S3 or D-command?

[Eruk]

Hey Guys,
I've got the change to buy a second hand D-Command (blue)with a fader pack for about €6000 excl tax, and I really like the D-command.
But I'm having doubts because the D-command will not be working with new versions of Protools in the future because it's already officialy not supported anymore. As the Avid S3 is about €4000 excl tax I'm not sure what to buy. What would you recommend? How long do you think the D-command will be working with Protools?

[Craig F]

I would go with the D-Comm, it made the 64 bit transition
they should be around for a long time
there are so many installed around LA, one Avid Board member has 10 and can not just change them out major pain
Disney, Fox, and Warner Bothers aren't going to just change out their installs

[Eruk]

Thank you for your reply! Thats good to know. Could you make an estimation on how long a long time is, 2 years, 5 years 10? I understand you cant give a definite time span, but it would be something to consider..

[Craig F]

I would guess at least 5 years, probably 10ish

[jacko]

Originally Posted by Eruk

Hey Guys,
I've got the change to buy a second hand D-Command (blue)with a fader pack for about €6000 excl tax, and I really like the D-command.
But I'm having doubts because the D-command will not be working with new versions of Protools in the future because it's already officialy not supported anymore. As the Avid S3 is about €4000 excl tax I'm not sure what to buy. What would you recommend? How long do you think the D-command will be working with Protools?

D-Command will be working as long as you don't upgrade to a version that won't support it. And there will be no software feature worth sacrificing D-Command. Only S6 with the latest software is becoming a reasonable alternative to a fantastic D-Command. S3 would be a huge downgrade. I've worked on both, and I like both.

Watch this video. It is just scratching the surface of how great D-Command is and will be for many more years: http://apps.avid.com/events/webinars...th-webcam.html

PS.: Avid will likely remove the video at some point, as it advertises a product that competes with S6 and is available at very low prices on eBay

[audioluche]

Originally Posted by Eruk

Hey Guys,
I've got the change to buy a second hand D-Command (blue)with a fader pack for about €6000 excl tax, and I really like the D-command.
But I'm having doubts because the D-command will not be working with new versions of Protools in the future because it's already officialy not supported anymore. As the Avid S3 is about €4000 excl tax I'm not sure what to buy. What would you recommend? How long do you think the D-command will be working with Protools?

http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=344134

ICON will be supported until september 2018.
But it will probably continue to work for years after that.
I would love to buy a S6, but it's too expensive right now, maybe when my D-command will stop working, used S6 will be affordable!

[smurfyou]

I'd go for the D-command. I haven't tried the faders on the S3 but thats my only complaint about the D-command. Well that and the metering sucks but at least it's there.

S3 is neat on first look but its very overpriced and from what I can tell more limited.

[Tom Graham]

Originally Posted by audioluche

http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=344134

ICON will be supported until september 2018.
But it will probably continue to work for years after that.
I would love to buy a S6, but it's too expensive right now, maybe when my D-command will stop working, used S6 will be affordable!

The original blue D-Commands end of support date was December 2014
the ES D-Command end of support date is August 2018

http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/f...-support-dates

Have you checked out the features on the S3?
It does some really cool stuff…


Thanks,
Tom

[Brandonx1]

I am a Lone Ranger on this one but I think anything eu on is better then anything icon. For me it's the fact that eu on control surfaces follow you around while you have to focus on an icon. I do a s ton of automation on every mix and not having to press a button every time I want to work on audio is a god send. Even the artist series is faster then an icon. Icons can to more tricks but they don't automatically focus the channel you select in pro tools.

[jacko]

Originally Posted by Brandonx1

I am a Lone Ranger on this one but I think anything eu on is better then anything icon. For me it's the fact that eu on control surfaces follow you around while you have to focus on an icon. I do a s ton of automation on every mix and not having to press a button every time I want to work on audio is a god send. Even the artist series is faster then an icon. Icons can to more tricks but they don't automatically focus the channel you select in pro tools.

I'd worked on Icon controllers in 2006-2008, then briefly on Control24, then when Pro Tools 10 came with well integrated Eucon I used Artist Mix, Transport and Control. Last year I briefly used S3. Having this much experience working with Pro Tools control surfaces I switched back to Icon D-Command this year. And there are no words that I could use to say how much faster and more productive it is than Artist Series, including S3.

What you might not know is that there is a preference in Icon where you can set it to automatic focus and it is nice and useful, while it is absolutely horrible on Eucon surfaces. The main difference is: when you open up a EQ or Dynamics plugin using mouse in Pro Tools, the channel becomes automatically focused and you control the plugin on Icon's EQ or Dynamics section. Eucon will not focus automatically a plugin selected in Pro Tools. You have to select it from the surface. And so far, I've seen this is still the case even on S6. Even cheap Command8 is better in this regard, see my video I posted: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faqwPMq_Kqo