How about a review?

[funkdefino]

So can someone post an honest to god review here of what they think of this unit? So far I have heard a few complaints, but hey this is a message board, that is normal.

Anyone had a good experience with it?

Is it worth the money?

Build quality?

Ease of use?

Installation?

Compared to other controllers?

Come on I want to buy one but I am torn. There has to be more info out there than this.

Thanks!

[martin310]

Mine is being shipped today...I'll give my review as soon as I'm up and running.

By the way...most of the people who complain about products here are the usual ones who just don't want to read the manuals and set their stuff up correctly according to digidesign's recommended set up guide lines...then they come here and bitch about how everything sucks, so I would'nt take what everyone says here so literally.

[RMcFarland]

I will post a full review sometime during the weekend. I have only had the unit since tuesday. So far I am estactic. If you are torn between other manufactures units, I can understand- I was myself, but I am glad I didn't go with the others. This machine was built for and specifically designed for PT.

I have a few gripes that deal mostly with engineering and manufacturing. They are minor. A fader pack with scrub wheel and surround joystick could solve this.

[Dutchmuzik]

Really like the unit so far. I almost bougth a Mackie Control Universal in December but decided to wait. The Mackie seemed ok but the integration wasn't all there in PT the way I liked it. So glad I waited, for the price this really can't be beat. Plus it has a Midi interface and Control room/headphone section. Scrubwheel would have been nice but that's about all.

[friendlybunny]

I have a few gripes that deal mostly with engineering and manufacturing. They are minor. A fader pack with scrub wheel and surround joystick could solve this.

Yeah... that's why I'm considering purchasing a tascam us-2400. I would love to have the extra faders, jog wheel and joystick.

Unfortunately, I don't think tascam is shipping it yet. At least I haven't read any reviews. I want to find out what features the command 8 has that are integral with protools, and that the tascam doesn't have. I have a small film mix coming up soon, and I'd love to use a control surface for it. It just bugs me to scroll through fader banks.

[martin310]

I think the Tascam us-2400 uses HUI or Mackie Control protocols ...and it's unclear if digidesign will continue to support HUI past the latest 6.4 PT release. You better make sure first.


At least with the Command 8 you know it's made for Pro Tools and future software updates...also supported and made by digidesign.

[nikki-k]

Hi!
Just got mine, and I am blown away.

I only use Pro Tools, HD4 Accel, on WIn XP.
I have a Blue Sky System One 5.1, which has a BMC, so monitor section is not being used for my primary monitors. I do have a stereo Event system (20/20Bas + original Event 20/20/15) hooked to the Command8 for a second set of monitors, and all seems fine with that.

I am very Digi-biased, and anything I say..well...

I owned a hUI, and then sold that and grabbed a Yamaha 01V96. The Yanaha was sold shortly after, when I did a rethink of my home studio, and realized I was moving more and more into things being all "virtual." (mixing ITB, no more hardware synths- all virtual, etc)

The HUI "felt" a little nicer, but given the difference in price, I really did not expect to find things to be different.

I LOVE my Command8!!! Short time spent with it now, it just "makes sense" to me. I can see it will take a little time to really wring out the full capabilities of it, but I can see how it will incorporate into my work.
Although I have seen posts about crooked faders, transport, etc, I must have lucked out.
I liked the fader cap "feel" of my HUI, and while initially I felt I prefered the HUI fader caps, I am now feeling it is just different, and like them both, and may end up preferring the COmmand8 caps. I work by touch alot. In other words, while working, I will often keep my main attention on screen, and from habit/memory, my hands will wander and locate the particular key/button/etc to perform some task.
Initially, I did not liek the transport buttons. The first time I went to absent-mindedly hit Stop, followed by RTZ (after an edit), I found the transport buttons, being made as they are, allowed me to adapt to the Command8 "feel" rather quickly.

Between Console View buttons, and then Flip and F5/Focus, I am in heaven!
Set Console View to Sends, bank thru to faders I want, hit Flip, and the faders are doing my Send Fader moves, with the Pan knobs allowing me to do field placement for that send- awesome!
Then, want to adjust a main fader real quick, hit F5/Focus, adjust, then hit F5/Focus again, bang! Back to the Send I was just working on. Awesome...

Insert View, find the plugin I want to edit, select, Flip, and faders now doing plugin params- sweet!
F5/Focus back to main faders, then back to plugin. I love being able to hit the Plug-In button, bringing up the selected pluygin GUI on monitor, and if I switch to another plugin on the COmmand8 for editing, the gui switches to the newly selected plug. Coolness...

I have used a 002, and the Command8 is very similar. VERY. Has a few things the 002 doesn't have, but then again, the 002 has a few things the Command8 doesn't have. For an LE user, I could see a 002 + Command8 setup being really cool.

Love the readout, could see a few things added feature-wise with a firmware revision, and have already found some plugins that need some attention for the parameters ebing controlled, and some that are missing parameters, and others that might benefit from a little rethink in approach (ie, how the parameters are laid out).

I hooked up my Kurz K2500XS to the MIDI por 1 I/O on it, smooth sailing!

I dont miss the jog wheel (yet), and really need to spend more time with it to see if they have come up with an alternate way of approaching jog/shuttle with the COmmand8. Since this is (almost?) a glaring ommission, I cannot imagine they did not incorporate a different way of accomplishing this.

I am glad I chose it over the other surfaces (so far). The new Tascam has so much missing, that the simple addition of a scrub/jog/shuttle wheel does not even come close to making up for it's omissions. Yeah, 24 faders would be nice(r), but I can handle the 8-fader limit as it is now. My HUI was un-expandable, and I dealt with the 8-Fader limit there. WIth the 01V96, I had 16 for a short time, but did not get all ga-ga over the extra faders, like I thought I would.
More intuitive than my HUI (IMO), easier to get around.

I might add an X-Keys unit, for the Macros thing, and if the joystick version works, would grab that version so I could do Quad/5.0 pans with it.
The Macros would enable me to do certain things no control surface offers, and combined with the Command8, the only surface I would prefer would be a ProControl with Edit pack, or a nice D-Control (hey, I can dream if I want!)

Like I said, biased review, since I love Digi stuff, and work in ProTools almost exclusively. But, it is my 3 cents, and that's that
hehehe!

[Chris Coleman]

Insert View, find the plugin I want to edit, select, Flip, and faders now doing plugin params- sweet!

nikki,

Can you instantiate plugins via the C8? After reading through the manual, I'm not so sure you can...what a weird thing to leave out of a control surface.

[Dutchmuzik]

You can not, I know kinda dissapointing.

[A2D D2A]

The improved display makes the C8 easier to use than the 002, but it still seems to miss points that would make it somewhat of a step backward as a HUI replacement.
Still it's a third of the cost of the HUI so I guess this is to be expected.
It really coming down to whether or not DIGI offers an expander pack as to how many people actually jump for the C8 was the initial rush is over.