MOTU Digital Performer 12 — an updated version of the professional DAW

MOTU has released version 12 of its digital audio workstation. The update improves both creative and technical aspects of music production and mixing, including immersive Dolby Atmos mixing.

Photo: official website motu

Any sound source, whether an audio clip, effect or virtual instrument, can now be placed in a multichannel 3D space. Up to 128 channels can be positioned freely within the three-dimensional sound field. Monitoring configurations up to 9.1.6 and binaural headphone monitoring are supported. A built-in AI stem separation engine can extract vocals, drums, bass, guitar, strings or brass from a finished stereo audio file.

Photo: official website motu

The new Arrangement Strip is a flexible editing tool for changing song structure by dragging coloured blocks representing song sections. Changes apply globally to all channels, and gaps between sections are easy to create. Other improvements include one-click Enhanced Track Freeze; MusicXML support for notation software such as Dorico, Sibelius and MuseScore; and Track Presets for saving individual channels' plugin and I/O routing settings. Ready-made presets cover vocals, drums, bass, guitar and other instruments.

Photo: official website motu

MOTU Digital Performer 12 is available for $500. Users who bought DP11 or upgraded to it on or after 1 May 2026 are eligible for a free DP12 licence.