Euphonix 5-MC user feedbacks

[The golfer]

Hello,

I have always loved the features and ergonomy of the Euphonix 5-MC but the HUI protocol in Pro-tools has always been a turn off for me. Last week we installed Pro-tools 9 in the music studio (24 inputs Euphonix 5-MC used with Logic and PT in HUI protocol). Overall, I was very impressed by the integration with pro-tools and eucon . It's not quite the integration with logic or nuendo yet, but we have to take in consideration that Euphonix was bought by Avid only a few months ago.

For the first time, I would consider an 5-MC for our post studio (used exclusively with Pro-tools).

I would love to hear any feedbacks from 5-MC users.

Thank you.

[The golfer]

So...

Any Audio Post studio care to share their experiences (good or bad) with the 5-MC?

Perharps there is another 5-MC power user forum you can direct me?

Thank you!

[ErikG]

Just to let you know that you aren't all alone...

I have yet to find the time to install and test PT9 with Eucon yet.
Interested to see how it works. Will do in a week or so.

We mainly use Nuendo that integrates beautifully.

[The golfer]

Just to let you know that you aren't all alone...

This part of the forum is so quiet that I feel my beard has grown an inch while waiting for a reply. And I didn't have a beard before writing my post.

I started to feel like Tom Hanks in "Cast Away". But thank to you Eric, not anymore...

On my side the first tests were great. There are little things but I am really impressed by the system 5-MC integration with pro-tools 9.

By the way , Congratulation , "Europa Sound" dub stage is really a great looking studio!

[soundthinker]

Just installed it yesterday on our System5 and I'm loving it so far for the spots I've mixed with it.

Having real faders and knobs for every track is a quantum leap above the MC Control/MC Mix combo. The plugin implementation is very promising, and will only get better once we can customize the parameter layout.

My biggest hope is that more of the hard buttons on the 401 will be usable for ProTools, the transport and jog wheel especially.

-Jim

EDIT: This is EuCon on a full System 5, not the 5-MC

[Studiomeijer]

Hi guys. Another very enthusiastic MCPro-user here. Already for about 5 years I love the concept. Got rid of my D-command because for editing audio the MCPro is far better and faster. Anyway, Protools 9 works fine here. I just very much miss the Q's in the equalizer setups. Adjusting the height of the frequencies is ok, but broadening it just is not implemented yet.
So, there are more Euphonix-MCPro lovers around.

[The golfer]

Wow, this part of the forum is coming alive! Thanks for sharing guys...

Studiomeijer,

I don't have access to the Euphonix at the moment but on the fader packs (cm408T) there is a "sel" button above the "on" button on each band of EQ that act as a "Q" switch. Isn't there the equivalent on the "soft knobs" part of the MC pro?

[vudoo]

Serge,

I'm about to upgrade my Procontrol/Edit/Fader set up for a D-Command or MC-Pro/8channel fader pack. Now that PT has Eucon, do you feel the integration of the 5-MC on par with D-command ?? I really like the idea that i can use the controller for other apps as well since i'm also an on-line editor working with Avid/FCP and Smoke.
Btw, i notice you're in Montreal, love to pay you a visit sometimes and check out your set up.

[The golfer]

Hello Vudoo,

In mid December, We bought a second 24 inputs 5-mc for the post studio to complement the 24 inputs 5-mc we had in the music studio. It is really an amazing controller for pro-tools as are the d-command and d-control. The only feature I miss, is the "custom mapping" for plug-ins, but I 'm confident it will be add in a near future. I will briefly explain why we decided to choose the euphonix over the d-command and d-control for the post studio.

Dual task

I am a sound designer and mixer so I spend as much time doing sound design than mixing.

Ergonomy

The minute I sat in front the euphonix, I felt everything was at the proper place.

I can easily reach the 8th rotary encoder with the 5-MC. I had a bit of a problem to reach the last one (6th) on the d-control. While I liked very much the d-command, I needed a solution with the built-in keyboard.

Customizability

If something does not feel at the proper place, you can customize it to your taste.

I love macros and being able to assign and label them anywhere on the 56 soft keys (infinite number of banks) is a dream. Please don't wake me up!
I build different banks of macros for different task: Dialog recording, Dialog editing, sound design, mixing etc...

Being able to assign anything, anywhere, with the 'layout mode" is great. For example while tracking dialog, I can lock fader 16 (Last fader on my left) to my talkback and fader 17 (first fader on my right) to my microphone, and bank my tracks around while keeping them locked. Or I can Locked my 5.1 stems on
faders 22, 23 and 24 to have 5.1 high definition metering on each of those tracks.

Another example would be to lock fader 16 to "follow attention track".Touching any fader would bring a copy of this fader to fader 16 so it is always close to you.

Feedback

a)Having a meter display beside each fader is very convenient.

b)High resolution TFT meters on each input.

c)Any data value is displayed beside the knobs AND ON the high resolution TFT channel meter display. So when selecting input, output, group, EQ, Dyn, Insert, I can rely on my TFT channel meter instead of a second monitor. Panning info is always available on TFT channel screen display. EQ graphic is not implemented with pro-tools on the TFT screen yet but I 'm confident it will be.

d)The fader modules change color for every states. Sends are yellow, EQ are blue, dynamics are greens, etc. Some will say you can get a nice christmas tree for cheeper, but it's great .

I believe the D-command, D-control and 5-MC are all great controllers. You can have a free demo with an avid retailer but I would strongly recommend you invest a bit of time and money to rent a few studios and bring your own sessions. I love the 5-MC and other duc users already share their love for their D-command and D-control too...

[vudoo]

Great, thanks for the detailed feedback!