Quote:
Originally Posted by Barry Johns
I'd buy another used D-Command........
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Yup. I just did this. Found a 4 year old main unit ES version in mint condition with brand new faders for less than than the price of an S3 alone. I also found a virtually unused 24 fader ES model for $6500 but I just don't have room for it unfortunately...
I researched the crap outta this and the more I looked at the S3/Dock combo, the more that seemed like a sideways move and in some ways a step back from the DC. There were some real shortcomings such as:
-No custom plugin maps (apparently none of the Eucon devices can do that!?!).
-No Live room Listen back channels (the DC has 2)
-The talkback button shares a button with another function, is latching only and there is no "auto" setting.
- When set to EQ mode, the dock knobs/display only follow the first EQ insert and cannot cycle down the inserts. Same with the Dynamics.
- when displaying EQ plugin GUI on the iPad display, turning the knobs on the dock changes the parameters on your regular PT display, but the curves do are NOT displayed on the Dock! Seriously...WTF!?!
-The programmable softkeys have no scribble strips, so you have to memorize what they do. The DC by comparison has entire section of scribble strips - one for each softkey that displays their function. In fairness, this is what the iPad is for, but then what is the point of all those unlabelled buttons if we are just going to use the iPad display anyhow, which brings me to the point that there is a ton of overlap between the S3 and Dock. Other than the knobs, the entire dock can be replaced by the S3 and an iPad running PT control app.
I'm really glad that I read every inch of the user guides for these products. I made notes and then verified my concerns with an Avid Product specialist who shrugged each criticism off with "what do you expect? - it's a low end, budget controller" His solution for me was to buy an S6 for literally 10x the price. And I still wouldn't have custom plugin mapping
Avid has completely blown off a major part of the audio market by not offering a comparable controller to the DC in the $15-30k range. So...I doubled down and let my support plan lapse, bought a second 5.1 mac pro as a backup and plan to stay here at 12.7 for a very, very long time.