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No reliable, affordable motorised control surfaces for DP.
Posted: Mon May 01, 2017 4:04 pm
by ski spiggy
So, I have been searching for some time now, and there appears to be nothing.
Lots of ideas and suggestions, but when it comes down to it, nothing appears to be really working.
Dissapointing is an understatement.
And that goes for physical and ipad. Ipad seems the obvious choice... But nothing. I thought Presonus Fader port was the go, was about to buy one, and then I read nope, it doesn't work either.
Re: No reliable, affordable motorised control surfaces for D
Posted: Mon May 01, 2017 4:28 pm
by James Steele
If you can still get an AlphaTrack (I bring that up since you mentioned FaderPort which is a single fader device), there is an updated driver for that and it works fairly well. Also, AFAIK, all the Mackie stuff works, too.
Re: No reliable, affordable motorised control surfaces for D
Posted: Mon May 01, 2017 7:01 pm
by Gravity Jim
I'm using an Icon Platform-M, and it's very nice. 100mm motorized faders, rotary encoders, transport controls... everything I need. Cheap, solid and just the right size, too.
There's also plenty of good stuff for IPad, but virtual faders suck.
Re: No reliable, affordable motorised control surfaces for D
Posted: Mon May 01, 2017 7:47 pm
by ski spiggy
I appreciate both of your responses. My studio is tiny, and other than vertically racking an eight channel controller, I simply don't have the room. I also can't afford one.
The Icon qcon lite is the Icon product I would go for, but it's user reviews are appalling.
I had a quick look at alphatrack. Looks great aside from no support down the road.
Re: No reliable, affordable motorised control surfaces for D
Posted: Tue May 02, 2017 2:39 am
by James Steele
Everything has no support down the road. Get one cheap enough and use it for a while. I have it working right now (with some minor quirks) on latest DP and latest MacOS. Maybe eventually it won't work anymore, but a programmer who worked for Frontier has updated the driver installer and the DP control surface bundle.
Re: No reliable, affordable motorised control surfaces for D
Posted: Tue May 02, 2017 6:38 am
by ski spiggy
I like your take James. I will keep an eye out for one.
Thanks,
Spig
Re: No reliable, affordable motorised control surfaces for D
Posted: Tue May 02, 2017 7:50 am
by bayswater
You didn't include "quiet" in the subject line, so have a look at the BCF2000. Mine has worked without issue for about 15 years.
Re: No reliable, affordable motorised control surfaces for D
Posted: Tue May 02, 2017 6:42 pm
by ski spiggy
Hi Bayswater. Have you managed to use a footswitch to activate stop/start to compensate for no touch automation with the BCF2000?
Re: No reliable, affordable motorised control surfaces for D
Posted: Tue May 02, 2017 7:49 pm
by bayswater
ski spiggy wrote:Hi Bayswater. Have you managed to use a footswitch to activate stop/start to compensate for no touch automation with the BCF2000?
I haven't tried it, but have vague recollection of the topic in the BCF docs. These probably still all on line at Behringer. It would seem awkward to have to coordinate the footswitch with fader movement.
Re: No reliable, affordable motorised control surfaces for D
Posted: Tue May 02, 2017 8:22 pm
by ski spiggy
I hear you. But how do you stop recording automation in latch mode when both hands are on faders?
Re: No reliable, affordable motorised control surfaces for D
Posted: Tue May 02, 2017 8:35 pm
by bayswater
Can't help you with that one. I only do rough automation with the BCF, then resort to graphic editing. But consider that you could probably span the 8 faders on the BCF with one hand.
Re: No reliable, affordable motorised control surfaces for D
Posted: Fri May 05, 2017 1:34 pm
by Morpheo
ski spiggy wrote:I thought Presonus Fader port was the go, was about to buy one, and then I read nope, it doesn't work either.
Faderport 8 works fine. Although I don't use DP much these days, I had no problem setting it up for DP.
As for the original Faderport, I don't know where you got that info but there are instructions from Presonus:
http://support.presonus.com/hc/en-us/ar ... Performer-
Re: No reliable, affordable motorised control surfaces for D
Posted: Fri May 05, 2017 1:53 pm
by James Steele
According to that link you have to use it in HUI mode and apparently that limits its usefulness.
From the page you linked to:
PLEASE NOTE: Because the FaderPort was not designed to function specifically as a HUI device. The FaderPort does have some inherent functions intended for use Native mode drivers which do not respond to the Mackie HUI protocol.
The following buttons have no functionality:
Output
User
Prev
Next
Mark
Fader Mode Buttons - Read, Write, Touch, Off
Start
End
Re: No reliable, affordable motorised control surfaces for D
Posted: Fri May 05, 2017 8:25 pm
by ski spiggy
From what I understand in the emails that I read from Presonus, and user feedback, Presonus offers no support post DP7.
And the ramifications are difficulties in navigating from one fader to another.
Of course, I have no experience with this. This is just from other peoples accounts. Mainly on this forum.
In the email that I read, Presonus suggested that MOTU was at fault. Something about 64 bit integration.
Re: No reliable, affordable motorised control surfaces for D
Posted: Tue May 09, 2017 1:42 pm
by Gravity Jim
Ask any digital tech company if they screwed up, and they will always tell you it's the other company's fault.
I honestly don't care if anybody buys one or not, but I have to take issue with the title of this thread because it's not true. The Icon Platform-M is reliable, easy to use with DP, built to last and, at $350, must be considered "affordable" compared to USD1K (and up) units that don't do anything it can't.
So, yes, there are reliable, affordable motorized control surfaces that work with DP.