Is there anything out there going to beat the ICON

[bcdub]

I'm about to buy an ICON, is there anything coming out within the next two years that will surpass it...by any other company? Maybe Apple Logic?

[filmixer]

You will find the answer here:

http://www.indra.com/8ball/front.html

[Jonathan Wales]

NO.

This is the future - and it's just the beginning...........

[Chris Lambrechts]

yes .... about every software release so far updates the icon in a way that it beats the previous one. But that's software.

Now a definate contender to beat this one will be the next version. Icon II or whatever they are going to call it.

and some day ... integration of stuff like this maybe :

http://mrl.nyu.edu/~jhan/ftirtouch/

[minister]

NO.

This is the future - and it's just the beginning...........

how does it compare to the euphonix? is it more powerful becasue of its PT integration? does it compare in its other abilities.

i don't work on these things, or know the answer, i am just curious...

thanks!

[Chris Lambrechts]

how does it compare to the euphonix? is it more powerful becasue of its PT integration? does it compare in its other abilities.

i don't work on these things, or know the answer, i am just curious...

thanks!

I suppose you're referring to the system 5MC controller right ?

Well ... the S-5MC hooked up to a PT system does exactly the same as for a example a AWS-900 would do and a Mackie HUI basically would do again exactly the same thing. Controller wise that is of course. They all operate / control / connect to PT in HUI mode.

While that is something, it is not really fair to compare controller functionality with the Icon controllers. Neither one of them fwiw.

Nah ... if you want some kind of honest comparison you would have to look at a Nuendo / system 5 MC combo.

So the verdict ?

I can give you mine if you like : in all honesty (believe it or not) :

- The S-5MC / Nuendo wins when it comes down to editing .... hands down even.

- Both Icon combo's wipe behinds with the Euphonix combo when it comes down to mixing and automation. Yes both of them.

When I first saw the Nuendo / Sys-5 combo I was VERY impressed by it ... VERY impressed. It was in fact very shortly after it got released which was like 1.5 years ago I think right ?

Anyhow ... back then I was like 'now there's a combo to keep your eyes on'. A lot of things didn't work yet, but it was rather new so ... one year later (same trade show btw) I took another close look at it. Only to find out that hardly anything changed. The same little things that were said 'we're working on it' unfortunately were still being worked on. Which makes you wonder : different companies / communication / what about updates / ...

[minister]

thanks chris!

yes. i did mean the S-5MC. it makes sense to me that the HUI, while good, would be limited in its PT integration. so that the proprietary ICON integration would be much more robust and flexible with PT. i would think that the plug-in integration with an ICON would be deeper.

it is interesting that you think that the editing is easier, better, deeper with a Euphonix/Nuendo. it is also interesting to me that the Euphonix system can integrate so many different systems. is the ICON limited to PT?

given that PT has deeper automation capabilities than nuendo, it follows that the ICON operated system would be MUCH more powerful than a Euphonix operated PT rig.

[Chris Lambrechts]

it is interesting that you think that the editing is easier, better, deeper with a Euphonix/Nuendo. it is also interesting to me that the Euphonix system can integrate so many different systems. is the ICON limited to PT?

D control and D command are limited to PT yes.

The S-5MC is a midi controller for any app that supports HUI midi control.

Pro Tools / Logic / Digital Performe etc .... operate in HUI mode ... midi control.

Euphonix communicates with Nuendo & Pyramix through what they call the Eucon protocol.

As for editing. The S-5 MC has some nice editing features direct from the controller. Grabbing / trimming / spotting / moving regions with the jog wheel for example is pretty cool.