Quote:
Originally Posted by hednoize  I wasn't going to post anything, lest I come off as some kind of Mackie-lover/complainer, but since you asked...
2) Pressing the select button automatically pulls up the first plugin instance on a track. There appears to be no preference to disable this behavior. I used the select buttons on the Mackies strictly for track navigation in the Arrange window, just direct dialing tracks to my heart's content without having to touch the mouse or keyboard. The MC Mix can of course do this, but opens a plug in every time (if one is instanciated in slot 1), and hitting "V" to hide the plug or eventually, having to close it with the mouse is really irritating. (Euphonix has not responded to me on this issue yet as to whether this is a bug or a feature -- if I am missing something here, someone please tell me; I have read the manual and perused the EuCon prefs to no avail.)
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Good news here for Logic users. I discovered today after digging around Logic for a bit that (even though I had swore I did in fact delete them when I sold my Mackies) the MCU, XT and C4 were still in the control surface setup window in Logic -- this was causing the problem of opening the first plugin or soft synth on a track when selecting a track via the MC Mix in PAN mode. So I deleted them and, lo and behold, pressing select no longer opens the first plugin instance on a track. Awesome. Anyone making the switch from the Mackie protocol to EuCon, be aware you should ditch your surfaces from the setup window.
I was hoping this would fix the "return to track one in the arrange and on the Mix when re-ordering/hiding tracks" problem I cited, but it did not. However, I feel better about some of these issues being addressed thanks to an email a Euphonix rep sent me based on my "seller's remorse" post.
Here is some of our exchange:
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Q: On the Mackie Control Pro surfaces I replaced with the MC Mix, when a track was solo'ed, all the other tracks' mute buttons would flash on & off. There was at least one occasion on the last project I was working on with the MC Mix where, coming in the next day, I restarted my Mac Pro and Logic Pro because I thought there was something wrong with my audio interface because my project was playing but I wasn't hearing audio. There was simply a track solo'ed a couple banks down and I had to bank down to find it. So the MC Mix does not have something similar to Mackie's "rude solo light." I know you're not really interested in what Mackie's doing, but I imagine you're going to be getting a lot of their customers who like this kind of feature, myself included: having the MC Mix alert me visually that a track I can't see in the current bank is solo'ed by having the track on buttons flash on & off. It looks like having overviews of the tracks via the MC Control screen will solve this problem (hard to say from the picture on the website though -- do the track icons on the screen change to a different color if solo'ed, or do they blink?) but what if one doesn't have the MC Control? I would love to see implementation of this feature into the Artist series.
A: Currently this is Application dependent. For example: in HUI mode (ProTools) the ON buttons flash letting the user mode know that there is a track solo'd in the project. Logic does not do this unfortunately. I have forwarded this to development. It is a great idea to have this in Logic....
Q: I realize one of the features of EuControl and the Artist series is that one can control multiple apps from one surface. Indeed, having control of the mix in Ableton Live when I flip over from Logic will be very cool and useful. But there are times when I still need to have control of Logic's transport when I flip over to Live, or similarly when I'm working in Symbolic Sound's Kyma software. Just to still be able to trigger stop and start in Logic without switching out of the software I'm working in is important, and was actually a selling point for me when I first used my first control surface a couple years ago. Can you please add the ability to "force connect" the Artist series to Logic when switching to other user-defined applications?
A: This is a standard feature on the MC Pro series called "Locking" and is already spec'd for the Artist series. It will be implemented in the near future for certain.
Q: ...I love so much about the MC Mix, particularly the superior faders' feel and resolution, and the OLED displays are gorgeous....
A: NOTE: we are also finishing up a firmware update that will address fader movement and accuracy. This should be ready within a week or so.
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I'm really impressed with Euphonix' support and desire to keep a customer happy, and frankly, keep a customer a customer. Based on this exchange, my select buttons/Logic now not driving me insane, and their openness to suggestions for future revs of Artist EuCon, I'm going to stick with the MC Mix for awhile and see where the software goes and how the MC Control works out. I'm going on the road for two months, so I have time to see how the first growing pains of that unit shake out via this thread, I'm sure.
Come to think of it -- I never would have implemented a Mackie Control into my mobile rig -- but the svelt size of the MC Mix might do just nicely in a hotel room. (Talking himself into preferring his select buttons
between the faders :)
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