Cue mixes in C24

[audiocontrol]

Hello,

I plan to switch to PT and also need a Controller for sure.
I'm very interessted in the C24, NOT the Control 24.

I do a lot of live recording in my studio. So I need to do a lot of headphone mixes. At the moment I do this with a Yamaha 02r96, which is quite stressless.

In the future I need to do this native with PT HD Native. But how does it work.
I need to listen to the sends, so when I press "solo" on the Send in PT it mutes anything else.

So how does it work ?

Thank you.

[BradLyons]

Welcome to the forum! The 02R96 is a wonderful mixing console with control-surface type functions built-in, but again it is an actual mixing console. While the C24 looks like a console---technically it is a control surface only. Yes, there are mic-pres but it's just that---micpres. There is a monitor section and a small submixer. BUT the actual mixing console is inside ProToolsHD itself, the C24 just gives you access to that mixer with hands-on control. Whether it's PTLE, PTHD, or PTHD NATIVE---the mixer function is inside ProTools, the C24 gives you the physical control. In other words you're going to create aux's or cue sends just like you would on the 02R but it will be on the INTERFACE where those come out of, NOT on the control surface itself.

Before I go any further---what makes you want the C24? It is a fine control surface and I definitely recommend it, but you might want to possibly consider the Euphonix Artist series. My personal system had the Control24 and it was time to upgrade, obviously the C24 was high on the list. I had always know about the Euphonix Artist series (MC MIX, MC Control, etc) and thought it was a fine product but when I learned that AVID was acquiring Euphonix, I looked more seriously. Now outside of ProTools I was also doing A LOT of Final Cut and wanted to get more into both Logic as well as Digital Performer. In those instances a C24 wasn't going to do anything for me other than ProTools. The reason I looked further into this AFTER I knew of the acquisition is that the C24 has a lot more direct control as it is part of the PT integration where the Euphonix is using HUI. Now, Euphonix has what is called EuCon which means "Euphonix Control" and is a lot more in-depth, but still the limitations of HUI apply. Knowing that EuCon was going to be built directly into ProTools changed my mind, so I picked up: (1) MC CONTROL V2, (3) MC MIX, and (1) MC TRANSPORT. I must say I couldn't have been happier!

When in Final Cut the amount of control I have via the touch-display of the MC CONTROL V2 is awesome awesome awesome--it's sped up my editing time like you can't possibly imagine. But talking ProTools, again everything is in-front of me being just a touch away. If I want to do a crossfade of two clips I don't have to take the mouse and go find the command to click on it, or try to remember what the shortkey combination is....I just highlight with my right hand on the mouse and click the tab on the MC with my left hand. I have more faders at my disposal (I could have up to four MC MIX if I wanted) with this setup giving me 28-faders v/s 24-faders. The transport is very nice! No, there's no monitor section (well there is but not really) but honestly, something like a Central Station or DBox is going to be a better choice anyway).

Okay there are some things that currently are not as ideal...such as the amount of control you have over the plugins, not being able to spill out controls, etc. It's going to be less money, take up less depth although width can certainly be more, etc. It's just another option that you might want to look at first....

[audiocontrol]

Hello,

thank you for your answer.
I know how PT works and that the C24 is only a controller not a mixing board.
I also know the Euphonix Artist Series as I had owned a MC Mix before I bought the 02r96. As the 02r96 uses HUI to control DAWs I was no longer in need of the MC Mix. Unfortunately HUI is an absolute crap and doesn't work a bit stable in Logic and 02r96.

I thought about the Euphonix stuff, but what I really want is a direct access to the DAW. The MC Mix ain't that good in it and turning the knobs of the MC Mix doesn't feel like turning the real thing. In my short experience with a 002 Mixer/Controller I really loved it.

Back to the main thing.
How does it work now ? How gets the signal to my monitors without muting the whole thing ???

Thank you

[BradLyons]

Okay, just making sure. I see! Well there is a way I do it but I need to go through my own rig to tell you step by step. HOWEVER I apparently damaged my 192I/O while re-wiring the studio together (just moved) as I remember accidentally pulling HARD on the Digilink cable---the jack on the core card is loose :-( Hopefully someone else can step in here then....

[BradLyons]

Okay got it working----phew!! I re-read what you wrote and I think I understand what you're saying now. What I do is create an Aux just like you would on a console, set to PRE-FADER. Then create an AUX TRACK for each mix that you are creating. Then when you solo BOOM you only receive that mix through your mains. Is that what you're asking?

[audiocontrol]

Alright, got that. But doesn't soloing an Aux Track mean, that the ohers are muted then? In this case working on a hp-mix while the band plays is impossible. Or is it possible to switch PT Solo from "Solo in place" to "PFL/AFL"-behavior?!

[BradLyons]

Yes, you can do that too.....but I've never done it I thought you wanted to mute it, but you do not correct?

[Bill Denton]

Originally Posted by audiocontrol

Alright, got that. But doesn't soloing an Aux Track mean, that the ohers are muted then? In this case working on a hp-mix while the band plays is impossible. Or is it possible to switch PT Solo from "Solo in place" to "PFL/AFL"-behavior?!

Don't know if this is what you're looking for, but I just found out about it and think it is pretty cool...

Solo Safe - If you CTRL-Click* the solo button on a channel it will stay soloed (providing output), while allowing you to also solo other tracks. IIRC, you can solo safe more than one channel.

*For those of you running iPod+++'s, aka Macs, I think it's something like CMD+Click, but I don't use Macs so I don't care what it is...

[DetroitT]

I use the c/24 main cue (= interface outputs 7 & 8)
Then I also use outputs 9 -10, 11-12, 13-14 for additional cue mixes.
On the c/24-Pro Tools these are pre-fader sends f-g-h-i. Each with master faders.
All feed a Hearback two hub system (16 drops).
To monitor in the control room I currently use ST-1 for the main cue listen.
Then when summed, the sub mixer lets me knob up the additional cue mixes. Installing a solo mod into the sub mixer would make this ideal, however I'm not (at this point) going there.
I have two 192 I/O's that = 24 analog in and out.
With the addition of 24 remote preamps this works very analogous to a split console.
and quite intuitive for tracking.
(Tie lines (Mic's) to Preamps>Preamps to 24 aux inputs (Smooth gain ridding for record levels)>24 record-audio tracks.
C/24 bank 1 = the pre-record faders and Bank 2 = the 24 track audio faders from which the headphone cue mixes are derived. Encoders then become your preamp gains (Bank 1) and cue-aux mixes (Bank 2). (F-I) I leave A-E sends for reverbs ddl's etc...

As mentioned the only oddity is the manual knob up from the sub mixer to solo the additional cues.

Anyone ever mod the internals of a c/24? solo's or mutes on each would be nice. I have looked at a muting variation between patch bay and the c/24 submixer.

[ekuehnl]

Originally Posted by audiocontrol

I do a lot of live recording in my studio. So I need to do a lot of headphone mixes.

Let's back up. Exactly how many discrete headphone mixes do you need?