Control Surface

[keithgregory]

I am very new to computer based recording. Is it necessary to have a control surface connected to my 828mkII. From what I understand it's purpose is to eliminate a lot of mouse usage which could be hard on the wrist. I was wondering if I could connect my Roland 1680 Digital Reccorder to the 828mkII and use the mixer section as a control surface. If not which station would work best with the 828mkII. My budget is very limited. ($500.00) All I would need at this point is 8 - 12 channels. I am using Cubase SX 3
Thanks Keith

[John A. Collins]

No, not necesary. I don't know anything about your Roland. I have an old Tascam US428. It makes mixing a lot easier/faster. the next one i get will have motorized faders; resetting them manually is a pain. I also like the jog wheel which a lot of generic ones don't have. Look. there are lots in your price range.

[buddhabelly]

Easiest thing to do is to find one with mackie control emulation. Behringer makes a fader box that is in your price range w/ motorized faders. Other than that there is the mackie control, project mix and the yamaha 01x.

[mon]

John, have you gotten the US-428 to work with DP5-5.1? Mine worked great up to 4.61. I think Tascam needs to update the driver/DP plug-in again...

[Eleventh Hour Sound]

For just a little more you could get the Tascam UB-2400 which is a monster with 24 motorized faders and lots of cool features. I wish it had led track readouts but that'll be on the next version....

[ajkandy2]

[quote="mon"]John, have you gotten the US-428 to work with DP5-5.1? Mine worked great up to 4.61. I think Tascam needs to update the driver/DP plug-in again...[/quote]

I have a US-428 and it works strictly as an audio interface, apparently Tascam is not going to develop a new version of the Control Surface Plugin for DP 5.1, but I'm waiting for them to verify that. All they've told me is that they've produced a UB version of the CoreAudio driver.

[ajkandy2]

For just a little more you could get the Tascam UB-2400 which is a monster with 24 motorized faders and lots of cool features. I wish it had led track readouts but that'll be on the next version....

sadly, it looks like this product has been discontinued. I dunno if they're going to replace it with something better, or if they're going to focus their marketing efforts on the FW-1884 interface/controller, which is expandable with their FE-8 sidecar unit rather like the Mackie Control.

[Eleventh Hour Sound]

Wow that's too bad. It's a really nice unit for the money. Hopefully they'll replace it with an upgraded version that displays tracks names...

For just a little more you could get the Tascam UB-2400 which is a monster with 24 motorized faders and lots of cool features. I wish it had led track readouts but that'll be on the next version....

sadly, it looks like this product has been discontinued. I dunno if they're going to replace it with something better, or if they're going to focus their marketing efforts on the FW-1884 interface/controller, which is expandable with their FE-8 sidecar unit rather like the Mackie Control.

[Macinbowl]

My budget is very limited. ($500.00)

There's another thread that show a new control surface with a single fader. It's affortable and seem very useful

http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14929

Worth a look!

Mat

[ajkandy2]

Just got an email in response to my question...in another couple of weeks Novation will release some updated software which will let this controller do Mackie HUI emulation, which will allow it to work with DP. I'm waiting for a response from them on whether you could use this alongside something like the faderport, etc.

[mhschmieder]

The best way to eliminate mouse fatigue is to learn keyboard shortcuts. I need to do more of this myself. Also, in DP 5.0 (maybe 4.6 added this; I forget), there are now some contextual mouse scrollwheel shortcuts that come in quite handy.

I finally found a mouse that I like a few months ago and ditched the godawful Apple Mouse, and was quite pleased to see that MOTU has begun to integrate support for more advanced mice into DP.

[ajkandy2]

The best way to eliminate mouse fatigue is to learn keyboard shortcuts. I need to do more of this myself. Also, in DP 5.0 (maybe 4.6 added this; I forget), there are now some contextual mouse scrollwheel shortcuts that come in quite handy.

I finally found a mouse that I like a few months ago and ditched the godawful Apple Mouse, and was quite pleased to see that MOTU has begun to integrate support for more advanced mice into DP.

yeah, contextual menu support rocks, I hope they start putting more of them throughout DP.

I just got a Logitech mini bluetooth mouse for my studio (cut down on the wire clutter), but I've been looking for a long time at the Perific wireless mouse, it seems pretty useful for musicians as it can work as a sort of "grip trackball" that rests on your hand. Anyone tried one? (www.buyperific.com)

In a related thread up in the general DP forum I've noted that the company that makes those replacement key cap sets for various DAWs and video editing suites is considering making a set for DP (or possibly even 'dual' marked sets for different apps, say, DP and Reason etc.) -- go check it out and send the guy an email if you think this would be worthwhile.

[srpm]

... works fine for me with DP 5.1 and Tiger. I use it as a control surface and occasionally as an audio interface.

[mon]

Not to beat a dead horse but my US-428 works fine with Logic 7.2 and Cubase 4 using the last update from Tascam.

Ah, but I want the jog wheel to work with DP.