Artist Series Success Stories?

[Bill Denton]

Now that I am back among the gainfully employed, I'm considering upgrading my studio a little bit this summer.

And at the top of my list is a "real" control surface...

I currently have a Behringer BCF2000 and an M-Audio Oxygen 49, and while they both do what they were designed to do quite well, I feel like I'm ready to move to the next level.

I would really like to have a C|24, but I'm afraid I'm not that gainfully employed, so...

At the top of the barely affordable range are the SSL Nucleus and the Artist Series (a Control and one or possibly two Mix units).

I really like the look of the Nucleus; it has a very solid and professional look. The reviews, both "media" and owner's, have generally been very positive. Unfortunately, the early units did have some problems, but to their credit, SSL stopped shipping the units until the problems were fixed. From what I have read since almost everyone with the "new" units is very satisfied.

Unfortunately, the Nucleus only offers HUI control for Pro Tools, and I really don't consider HUI to be much of an upgrade to what I have.

Which brings us to the Avid (formerly Euphonix) Artist Series.

While Eucon allows a great deal of control over Pro Tools 9, it almost seems like that's the only bright spot in the product line.

From a large number of comments I have read both here and elsewhere, it seems that there are quite a few problems with the Artist units themselves.

From spontaneously cracking cases (which Avid says has been solved by a recent design change) to knobs that redefine the term "flying faders" to unreadable screens on the Control units, it appears that the Artist Series suffers from both poor engineering and worse build quality.

If one goes by what they read in this forum, the Artist series is basically junk.

But by it's nature, this forum is not a place where people come to say "(Whatever I just bought) is really great and I'm really happy with it". This forum is where people come when they are having problems.

So, before I make a decision on which control surface to buy, I'd like to try to get "the real story" on the Artist Series.

Is there anybody here who really loves their Artist Series units, who hasn't had anything other than extremely small problems, and who feels they are high-quality, professional units?

I find it hard to believe that Avid would put their name on something that is as much a piece of junk as the comments here would lead one to believe.

So, if there are people out there who are satisfied with their Artists Series units, please jump in here and let us know about your experience.

To me, $5,000 is quite a bit of money, as I'm sure it is for many of you also. And while I don't mind spending it, I want to spend it wisely.

And thanks in advance for anyone who posts their experiences...

[robertg]

I'm going to try to sell my MC mix and get one of the new ones with better knobs. Two people now have said that the knobs have been upgraded to the same type as the MC Control V2.

They definitely cut some corners, probably to boost profit margin, however overall I'm happy with the operation of my MC mix and MC control.

[clarocque]

I have been using Euphonix Artist series for two years or so now.

I started with 4 Mixs, MC Control v1 and then Transport when it came out.

At first I was disappointed when I could not use all 4 mixes together. This was a Eucon issue which Euphonix was great to work with. They worked with me and together we identified that you could not really do some things with 4 mixes (as advertised). It moved up to engineering and was resolved in next upgrade.

Then when Control v2 I was very excited about a more responsive touch screen with better viewing angles. So I ordered one and the screen flickered so I returned it.

Several months later I ordered one again and this one flickered too!. They replaced it and guess what ... #3 flickered as well.

By now Avid had bought Euphonix and after lots of phone calls and emails I was told it was known issue and there is not fix for it at this time.

They offered to take the item back and refund my money or I could live with it. So I decided to try and live with it. As of now I am not sure if that was a good idea. Some days it is seems it is better than others, some days it is unbearable and just makes me hate it (very distracting).

Other than the screen issue I will say I have had ok luck. I just sent one of Mixs in for a cracked housing (good thing the dealer I bought it from had 2 year warranty). I have had another mix that had one of the faders stick for one day and seemed to fix itself???? Not sure...

And there is of course some software glitches. Eucon upgrades from time to time have created issues. The MC Control touch screen can lock from time to time and as of right now I have not figured out why. I am thinking of rolling back a couple versions of Eucon, issues seemed to start for me with the ProTools upgrades (and I use logic mainly).

So in summary I love the concept, nothing touches it for the money but I do think quality is lacking for what you pay for and if I did not already have so much tied up in it or if there was an alternative in same price range I would not continue with it.

Thats is my 2 cents - hope it helps...

[ahendy]

I've got an MC Mix that I purchased used on eBay. It began developing housing cracks but Avid was very helpful and replaced it under warranty, even though I had no original proof of purchase.

So far my new unit has been fine. I really like the MC Mix, and as a past owner of Mackie Control Universal Pro, it's INCREDIBLY refreshing. Sure, the Mackie was built like a tank, but they used CHEAP and REALLY noisy faders, and HUI implementation was terrible. My workflow with the MC Mix has significantly sped up, and I'm pretty happy about it. It's definitely closer to how I work on a C24 or an ICON, but on a smaller scale.

It's certainly not without it's faults but I think it's the best you can get for the price. The SSL Nucleus is intriguing, and I like that it includes some SSL circuitry, but I'd be scared of returning to HUI--it's simply not very good.

[GW]

The beauty with the Artist Line concept is twofold - you don't need to buy all at once, but you can build pice by pice and secondly the application awareness, so that you can jump from Pro Tools to Logic to Mail to Safari and the console follow you around, all the way...

Ask yourself if you need speed or versatile? Don't forget that MC Transport + 2 or 3 MC Mix can be a very fast workspace to much less money then MC Control + 1 or 2 MC Mix (streetprice).

As soon as I start my computer I start MC Transport and first when I start up PT or Logic I turn on the other units...

[DigiTechSupt]

If I may comment on this.

The number of units with failures, overall, is a small percentage of those sold. I think the case above with 3 bad units was just bad luck. I know, I know - not what anyone wants to experience, but that's the truth as far as I see it (I handle Euphonix email support as well, so I can see the numbers...).

For anyone who *does* have problems - register the unit and, if it's in warranty, we'll get it taken care of. Out of warranty is dealt with on a case by case basis. Just go to:

http://www.avid.com/US/resources/Euphonix-Orientation

and start an email support case. We're current on all support cases and, in the U.S., you should get a reply within a day or two. European customers are the exception and should contact their dealer who will, in turn, contact their support rep to handle your case.

FWIW - I use almost all the controllers (even the Color) on nearly a daily basis and it would be difficult to imagine not having them now. They can seriously speed up a workflow and allow you to do things you would normally chalk up as 'takes too much time' without them.

[fakir_cz]

Don't buy the Nucleus. I had it for three months and the experience was not good at all. My first unit (I had two) was overheating, had buttons getting stuck, two faders were not responding to touch (which made them unusable), I had to stuff a bit of paper into the knob 16 to be able to press the encoder reliably - the overall build quality was very far from what I expected from a $5000 SSL. I exchanged a few mails with SSL and they sent me replacement fader caps (metal-plated plastic! - feels even worse than the Euphonix) that fixed those touch-unresponsive faders. They also decided to send me a replacement unit. That was great move, except the fact that the replacement unit was even worse than the first one. It was very hot too, was wobbly on the table (I had to put a bit of thick paper under one rubber stand to make it stop doing it), had even more buttons getting stuck and the problem with the 16th encoder was still there. So the build quality was a huge disappointment for me. I eventually managed to return it (both units) for a refund.

The practical experience with Pro Tools was mediocre at best. It worked, but was very limited, despite a few nice features. It had faders (with quite strange ballistics that didn't correspond entirely to the on-screen faders), pans (flippable), sends A-E (flippable, no sends F-J, HUI is too old for that), Rec arming (nicely implemented), automation modes (nicely implemented too, but impractical, because you couldn't see the track labels when in this mode), Send/I/O assign mode (VERY impractical) and plug-in instantiation and control (extremely impractical, not flippable, slots A-E only). HUI also limits the track labels to four characters only, so it's very easy to get lost on the console. There were a few nice things like programmable soft-keys with macro support (very good), but that's not enough to outweight the disadvantages. The MCU control scheme in Logic was much better, but it's not supported by Pro Tools.

I also tested the MC Mix and MC Control V2 and didn't like them. I mean, they are not that bad (and might be good for mobile setups, for example), but I personally don't like their layout and ergonomics (and the feel). The Artist series simply are not for me, I guess.

So, I got rid of the Nucleus, learned my lesson, got some more money and bought the C|24 instead. God I love that thing! My experience with the Nucleus allows me to appreciate the C|24's level of integration even more. It completely changed the way I worked with Pro Tools - now I use the keyboard only when editing or naming tracks. I even do the entire routing of the session on the C|24 now. As I said - I love it. The Artist series workflow might be close, but not close enough IMO... the C|24 is still a different class of control surface.

Tom

[appledude]

The good thing about forums is there is a lot of information that helps people with problems. However, I think most people without problem are never seen, they are the ones helping the others. So I think they paint a bad picture of products that really don't tell the real story because you never see the good stories. Just like this thread that asked for success stories and you get one person that has been on the threads complaining before to add his negative two cents. Of course if he wasn't that happy why buy two MC controls, 4 mixes and a transport.

I have had mine now since just before christmas. I have used it on a daily basis (just for pro tools) and have gone through one software upgrade. So far it works as advertised. I am still learning it. I think it has some short comings like programming for certain plugins. I have also used a mouse and keyboard so long they are my default go to. I have tried to just use the MC Control without touching the mouse and it is possible. So far my experience has been positive and have no problems with mine. My fader caps do not fly off, but the do come up a bit. I push them back down, but it would be nice if they were metal with a alan set screw to hold them if place. It would feel more high end if all the knobs were metal. The buttons and jog wheel are fine the way they are. I am looking forward to buying a couple mixes to go with it. Not sure I really need more than one mix or if I really need that. You can just hit the touch screen and go to any track as it is.

[jyanisko]

I've been very happy: Though you have to consider the cost of the units when comparing them to much higher quality units (like the c 24, icons, mc pro, pro control, etc)
I've owned 1 MC Control and 1 MC Mix since I could first get my hands on them from my local music store. I've never once had a problem, and they work wonderfully. Their size and layout works fine for me. The faders do not feel as nice as their pro consoles, but in my opinion, they feel and respond better than anything on avid's 002 (003), or mackie's units. The knobs, again, not as nice as the pro consoles, but much better than 002, 003, or mackie's units. The units work just as advertised - though there are a couple of suggestions that I have given to make them better (as I'm sure anyone could have about any console - wishing this button could be used for this instead of that, etc). I've never had a problem having the two work together.

The touch screen + quickkeys makes my life so much easier.

I've also recently gotten a transport which is another wonderful addition to the family.

-James
http://www.jamesyanisko.com

[Led]

Put me in the positive group. I'm a composer/remixer and was looking at a bunch of different controllers, nearly bought a Nucleus but then the PC drivers became available. I tried an MC Mix, loved it. Now I have 3 MC Mixes, an MC Control and an MC Transport. Mainly use the mixes for faders, pans and aux sends and do all the plugin and eq's on the control's pots. I have a V1control but find it really great, only shortcoming is the touchscreen viewing angle, but I have all my units angled up a bit higher than stock so it's easily readable. The touchscreen is awesome, it goes so deep that you can do almost anything on it and I don't find it sluggish response wise like some have.
Maybe I got a good one?

I do this for a living all day everyday, and having the artist setup has made my life sooo much easier. I spend a lot more time just creating instead of mousing through pages to try to find some parameter. It was also great to be able to build it piece by piece and add things as I found a need for them. They look super cool on my red curved desk that is finished in red auto 2-pack as well. Wish I could post a pic. In fact that is the only extra I would wish for - angled joiners so you could join up a bunch of units so they form a curve, like the SSL they used to have at Real World studios.... (hello...Avid?)