Snehankur
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Control Surface - Motorized fader or not
Hi
I am planning for a control surface (mid-range priced)
What are the options for Sonar -Platinum?
Should it be with Motorized fader or non-motorized? How can I understand the fader levels when I change tracks.
Thanks
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John
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Re: Control Surface - Motorized fader or not
2015/09/16 09:00:25
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I have a Mackie Control and I prefer motorized faders. They are very helpful in seeing how it is set up.
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kzmaier
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Re: Control Surface - Motorized fader or not
2015/09/16 10:10:38
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I have a non-motorized and do not use it. Wish I had motorized... I was waiting on the Behringer motorized keyboards but I think they are not coming out??
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townstra
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Re: Control Surface - Motorized fader or not
2015/09/16 10:14:38
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I bought a $100 android tablet on Amazon and use TouchDAW which I think was about a $5 download. It shows where everything is set like a motorized control surface and ended up being a lot cheaper.
Regards, Tracy Sonar Platinum, Harrison Mixbus 4, Melodyne 4 Studio, Slate Digital FG-X, ARC 2, Windows 10 Pro x64, Intel I7-4790@3.6ghz, 16 Gb RAM, GeForce GT730, Focusrite Scarlett 18i20, Behringer ADA8200, Prodipe Ribbon 8 monitors, Prodipe Pro5 monitors, Behringer B2030P monitors, Korg nanokontrol, Korg microKey, Samson Graphite MF8, rack full of channel strips and processors, lots of guitars, basses, and pedals. www.TracyTowns.com
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smallstonefan
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Re: Control Surface - Motorized fader or not
2015/09/16 10:46:09
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I had a Mackie Control Universal Pro for years and sold it thinking a touchscreen monitor would be a suitable replacement. It was not, so I re-purchased a Mackie and even bought an extender to go with it.
I tried other options like the Behringer, but the Mackie is just a dream device. Motorized is really the way to go...
PS: Anyone want to buy a 27" touchscreen? :)
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konradh
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Re: Control Surface - Motorized fader or not
2015/09/16 10:51:35
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Motorized faders are important to me. If I didn't have them, I would just use the software on the screen.
Konrad Current album and more: http://www.themightykonrad.com/ Sonar X1d Producer. V-Studio 700. PC: Intel i7 CPU 3.07GHz, 12 GB RAM. Win 7 64-bit. RealGuitar, RealStrat, RealLPC, Ivory II, Vienna Symphonic, Hollywood Strings, Electr6ity, Acoustic Legends, FabFour, Scarbee Rick/J-Bass/P-Bass, Kontakt 5. NI Session Guitar. Boldersounds, Noisefirm. EZ Drummer 2. EZ Mix. Melodyne Assist. Guitar Rig 4. Tyros 2, JV-1080, Kurzweil PC2R, TC Helicon VoiceWorks+. Rode NT2a, EV RE20. Presonus Eureka. Rokit 6s.
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bluzdog
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Re: Control Surface - Motorized fader or not
2015/09/16 11:18:39
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townstra
I bought a $100 android tablet on Amazon and use TouchDAW which I think was about a $5 download. It shows where everything is set like a motorized control surface and ended up being a lot cheaper.
That looks pretty cool. I Have an old Roland VM3100 Pro that came with the Studio Pack. Years ago I tried using it as a control surface with Sonar 1. Everything worked as expected but it was not usable because the faders, knobs etc. were never in a position that reflected what was actually going on in a given project. It became a glorified transport control so I quit using it. It's been collecting dust ever since. Rocky
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tlw
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Re: Control Surface - Motorized fader or not
2015/09/16 11:47:45
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Tablets/ipads are the thing to be looking at if you want controls that reflect the selected DAW channels. Or a full-size touch screen. Not having motorised faders or the touch-screen equivalent is as far from ideal as contoller encoders controlling plugin settings where as soon as you touch the encoder the plugin control instantly "jumps" to where the encoder is, which might be a long way from the original setting.
post edited by tlw - 2015/09/16 11:58:23
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azslow3
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Re: Control Surface - Motorized fader or not
2015/09/16 12:29:22
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Several comments:
1) if you want 8+ motorised faders and no troubles, you better go for the original Mackie device. Some users have reported success with BCF (the faders are not touch sensitive), but not with QCon or SSL. No reports about Behringer X-Touch yet. VS-700 is (still) an another option. In case you think one fader is sufficient, Faderport or (discontinued) Alphatrack are know to work fine. More than one good motorized fader means in any case: expensive, big and heavy. MCU/BCF/X-Touch are working throw the same old MCU plug-in, no ACT, no ProChannel.
2) TouchDAW (better Tablet version) is good to see what you get with MCU (it works throw the same plug-in)
3) endless encoders are an alternative for motor faders. They do not "jump", are small, not moving on themselves and are relatively cheap.
4) normal knobs and faders can be used it "catch" mode, so you will not experience jumps but you should put them "in position" before they start changing the parameter.
4*) in case you are brave to try my plug-in, normal knobs and faders can in most cases control parameters instantly and without jumps (but loosing in resolution at the beginning) or they can be used as endless encoders (also with some caveats, there is no magic involved).
Sonar 8LE -> Platinum infinity, REAPER, Windows 10 pro GA-EP35-DS3L, E7500, 4GB, GTX 1050 Ti, 2x500GB RME Babyface Pro (M-Audio Audiophile Firewire/410, VS-20), Kawai CN43, TD-11, Roland A500S, Akai MPK Mini, Keystation Pro, etc. www.azslow.com - Control Surface Integration Platform for SONAR, ReaCWP, AOSC and other accessibility tools
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WDI
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Re: Control Surface - Motorized fader or not
2015/09/16 14:40:23
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If you want to use a control surface for mixing then you will need motorized faders. If you just want to control soft synth parameters for playing then non motorized would be fine.
Sonar 7 PE Windows XP Pofessional (SP3) MSI K8N Neo4-F AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2 GB PC 3200 Ram RME Fireface 800 Edirol FA-66 CM Labs MotorMix Old stuff: ARJO
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BassDaddy
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Re: Control Surface - Motorized fader or not
2015/09/18 10:36:04
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bluzdog
townstra
I bought a $100 android tablet on Amazon and use TouchDAW which I think was about a $5 download. It shows where everything is set like a motorized control surface and ended up being a lot cheaper.
That looks pretty cool. I Have an old Roland VM3100 Pro that came with the Studio Pack. Years ago I tried using it as a control surface with Sonar 1. Everything worked as expected but it was not usable because the faders, knobs etc. were never in a position that reflected what was actually going on in a given project. It became a glorified transport control so I quit using it. It's been collecting dust ever since.
Rocky
I had a VM-3100Pro and agree with everything you said. It was such a great piece of gear but without motorized faders who cares?
It's Bass, not Bass. i7 2700K, 16GB DDR3, 2 SSD sample drives and OS drive, HDD SATAIII for projects, 2 24" monitors Focusrite Saffire Pro 24, Focusrite VRM Box, LAVA Lamp, SONAR Platinum 64 bit, Mackie MCU and 1 MCU XT, Akai Advance 49, Windows 10, Komplete 9 Ultimate, Cakewalk, Toontrack, IK, AAS, XLN, UVI, Air Music Tech, Waves Factory, Sample Tek and Sonivox VSTi's. Overloud, T-Racks, Audio Damage, D16, Nomad Factory, Waves Gold FX
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BassDaddy
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Re: Control Surface - Motorized fader or not
2015/09/18 10:42:04
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Getting a surface with motorized faders is like getting your drivers license when you are 16. If you want to ride your bike to Prom, then....
It's Bass, not Bass. i7 2700K, 16GB DDR3, 2 SSD sample drives and OS drive, HDD SATAIII for projects, 2 24" monitors Focusrite Saffire Pro 24, Focusrite VRM Box, LAVA Lamp, SONAR Platinum 64 bit, Mackie MCU and 1 MCU XT, Akai Advance 49, Windows 10, Komplete 9 Ultimate, Cakewalk, Toontrack, IK, AAS, XLN, UVI, Air Music Tech, Waves Factory, Sample Tek and Sonivox VSTi's. Overloud, T-Racks, Audio Damage, D16, Nomad Factory, Waves Gold FX
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mesayre
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Re: Control Surface - Motorized fader or not
2015/09/18 10:53:59
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I've actually never cared much for motorized faders. It's just one more thing that can break. Went through several faderports. I don't find the 'jump' to be a problem for soft synth or mixing control - since I'm usually looking at the control I'm automating anyway, I just move it to the right spot before my automation pass.
Guess it depends on your specific mixing workflow. I would get something cheaper and spend the money on other gadgetry.
Mike Sayre Composer, Horn Player Sonar Platinum, Win10x64 My new album, Music for Icebergs, is now on iTunes
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