Digital Performer 8 will support Windows

[wafl iron]

http://www.gearspace.com/board/new-...u-digital-performer-8-goes-64bit-windows.html

Could this be another nail in the coffin of the MacPro as a DAW?

I hope not

speculate away.

 

[derbothaus]

Maybe, maybe not. DP is not really considered a "major" player. It used to be but then Logic ate it's lunch both in value and quality. I am assuming MOTU is doing this to keep their head above water. Their interfaces are low to mid level and that is really closer to the Win market. Guitar Center and big box types. The've been moving in this direction for a while. What with adding USB and diminishing Firewire for connectivity. In the pro world using DP is an oddball. Pro-Tools and Logic are the predominant tools. If Logic goes multi-platform we may have a problem.

 

[DPUser]

Maybe, maybe not. DP is not really considered a "major" player. It used to be but then Logic ate it's lunch both in value and quality. I am assuming MOTU is doing this to keep their head above water. Their interfaces are low to mid level and that is really closer to the Win market. Guitar Center and big box types. The've been moving in this direction for a while. What with adding USB and diminishing Firewire for connectivity. In the pro world using DP is an oddball. Pro-Tools and Logic are the predominant tools. If Logic goes multi-platform we may have a problem.

The above is the opinion of a person who obviously is not very familiar with DP, and is making more than a single assumption.

As a Mac owner and user since 1984, I'll keep using my Macs for my non-audio work. Wih the arrival of platform-agnostic DP, I'm not so sure which OS I'll choose when it comes to my livelihood. I'll be watching developments and weighing options before I make a decision whether to buy a new Mac Pro in the spring.

DP has a thriving professional user base, particularly in sound for picture. I would love to be informed how Logic is higher in "quality." It IS inexpensive, but Apple's decision to make it a loss leader to sell hardware is probably a big reason MOTU has developed DP8 for Mac and PC. When I am working with audio, I don't care what OS I'm running as long as my application proviides on demand all the tools and flexibility I need. DP does so for me. Logic does not.

MOTU I/O: Stable drivers, transparent audio, and excellent value for the audio pro or prosumer who is more concerned with production than how shiny the knobs on the interface are. The interfaces support USB2 AND Firewire. Is that moving away from Firewire? When it comes to audio, opinions are typically based on little objective information. derbothaus does not appear to "think different" in this regard.

My real concern with this development is that MOTU's resources may be stretched thinner as they move to multi-platform. Time will tell. But please don't write off one of the true powerhouse DAWs currently available.

 

[derbothaus]

Well obviously by the handle you aren't biased either.
My point was that a change in MOTU's DP strategy bears little in common with the life or death of the Mac Pro workstation. IMO. The point of this thread.
The user base is not significant in the world of audio when compared to Pro-Tools and Logic.
I'm not trying to infer that DP is a substandard product in any way. It is great for people who like it. My "Quality" ref should have been clarified as I was referring to bundled plug-ins mainly. Not the audio engine or anything.
I have used DP. Started with v.5. I have used demos on and off since then and have found it lacking ergonomically. I can't do what I want with as much ease as Logic and I have been using Logic since v.6. Before Apple bought it and made it even easier. It's just the way I work and how I think about audio.

 

[NY Guitarist]

The good news for DP users on both sides of the platform divide is that DP8 is 64 bits. I use many third party plugins so once DP8 is available and makes use of 64bit memory addressing I'll be right on top of it.

I use DP7, PT9 and Logic 9. More than once when someone who isn't familiar with Logic, usually someone who uses Pro Tools because it's the industry "standard", sees Logic for the first time I get a comment that it "looks like Garageband".

If I need to migrate a PT project into DP or Logic, and give people a choice, DP is usually perceived as "a serious app" and Logic is more "eye candy", even though Logic is very CPU efficient and has some excellent bundled plugins.

And that bring me to my next point: Logic may go the way of FCP-X and get dumbed down to the point that serious end users will move to more "pro" apps even if they cost more, leaving the Logic-X users as the "prosumers" as far as the industry is concerned. For the solo artist it will be great, cheap yet powerful, and easy to use. Apple will sell a lot of Logic-X apps.

Pro Tools users will get routinely $hafted by Digi.. uh.. Avid, and have to deal with artificial limitations built into the software, yet another proprietary plugin format, and hardware that is expensive and obsolete in no time. Sure you can use Pro Tools now with third party interfaces, but anyone who has tried has run into built-in roadblocks that are another topic entirely.

So DP could come out ahead in a way, not in total sales to the masses , but in gaining more traction in the pro world. We'll see. And hell no, I'm not buying a PC!

 

[YosemiteSam]

I find this development veeeeerrrrrrryyyyyyyy interesting. Things are coming full circle for me.

I write music for film/media, and have been a (light) DP user of version 4 and a (heavy) Logic user even longer- each version since version 5, and originally on Windows no less. I originally chose Logic as my DAW of choice specifically because of its power with midi and it's multiplatform development. When Apple purchased emagic, they of course dropped all Windows support, and I was furious. I wrote MOTU at the time and begged them to develop DP for Windows, arguing that they could easily pick up thousands of us "abandoned" Logic windows users.

Today, I am (relatively) platform agnostic but am thoroughly entrenched in the mac side of things for my professional gear. To say I am nervous these days, due to the direction Apple professional software and professional hardware has been going over the past 3-4 years, would be quite an apt description. I've been wondering what I will do *IF* Apple no longer provides the hardware I need/desire for music making and/or *IF* Apple takes Logic in a direction that doesn't work for what I do.

I would be frustrated and angry beyond all belief, were either scenario to emerge. BUT- if MOTU really does start producing DP for Windows, I would at least have a viable exit path, as DP is excellent for film scoring and I could still use it on hardware of my choice. It's still not ideal, and I hope it doesn't come to that, but I take comfort knowing I'm not just screwed without any viable and sustainable option. Ironically, this development now is what I was begging for way back when Apple purchased emagic (including Logic) in the first place.

Weird. But as I said, veeerrrrryyyy interesting. I'll continue to wait and see what happens now on the Apple side of things.

 

[DPUser]

Well obviously by the handle you aren't biased either.

We (and I include myself) do tend to like what we know.

I just hate to see the DAW I use every day get blasted, as I see it, unfairly.

DP is set up a lot more like PT than Logic. As an old-school audio guy who worked with tape in many formats before the advent of the DAW, Logic's approach is just less logical for me. I used DP before the D, when it was MIDI-only "Performer". I was sold on the fact that notes played back accurately, and slaved it to tape for years, until computers got fast enough to do audio reasonably well. As mentioned by NY Guitarist, DP's lack of interface restrictions was always a plus over Pro Tools, at least until recently.

At this point, DP does everything I want and need, and I don't have to think about the machine... I just make music.

I love my Macs, but I love my music more.

The above stated, I agree that MOTU's move to cross-platform compatibility for DP will have very little impact on Mac Pro sales. But it eases that bothersome worry that Apple could simply nix the Mac Pro someday, leaving me, and many others, in a world of hurt.

 

[interrobang]

speculate away.

With pleasure!

Could this be another nail in the coffin of the MacPro as a DAW?

I don't think so. It's not as if they're dropping the Mac version. So the only potential Mac Pro buyers whose computer buying decision would be impacted would be the handful of sound people who are normally inclined to Windows, but bought Macs solely because of DP. And I don't think that's a very large population; I figure any Windows-inclined DP users would just have switched to Pro Tools or whatever by now.

Over the long term, this is more of a potential threat to Windows DAWs than it is to OS X. Not much of one yet, but the market just got a bit more crowded.

It's also a good strategic move for MOTU, because Apple's enthusiasm for the creative professional market has been lukewarm lately.