[its2loud]

“However, having read thru the manuals for the S1 / S3 / C|24, all editing, inserting, routing, etc. seems clumsier than point and click.( Although the C|24 seems to have less levels to work thru to accomplish a task).”

Let’s break this down into two categories

1. Editing and session setup
2. Mixing

Re: #1. Avid has tried to incorporate editing capabilities into their consoles but IMHO, they have always fallen short. Too many button pushes required to achieve the same goal a mouse click or keyboard shortcut would achieve. This aspect of Pro Tools has always been mouse and keyboard based. The only DAW to ever achieve true hardware based editing was Fairlight. Therefore, I agree that if you are primarily editing tracks, then a surface will not improve your workflow.

Re: #2. This is where the console comes in to shine. Being efficient on a control surface comes down to two things: understanding a console layout and muscle memory. Once you have achieved both of those, there is no way, again MHO, you can mix faster with just a mouse and keyboard. Even controlling plugin parameters is faster on a surface, once you know where to go to control the parameters. I’ve never been fast on a new surface at first, but once I understood the lay of the land, and my brain had a chance to absorb the info, efficiency was the name of the game.

Therefore, I believe the use of Pro Tools is a combination of all of the above. You CAN do everything “in the box”. It was designed for this purpose from day one. But just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Now that control surfaces like the S1, S3, S4, S6 have graduated to a common similarity, dancing between them has become a breeze. Become efficient on an S1? Jumping to an S6 doesn’t seem so daunting. One has to evaluate their primary focus on the DAW to determine the need for a control surface. You also have to be willing to break old habits and learn new tricks. Once you do, you will be rewarded.