DP 5.11 Updater Released

Digital Performer 5.11 is now shipping. If you own Version 5.0, 5.01 or 5.1, you can download the free Version 5.11 updater here. This maintenance release includes numerous program enhancements and optimizations. The 5.11 update also includes hundreds of new presets for DP5's six included virtual instrument plug-ins.

Authoring Podcasts with DP

Blogs have become a mainstream vehicle for expression. Now, it's podcasts: they add sensory depth to our web browsers and RSS feeds, giving a dynamic voice to anyone with a message and a desire to broadcast it. Digital Performer is proving to be the Go To production application for many podcasters, thanks to its complete end-to-end workflow tool set. According to Ben Kaplan, who developed and produced the String Theory podcast series for St. Louis-based Act3 production studios, "Digital Performer makes it easy to manage a ton of content and edit on the fly." Read More

Antares Announces Auto-Tune 5

(Scotts Valley, CA, October 6, 2006) -- Antares Audio Technologies has announced the impending release of Auto-Tune 5, the next generation of the worldwide standard in professional pitch correction.

Hailed by the audio press as a "Holy Grail of recording," Auto-Tune has stood for almost a decade as the professional pitch correction tool of choice and one of the world's best-selling audio plug-ins. Like previous versions of Auto-Tune, Auto-Tune 5 provides the ability to correct the pitch of a voice or solo instrument in real time, without distortion or artifacts, while preserving all of the expressive nuance of the original performance. Auto-Tune 5 includes an Automatic Mode for real-time pitch correction as well as a Graphical Mode that displays the pitch envelope of the audio to be corrected along with a selection of graphical tools that allow precise manipulation of the performance's pitch.

Building on the great sound quality, transparent processing and ease of use that have always distinguished Auto-Tune, Auto-Tune 5 adds significant new features as well as a sleek new user interface.

Key new features of Auto-Tune 5 include:

Improved pitch detection algorithm: While Auto Tune's patented pitch detection technology has always provided unmatched speed and accuracy, Auto-Tune 5 introduces improvements in performance with marginal quality (noisy, poorly isolated, etc.) audio.

A sleek new interface: As Auto-Tune's features have proliferated from version to version, Antares has continually focused on maintaining its ease of use. With Auto-Tune 5, they have undertaken a complete graphic redesign. The result is both easy on the eyes and logically groups related controls for intuitive functionality.

Consolidated Pitch Tracking control: The previously separate Automatic and Graphical Mode Tracking controls have been consolidated into a single control and relocated to the Options dialog for set-it-andforget-it simplicity.

Automatic Mode Features

Humanize function: For those concerned about pitch correction that is "too perfect," the Humanize function allows one to set a fast retune speed for short notes, while still allowing natural variation in held notes, for results that are even more natural and realistic.

Realtime natural vibrato adjustment: The new realtime Natural Vibrato function allows one to modify (either increasing or decreasing) the depth of any vibrato that is present in the original performance.

Graphical Mode Features

Larger Pitch Edit Display: The Pitch Edit Display is now bigger. Lots bigger.

Sync to host transport (host dependent): For hosts that provide valid time information, Auto-Tune 5 will now maintain sync with the host program. Once one has tracked audio and created correction curves, one can move around in the track at will. No more having to always start playback at exactly the same location.

Selectable Clock Source: For hosts that do not provide valid time information, Auto-Tune 5's clock display and selection functions allows the use of an internal time reference for Auto-Tune 4 style operation.

Realtime pitch tracking display: During the Track Pitch process, the graphic representation of the pitch and envelope will be displayed in realtime as the audio plays.

Full-time correction mode (host dependent): Whenever Auto-Tune 5 is not specifically tracking audio, Auto-Tune 5 will be operating in correction mode. There is no longer any need to press a "Correct Pitch" button. Besides being convenient, that makes possible the following feature:

Multiple simultaneous Graphical Mode instances (host dependent): One can now have multiple instances of Auto-Tune Graphical Mode operating on different tracks simultaneously, even if their windows are not open. In previous versions, since one had to have plug-in windows open to engage Correct Pitch mode, only open instances could be active. No longer.

Editing functions no longer modal: One can now use all of the graphical editing features while Auto-Tune 5 is either tracking or correcting pitch.

Enhanced Envelope Display functionality: Changes to the Envelope Display behavior make it much more useful for quick and easy navigation around audio files.

Realtime graphical vibrato depth adjustment: The Adjust Vibrato control allows one to modify the depth of vibrato in a performance while preserving the contour of the original vibrato. Moving this control results in a real-time graphical representation of the resulting vibrato contour.

Compatibility with Pen Tablet Input: With a pen tablet, one can control Auto-Tune 5's graphical tools (as well as all the other controls) using a familiar pen-style input device. A pen tablet can offer increased drawing accuracy with less wrist stress in long sessions.

"With Auto-Tune 5, we've focused on two key areas," said Marco Alpert, Antares VP of Marketing. "The first is providing tools for even more natural pitch correction. Certainly the most dramatic is the new Humanize function that produces the kind of results in Automatic Mode that would have previously required Graphical Mode. The second area of focus is enhanced productivity and ease of workflow. In addition to the redesigned interface, the much larger Pitch Graph display, combined with refined tool behaviors and the ability to sync to the host transport make editing and navigation in large files quick, easy and efficient."

Auto-Tune 5 will available in early November for TDM (Mac OSX and PC), RTAS (Mac OSX and PC), VST (Mac OSX and PC) and Audio Units (Mac OS X) at a U.S. MSRP of $399.00 for the Native versions and $649.00 for TDM versions. All Macintosh versions are universal binaries.

Upgrades to Auto-Tune 5 will be available for purchase and download by current registered Auto-Tune owners. Anyone who purchases and registers a copy of Auto-Tune 4 after September 15, 2006 will be entitled to a free upgrade to Auto-Tune 5.

More Auto-Tune 5 information is available at the Antares web site: http://www.antarestech.com

Antares Audio Technologies

Antares Audio Technologies is the worldwide leader in the development of unique vocal processing tools. Having revolutionized vocal production with the ground-breaking Auto-Tune pitch correction technology, Antares is committed to providing producers, engineers, sound designers and musicians with powerful, innovative, easy-to-use tools for enhancing and manipulating the human voice.

Antares Audio Technologies is located at 231 Technology Circle, Scotts Valley, CA 95066. Email: info@antarestech.com Web: www.antarestech.com

DPuser Update: Jason Staczek

Film composer Jason Staczek uses DP5 to score director Guy Maddin's Brand Upon The Brain!.

The 95 minute score was composed entirely in DP5. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8 with Staczek conducting a live orchestra. The composer used DP5's new click and film scoring events features to build a 95 minute click track and Quicktime movie with visual cues for the 51 pieces of music in the film. During the performance, Staczek slaved a G4 Powerbook to SMPTE timecode coming off the Digibeta projection tape. DP5 ran the Quicktime movie with streamers in sync with picture on the main screen as Staczek conducted the orchestra. DP and the 828 performed flawlessly during the performance and the orchestra hit their cue on the final frame of picture perfectly. An uninterrupted 95 minute performance would definitely not have been possible without DP's visual cues.

Screen Daily says of the film:

"Arguably the first true silent movie produced in eight decades, Guy Maddin's Brand Upon The Brain premiered in Toronto with a live orchestra, in-house sound effects artists, a singer and narrator providing a pure cinematic full monty. Filmed on Super-8, the blow up provides a graininess that often resembles a snow storm and the hurky jerky editing style, rapid cutting and extensive use of close-ups all conspire to replicate the notion of a silent film. The original score by Jason Staczek is first rate with or without spoken dialogue and the presence of 11-members from the Toronto Symphony to realise it was inspired. Maddin additionally found a singer able to emulate a castrato and veteran actor Louis Negin narrated with an appropriate soupcon of twinkle. (Isabella Rossellini will narrate when the film is presented at the New York Film Festival in October)."

News Link

New DP5 Podcast, FREE

TutorialDEPOT has released "HOW TO: Digital Performer", the premier training video podcast series for getting the most out of Digital Performer 5. Download these short, concise and informative training video clips from iTunes and then watch them on your PowerBook, MacBook or even your video iPod, on the go. Learning DP has never been easier or more convenient.

In weekly updates, the "HOW TO: Digital Performer" podcast series will cover operation, production techniques, and tips - from pre-production, to recording and editing, to mixing and final delivery. Beginners and advanced users alike will find value in these concise, informative, one of a kind tutorials. As an added bonus, look for special HOW TOs highlighting new features in the latest DP releases.

Take your DP learning on the road! Subscribe today to get your FREE iPod ready tutorials right now at TutorialDEPOT.com.

DPuser Update: David Lawrence

According to Newsweek Magazine, Disney's made-for-TV movie "High School Musical" has "proved itself a tween phenomenon and marketing juggernaut, racking up record sales on its CD soundtrack and DVD release, and spawning everything from T shirts to sheet music." Industry analysts estimate the fledging Disney franchise already totals $100 million in CD and DVD sales with growth that has no end in sight. Packing almost 80 minutes of music into the 98 minute movie, composer David Lawrence experienced major turning points in his career, both in terms of rocketing success and his decision to go with a 100% native Digital Performer desktop studio workflow for the very first time on a modest Disney production that turned into an overnight success and exceeded everyone's expectations.

Read more...

DPuser Update: Elliot Goldenthal

Monsters and humans share the stage in Grendel, a new opera that opens in New York Tuesday night. Based on the novel by John Gardner, the show tells the classic medieval tale of Beowulf, but from the monster's perspective.

Julie Taymor, the show's Tony-winning director, also co-wrote Grendel with J.D. McClatchy. In order to get the audience to identify with the monster, rather than the humans, Taymor and McClatchy opted to have Grendel sing in contemporary English while the humans sing in the Old English of Beowulf. "It forces the audience to identify with the outsider, with the monster," Taymor says.

Taymor and composer Elliot Goldenthal have collaborated together, artistically and romantically, since the 1970s. Even before they met, both were intrigued with the idea of bringing Gardner's novel to the stage. They have been working on and off on the opera for twenty years.

Read more at NPR.org...