Why The Command 8 is better than the Artist Control/Mix

[Frank Kruse]

Originally Posted by Lipmania

1) No.

2) No.

Unfortunately, these are two of the things that extremely bug me with this unit and the EuCon software compared to the Command8.

Seriously?! Damn, I just sold my C8 and ordered a Control. Mainly as a 1500€ expense to get an automation preview button but not to down-grade on what I had before.
I said good-bye to 4 faders to get a preview-button but this thread isn´t really encouraging. I´ll see how it goes when it arrives.

Frank.

[Xill]

Originally Posted by Frank Kruse

I said good-bye to 4 faders to get a preview-button...

[The golfer]

i got 2 questions:

1) is it possible, when i select a track in Pro Tools, that this track is automatically on Fader 1?

2) for example i have 48 tracks, and i use the bank knob and push it to the right, 8 by 8 tracks.
on my mac screen i can see 30 track.
so when i go with the bank knob to track 40-48,
is it possible, that pro tools follow on the mac screen?
now when i do this, on the MC Mix i am on track 40, but on my mac screen, i still see track 1-30.

1) Maybe

2) Maybe

I don't have the artist control but I do have his big brother the "MC pro", the middle section of system 5 mc. So maybe the Artist control share the same features as the MC pro but can't confirm. Here are the steps in the MC pro in case they share the same features and you are willing to try it:

for the first question:

1-Assign a fader to "follow attentioned track"on the Artist control. For me it is always the fader closest to me on my left.
2-In the Artist control preferences, enable "attention last selected track".
3-In the option menu of PT enable "link track and edit selection".

These three steps, will give you instant access to the level, Eq and more of both your selection and track.

For question #2 you need PT 10 new eucon features:

I use a softkey that combine an "MC command" to recall each layout first (for example SFX) than add the "scroll to track" eucon command. You will have to add the MC "pause" command in between to make sure everything run smoothly.

You have to do that for each session but it takes about 5 minutes to do it all. Of course if you don't have to import tracks from other co-workers you can do it once in your template.

Hope that helps,

Happy new Year!

[jacko]

I own Artist Mix+Control set. I just borrowed Command 8 to compare them side by side. Overall Artist Series is really bad, excluding one important thing: fantastic soft keys on Artist Control: Preview, Capture, 48 Snapshots, Manual Write, etc. - those are priceless.

The rest, I'm sorry to say, is miles better on Command8.

Faders:

Winner: Command|8

Command|8 faders are smoother, have more friction and dampening.
Artist Mix faders are loose and feel less precise. Automation envelopes written with Command|8 look much smoother, while Artist Series doesn’t cope with quick fader moves too well. When I record faders moving quickly up and down I get a lot of sharp steps on Artist Control, while Command|8 draws beautiful smooth sine waves shapes.

Encoders:

Winner: Command|8

Command|8 faders are more precise and feel better. Artist series encoders have acceleration which is difficult to deal with - if encoder is turned to quickly it goes straight to extreme value only after half a turn. That doesn’t occur on Command8.


Adjusting sends:

Winner: Command|8

Buttons A,B,C,D,E and Shift allow quick access to 10 sends in Pro Tools. On top of that, send view in Pro Tolls follows sends selected on Command|8. On Artist Mix sends are selected using next / previous page buttons and Pro Tools view does not follow send selected on Artist Mix.

Adjusting plugins:

Winner: Command|8

On C8 EQ and Dynamics buttons bring plugins to control surface as normal inserts. Plugin parameter layouts are customised and are exactly the same regardless you access a plugin via EQ/Dyn or Insert button. Artist series has different parameters mapping depending on how you access a plugin. Also, Artist can access only first EQ/Dyn plugin if you use EQ/Dyn button. Command|8 plugin focus follows plugins opened on screen using mouse pointer. Artist Series can access plugins only via control surface.