Mackie HUI "resisting" faders

[nitrix]

Hello to all!

I am currently testing a used Mackie HUI on loan from the local music store. Having abandoned the Yamaha 01X for a Traveler experiment a while back.

Hooked it up to my Traveler, added to AMS and in DP 4.6 via the Control Surface set up and...

It worked right off the bat! Cool! A control surface AND extra talkback, mic pres, out put, master volumes etc.

One issue though. This may be normal, but my experience with control surfaces is limited. Lets say the fader on track 1 is at +2 db and I want to pull it down to zero DB. When I pull a fader down it seems to "resist" my pulling it and I have to kind of force it. It stays where I end up leaving it, but will give me some resistance when I put it back to +2. Anything above the ORIGINAL location is OK. Smooth as silk. It's when I want to move down in a track with existing audio.

Is this a setting issue? Do you think the board is screwy? The faders are smooth otherwise and I really love being able to use faders, so I wouold really like to have a functional control surface.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

[Timmy S]

Try putting your fingers squarely on the faders as opposed to pulling from the top or borrom of the fader. I'm not sure but it seems like it can sense that you want to make a move. Secondly if the track you are trying to effect is in automation play make sure to switch to touch or overwrite mode or disable autiomation to just experiment with the level.

T

[giles117]

Used HUI or New Hui.

Typically when MAckie faders resist it is either damaged motors or the software and HUI are not communicating.

[Don T]

Hello:
Make sure you are not looping the control data. If you have been experimenting with DP controlling the HUI and the HUI controlling the DP faders it is easy to do. The feedback causes the faders to fight you.

[nitrix]

Thank you for the replies.

Don T, please pardon my ignorance but...

How do I know if am looping the control data? I am a novice at control surfaces, but I think you mean that the data is going back and forth between the fader and DP thus causing the resistance. How do I check for this?

Thanks again!

Nitrix

[croyal]

Sometimes you can loop data by "inadvertently" having HUI enabled as a MIDI detination or controller on regular MIDI tracks. Thus, when a track is record enabled the HUI output will go to a MIDI track and if another track' mixer fader is on the same channel, HUI may fight. My advice is to avoid having MIDI fader packs show up in the tracks window at all, unless dedicated to a sound source (outboard synth, VI, etc.) A single HUI doesn't play well with control over MIDI instruments and the DP Mixer faders all at at the same time.

Another way to make HUI fight is to punch in a lot of slight fader moves using trim or latch. When played back the motors all need time to locate the correct spot and will resist manual corrections.

Automation playback will often cause the fader to resist being moved from its programmed spot or path. So, try turning automation off if you just want to move the faders freely without recording moves.

[rockitcity]

As a HUI owner and user for about 4 years now, I have found that the most likely cause of fader resistance is bad grounding or dry weather. If your faders respond better when you lick you finger or hold the chassis with your other hand, then you have a grounding problem. Sometimes running a seperate ground wire from the HUI chassis to a known solid ground (cold water pipe, etc) can free up the faders. The problem is usually worse in cold weather because the humidity is lower. There is an internal sensitivity adjustment, but I think it needs some precision equipment to properly calibrate it. I run my HUI on its own MIDI interface, and that seems to help. Some days it just fights for no apparent reason. Nevertheless, I think it is a useful tool, especially for mixing.

[nitrix]

Thanks again to everybody.

I think croyal may be barking up the right tree because I ran a project that was only audio and I didn't have the fader resistance that I did previously. I will try to purposefully experiment with MIDI tracks and see what I come up with.

Thank you again!

Nitrix