Avid Pro Audio Community

Avid Pro Audio Community

How to Join & Post  •  Community Terms of Use  •  Help Us Help You

Knowledge Base Search  •  Community Search  •  Learn & Support


Avid Home Page

Go Back   Avid Pro Audio Community > Pro Mixing > ICON & C|24

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #21  
Old 09-06-2005, 11:05 AM
Chris Lambrechts's Avatar
Chris Lambrechts Chris Lambrechts is offline
Avid
 
Join Date: Apr 1998
Location: Belgium
Posts: 2,025
Default Re: User tips for D command & D control

Which actually reminds me of a cool workaround Dave Tyler (DIGI UK) showed me on the D command. The do to all switch and the sends / inserts / pan ... etc switches are located rather close to each other.

You can operate them with one hand and do the 'latch' thingy with the 'do to... ' buttons.
Press and hold them with you pink or ring finger will allow you to use your thumb to select the mode you want the encoders in. When you let go of the Do To switch it will dim. (kinda like a one shot)

It sounds more complicated then it is but IS a nice workaround while waiting for the 'do to..' switches to become one shot.
__________________
Chris Lambrechts
Applications Specialist- Live Sound
Reply With Quote
  #22  
Old 09-09-2005, 02:51 PM
GMitchell GMitchell is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Montreal,Quebec,Canada
Posts: 31
Default Re: User tips for D command & D control

Along the same line - using two fingers - I found a way around the pan window not following focus.

If I'm toggling through channels to check panning - you can Command /nudge to channel and with the same hand that you nudge the channel you can simultaneously hit pan on focus track and speed through the channels with panning popping up for each. Beats focusing and THEN with a second movement selecting pan with window management or - worse- grabbing track ball ...

I would still like to still this as a preference: target active plugins/panning display follow focus (yes or no)
__________________
Geoff Mitchell

Reply With Quote
  #23  
Old 09-12-2005, 08:36 AM
Chris Lambrechts's Avatar
Chris Lambrechts Chris Lambrechts is offline
Avid
 
Join Date: Apr 1998
Location: Belgium
Posts: 2,025
Default Re: User tips for D command & D control

HIGHLY recommended reading :

from this article :

http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_digidesign_icon_2/


----------

Power Tools: Digidesign ICON

By Brian Slack

Sep 1, 2005 12:00 PM

KEEPING THE CONTROLLER UNDER CONTROL

E-mail this article

As a longtime Pro Tools user and the owner of the first — and still largest — ICON console, I have discovered, created and stolen some great tricks. Many of these seem more common sense than trickery, but as Voltaire once said, “Common sense is not so common.” My expertise leans greatly toward post-production, so many of the references will be about film and TV mixing.

FIRST THINGS FIRST
My first bit of advice isn't really a tip — it's a necessity: Upgrade to Pro Tools Version 6.9. I've been using V. 6.9.3 for a while now — a benefit of being a Digidesign beta tester — and I can't go back. In my opinion, V. 6.9 is the biggest mixing update since V. 4.3, when the ProControl was introduced. Auto-match, auto-merge, null-point trim mode, non-destructive solo, inline console — there are too many improvements to list here, but the tips below assume you have an ICON and Pro Tools V. 6.9.

ONE-SHOT ACTIVATION
Several features embedded in V. 6.9 are specifically designed for D-Control and D-Command. On every setup, I use D-Control's ability to activate all automation parameters in one shot. If EQ or dynamics are focused and the Auto button is lit, then just touch any rotary knob while holding the OPT key. The same can be accomplished with any insert that's accessed with Custom fader “plug-in” mode or editing a plug-in on a channel strip while holding CTRL + OPT + CMD while the Do to All button is lit.

PAN FOR PARAMETERS, TOO
Beyond panning, the new joystick panners are also useful for editing plug-ins. In the Pan Mode window, press Custom on the touchscreen, then either X axis or Y axis. You can then assign a value to these by touching any rotary knob or fader that is on the focused channel. This can be useful for EQ sweeps or even Doppler-bys in GRM tools. The Auto mode lets you do perfect pans by moving the joystick to your end pan position and then hitting Punch 1 when you want to start the pan. You must be rolling to do this, and the pan duration is determined by the glide time you have selected in the console's refs section.

THE NAME GAME
Glazed over in the manual, a simple but effective trick is the ability to name custom fader banks. If you select a bank and hold CTRL while double-tapping the bank's Edit button, a window will appear on your Pro Tools screen to name the bank. The bank name will then show in the center info section in D-Control or D-Command when the Bank Sel button is pressed.

SHUN THE MOUSE AND TRACKBALL
The real key to quick and efficient mixing is avoiding the mouse and trackball as Pro Tools has key commands for almost everything. Become familiar with the key commands document supplied with Pro Tools V. 6.9. This may not seem like a great tip for the ICON, but they do apply. Most everything you can do onscreen with the mouse, you can do on the console. The OPT key (or ALT for the Windows world) with a click on an onscreen parameter resets that parameter to its default. OPT + touching a fader on the console snaps that fader to zero. As CMD + dragging a value onscreen will adjust in fine scale, CMD + any rotary knob will also adjust in fine scale on the console. CMD + CTRL while clicking a value onscreen will view that value's automation. Hold CMD + CTRL and touch any knob or fader to bring that automation to view.

GLIDE AUTOMATION
I often use the “Write to all enabled parameters” setting for EQs, reverbs, pans, etc., but frequently need to do this in the middle of a clip. Glide lets you morph between a series of settings. When I have a sudden jump in automation, I select the out point of where I would like to glide to, suspend automation, drag my selection back to my glide In point and then “Glide to all enabled parameters.” This function now exists in ICON's second Actions page.

MULTIPLE CUSTOM FADERS
Having the left and right Custom Faders sections was originally intended to let two mixers have custom layouts on the same system, but this is very useful in single-mixer applications. On the one side, I map the most frequently accessed faders for a given element so that I can easily switch between elements and not move much from the sweet spot. On the other Custom Fader set, I map my masters chain for particular elements. I may switch between two dialog chains that each have an EQ, compressor and the insert for my CEDAR DNS-2000. Using custom mapping, I can assign the master volume, the compressor's threshold and make-up, the high- and lowpass and a notch for my EQ, and the seven parameters for my CEDAR all to one bank of faders.

AUTOMATION COPY/PASTE
One of the frustrations of mixing with Pro Tools is its inability to group pans and other functions. A good workaround is Pro Tools' ability to copy all layers of automation. When viewing any automation parameter, highlight the desired area when you have created some automation and then hold CMD + CTRL + “C.” A normal paste (CMD + “V”) will paste all levels of automations, including multichannel pans, inserts and send automation. This is useful when you've created a complicated task on one region but wish to duplicate it on another region at the same time or elsewhere in the timeline.

Brian Slack is the president of Widget Post in Los Angeles.
__________________
Chris Lambrechts
Applications Specialist- Live Sound
Reply With Quote
  #24  
Old 11-04-2005, 12:14 PM
Chris Lambrechts's Avatar
Chris Lambrechts Chris Lambrechts is offline
Avid
 
Join Date: Apr 1998
Location: Belgium
Posts: 2,025
Default Re: User tips for D command & D control

PT 7 and beyond :


OPTION + touch anything that responds to touch really .... to set to default value.

Muhuhuhuhahahahahaha ......


(ok ok ... allready worked for some stuff but not for the center section plugin parameters for example)
__________________
Chris Lambrechts
Applications Specialist- Live Sound
Reply With Quote
  #25  
Old 11-04-2005, 12:28 PM
Chris Lambrechts's Avatar
Chris Lambrechts Chris Lambrechts is offline
Avid
 
Join Date: Apr 1998
Location: Belgium
Posts: 2,025
Default Re: User tips for D command & D control

one awesome thing about having 10 sends is this :

You can dedicate an entire row to 1 single send. Which is great because you just know what is on what row without even looking.

I allready did this pre PT 7 but in every session you end up with more then 5 different kinds of sends and then inevitably you have to share the L960 row with a bus FX send.

I think I'll adapt my templates to something like this :

send 1 : L960 01
send 2 : L960 02
send 3 : tc6k 01
send 4 : tc6k 02
send 5 : dly 01
send 6 : dly 02
send 7 : fx 01
send 8 : fx 02
send 9 : --------
send 10 : cue mix.

Panbot 'on' leaves 2 pages of 5 sends each. All sends present on all tracks - but 'offline' and then ctrl + command + select send to activate it when in use. Saves dsp in hungry heavy track 96k sessions.
__________________
Chris Lambrechts
Applications Specialist- Live Sound
Reply With Quote
  #26  
Old 11-07-2005, 06:16 AM
Chris Lambrechts's Avatar
Chris Lambrechts Chris Lambrechts is offline
Avid
 
Join Date: Apr 1998
Location: Belgium
Posts: 2,025
Default Re: User tips for D command & D control

LINK TRACK AND EDIT SELECTION.

YEAH BABY ....... I've sooooooooooooooooooooooo much wanted this ever since Pro Control. It increase editing productivity / capabilities of the controllers with at least a bizillion percent imho.

And one of the beauties about it is that it works like track selection. You can Shift + select a range to include the entire range or command + select to include non adjacent tracks .....
__________________
Chris Lambrechts
Applications Specialist- Live Sound
Reply With Quote
  #27  
Old 12-18-2005, 03:58 PM
Chris Lambrechts's Avatar
Chris Lambrechts Chris Lambrechts is offline
Avid
 
Join Date: Apr 1998
Location: Belgium
Posts: 2,025
Default Re: User tips for D command & D control

Since 7.0 and all the added pages under the softkeys, the USER definable pages have become SO much more usefull.

Depending on wether I'm mixing or tracking or editing I now DO use them and have become quite fond of them. ( I admit in my early Icon days I couldn't see that much use for them)

A few that are there permanently are :

meters post / pre switching
new track
system usage
Touch value on / off

keeps me from go look for then in the different sections and pages
__________________
Chris Lambrechts
Applications Specialist- Live Sound
Reply With Quote
  #28  
Old 12-18-2005, 05:55 PM
Chris Lambrechts's Avatar
Chris Lambrechts Chris Lambrechts is offline
Avid
 
Join Date: Apr 1998
Location: Belgium
Posts: 2,025
Default Re: User tips for D command & D control

Another softkey tip - again became more usefull since 7and all the pages that were added to the soft keys.

When using the soft keys you can 'exit' a page at all time using the command + softkey.

The advantage of doing it this way is that when you return to that soft key, it takes you back to the page you left from.

For example :

midi quantize is on page 2 ;

go to page 2 of the midi soft keys and use quantize.

Now instead of pushing the midi button twice to exit you hold the command key while pushing the midi soft key.

Next time you return to the midi softkeys you'll be takes straight to that page.
__________________
Chris Lambrechts
Applications Specialist- Live Sound
Reply With Quote
  #29  
Old 08-04-2006, 02:48 AM
Chris Lambrechts's Avatar
Chris Lambrechts Chris Lambrechts is offline
Avid
 
Join Date: Apr 1998
Location: Belgium
Posts: 2,025
Default Re: User tips for D command & D control

7.2 and beyond :

Jog wheel enhancements

There quite a few :

- zooming / navigating / moving floating windows with the wheel , even moving / nudging faders / banks can be done with the jog wheel now.

BUT .... the BEST part is the velocity behavior change.

Pre 7.2 , once you got into a certain zoom level, the wheel became virtually unusable because it would react too sensitive. Alternatively, if you zoomed out too much you would have to turn the wheel endlesly and the cursor would hardly move. The velocity of the wheel was fixed.

NOW ... in 7.2 it is linked to the zoom level / edit window length ... and no matter what zoom you're in, it will allways react the same.

For example : no matter what zoom level you're in, and probably depending on your screen resolution, 5 - 6 complete turns of the wheel will cover the entire edit window distance. This is absolutely great because combined with the zoom wheel enhancement you can now within a split second switch from covering a large distance in time, to sample accurate wheel movement and the wheel velocity willf eel the same at all times.

Try it .... wheel functionality increased with at least 5000 % since this release.

Even trimming regions is now more usable. It can be linked to whatever grid setting you're in etc ... and the combination with track selection follows edit functionality which was allready in there now makes the controllers editing possibilities so much better.
__________________
Chris Lambrechts
Applications Specialist- Live Sound
Reply With Quote
  #30  
Old 08-04-2006, 05:05 AM
tstemland tstemland is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Stavanger, Norway
Posts: 25
Default Re: User tips for D command & D control

Chris,

Ref my post yesterday regarding new features PT7.2 - D-Command.

Excellent posting Chris!

Best regards,
Tord Stemland

__________________
PT 7.3.1cs4-HD 6 Accel-G5 Dual 2,5-7GB RAM-10.4.9-1 x 192 i/o with 16 inputs-3 x 96 i/o-BigBen-ICON D-Command 24-HD Expansion Chassis
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
New SC48 User - Tips on configuration justinphilip VENUE Live Sound Systems 1 10-29-2013 06:14 PM
New User - any tips or tricks Johnrg 003, Mbox 2, Digi 002, original Mbox, Digi 001 (Mac) 7 03-18-2009 07:26 PM
Tips for old PT user, new ProControl user please? seanhupe ProControl, Control|24, Command|8 11 04-04-2006 08:42 PM
any tips for a new MAC user Soberphobia 003, Mbox 2, Digi 002, original Mbox, Digi 001 (Mac) 4 02-24-2003 07:33 AM
New HUI user-want to know tips & tricks Digital Sound Lab Pro Tools TDM Systems (Mac) 8 12-14-2000 02:49 PM


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 02:54 AM.


Powered by: vBulletin, Copyright ©2000 - 2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Limited. Forum Hosted By: URLJet.com