When comparing Audacity vs MOTU Digital Performer, the Slant community recommends MOTU Digital Performer for most people. In the question“What are the best DAWs? ” MOTU Digital Performer is ranked 6th while Audacity is ranked 21st. The most important reason people chose MOTU Digital Performer is:
You can change themes and waveform and meter colors.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Free, open source and cross-platform
Audacity is available for free on Windows, Mac OS, and Linux with source code available here.
Pro Well maintained
Audacity is constantly updated.
Pro Great community backing it
Pro Great for vocal track editing
Pro Customizable UI
You can change themes and waveform and meter colors.
Pro 64 bit compatibility
Digital Performer 8 does away with low RAM limits by including 64 bit compatibility.
Pro Stable DAW
Pro Easy to learn
Easy to learn with the included videos on the websites.
Pro Comprehensive MIDI and audio editors
Pro Multiple sequences
You can have multiple sequences for variant ideas.
Pro MIDI friendly
Pro Unlimited tracks
Pro Easy to use
All clear and easy, yet a powerful DAW.
Pro VST3 Support
Pro Easy to install
Pro Pitch correction
Correct audio like in Melodyne.
Pro Support for 32- and 64-bit floating point sound files
Pro Advanced film scoring capabilities
Equipped with tools and film scoring features.
Pro Nano Sampler 2.0
Great Sampler for more audio editing.
Pro MPE Support
MIDI Polyphonic Expression. Good For recording multi-channel output from an MPE controller.
Pro Beat Detection Engine 2.0
Pro ZTX PRO technology
Speeding up or transposing audio material of any kind.
Pro DP training webinars
You can become a DP expert software user.
Pro Live Performance Mode
Good for live performance.
Cons
Con Not seen as a full DAW
Audacity doesn't have the capabilities of popular DAWs and generally isn't considered to be good option.
Con Doesn't retain audio integrity
Audacity uses destructive editing, meaning applying effects, cutting, etc is non-reversable after you've saved a project.
Con No real time effects
Users are unable to change effects in real time with Audacity. If effects are to be changed, no sound can be playing or recording.
Con Unable to use Synthesizers / virtual instruments
You can only use effect plugins or record live with this DAW.
Con No native 64-bit version, therefore does not support 64-bit VST plugins
Audacity is available only as a 32-bit application, therefore even when running on 64-bit machines, it only supports 32-bit VST plugins unless they are converted to 32-bit using an application such as JBridge.
Con Clunky a bit
Con A bit expensive
Costs $500 for both box and download version.
Con Not so great support
Con Substandard audio stretching
DP 8 supports audio stretching, but the quality often doesn't remain after the sound has been modified.