Lately I've been using Live for composing, but a recent interest in older patch changeable analogue synths has had me interested DAWs that can do SysEx etc.
I upgraded to DP5, and though it's a nice DAW, it didn't wrest me away from Live or Logic really. Then comes DP7, solid, and with all the features that made me wonder what MOTU were doing? Everything is so much better thought out in DP7, it's only been a couple days, but the GUI is vastly improved, no glitching to speak of when editing while the song is playing, and things that were glitchy in 5 simply aren't anymore. The look of the application is vastly better than before in all areas really.
Themes pretty much rules, MOTU thought them out very well, I'm using a dark theme and all fonts are readable (I'm looking at you Live!). Contextual menus is going to be HUGE for people coming from other DAWs or new to the program, as well as a time saver in general.
I'm working on a custom key command set, and it's great to know that MOTU added a ton of new ones to use.
I haven't downloaded the free iphone app for DP7 yet, but it's getting nothing but good reviews.
New editing feature of folders put them at the same level of use IMO as Logic's, and coupled with Chunks, it's a no brainer which is more versatile.
The thing that sets DP7 apart from Logic and Live IMO is the Chunks and V-Rack features. With Chunks you get multiple versions of the same song available if you want or need, great for writing when you start rendering audio, then decide you need to add a break or bridge etc. to a song. Chunks can also be individual parts of the song, say the entire chorus, so you can it wherever you want into the open sequence. On top of that Chunks can be entirely different songs, so in a performance situation or making a CD etc. you can lay out the songs into a single 'sequence' and record it, no need to go into a separate application. V-Racks allow you to use the same set of FX and Instruments in all the Chunks in a Project, so changing Chunks/Songs/song versions etc. is lightening fast.
With Live, individual 'songs' either have to be loaded into Clips or into the Arrangement View, so all 120 odd audio files for a 13 song set must be loaded into a single set, or you can compromise on mixing ability and render the whole song to single stereo audio files etc. This can be bad in rooms with bass issues.
With Logic, Mainstage is a separate program, which opens up it's own can of worms there, same with CD rendering etc. It's entirely possible, just not half as elegant.
And Yeah I'm going to blog a bit about DP7 here. For whatever reason, it seems that people aren't paying attention to DP7 even though it's very much on the forefront of DAW
design and state of use. IMO MOTU are working on the parts of DP that are legacy and needed some boosting, and DP is again the one to beat.
