Anything special about these things? Or are you basically paying a lot of money for a mouse replacement?
DAW controllers and surfaces
- Thread starter JoergieN
- Start date
ahjteam
Anssi Tenhunen
Empathy
Bulging Member
That's just about the gist of it.
If you have good workflow with a mouse and keyboard, stick with a mouse and keyboard. If you work more efficiently on a desk, get moar faderz.
I'm a mouse and keyboarder myself. I can see the merit of having faders for automation purposes during a mixdown, but these days you can get away with buying a single-fader controller and writing out your automation lanes with that. I'm thinking of doing it myself, to be honest.
Vinny
Member
I'd probably just get one to intimidate my clients and look like I know what I'm doing. Seriously. 
Brett - K A L I S I A
Dreaded Moderator
You get more than faders if you get something like Euphonix. You get pots, knobs, jog-wheel and touch screen 
Lasse Lammert
HCAF Blitzkrieg
way more intuitive way of working....
I find faders especially useful when blending different mics on the same source....you just use 2 of your fingers (if you're using two mics) and blend them, listening to the sound...
with a mouse you always have to raise one mic, THEN lower the other etc, doing that the volume changes all the time...you can't really judge anything.
I find it EXTREMELY helpful to mix with faders (and I used to use a mouse only for a long time)....
with a good controller you can close your eyes and set the levels with your ears, having your fingers on multiple faders at the same time
I find faders especially useful when blending different mics on the same source....you just use 2 of your fingers (if you're using two mics) and blend them, listening to the sound...
with a mouse you always have to raise one mic, THEN lower the other etc, doing that the volume changes all the time...you can't really judge anything.
I find it EXTREMELY helpful to mix with faders (and I used to use a mouse only for a long time)....
with a good controller you can close your eyes and set the levels with your ears, having your fingers on multiple faders at the same time
Trevoire520
Member
It does. And if you aren't big on automation, it becomes second nature when you have a decent control surface.
Do you think there is much difference between faders and assignable MIDI knobs)?
I don´t own a surface but everytime I need to tweak something more sensitive (like the relationship between two volumes) I use "MIDI learn" to assign those controls to the knobs on my MIDI keyboard. Specially the tone controls from ampsims, that I hate tweaking with the mouse.
I don´t own a surface but everytime I need to tweak something more sensitive (like the relationship between two volumes) I use "MIDI learn" to assign those controls to the knobs on my MIDI keyboard. Specially the tone controls from ampsims, that I hate tweaking with the mouse.
I don't get it though, why do you dislike tweaking with a mouse? It gets the job done the same way, only with a mouse. Click and drag the faders or knobs carefully, its as simple as that. As far as work flow is concerned, I'm sure that it can be done way faster with a surface that you're used to
There are many advantages to me. It´s more confortable. I can close my eyes and just find the spot knowing where am I at a 0-10 scale, as the knob "ends". I can set and reset very quickly vaues that are related, such as trying to find the right high end twisting treble and presence at the same time, or compensating gain changes with master volume. Of course the result will sound the same if I do it with a mouse, but the thing with the knobs for me is when I´m trying to find what I want rather than set what I want. Actually I usually round off the values with the numpad after I find what I want.
I´ve never worked with these DAW surfaces and I don´t even know how they´re rigged. If you work with template files with all the channels already configured or you need to "midi teach" each one. All the studios that I´ve worked with a big console were just for the show, as they were old and couldn´t control the DAW. All those channels for basically the monitors volumes and talkback mic, the rest were all done via mouse on the computer
Lasse Lammert
HCAF Blitzkrieg
Trevoire520
Member
I´ve never worked with these DAW surfaces and I don´t even know how they´re rigged. If you work with template files with all the channels already configured or you need to "midi teach" each one. All the studios that I´ve worked with a big console were just for the show, as they were old and couldn´t control the DAW. All those channels for basically the monitors volumes and talkback mic, the rest were all done via mouse on the computer
Typically you'll have a set of say, 8 faders, with 8 knobs at the top. So you'll have access to volume and pan across 8 channels. You can change what channels you're tweaking by pressing nudge/bank buttons.
What MindMunch is talking about is assignable knobs on his keyboard. Typically you'd have those set to tweak whatever synth/instrument you have loaded up, but you can also assign them to tweak eq's, compressors etc.
I'm surprised by the guys here who are seeming quite puzzled by people who dont want to use a mouse all the time. Mixing on a decent control surface like an Icon/C24 etc is much more intuitive and enjoyable experience than clicking a mouse in my opinion. Maybe it's because I started out using multi-track recorders like the MRS802 and the AW16G, and was doing lots of live sound at the same time. So I've always had faders and knobs in front of me when doing audio stuff.
Brett - K A L I S I A
Dreaded Moderator
I think most (and I say "most", not "all") of those saying that a mouse is quite as good as a controller have never put their hands on a real controller.
Dalinkwent48@aim.com
Be Creative, Get Laid
I used to be all about the mouse and keyboard, once I started doing live sound though I immediately developed a hatred for it. I would much rather mix on a board than with a mouse now. Like lasse said, you can adjust multiple sources at the same time which makes things move alot easier than having to hit 1 fader at a time. That alone makes it worth it IMO.
Uros
Sonic Incision
Which model would you guys recommend, but with lower price? At this point, shelling out as much as 1000e for a DAW controller is just way too much for me.
edit: I am interested in the ones with 8 or so faders. Is that BCF2000 from Behringer ok quality wise? I see that Qcon is another solution, but it's rather pricey for me atm.
edit: I am interested in the ones with 8 or so faders. Is that BCF2000 from Behringer ok quality wise? I see that Qcon is another solution, but it's rather pricey for me atm.
