Best Control Surface for Sonar

Hi Troops. 
My faithful Tascam FW-1884 and FE-8s are getting pretty tired and buggy. I'm after a new audio interface/control surface for Sonar (X2 & X3). I really need at least 24 faders and some integration between the audio interface and the control - i.e. hardware control of master fader and track inputs. 
 
I haven't seem anything that is similar to the Tascam and so the only similar solution seems to be a MOTU interface and Mackie MCU with extenders. Is there anything else out there that works well with Sonar? 

emptybe
Hi Troops. 
My faithful Tascam FW-1884 and FE-8s are getting pretty tired and buggy. I'm after a new audio interface/control surface for Sonar (X2 & X3). I really need at least 24 faders and some integration between the audio interface and the control - i.e. hardware control of master fader and track inputs. 
 
I haven't seem anything that is similar to the Tascam and so the only similar solution seems to be a MOTU interface and Mackie MCU with extenders. Is there anything else out there that works well with Sonar? 

I can tell you what I use and I'm very pleased with the degree of interoperability - faders, solo, mute, select, rec, pan on 24 channels (bank switchable) plus master fader using a Mackie d8b console and either the D8Bridge v1.1 MCU emulator or the ProBox MCU emulator.  The D8Bridge emulator doesn't accommodate audio but the ProBox does.  The d8b can be found on ebay for between $800 and $1200.  The ProBox is available for about $200 from munkustrap on the d8b boards.  Here's munkustrap's forum -
 
http://www.d8bforum.com/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=7
 

 
Edit: Oh, and also scrub, time code/MBT, and transport controls.
Edit: And LED level meters!
Edit: And motorized faders
Edit: Also, ProBox does HUI emulation as well as MCU emulation

Still amazing that the FW-1884 has lasted well over a decade! Mine still is plugging along, but I am holding out until there are Thunderbolt ones!

Thanks for the replies. The d8b looks great and they're going very reasonably on Ebay these days but I'm wary of tie-ing into 'old' technology (again). Is it OK with X2 & X3? So I'd need a piece of additional software for it to 'talk' to Sonar? But the audio I/O is integrated with the control surface functions like my FW-1884?
 
The Behringer would be interesting if it had any other name on the front  .Something like the Presonus Studiolive 32 looks great and is not much more expensive than the Behringer. Very interesting. 
 
Any other sugestions?

emptybe
The d8b...   Is it OK with X2 & X3?

 
Yes.
 

emptybe
So I'd need a piece of additional software for it to 'talk' to Sonar?

 
Yes, either software or hardware/firmware.  You need a translator/emulator to convert from d8b native RS232 serial messages (formerly to/from the d8b CPU) into Mackie MCU MIDI messages and back again.  The emulator conceptually sits between the d8b console and your DAW.  The D8Bridge solution does this emulation in software running inside the DAW and makes use of virtual MIDI ports.  The ProBox accomplishes the same thing in an external box that physically sits between your DAW and the d8b control surface.
 
The D8Bridge v1.1 software development effort has been abandoned by its author but the software is out these and it works.  The ProBox solution is still actively supported by its developer.
 

emptybe
But the audio I/O is integrated with the control surface functions like my FW-1884?

 
For D8Bridge, no; you'd need an external audio management system / monitor controller.  For the ProBox, all of the audio functions you would expect are executed by the ProBox and made available on the d8b control surface.
 
Unlike the Behringer, Mackie MCU Pro, and some other turnkey MIDI controller solutions, you need to be a bit of a systems integrator to get where you want to be.  It's not bad, but it just takes a little more than plugging it in and turning it on (although the ProBox is real close to that level of simplicity).
 

Hi there:)
 
I have Behringer BCR2000 with AZSlow3 and the preset written by MarKo, here an overview:
 
24 Rotors and 16 knobs!
 
With Shift and Ctrl Buttons you got insane possibilities. there are some other special Buttons too:
 
In Normal Mode:
==============
8 Rotors for:
 
Master Volume
Speed dial to for example get through number fields very faster than with the mouse buttons
ACT speed Rotor
Track Select
Zoom in 1 Track vertically
Zoom In Horizontically
Jog Rotor, slowly left and right
Position rotor, 1 bar left and right
 
8 Rotors Send 1 for Track 1-8, with shift send 1 Pan
8 Rotors Pan for Track 1-8, with shift Send 2
8 Rotors Volume Track 1-8
8 Buttons for Soloing Track 1-8, with shift Automation write enable
8 Buttons for Muting Track 1-8
 
On the right Side you have knobs to switch to Track 9-15 a.s.o.  the same knobs with shift button to switch to Tracks 2-9 a.s.o 
So it is easy to switch to every Track and have Solo/Mute/Pan/Volume/Send1
 
24-Track Mode: One Button on the right to switch the whole BCR to 24 Track Mode:
====================================================
24 Rotors for Volume 1-24
with shift Pan for track 1-24
 
ProChannel Mode: One button at the right to switch to ProChannel Mode:
===========================================
Rotors for EQ Frequenzy, Q-Factor and Gain
Rotors for Compressor all knobs
Rotors for Console emu
Rotors for Tube
Buttons for all Knobs for EQ, Comp, Tube and Console
 
Especially 8 Rotors for Send 1,2 , EQ Type, Side Freq, CE Type and with shift Volume for selected Track
 
Button at the right to switch the track 1-->2 -->3   ....  and for sure back, so it is easy to get through every track in Prochannel and work on it.
 
ACT Mode
======
For sure you have ACT Mode where you can assign every 24 rotors and 16 knobs to the plugins! Buttons to go through all inserted plugins.
 
On the right I have a lot more knobs for Solo Global and Mute Global, Ex-Solo, Dim-Solo, FitAllTracks, Switch between Bus and 
Tracks(!!!), Split, Split and delete, Gain Reduction and increase 1,2,3 ore more dB, Markers right left, stop, play, Tempo set,  set marker, set loop, loop on and off, fine Mode for to rotate in very small portions for every rotor.
 
And more, I surely forgot some knobs or functions but here is a picture of it:
 
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=C6D39F3882AA65D!188366&authkey=!AMURK2-DytMlpHs&v=3&ithint=photo%2cjpg
 
Look at:
 
http://www.azslow.com/index.php/topic,237.0.html
 
for more information about it.
 
I love to work with it, cause you very seldom need the mouse....
 
Greetings:)
Bassman.

Hi:)
 
@TerraSin
 
there are new drivers, but they are not downloadable. Just go to Tools or appliance manager (don't know the word in english) and renew your drivers. so it has been with V-Studio 100, it works pretty well in Win 10!
 
Bassman.
 

Eh hem, Getting back onto the issue. LunaTech I'm particularly interested in how the QU 24 integrates with Sonar. Could you tell me more? AZslow.com doesn't seem to be working at the moment...
The QU24 doesn't seem to have transport controls on it. Is there some way to do that with it?
 
I'm still keen to find something that replicates what I like about the FW-1884
- at least 24 faders
- combined audio interface with control surface
- transport controls incl jog wheel
 
There must be something else out there? 

I've read that the QU24 is locked at 48.1 for audio and needs manual re-sampling if you're going to work with previous projects recorded at 44.1 (of which we've got thousands that we regularly access and work on) so I guess that rules that out. 
 
One of the things that worries me about the MCU route is not having a main monitor output on the control surface. As we're switching between different apps as well as sonar we're constantly needing it and if it's tucked under the desk on something like a MOTU 828 that's a world of pain. 

I hope there will be some surfaces with OSC support. Many DAWs (also Sonar) understand it already, and it does not has MIDI weak sides (most important for control surfaces are standardized text transmission, arbitrary number of possible hi precision controls and no limitation on hardware transfer speed). Many Digital Mixers already have "iPad app", so technically there is very small step to convert many proprietary solutions into one common interchangeable.

I honestly feel ProAudio has entered the area of throwaway electronics and it's become very disconcerting. Companies are dropping products left and right in favour of developing new ones to cash in more rather than focusing on longevity of existing ones and working on designing them to be upgradable over time as tech changes.
 
At this point I'm looking at getting an older analogue mixer that doesn't revolve around the need for drivers or rely on software updates and finding a way to make it control my DAW because I'm tired of throwing money out the door.

Mackie universal control, works very well and is highly recommended

...a year and a half late to the party...