Protools (and other DAWs) Controllers

PaulBrewer

What are the Brothers feelings on controllers for Pro-Tools like the Command 8 , Mackie Universal , Euphonics etc.

Anyone use them ?

Do they speed up workflow?

jtsuited

in my limited experience of them, they actually slow down workflow. managed to see the big fancy euphonix one demo'd and actually thought it was ultimately cool but completely useless.

DamagedTrax

i use the 002 surface (very similiar to command 8) and it speeds up my workflow a lot. it took a while to get used to not reaching for the mouse but once i did i was flying.

PaulBrewer

I do think a learning , or rather re-learning curve is part of using one.

'De-Mousing' you might call it.

I never feel up to speed with a mouse and a keyboard and have been experimenting with Kensington Track Balls and the Contour Designs Shuttle Pro 2 which if you adapt it to how you work can be an addition.

The Apple Mighty Mouse would have been great had the integrated swiping into Logic etc ...

I'm thinking about trying a controller and it might be an addition insofar as I'm by no means a power or even frequent user.

Neurojazz

PaulBrewer wrote: »

I do think a learning , or rather re-learning curve is part of using one.

'De-Mousing' you might call it.

I never feel up to speed with a mouse and a keyboard and have been experimenting with Kensington Track Balls and the Contour Designs Shuttle Pro 2 which if you adapt it to how you work can be an addition.

The Apple Mighty Mouse would have been great had the integrated swiping into Logic etc ...

I'm thinking about trying a controller and it might be an addition insofar as I'm by no means a power or even frequent user.

Ah, forget kensington, really a pretentious name for a heap of poo.




I've had most mice and i've had more of these stolen from me than most - one is about 8 years old and still lives! - nice large ball and easy/slick to move around, easy to clean also. http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/trackballs/devices/4680&cl=us,en

Mataguri

Im just a bedroom hobbyist but for my needs I find the Presonus Faderport great:



It has definitely sped up my workflow and the motorized fader is cool

PaulBrewer

Neurojazz wrote: »

Ah, forget kensington, really a pretentious name for a heap of poo.




I've had most mice and i've had more of these stolen from me than most - one is about 8 years old and still lives! - nice large ball and easy/slick to move around, easy to clean also.

It cost me 20 Euro on Adverts !

PaulBrewer

Mataguri wrote: »

Im just a bedroom hobbyist but for my needs I find the Presonus Faderport great:



It has definitely sped up my workflow and the motorized fader is cool

That's pretty cool . I saw the Frontier Designs one which is just about to come out, but I'd forgotten about that one.

PaulBrewer

http://eu.kensington.com/kensington/en/ie/p/498/64327EU/orbit®+optical+trackball.aspx

That's the bucko I have ...

woodsdenis

PaulBrewer wrote: »

http://eu.kensington.com/kensington/en/ie/p/498/64327EU/orbit®+optical+trackball.aspx

That's the bucko I have ...

I think Tim Martin has one of those or something similar. I cant use it at all.
It takes a bit of getting used to, but he swears by his one and flies about the place on it.

PaulBrewer

Check out this bad boy !

http://ergo.contourdesign.com/products/product-detail.aspx?id=50

dav nagle

All cheap assed controllers are junk period.

Welease

dav nagle wrote: »

All cheap assed controllers are junk period.

I did an A/B test between an expensive controller and a basic controller and could hear absolutely no difference in sound quality... It's just not worth paying the extra.
Oh hold on .. wrong thread.

ZV Yoda

I have a Command8 for use with Pro Tools. It's very good (& more intuitive than using a mouse) for mixing. It's very limited for editing though.

As with most Digi stuff though... ridiculously overpriced IMHO. I got mine 2nd hand.

I have the Shuttle Pro too, but don't really use it much... seems to be a bit of a glitch with the jog wheel - keeps crashing my sessions.

studiorat

De-Mousing is hitting the hammer on the head there.
I got the mackie controllers and stuck with using the track ball.

I have a logitech track ball, the kensington one was too high on the desk and gave me a sore wrist.

PaulBrewer

ZV Yoda wrote: »

I have a Command8 for use with Pro Tools. It's very good (& more intuitive than using a mouse) for mixing. It's very limited for editing though.

As with most Digi stuff though... ridiculously overpriced IMHO. I got mine 2nd hand.

I have the Shuttle Pro too, but don't really use it much... seems to be a bit of a glitch with the jog wheel - keeps crashing my sessions.

Cool - there's a Shuttle Pro software upgrade 2.1.4 which might sort your issue. Have you written Macros for the Shuttle (Euro 50 on Adverts!) ?

PaulBrewer

studiorat wrote: »

De-Mousing is hitting the hammer on the head there.
I got the mackie controllers and stuck with using the track ball.

I have a logitech track ball, the kensington one was too high on the desk and gave me a sore wrist.

2 nil to Logitech ...

Neurojazz

The logictech one - http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/trackballs/devices/4680&cl=us,en

and it just gets better with age... i also tried this version of this and it's even better with the nice scrollwheel.

ZV Yoda

PaulBrewer wrote: »

Cool - there's a Shuttle Pro software upgrade 2.1.4 which might sort your issue. Have you written Macros for the Shuttle (Euro 50 on Adverts!) ?

I must check out that upgrade - there wasn't one the last time I looked, so that's good.

No, I haven't written any macros. Didn't know you could do it tbh

PaulBrewer

ZV Yoda wrote: »

I must check out that upgrade - there wasn't one the last time I looked, so that's good.

No, I haven't written any macros. Didn't know you could do it tbh

You can also do 'sets' I believe - so you could have one set of buttons for tracking - one set for audio editing and one for midi editing.

I think the macro thing is where it's real value is - you can get it so it does a heap of functions with one press.

Manual is online too if you've mislaid yours.

I've not fully explored it yet but with a small bit of planning it looks like it will increase productivity.