C24 - Can't move cursor

[don4777]

This seems like a REALLY stupid question...

I just received a new C24 a couple of days ago. I have hooked it up to two different computers. One a laptop running PT 10.3.7. And the other an i7 tower running PT 11.1.2. Both are Windows machines running Win7. Laptop 32bit, tower is 64 bit.

Everything appears to work fine EXCEPT the simple task of just moving the playback cursor in the Edit Window. I can scrub, shuttle, use the shuttle wheel and Mark In/Out buttons to mark a region. Those functions work fine and the shuttle wheel works correctly. BUT if I just try to move the playback cursor without any of the additional functions - nothing.

The C24 firmware updated to 8.0.0.314 when I first accessed it from PT 10.3.7.

What am I missing? Please help. I can't believe this is a hardware issue since everything else seems to work nicely. Although I have had to recalibrate the Faders a few times.

Thanks!!!

Don

[don4777]

Oh My! This got even more bizarre. I could really use input from someone who is actually using a C24.

Since there was no comments in response to my forum entry above I opened up a Support case with Avid Technical Support. I started with email but from the response it was obvious that my description of the problem wasn't clear. So - I called Tech Support. The person was extremely friendly and tried to help but didn't have much personal experience with using a console. He searched through the User's Manual and fired up a C24 himself to check things out. He reports that his C24 behaves the same was and that this is the way he thinks it should work. He said to position the playback cursor you NEED to be in SCRUB, TRIM, or SHUTTLE mode. You can't simply be be in Navigation mode.

I just received a follow up email and he said he talked with one of the other techs and was told that you should use SHUTTLE mode to position the playback cursor. That would actually be my LAST choice since you are really just adjusting the forward or reverse speed of the cursor as it moves through the file. That would DEFINITELY be a workflow killer.

This is definitely unlike any jog wheel I have ever used on any console or small transport control ranging from an ICON down to a little AlphaTRack. How are other C24 users positioning their playback cursor?? This is totally insane! I would REALLY appreciate any and all comments from other C24 owners.

THANKS!!!

[s.d. finley]

I can mover the cursor if editing is set to tab to transient and navigation is selected on the C24. Up, down and side to side! Sure its slow so I just use the damn mouse instead.

[don4777]

I actually found a workaround. I truly amazes me that no one is complaining about this. This isn't pretty but it works.

If you reach across with your left hand and hold the "Mark In" and "Mark Out" buttons the jog wheel behaves just like it does on virtually all other control surfaces as the default jog wheel function. The cursor moves quickly through the file. If you zoom in the speed is automatically adjusted. In fact the cursor moves at the same speed across the display regardless of zoom level. This is actually just what we would want. It takes the same amount of time to get from one edge on the screen to the other - regardless of zoom level. So when zoomed in it is moving fairly slowly through the file. This is actually harder to explain than I would have thought. Try it you'll like it.

I really believe that the C24 design could have benefited by making this the default jog wheel function. Especially since all of the code to support it already exists in the file - or it wouldn't work when holding the "Mark In" and "Mark Out" buttons. It's kind of kludgy but when it is the function you really want it will save pressing that arrow key a gazillion times.

[s.d. finley]

Hi Don, that is an interesting work around indeed. Normally I am not scrubbing an entire region of audio but just a small segment of a region looking for some odd hit or flub of some kind. I notice that before I drop the mark in and out markers I have to have the cursor selected in the track I want to scrub otherwise the cursor defaults to scrubbing the first 2 tracks. I also see I dont have to mark in and out the entire song, just a bar of it to do this.

[don4777]

Hi SD, I'm the same. If I am going to Scrub I am usually checking a very small area for a click or pop or some other nasty thing. That is why I was trying to find a way to move the cursor much quicker than scrubbing and SILENTLY. I have no interest in hearing chipmunks chanting incoherently as I move across a large area of a track. I was just used to being able to move the playback cursor in a similar fashion on many other control surfaces and trying to find something similar on the C24. It seems most people are happy with the C24 even without this capability. I have a feeling that with all of the other powerful functions (memory locations, etc) I may find that I don't really need the workaround. But it might come in handy from time to time.