Avid Icon Control Surface Compatibility (D|Command/Control) with PT Studio 2022.4?

[Antigua]

Originally Posted by Eric Lambert

I wouldn't have thought that there would be many people with Icons or D-Commands who use Studio.

For sure, that’s the case. There may be some PT Studio users who are looking for a good control surface that won’t break the budget for mixing music, and as the post guys have been upgrading to S series surfaces, there are a lot of used d|control/command surfaces kicking about at affordable prices.
I’m certainly would be interested for music mixing, but the ultimate price of entry is now more prohibitive than ever.

[arche3]

The cost of the icon d control was not in the console itself. It was the room I had to build and equipment to put it in. The lease for a NYC midtown commercial space. Etc...

There are still a lot of icons around in pro facilities.



Sent from my SM-F711U using Tapatalk

[Eric Lambert]

Originally Posted by arche3

The cost of the icon d control was not in the console itself. It was the room I had to build and equipment to put it in. The lease for a NYC midtown commercial space. Etc...

There are still a lot of icons around in pro facilities.



Sent from my SM-F711U using Tapatalk

Yep, we still use it, and my heart sank when I first say this thread and thought that its lifespan was ending. Thankfully, as Ultimate users, that doesn't appear to be the case.

Good point about the rooms being built around the control surface, though any new rooms we build will have smaller controllers. They're just less necessary now, and clients don't expect to be impressed by the sight of big consoles. In fact, clients don't come to sessions anymore anyway.

[LDS]

Originally Posted by Antigua

I’m certainly would be interested for music mixing, but the ultimate price of entry is now more prohibitive than ever.

It is still relatively cheap compared to what most ICON users experienced. For the first 8(?) years of ICON availability, you required a complete HD DSP hardware system. It cost a lot more than a flex subscription! Even Pro Tools software updates during that time weren't cheap. I can't remember if it was HD9 to HD10, or HD10 to HD11, but one of them cost $599, and the other $999. That was just the update!

Originally Posted by Eric Lambert

Yep, we still use it, and my heart sank when I first say this thread and thought that its lifespan was ending. Thankfully, as Ultimate users, that doesn't appear to be the case.

Good point about the rooms being built around the control surface, though any new rooms we build will have smaller controllers. They're just less necessary now, and clients don't expect to be impressed by the sight of big consoles. In fact, clients don't come to sessions anymore anyway.

I do wonder what is around the corner though. Pro Tools is still only running under Rosetta2. If Avid really are working through Pro Tools to update things module by module, it seems like an ideal time to rip out the old digidesign ethernet support. Toss in ARA2, an integrated renderer and Apple Silicon support, and with the knowledge that jumping off a support plan now means subscriptions as your only option, ICON users would be in a pretty big dilemma.

I love my D-Command, but these old things are getting a bit long in the tooth. I'm onto my second logic PSU, and third LED PSU, and about to put in the third set of new faders. I love working on it though. Much prefer it over the smaller Eucon range. I never really liked the time I spent on an S4, and could never afford an S6. The D-Command is just has such a great size vs control radio. Not to cramped. Not to big. Huge amounts of functionality.

[Eric Lambert]

I think it depend on what you've trained your brain to work with. I also like having more dedicated knobs/faders/buttons on my console (i.e. Icon or D|Command), and came from large format desks, but I've been using smaller controllers for a few years and actually prefer the menu-driven architecture and having everything at arm's length without needing to slide around.

[LDS]

Originally Posted by Eric Lambert

I think it depend on what you've trained your brain to work with. I also like having more dedicated knobs/faders/buttons on my console (i.e. Icon or D|Command), and came from large format desks, but I've been using smaller controllers for a few years and actually prefer the menu-driven architecture and having everything at arm's length without needing to slide around.

It has nothing to do with dedicated knobs or buttons to me. It is really just how much deeper those bigger desks go in function. There is oodles of stuff under the surface of both the Icon series and S6 that just doesn't exist on the smaller surfaces. Things like custom faders, flips, expand & spill zones, etc. Quick and easy access to all the functions that happens between pressing preview and punch. Menu based stuff is just never going to be as quick.

The only desk I have found to be too big is the D-Control. Even just the 16 channel version is massive, with buttons and knobs too far to reach. 24 fader D-Commands or S6s still keep me sitting right in the middle, just as a result of the way different functions can be assigned to different sections of the desk.

[Eric Lambert]

It depends on the task. Yes, the big consoles will offer some deeper functionality of certain routines, but the same can be said about the smaller controllers for different routines, and they can be easily updated and expanded. Ideally, I'd like the big hardware (and, to be honest, it's primarily to impress clients) with a companion menu-driven iPad-esque surface. And there are so many other platforms for automating and expanding tasks. We can pick and choose and find a solution that fits us best, and that can grow.

...but not if they retire them.

[basehead617]

Originally Posted by Eric Lambert

It depends on the task. Yes, the big consoles will offer some deeper functionality of certain routines, but the same can be said about the smaller controllers for different routines, and they can be easily updated and expanded. Ideally, I'd like the big hardware (and, to be honest, it's primarily to impress clients) with a companion menu-driven iPad-esque surface. And there are so many other platforms for automating and expanding tasks. We can pick and choose and find a solution that fits us best, and that can grow.

I would say the S6 is absolutely incredible at keeping everything at arms length - the way you can progressively spill, use swap layers etc means if you wanted you could never need move from one spot,
without even banking around.

I can’t think of anything a smaller surface is better at at least with the current S6 software which is substantially different from launch.

[Eric Lambert]

Originally Posted by basehead617

I would say the S6 is absolutely incredible at keeping everything at arms length - the way you can progressively spill, use swap layers etc means if you wanted you could never need move from one spot,
without even banking around.

I can’t think of anything a smaller surface is better at at least with the current S6 software which is substantially different from launch.

The S6 is great. The cost of entry is a bit steep.

[LDS]

Originally Posted by Eric Lambert

It depends on the task. Yes, the big consoles will offer some deeper functionality of certain routines, but the same can be said about the smaller controllers for different routines, and they can be easily updated and expanded. Ideally, I'd like the big hardware (and, to be honest, it's primarily to impress clients) with a companion menu-driven iPad-esque surface. And there are so many other platforms for automating and expanding tasks. We can pick and choose and find a solution that fits us best, and that can grow.

...but not if they retire them.

Really Eric? The only reason people drop $20,000 - $200,000 on larger Avid desks is to "impress clients"?

Nah. No client of mine is that vain. Maybe that level of vanity is a music thing, but it doesn't happen in my world. The 'deeper' function of those bigger desks really just translates to the way each fader, button and knob bank can be broken down with various functions allocated to it. No iPad or EuControl desk can do it in the same way. You can't attention a fader and have sends across 8 faders, custom faders for non-EQ/Dyn plugins across another 8, EQ parameters across one knob bank, and Dynamics parameters across another, all with the press of an 'expand' button or through dedicated surface sections. EuControl stuff just isn't the best option for mixing available on the market... by a long shot.

The iPad stuff can come in handy for editing and premixing, but clients aren't present during those processes here. Mixing, mix notes, sometimes even squabbles over creative direction between people at the back of the room, that is when big desks pay dividends. Moving so quick through changes you leave clients a little speechless. iPads and menus just aren't conductive to quick and complex mix movements, which is why the EuControl stuff is comparative so cheap.

In a lot of ways, the EuControl stuff is three steps forward, two steps back compared to even the way the old Command 8 worked.