DP3 Exceeds 100 Tracks on the G4 (Aug 2001)

[supernova777]

Digital Performer Exceeds 100 Tracks on New Apple G4

http://web.archive.org/web/20011005224210/http://www.motu.com/english/other/press/100tracks/100tracks.pdf

MOTU DIGITAL PERFORMER EXCEEDS 100 TRACKS ON NEW APPLE G4 MP/800
CAMBRIDGE, MA - August 31, 2001. MOTU (Mark of the Unicorn, Inc.) has just completed a
preliminary round of performance bench tests running Digital Performer 3.0 (DP3) on
Apple Computer’s new 800 MHz dual-processor G4 Power Macintosh (G4 MP/800) equipped
with a MOTU 2408mkII audio interface.
On this completely “native” system, where the computer handles all of the real-time
mixing and effects processing, Digital Performer is able to play back 128 tracks of
16-bit 44.1 kHz audio with eight bands of parametric EQ and dynamics processing on
each track.
This configuration breaks down as follows: 128 audio voices, 1024 bands of parametric
EQ and 128 dynamics processors. All processing is calculated with 32-bit floating
point precision. Digital Performer’s included plug-ins were used for the tests.
“The 128 track count is my no means a ceiling,” explains Jim Cooper, MOTU Marketing
Director. “Even higher track counts are possible, depending on how much real-time
effects processing one applies to the mix. But for bench-testing purposes, we chose 8
bands of parametric EQ plus a dynamics processor on each track as a way to get across
the astonishing power of this system. I predict that soon, real-world Digital
Performer projects with 72 to 100+ tracks and lots of plug-ins will be commonplace.”
Several new features recently introduced in Digital Performer made these tests
possible. Most importantly, DP3 supports the MP G4's multiprocessing, which gives
users access to both CPUs in the machine. This effectively doubles the amount of real-
time processing available in DP3 compared to the G4's single-CPU counterpart. In
addition, the extremely high number of tracks and audio voices were made possible by
DP3’s new Automatic Voice Allocation feature, which allows the program to dynamically
assign audio voices as needed from a pool of 96 mono voices and 64 stereo voices (224
voices total).
More information about Digital Performer can be found at www.motu.com

they must be talking about the dual 800mhz quicksilver
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g4/specs/powermac_g4_800_dp_qs.html

which scores 670 on the benchmark chart
and *IS* one of the models with 2MB backside cache