I've been producing and recording with Digital Performer since 2005. Never had any issues with the sound quality.

The included virtual instruments haven't really been useful for me. The only one i used consistently is the nanosampler, although i now play my drum samples through Battery 3. I don't play guitar, so the included guitar effects would not be useful for me. Although i don't do any heavy duty mixing, the including effects are very helpful for my rough mixes, particularly the reverbs and compression.

I've heard DP is not user friendly, but for me, it's much easier to use than Logic(i have a copy of Logic 8 that i use occasionally). Things seem easier to locate in DP, in my opinion. The learning curve for Logic seems to be MUCH higher. Pro tools is great for audio(obviously) and Logic has some great sounds for midi, but i feel DP is the best combination of audio & midi recording.

I get occasional lockups or crashes, but it's probably more my computer than DP. I have a dual 2.3 powerpc mac with 6.5 gigs of RAM, but all the virtual instruments i run can still be a strain on the processor sometimes.

Definitely worth $395. It's paid for itself a hundred times over.

Haven't needed to contract support.

I considered moving to Logic 9 at the end of 2009, but after doing a couple of tracks in Logic 8, i still choose DP. I only use Logic for the EVB3, since it's the one of the few, if not only Hammond virtual instruments that still work with PowerPC's.

Producer, Engineer, Keyboardist

Christian, Gospel, Jazz,

How would I characterize the sound? The audio engine is awesome in DP. The included effects are TOP NOTCH and easily compete with Logic. Although there is no included Convolution Reverb, the included reverb is great and uses very little CPU.

Digital Performer 4.5 has tons of features! A few of the highlights are all the included effects (they are awesome! Look good, sound good, feel good!), support for Auto Plugin Delay Compensation (I use UAD-1 Studio Pack and it works flawlessly!), the "Tracks" view is brilliant as it is how you get a high level view of all your audio, midi, and virtual instruments, and handle all of your audio routing. IT IS SO MUCH BETTER than Logic's environment. It's also worth mentioning DP 4.5 keeps close integration with Pro Tools. You can use TDM and RTAS plugins inside DP 4.5. The Sequence layout of DP 4.5 resembles Pro Tools (only with better midi and more features available). DP also supports HD TDM and RTAS plugins. Moving back and forth between DP and Pro Tools is seamless, and using HD TDM hardware inside DP is perfect.

Would they have scroed Lord of the Rings with DP if it wasn't quality? Simply stated, DP is everything you could ever want.

If you own any motu audio interface or another DAW you can get the competitive upgrade. This is what I did and I found DP to be a fantastic value. Even at regular price it is still amazing!! So many great effects plugins are included that you won't have to invest a ton of money in more.

Many people complain about support. Reaching MOTU by phone can be tedious but what many don't realize is MOTU tech support also visits two excellent DP Communities called Unicornation.com and osxaudio.com and you can usually have you're issue resolved in hours. Typically it's not so much problems people are having, they just want to know how to do a particular edit or function and get stuck.

Lord of the Rings, Crystal Method, so many top producers are using DP of course people will lust over it. But what makes it real sexy is knowing you have the most powerful DAW available and that the potential is unlimited.

Project Studio

Electro, Ambient, New Age, World

Sound quality as good as anything out there. Nice bundle of plug-ins included. Bounce to disk happens faster than real time... kicks ProTools' butt.

Lots of productivity enhancements. Window sets are cool... with one click, I can make it look just like PT. Clients never know the diff, visiting engineer types feel at home, and I can work much faster. Really versatile import/export features. Can open & save OMF files without expensive "translator" software. Every type of editing feature imaginable. Bundled softsynths are cool and AU support allows access to tons of 3rd party plugs. Midi editing features very powerful.

Fast and easy recording/editing. Fully customizable commands. Interface easy to look at for long periods.

Has not crashed once on my system.

Competitive upgrade a good deal.

Have not yet needed support.

A real workhorse program. I rarely use a 2 track editor, file utility, mp3 converter, or even ProTools anymore. Not flashy or gimmicky, just really powerful.

Recording Engineer

all

It's a nice package with horrible documentation. Actually my old 16 bit Dynacords from 20 years ago that sound fatter and richer with better sounding strings, horns, and drums.

There's certainly alot of tools here but just try following the logic of the manual and you'll be frustrated to find they talk all around it but never give a step by step 'set up' and it only comes with one demo seq/program. I got 2 HD 896 and all the DP and xtras software about a year a go with a Macbook Pro w/2 gig ram and 1 ter of drive space -> and it's still not working to this day. Even crashes with their own demo.??// I'd say its a wonderful system "potentially" with so many upgrades to date (I purchased it Mar 2007) that it hasn't worked yet//

I actually I found out they didn't support macbookPro until August/// Ethno has never worked yet and Mach5 II crashes the MacbookPro. I have been on the phone from Hawaii on my dime for alol these months - and they just revealed that it didn't run on MacBaook when I bought although it was their recommendation and their salesman that sent me to the mainland (dealer) for the purchase - The Motu people are really off in La la land selling vaporware and when it comes to service, they have one phone line that you pay for long distance -> that's always busy.

maybe it gets better - I'm wishing on a star?

no clue - right now it's valued about the same to me as a boat anchor

I'll never buy another Motu product as long as I live on this planet -

I bought the nine yards and now sorta more than sorry I did. Once it I get it working (hopefully someday soon) I'll comment again.

45years - Emmy Nomination - 3 chart records - Prime time series on CBS, several tons of work with Turner, Fox, Warners, Paramoun

composition - TV/film - and songs - whatever the gig calls for

Sounds amazing. The new EQ is really versatile. The AU support allows a wide range of products to be integrated hassle free! Great Masterworks effects.

Needs to include a VST wrapper in my opinion and some soft synths.

The UI is beautiful, the sound is great. Stability? I've done 8 hour lieve recroding sessions. No crashes!

Needs some basic soft synths. Bundle with Mach 5 or some NI instruments?

Gorgeous. Just gorgeous to look at and use!

Coupled with a good AD converter this thing is impeccable. As far as the quality of included plug-ins are concerned this has got to be one of the best along with Protools. Motu doesn't attract buyers by flooding DP with synth and sampler plug-ins it leaves those things to the user but what it does have are some really high quality and usable plug-ins like reverbs, delays, pre-amps etc.. not to mention a high quality suite of mastering plug-ins, a lot of them too.

I have been a sequencer hunter for all of my 4 years recording experience I started with Cubase, then Sonar even tried messing with nuendo. When I tried DP I finally found what I have been looking for, a really user friendly high end sequencer with good Protools emplementation cause I DP at my home and Protools at the studio. But the thing that really sold me here is it's MIDI capabilities completely untouchable by any sequencer in the market today. Good support as well for my third party plugs and soft synths.

Motu never sacrifices anything whenit comes to quality just look at their AD/DA converters so they probably won't do either in their flagship software.

A great value just for it's MIDI capabilities alone no to mention the ease of use and the plugs.

Probably the worst I've ever encountered expect email replies in about a week or more but the program is so stable once you get setup you never need to contact them at all.

I use to be a PC user with experience with a lot of PC based sequencers before I jumped over to Mac and I'm staying with the Mac because of DP but if your a veteran PC user and thinking of swithching might want to think it through because it is a big change, if your already accustomed to your current PC sequencer and work flow it might be hard at first, but is defintely worth it just for what DP offers but if your choosing your first sequencer, I suggest you jump on board now I'm pretty sure you'll never leave once you try it.

Sound Engineer

Electronic, Dance, Rock and Punk Rock