Control Surfaces 2012

[chrisso]

More expensive - SSL Nucleus.
Cheaper - iPad and App.

As I mostly use Ableton I think I'm best to use the Mackie, although I orefer the look of Avid Artist.

[chevybusa]

Well, if you're on a budget, there's always this:

DIY Mixing Desk

[Benmrx]

Thanks for the input guys:

Originally Posted by chrisso

More expensive - SSL Nucleus.
Cheaper - iPad and App.

As I mostly use Ableton I think I'm best to use the Mackie, although I orefer the look of Avid Artist.

Yeah, the Nucleus could be an option, but honestly all I need is a control surface. I've tried the iPad route..., and although it was sort of cool it just didn't do it for me... need real faders to grab onto.

I'm with ya. Something tells me I'll end up with a Mackie + extender, but I do like the look of the artist series way more.

Originally Posted by chevybusa

Well, if you're on a budget, there's always this:

DIY Mixing Desk

It's gotta have scribble strips, or some way to identify which tracks the faders are assigned to. I tried this with the old Tascam US2400 and it just didn't work for me.., I didn't think it would be a big deal..., and it really wasn't until you got to a song with more than 40-50 tracks.

[The Vulture]

Originally Posted by Paul in SoCal

Tablets, tablets, tablets, that's the future. Who needs scribble strips when the app tells you exactly what you're looking at?

TouchDAW - DAW controller and MIDI utilities for Android

Oh yeah, and after Win 8 is released, there will be plenty of touch screens on the market and even cheap retrofit kits to make any screen touch-sensitive. Every DAW will be fully compatible with multi-touch within a year or so.

Bla bla bla...
Tablets are a more flexible mouse.

Some of us actually like nipples, I'm sorry I meant knobs.
What can we say.
The touchscreen generation with the unisex ideal are already here.
But there will always be men with hair on their chest.

And we like to not just touch.
We have MANY other ways of turning a knob

[chrisso]

Yes, I would rather have real knobs and faders too.

[feck]

Me too.

Sent from my HTC VLE_U using Tapatalk

[Bill@WelcomeHome]

D8Bridge

[chrisso]

Not for Mac.

[thenoodle]

Originally Posted by Paul in SoCal

Tablets, tablets, tablets, that's the future.
Who needs scribble strips when the app tells you exactly what you're looking at?

That's a big no-go for 2012. Maybe by 2019. Back here in 2012, you can not use five/six fingers all at once to mix on ...an app... or a tablet.. or any flavor of iLandfill.

This is 2012. All the junk tablet toys available back here in the past are ALL too slow and have WAY too much latency. All you can do now is touch one or two fingers on all these toys and get a slippery control that is in no way precise.

We're still five/six years away from the fast multi-touch of something like a 3m Touchscreen (ten fingers at a time... zero latency) filtering down into compact plastic gizmos like you kids keep buying today. Especially since no one is willing to pay more than about $500 tops for the technology.

[jimmyboy7]

Using the Artist series, love it. I would go that route

[mattrixx]

I still love the MCU. tactile surface that you don't need to be looking at when you grab a fader, knob or button. I've used most of the surface apps and whilst they're great, you have to sight the location of your fingers, which IMO defeats the purpose completely.
As soon as there's some electro static finger tip feedback that gives you some sort of sense of feeling, like you would if you were dragging fingers across a field of buttons then we are getting close.

[Benmrx]

Man..., I was hoping you guys were gonna show me some awesome new piece of gear I didn't know of. So it's really down to the Mackie and Artist series. Being touch sensitive for 'punching in' with automation is also incredibly important, so another reason I can't go with the Behringers, and again.. tablets are a no-go right now...., unless it's for controlling plugins, there I'm with ya 100%, but not at all for mixing.

Tough call. The Artist series is definately slicker IMO, but I imagine you can find some great deals on the Mackies because they've been around so long.

Thanks everyone for the input!

[mattrixx]

Yeah, the form factor of the artists series is great, however, unfortunately they don't benefit the tighter integration of the MCU. having said that, it depends on the daw oh are using. The MCU and logic for example is far more feature packed than most uses will ever experience. Not bad for a 10-year-old piece of equipment

[The Vulture]

Well, the control surface scene is kind of dead!
I too am regulary looking for a good surface to control my daw, but am always surprised at how little that has happened.

[zvukofor]

As for me, I do not need "physical layer" of controllers, i'm fast learning creature, tablet is good enough for me. It is a bit different than physical faders, but no way it could be worse, you just need to learn how to handle it. A lot of people do not want to learn new things, but i do not want to be a one trick pony.

Never had any problems with latency, BTW. I use custom built Lemur interface on iPads, controlling mixer, all FX and 6 synths, all in real time, no hassle. When performing live as a musician i do not need any monitor, laptop is on the rack, i control everything via Lemur.

Want to start using V-Control in a studio where i work, just need to establish a good Wi-Fi, matter of a few days ) I tried V-Control Free at my home setup - works pretty fast and stable.

[eddie.machete]

Yup, looking myself all the time for new ones. Quocon pro is one ive found recently, Chinese Mackie. Don't know the full specs. Worth a look if you haven't seen it. The mcu isn't losing much value here in the UK at least. Still not an option for myself for at home.

sent from the future

[zvukofor]

BTW, i also work in a tech lab, where we make all sorts of customisation and mods for music/sound needs. Once we did BCR-2000 mod - replaced all knobs with a big transparent ones, so you can rotate one with just one finger - man, that was awesome physical controller! Also there's no problem to make any custom MIDI controller for any specific needs, but BCR/BCF duo are still the best in terms of price and function - those encoders are great comparing to standart pots.
There's also great controllers by Livid, i'm sure you can use it as DAW controller.
This is why i love to work in Ableton Live - you can use any available MIDI stuff to control anything there, no need to support MCU and other protocols.

[champ]

I've your looking for serious but not to big.

Nucleus is the way to go. (has some extra's as well)

[goddfodder]

I was looking into this a few weeks back. I have to admit I was surprised but there isnt really any obvious right answers.

Im not sold on the use of a tablet. I think Steinbergs CMC's was a great piece of middle ground, but you cant control 3rd plugins. The faders jump out as a good idea, but they dont show peaks & look hard to be accurate with,.. I think initially i was impressed but after a day or 2 of thought i decdided maybe wait for the 2nd generation and hope for improvement.

If money was no object id lean toward SSL. But unfortunately it is.

So yeah,.. i think i just decided to sit it out for a bit and see what the next few years of development delivers.

[loopy]

I like real knobs and faders as well and here is my experience so far:


Mackie MCU Pro current model - Great except the scribble strip has a MAJOR problem in that the LCD dims, and it doesn't take long. Some last longer than others but this is a systemic problem, the net is full of people screaming and Mackie pretty much ignores them.

Thank you MaCHINAkie.

[Foldedpath]

Originally Posted by Paul in SoCal

Tablets, tablets, tablets, that's the future.

The problem with tablets (aside from all the other problems mentioned above), is that you can't mix with your eyes closed, or looking away from the DAW display. It's easy on a DAW to fall into the trap of mixing with your eyes more than your ears. It can be a great reality check to close your eyes while fine-tuning the faders on some critical element like vocals or bass guitar. Or even just be able to glance sideways while working with a client, and have a conversation about what you're adjusting without having to have your eyes glued to a screen all the time. Visual input to the brain is incredibly dominant. Sometimes it helps to short-circuit it, like that.

Unfortunately, the last control surface I had was with my old defunct Paris system. I keep meaning to get some kind of control surface, but Samplitude only supported the Mackie one (and not very well) until recently. It looks like Pro X now works with the Artist series so I'm looking into that. Because the benefits are intangible and don't directly result in better audio quality, there always seems to be something else like a new mic ahead of a control surface in the budget. But I'll get there, one of these days.

Of course the other option is mixing stems to an analog mixer (SSL X Desk, A&H Zed, etc.) where I could at least have finger control over the submix. This could fit the "direct audio advantage" rationale too. But I don't have enough I/O channels for that right now, and I'm just not sure I want to hassle with it.

[Bill@WelcomeHome]

Originally Posted by Foldedpath

Unfortunately, the last control surface I had was with my old defunct Paris system. I keep meaning to get some kind of control surface, but Samplitude only supported the Mackie one (and not very well) until recently.

.

I could use a tablet for live tweaking of the setup of a live sound system while walking the room, but never for mixing. Besides, there is the lack of resolution to consider.

Samp always 'supported' any controller in that the tools are there to manually configure a controller should you choose to take the time. I attempted this when the Tascam US-2400 came out, and it was a lot of work, but it was doable.

I'm going to be hooking up an old D8B to Sequoia via the D8Bridge software I mentioned below, hopefully by the end of next week. it looks like an answer that will work for me for a long time. Check out the video. D8Bridge

[thenoodle]

Originally Posted by Foldedpath

The problem with tablets (aside from all the other problems mentioned above), is that you can't mix with your eyes closed

Apple has that patent from a couple of years back where the glass surface itself RAISES and LOWERS in predetermined detents... so that you can "feel" the areas where the faders/knobs are. It's a pretty cool patent to inspect. Problem is of course, the technology isn't due to be rolled out on anything for another 6 years or so.

The "feel" on the glass would be at least closer to what you're doing when moving real faders with your eyes closed and the music in your mind.

There's another company already doing this ....glass..... or a similar substance...that can move up and down into detent areas .... but no real products integrated yet ... I'm guessing they'll have a fuss with Apple at some point in 2018.

[NYCruiser]

I'm still using a Tascam FW-1884 in the home studio. Running Logic and Snow Leopard. Bad news is Tascam discontinued the thing and isn't making any 64 bit drivers. I guess that puts me in the market too when I can't use Snow Leopard anymore. When I get the next puter I'm gonna need a new audio chain and controller to go with it.

[Cinnamon]

I'm surprised the MCU Pro is the newest and best thing around to get to 24 faders... The Nucleus definitely is nicer, but twice the cost and only has 16 faders. For mixing, I'd like to have at least 24... I've been looking around the last few weeks and it's shocking how little development there's been in control surfaces.

(The Euphonix Artist mix looks waaaaaay cooler, but also is about 3x the cost of the MCU equivalent when you piece the units together to get 24 faders.)

I'm a little younger and started mixing all digitally with a mouse and keyboard, but after touring and mixing enough FOH and monitors, I can't stand using an iPad or mouse to "mix" with. Real faders are the way to go for a more musical feel. I also agree with FoldedPath - you've gotta be able to mix without looking at your fingers.