The Raven MTi2 Thread

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labman
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Re: The Raven MTi2 Thread

Post by labman »

"If MOTU ever collaborates with Slate the Raven they could have a killer guy"

Hopefully, that is is the works. ;)

If Shooshie not only does videos but also delivers dinner, I would certainly pitch in to get him a Raven.
AMPGUI themes - Andy rocks!, 3 macs, MacPro 768GB ram, 16core OS11.7.10, DP11.31, all Waves, all SLATE, PSP, IK multimedia & Audioease plugs, all PAlliance, Softube, tons of NI VI's all air Spitfire, all Audiobro, all Berlin, EW PLAY, LLizard, MachFive3, Kontakt5, Omnisphere, RMX, LASS, all Soundtoys, Lexicon AU's, melodyne and others I know am forgetting, cause I'm old...Also mucho outboard rigs, MTPs, DTP, antelope WC, and 4 control surfaces with Raven.
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Re: The Raven MTi2 Thread -- MIDI Editing Easier?

Post by max4dp »

It's my first post here, and I'm hopefully following the right protocol. Please let me know if there's a preferred way to do this...

I'm considering buying the MTi2, and I wasn't able to find answers to my questions searching the forum, so I'm posting this.

Most of the discussion about the MTi2 I've found is about mixing. But most of my work is done in the MIDI editing window. Fiddling with MIDI notes, making them longer, shorter, moving them around. I find it tedious with the mouse. Is it less so with the Raven?

How about editing continuous MIDI data like modulation, especially when you have to switch between pencil and arrow tools (someone did mention that, actually)? Or editing note on-velocity. That's tedious with a mouse. Better with Raven?

Or when you'd normally use the command key (Mac) to switch between snapping to grid or not while moving MIDI or audio events around the timeline - is that easier or harder?

How about grabbing a bunch of MIDI and/or audio in the Tracks window, in order to clone it and/or move it somewhere else in the time line -- easier or harder with the Raven?

Is it easier to scroll accurately through the edit timeline (in MIDI or in Audio) than it is with my Apple trackpad (it always swipes too far, or not far enough)?

And... do you really have to use that screen spray?

And by the way, has anyone used the Raven with Final Cut Pro? I'm wondering if it has any value there, other than as an ordinary monitor.
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Gravity Jim
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Re: The Raven MTi2 Thread

Post by Gravity Jim »

I had a Raven for six months. The software didn't really work completely with DP, and from waxman's photos it appears that it still doesn't. That and the terrible ergonomics convinced me to sell it during the production lapse, when people were still paying a premium on eBay.

I wanted faders and liked the gestural control concept, so I replaced it (after a couple of false starts) with an Icon Platform-M control surface (smallest and lest expensive unit I could find with motorized faders) and an Apple Magic TrackPad. Couldn't be happier.

I might think about a touch screen again if MOTU adds native touch control to DP, but even then... the control kind of need to be outsized, as in the Raven software, and controlling DP by touch probably isn't a real hot idea.

I like the Slate plug-ins quite a bit, but the hardware stuff seems to be succeeding more on Steven Slate's gift for megahype than for any actual need.
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Re: The Raven MTi2 Thread

Post by James Steele »

Gravity Jim wrote:...so I replaced it (after a couple of false starts) with an Icon Platform-M control surface (smallest and lest expensive unit I could find with motorized faders)...
Do you know if they're now shipping the add-on meter bridge for it? Is it working well for you?
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Gravity Jim
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Re: The Raven MTi2 Thread

Post by Gravity Jim »

James Steele wrote:
Gravity Jim wrote:...so I replaced it (after a couple of false starts) with an Icon Platform-M control surface (smallest and lest expensive unit I could find with motorized faders)...
Do you know if they're now shipping the add-on meter bridge for it? Is it working well for you?
It is working great for me, James, but I'm not tracking several musicians at once or mixing on the fly... I record one or two instruments at a time, and mix very deliberately, just a few tracks at a time. So, for me, it's perfect. I did see the meter bridge is coming, but since the bridge doesn't actually line up with the faders, I don't know if it does me any good. Not to mention that it would obscure a little bit of the bottom of one of my displays.

When I'm using the Icon (or any 8-fader surface), the DP Mixing Board resizes itself to 8 channels plus the master. Each time I press the Bank button, the DP Mixing Board slides over and displays the next 8 channels. So the Icon is always controlling just the 8 channels I can see. Works great without the meter bridge... although I still think I might try one. I never know until I actually have the gear under my hands.
Jim Bordner

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labman
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Re: The Raven MTi2 Thread -- MIDI Editing Easier?

Post by labman »

max4dp wrote: Or when you'd normally use the command key (Mac) to switch between snapping to grid or not while moving MIDI or audio events around the timeline - is that easier or harder?

And... do you really have to use that screen spray?
Welcome Max

re: all the MIDI questions. Yes, you need to use that dreaded spray to keep the touch gliding rather than sticking. Working MIDI, which is where I primarily live for orchestration, is quite amazing with pencil tool, quickly drawing in contours and fades, tapping grids on/off etc. Same with reshaping velocity curves etc. I find I am using far less hotkeys, and just moving about fluidly with two hands. I do however always seem to forget to use Raven on drag lengthening notes. I dont know why. I still reach for magic trackpad. Weird.

When you add in the batch commander that is where it really shines. I use a bunch of custom commands along with keyboard maestro, and it is a thing of beauty. It took me awhile to decide what I actually wanted different scenarios to do.

Scrolling is killer. Far more human feeling with Raven as you can do stuff with your eyes and hands together that feels quite natural. At least for me.

One negative for me... I have 4 24" Dell Ultrasharps, and the resolution on Raven isn't as clean as them, as they Raven is taking a 1080p res and boosting it into a 27" screen. But it is livable.
AMPGUI themes - Andy rocks!, 3 macs, MacPro 768GB ram, 16core OS11.7.10, DP11.31, all Waves, all SLATE, PSP, IK multimedia & Audioease plugs, all PAlliance, Softube, tons of NI VI's all air Spitfire, all Audiobro, all Berlin, EW PLAY, LLizard, MachFive3, Kontakt5, Omnisphere, RMX, LASS, all Soundtoys, Lexicon AU's, melodyne and others I know am forgetting, cause I'm old...Also mucho outboard rigs, MTPs, DTP, antelope WC, and 4 control surfaces with Raven.
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Re: The Raven MTi2 Thread

Post by James Steele »

Gravity Jim wrote:
James Steele wrote:
Gravity Jim wrote:...so I replaced it (after a couple of false starts) with an Icon Platform-M control surface (smallest and lest expensive unit I could find with motorized faders)...
Do you know if they're now shipping the add-on meter bridge for it? Is it working well for you?
It is working great for me, James, but I'm not tracking several musicians at once or mixing on the fly... I record one or two instruments at a time, and mix very deliberately, just a few tracks at a time. So, for me, it's perfect. I did see the meter bridge is coming, but since the bridge doesn't actually line up with the faders, I don't know if it does me any good. Not to mention that it would obscure a little bit of the bottom of one of my displays.

When I'm using the Icon (or any 8-fader surface), the DP Mixing Board resizes itself to 8 channels plus the master. Each time I press the Bank button, the DP Mixing Board slides over and displays the next 8 channels. So the Icon is always controlling just the 8 channels I can see. Works great without the meter bridge... although I still think I might try one. I never know until I actually have the gear under my hands.
Thanks for the info! Seems like the meter bridge not lining up with the faders is a pretty glaring flaw. It would make me pass. I'm assuming you can gang up more than one Icon so you can control 8, 16, 24 channels at once? Cool. I need to look into it.
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Gravity Jim
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Re: The Raven MTi2 Thread

Post by Gravity Jim »

James, they also make an 8-fader unit called Platform-X... the same thing but without the transport section and the master fader. It can be used standalone if you don't need those features, and it looks to me that the meter bridge DOES line up with the 8 faders on the Platform-X.

You can expand the Platform system up to 32 faders by adding additional Platform-X units. Me, I'm out of space on this desk. :(
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Re: The Raven MTi2 Thread

Post by TnMike »

I just bought a Raven and I'm trying to use it only to mix with. I know it can do all this great stuff with the touch screen but my work flow is pretty good editing with the keyboard and mouse.
I just found out you cannot show/hide selected fader channels. Extreme drag. I have notice there is no automation record buttons on the Raven mixer, only track record buttons, another extreme drag. I'm wondering if there is a place on the Raven mixer that shows the markers in the markers window?
I'm not sure if the Raven is ready for DP or vice versa. All I'm needing it to do with it is an automated mix with markers to repeat and tighten up sections of the mix.
I've seen those Icon mixers online. Wonder if they make a DP template for their mixers?


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labman
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Re: The Raven MTi2 Thread

Post by labman »

TnMike wrote:I just bought a Raven and I'm trying to use it only to mix with. I know it can do all this great stuff with the touch screen but my work flow is pretty good editing with the keyboard and mouse.
I just found out you cannot show/hide selected fader channels.
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Hey there Tn. Requests have been made to both slate and motu to find a way for our "track View" selections in DP to be mimicked in Raven. Motu has had a raven for 6-8 weeks now, so I am at least hopeful.
AMPGUI themes - Andy rocks!, 3 macs, MacPro 768GB ram, 16core OS11.7.10, DP11.31, all Waves, all SLATE, PSP, IK multimedia & Audioease plugs, all PAlliance, Softube, tons of NI VI's all air Spitfire, all Audiobro, all Berlin, EW PLAY, LLizard, MachFive3, Kontakt5, Omnisphere, RMX, LASS, all Soundtoys, Lexicon AU's, melodyne and others I know am forgetting, cause I'm old...Also mucho outboard rigs, MTPs, DTP, antelope WC, and 4 control surfaces with Raven.
Digiuser
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Re: The Raven MTi2 Thread

Post by Digiuser »

I just got rolling with a MTi2 this week with DP 9.
Lots of potential here! It's going to be amazing when we can either have 10 touch points on the DP mixer or access to automation and multiple labeled inserts in the raven mixer. I don't care which mixer we use...just want it to have all of the functionality, routing etc that the dp mixer has. Hopefully someday soon. My alpha track was becoming unreliable so this is quite an ergonomic leap for me.
It's also going to be great when the Mac OS actually follows the settings of which display an app should open in. I have the raven as my primary and a 43" LG as my second display and even though I have told every app to open in the second display, they still about half the time open on the raven/primary display. Which then can't be seen because the app is hidden behind the 24 fader raven mixer.
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Re: The Raven MTi2 Thread

Post by waxman »

I used spaces and custom window sets to get around that...
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Re: The Raven MTi2 Thread

Post by Digiuser »

Assigning apps to open on a specific display once more than 2 spaces are created does not work reliably on my computer using Sierra 10.12.6.
I had a long screen share with apple and was able to show them over and over that the assignment of which display an app should open in as shown when control clicking on an app in the doc would not always result in the app opening on the display that it was specified to open or run in.
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Re: The Raven MTi2 Thread

Post by waxman »

Digiuser wrote:Assigning apps to open on a specific display once more than 2 spaces are created does not work reliably on my computer using Sierra 10.12.6.
I had a long screen share with apple and was able to show them over and over that the assignment of which display an app should open in as shown when control clicking on an app in the doc would not always result in the app opening on the display that it was specified to open or run in.
That has never worked consistently for me. Even without the Raven. I used 3 mons before the Raven and they would not open correctly. Especially with templates. So I just got used to window sets short cuts. There are some things you can do with opening everything from clippings but that is not worth the hassle. I suggest just using window sets once open.
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Re: The Raven MTi2 Thread

Post by Digiuser »

When you refer to "window sets" do you mean in Digital Performer?
Or are you referring to "spaces/desktops" in the Mac finder?

I'm doing ok with Digital performer placing windows, the mixer etc in predictable places....my issue is when I open up Apps in the finder or from the dock that it's a total free-for-all and bad for workflow to figure out where a given app is going to open.
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