Digital Performer: is upgrading from v5 to v6 worth it?

[bipedal]

A bandmate is upgrading his project studio, used for recording and mixing rock bands. No film scoring, limited MIDI use -- pretty basic hit-record-and-lay-down-some-tracks stuff at this point...

He just picked up a nice Mac and a used version of Digital Performer 5 with a MOTU interface (had been using Sonar w/PC and the small Tascam USB interface).

Q for Digital Performer users: in your opinion, how essential is the upgrade from version 5 to v6 for someone new to DP?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts,

- Jay

[dubsymmetry]

Q for Digital Performer users: in your opinion, how essential is the upgrade from version 5 to v6 for someone new to DP?

bump.

[Shane Michael Rose]

i use DP every day at The Milkhouse. i guess version 6 has some fancy comping feature.

i wont lie, DP is really funky for editing, and not so slick for mixing in a lot of ways.

i would say updating is a waste of money, especially if 5 works. when i updated from 4.6 to 5 i had almost a month of a daw that did not work.

[DrummerMan]

DP is really funky for editing,

That's funny. I always found editing in DP a lightning fast breeze. I feel like a clod in Logic 8 now by comparison... different strokes...


As for the upgrade, I never used DP6, but I'll say this: the best version of DP I ever used was DP3 on my first os9 mac. Every sequential upgrade has gotten things slower and worse to me. This isn't based on substantial evidence, just my gut feelings about it.

[Jeff White]

I'm still on DP4.61 and everything works. The new version expands on version 5 (obviously), adds a great comping tool, two new Masterworks plug-ins that people are loving (Limiter and Convolution Reverb), the ability to color tracks, etc.

I've been on 4.61 for about 3 years and haven't upgraded because I cannot afford downtime. I've decided that having to pay $200 to upgrade, $200 in WUP for my Waves Plug-ins, and more money to upgrade other plugs just isn't worth it to me yet. I can still make music. I don't want to have to go through a major recording system upgrade right now.

That said, there are plenty of folks on www.motunation.com who are loving DP6.01 and really having zero issues. The opposite is also true. Sometimes problems are more than just the program and have to deal with the way a computer is configured. Anyway, I'm waiting to upgrade until I move to Intel. I'm probably going to pick up DP6 by the end of the year and gradually make the move over, and keep my old G5 system up and running until I know that everything is working fine.

Best of luck!

Jeff

[acjetnut]

I just upgraded to DP6 from 4.61 and I like it a lot. I had nothing against 4.61, but it doesn't work on new mac pro towers running OSX 10.5.

If DP.5 works for you, I don't see a reason to upgrade.

[frankz]

The general word on the street is that DP6 is more efficient in terms of cpu usage. They supposedly have taken care of some of the internal bloating that happens as programs get added to. Better fighting weight. They say it runs better even on older macs than 5 did.
If you haven't used DP much I would recommend going to 6 and getting used to that instead of having to learn new work habits if you upgrade in a few months.
Don't forget about all your plugins. Some won't work as you upgrade DAW versions.
I'm still using 5.13 simply because of financial issues and haven't had time to look at all the issues I'll run into with various plugs and UAD cards and an older mac. Somehow these simple upgrades end up having a domino effect on everything else. Money flys away.
Definitely check www.Motunation.com a forum run by a dedicated DP user and you'll find hours of reading about issues, differences, opinions on DP6.
Good luck
FZ

[joelpatterson]

... I'll say this: the best version of DP I ever used was DP3 on my first os9 mac. Every sequential upgrade has gotten things slower and worse to me. This isn't based on substantial evidence, just my gut feelings about it.

Good Lordy Shannon Dougherty... and here I thought I was living in the past, when the actuality is: I knew when a good thing was good enuff.

[vier-personen]

I bumped this thread some weeks ago and really forgot about it....

anyway, thanks for the replies.

I got into DP in version 5 and used for some time... I bought it because I was used to protools we had in school and after I graduated wanted a daw that is similar in the way you edit...
but DP5 was really strange to me, in a way it was great but on the other hand it felt like it was a leftover from years ago with a little patch here and a little patch there...
also the lack of native .wav support slows down and eats up disk space...

that?s why I thought to maybe give the new version a try... if the upgrade was 50.- I would, but not for the 200.- or so..

plus you are right, upgrading is often more trouble than anything else.

btw, if I think about it - I use ableton live for a year now and I think I opened DP some months ago the last time....

do you think I can sell my dp 5 licence on e-bay?