Control Surfaces

Adam! · Post by **Adam!** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 7:07 pm

Anyone use a control surface for mixing/recording? I have a BCF2000, but unfortunately getting it to work gave me a brain tumour; even though this wasn't me, this guy's post sums up my experience pretty well. If you use one, how do you use it to streamline your workflow? Once I had my controller even partially working, I quickly got the impression that using it would be more hassle than just using a mouse.

Billy's Little Trip · Post by **Billy's Little Trip** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 7:58 pm

So far, I'm ok just using the mouse. Although, I am going to be upgrading to Cubase 4 as soon as the price comes down a bit. My Guitar Center has a working display of C4 with a control surface. I can't remember which one, but I'm thinking it was an Alesis. I was more interested in the new C4 and I wasn't really paying much attention to the CS. I didn't get a chance to play with it, I was just watching the salesman going through the new C4 features.

Post by **Lunkhead** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 10:29 pm

I think Ken said he just got this:

http://www.presonus.com/faderport.html

I don't think he's had a chance to use it yet, though. I've been looking at CS's a little bit, mostly just for bigger, easier to see and use transport controls.

Billy's Little Trip · Tue Jul 31, 2007 11:32 pm

That Presonus fader port looks pretty cool. 200 bux seems like a fair price. After watching the video, I noticed a few things that would make my life easier.

ken · Post by **ken** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 8:27 am

Sam is correct. I got a Presonus Faderport for my Bday. I haven't used it yet as I am having trouble setting up my new computer. Anyway...

There actually arent a lot of control surfaces out there. I'm a little suprised by this. I got pretty used to the Mackie Control Universal while tracking a record not too long ago. It was really nice. A bit bulky and expensive though. One of the things I was considering is the Mackie Baby HUI. It seems compact but still has decent faders on it. You can find them used on Ebay.

Just a couple of ideas.

If you just want transport controls there are more options.

Ken

obscurity · Post by **obscurity** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 2:46 pm

I recently got a yamaha 01x, mainly for it's digital mixer & audio interface capabilities, but I very quickly fell in love with it as a control surface. It's very hard to describe the benefit I get from it, as certainly everything can be done with a mouse, but I think the key difference for me is it saves a lot of mental context-switching time. I take a 'mix-as-you-compose' approach rather than 'track-first-mix-later', so I'm constantly flitting back-and-forth between different tasks. I tend to have a different mindset when working on software-based tasks and real-world-based tasks and it takes me a few moments to get my head out of the computer and into playing the keyboard, or vice-versa, and when I'm doing everything iwth the control surface, I don't need that time and - most importantly - I don't lose my train of thought while doing it.
And the scrub mode is such a HUGE timesaver in navigating around my song.

Adam! · Post by **Adam!** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 7:05 pm

Well, I'm thinking that my problems stem more from a) using Cubase very differently than the people who designed the Mackie Controller standard expect me to use it, and b) not having enough desk space. I am attempting to address both issues.

One very cool thing about the BCF2000 is watching all the motorized faders bob up and down as the song plays.

Billy's Little Trip · Post by **Billy's Little Trip** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 9:19 pm

Puce wrote: One very cool thing about the BCF2000 is watching all the motorized faders bob up and down as the song plays.

That's all that matters.