OK just finished a little mix in Cubase with the Tango.
I had some issues, but in short it was very very nice and I am already getting used to it, speeding up and I'm not sure I could mix in the box again without one!
The good: - Plug-in instantiation very easy for inserts - list caches so always there - quick indeed, no more mousing through silly menus! Perhaps Tango could be altered to have categories here, EQ, Compression, Modulation etc.
- The edit panel is so very easy to configure and when I made my first button in 10seconds I was thinking how fast the platform will be once you take a day to set it up. The virtkey panel assign - letting you do usual shortcuts as single press is great and would be a simple way of programming.
- Chair mode is great, had to increase the timmometer to 6 seconds to get what I wanted out of wipe mode...
- The Tango actually made the Cubase4 channel EQ usuable to me, snobs may laugh but it allowed me to use my ears and work quicker. Speed was my motivator here, copy and pasting EQ settings between channels was a godsend on dualmono (stereo) material.
- Faders and grouping very good.
- Visual feedback from the metering also great, rarely did I need to check anything in Cubase aside from my main output buss.
- Dropping tracks into auto was very easy and great feeling.
- Got the hang of the solo clear LED now. You need to learn how to do it!
- Overall display has an unbelievable amount of feedback, it makes the DAW feel like its integrated into one big digital console...
- Ergonomically it is very good
- Built very well, feels great, looks great, big enough to be a centre piece of a small control room.
The bad:- Still no way to assign and setup sends from the console as far as I can see (will read the manual again) - however once set up in software, using them and turning them on and off is very nice and very easy. I agree about thinking of it like a console, send 1 is short verb, send 2 long verb etc... fast in the end once patched.
- Locators wouldn't work at all - taking me to the end of the session every time. I know they will work, as they do in Logic, but for the time being the active display (and edit panel) can be used for setting markers - that worked just fine. Still these press and hold temp locators were a big deal for me.
The ugly:- PSP, URS, Sonnox and Sonalksis plugins mapped well to the encoders in that the controls worked very well, but a large issue here. Some plugins report odd values for their controls, where the DAW may say LF @ +3dB the Tango will read +4.5dB, so working by number is no good. Use your ears. To be honest I would use a mouse to edit many plugins and grab one of the active controls when I need to automate or tune something in by feel with my eyes shut etc.
- Some plugins provide a nice value in the DAW (say in %) but the Tango sometimes displays the parameter in numbers like 0.4678 - PSP Nitro for example. Again ears not eyes.
- Paging through and getting to most parameters was very easy and with a screen right in front of the Tango, one can use the encoder whilst relying on the DAW display for values, so I think its cool. But ideally it should be better for the money.
Other stuff:
Adding FX channels in Cubase causes the Tango to pause for second or two while it updates and adds the channel to the surface. Not a biggie, as these can then be available in the routing tab etc.
It's nice that everything appears on the surface right away (without having to assign a buss to arrange page like in Logic).
What I'd like to see:
Memory function extended to allow copying of inserts... would provide Cubase with some features I really like in Logic and ProTools (alt-click+drag plugs in PT).
The bugs:
When looking at the main mix insert (I mixed into a Sonalksis comp) the Tango said my insert was a URS A EQ but it wasn't and the encoders displayed the Sonalksis compression parameters, so that seems to be a bug.
Removing a send in Cubase sometimes didn't update on the Tango so it would look like I had a few sends assigned or active, they could even be turned on and adjusted on the Tango, but Cubase didn't even have a send on slot 2, so watch that.
However a quick save and re-open of the project sorted it out. Likewise a resync of the tango engine would do it.
Although there are a few bugs and a few things not there yet, on the whole this is the best controller I have used by a long way. I have tried Duality, AWS900, Matrix, Mackie Control, Euphonix Sys5-MC, Alphatrack, D-Command, ProjectMix, Command-8, Houston, Yamaha desks... yea many cannot be compared, but the Sys5 is getting hammered here by the Tango.
Tango with Cubase 4 is on the whole very very powerful. And it should only get better.
Couple with a nice small analogue mixer/backend and it would be a great hybrid system. Sit it along side a LFC and it would be a great hands on tool for a DAW operator.
-Tom