Digital Performer able to be built up to Logic Pro's standard?

[wurpelizer]

I've just recently (couple weeks ago) invested in Digital Performer 5. It's really sweet, and I've been using version 4 for a couple years and notice a huge improvement. I have always loved the entire interface and system of things, but I'm starting to hear so many good things about Logic Pro's audio capabilities that I'm wondering if (a) I should reinvest in Logic Pro and some how pass off DP, or (b) try to build DP up to Logic's standard of audio production via adding a few key plug ins. Plug ins seem to be the big difference between Logic and DP. i'm the first to admit that DP's effects plug ins are pathetic, but that's not the reason I have been so faithful to it. I have been assuming all along that after getting version 5 that i would thoroughly evaluate all possible plug in options and build up a gorgeous sounding system. And I'm never ever a user of virtual instruments so I don't really care about logics supremecy in that realm. I'm strictly wondering if i'm able to get my audio processing "better" than logic since it would be based on DP's super tight, deep, and sweet user interface and embelished with some great sounding plug ins. Any opinions on which of logics' effect make it so good would be nice, and any recommendations of what comparable or better plug ins are on the market would be awesome. I've been looking into TC Electronics Powercore and the new UAD Xpander system, but they have both gotten complaints about how much they cost per how much processing they're capable of. Like I guess neither one is actually capable of having all that many effects running simultaneously. Is that true? Can I not run a channel strip on, say 12 tracks, with just one Powercore system? or uad? Anyway, you can see the direction I'm going....
wurpelizer

[n8tron]

First off, I started in DP, then learned Pro tools, then Learned logic.

Logic was extremely difficult for me to learn. The grass always looks greener on the other side, but I truly believe that its not, its the same, just maybe a little different. I would suggest, unless you feel you would like to know another daw, or have money to spare, to instead keep using DP. Its a great program. The plugins, besides masterworks eq are not that great, but you can pick from a large amount of 3rd party plugs to add to your arsenal.

The plugins in logic are some of the best I've used that have come bundled with a DAW, but they are fairly middle of the road, or towards the good side in the grand scheme of plugins. In other words, there are better and you can get those going in DP.

[Robert Sands]

I am a DP user and have been for 20 years (started on Performer). I'm a working pro and couldn't live without this program.I don't use the plugs that come with it. Never. UAD is the way to go. As far as what you get for your money I would say - the world, and everything in it. You just can't knock that company (UA) for value for your dollar. I would look at someone who suggested that as if he was from Mars. Those plugs are awesome and you can certainly do insanely pro work on them. I would invest in 2 of their boards to get serious power. I have 3 and it's real nice. Get the 1176, La2a, Fairchild, Pultec Pro, Dreamverb, Cambridge, EMT 140, Precision Limiter, EQ and MultiBand Comp. After that I would want the Neve package - the comp is rediculous. Believe me - monster plugin power for your money. DO IT! AND DON'T LEAVE THE WORLD OF DP!!! It rocks hard!

If you want to hear what I've done with DP over the years go to my site and listen to the MP's. Everything DP.
http://www.robertsandsmusic.com/

[Resonant Alien]

You should never, never make a decision on which DAW to use based on the included plugins. There are so many 3rd party plugin options that are soooo much better than anything that comes with either DP or Logic. Choose your DAW based on the things a DAW is supposed to do well - record audio, edit audio, MIDI, mix, etc. In that respect, I much prefer DP to Logic. I primarily work with audio rather than MIDI, and for audio, DP blows away Logic IMO. For tracking and mixing audio, DP's intuitive interface is a much easier workflow for me than Logic's Excel spreadsheet-style interface. For MIDI, I can't comment that much because I haven't used much MIDI in either program.

Logic's plugins are better that DP's, but they are still no match for the "really good stuff" like PowerCore, Waves, UAD, etc. For the $1000 you would spend switching to Logic, you could buy some really killer plugs.

The one area where I like Logic better than DP is with the real-time playback latency when recording VIs. When recording VIs in DP, you have to set the input buffers really low to get a usable monitoring latency. On large projects, this can kill your CPU. Logic doesn't have this issue - you can run the input buffers large and still have acceptable monitoring latency on the VI.

[wurpelizer]

Thanks. That leads me to my next question about the world of plug ins. What kind of simultaneous processing can the UAD handle? I run a macbook pro so i'll be getting the uad Xpander, which connects via expresscard. super fast connection, but i've been hearing that the uad cards are kind of slow and limited. so exactly what could i do with just one box? could i simultaneously run compression on 12 tracks? or just 4? 8? i know it of course depends on the plug in, but i'm just trying to get an idea of how many "xpanders" i will have to get in order to have a full system of plug ins going at the same time. and i guess i should make sure that the new "xpander" series can even hook together and share the work. and that actually reminds me...how does that work? if i have 2 xpanders running together, and i were running a bunch of stuff that was a little too much for just one of them on one, and not very much on the other, would the one help out the other? or do i even have to be concernd about that . i hope its all just automatic and that the two (+) cards just share the load as if it were one giant card...fill me in please!
i guess the only bummer about getting multiple xpanders is that i'll just be buying two whole sets of the same "introductory" plug ins instead of being able to alter the second one's (or third's) to be a whole new set of equal value, you know? so i don't inadvertently double up on everything. maybe i should talk to uad about that....

[Resonant Alien]

Look on the UA website - they have a chart that shows how many instances of each plug you can get on a card. More cards = more instances, however, a single plug cannot span across cards, so there could be some CPU power left unused depending on the plug combination - i.e. if you have 5% CPU left on one card and a plug takes 10% CPU, it will not use 5% from that card and 5% from the next card - it will go to the next card for all 10% and leave 5% unused on the first card.

[H-Rezz]

I personally would not recommend the UAD cards to Mac Pro owners , as good as their plug-ins are i think they fail miserably in terms of instances per card , some plugs are so intensive they take up most of one card .......UA have to come up with something soon to compete whether using an Ilok or one card as it's security and then open up their plugs to the current native power or they will get passed by .....

Logic Pro in terms of features straight out of the box cann't be beat , amongst it's average plugs it does contain some premier quality stuff , if you buy DP and can get past the GUI that cann't expand Vertically , or a simple paste of a sequence can leave a few notes behind , you still have to buy some quality plugs which can cost another $1500-2000 on top of the program , with Logic Pro as a start you will need a couple or choice plugs and your away ....... it includes a Convolution Reverb, Very efficient Sampler , great array of GM sounds and Synths .....etc etc etc .

Did i mention it's also way more efficient with the CPU that DP ? In the vicinity of 30% more plugs and power , plus you can use lower buffer settings with no percieved latency for VI's , DP kind of struggles with latency for VI's and comes to a grinding holt the more the CPU is maxed out .....

[uncle duncan]

If you need boutique plugins on every single channel, you need to look at your recording technique. A properly recorded project will require no plugins whatsoever. But it is fun, messing with your audio after it's ITB. If that's your goal, Motu had a new Mac Pro running DP at a recent trade show, with 8 plugs on every channel. How many channels? 127. That's over 1000 plugins running. Would that be enough?