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View Full Version : Choosing a controller - advice?


mpeddle
10-21-2009, 10:46 AM
Hi,

I'm shopping for a dramatic upgrade in my recording setup. Right now, I use an MBox Mini, plus a presonus firestudio that I borrow from a friend when recording drums (which I record into Ableton Live, then transfer to pro tools for editing/mixing). My projects have outgrown my setup and I really hate not being able to use more than one input with pro tools, plus the mouse/keyboard-centric setup kind of sucks.

I was hoping people might be able to answer some of my questions regarding control surfaces. I've reviewed other threads on this topic, but I felt like the responses didn't really illuminate the topic for me.

What I need :
8 or more inputs
An external control surface
No compatibility issues or obnoxious errors

I'm torn between the following options :
003 Factory and an external pre-amp (maybe a presonus?) via ADAT/lightpipe
003 Rack+ and Command 8
003 Rack+ and Mackie Universal Control

If it is possible to use the control surface with other software, I also use :
Ableton Live 8
Reason 4

Can you tell me your opinions of these 3 control surfaces and tell me what kind of setup you think is best? I'm prepared to drop a couple of grand on my control surface + interface, but the less I spend, the more I can spend on buying microphones, monitors and so forth.

Thanks!