plus-page User Guide is without a doubt one of the best manuals in the industry — accurately documenting such a huge program is a laudable feat. So whether you already use Digital Performer, I hope this article has illustrated this digital-audio sequencer's amazing production powers.
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