Not sure what’s going on with Steinberg. Can’t buy a new CC121, find used in good condition, no news for a new Cubase/Nuendo controller like it, so I’m not sure what to think anymore.
I’d love to get my hands on something of a next-generation CC121. The original was great, I really liked the way it natively worked with Cubase/Nuendo. I’ve got the Softube Console One and the Fader, they work great but nothing like the CC121 was when I had it. I think one of the reasons there isn’t a CC121 successor is that there’s a lot of alternatives that work with other DAWs - the SSL UFC1, Softube, Presonus, Behringer, etc…
I liked the idea of the little CMC controllers but they were on and off the market before I even knew they existed.
Some people who have previously worked with the CC121 have said to me that they now even prefer to work with the PreSonus FaderPort V2 (2018) and the script (available here in the forum) than with their old CC121.
I may be way off here but I think Cubase is an awesome DAW. There are a lot of engineers that I know that use Cubase. I would think it would only be assumed that Steinburg would want to develop a good controller that would out shine all the others when integrated with Cubase. Of course this would include controlling 3rd party plugins.
I have been Cubase since 1.0 on Atari ST (1989) when I was introduced to it at age 10 by a friend’s dad who was a composer. Still have the floppy disks to this day!
We have a couple of CB setups in our studio with CC121’s that we don’t really use as the single fader thing just doesn’t really appeal to us anymore, plus it is a little dated overall. Right now we use large touchscreen flat panels as our virtual consoles (but don’t really use them for touch, more just for dedicated visual mixer feedback).
We have looked at Nuage several times, but always conclude that is is overkill size and investment wise, and have almost pulled the trigger on AVID S3’s numerous times, but always backed out because well, it’s AVID and we know all about the Eucon IP/compatibility controversies. Recently, we had been waiting a couple of years to see what Asparion was going to come up with their new 700 series controllers, however, have not been overly impressed with what we have seen with that release.
So… we have been holding out for a couple of decades now for a $5-7K’ish Steinberg-specfic, 16-channel mini Nuage/S3 type interface with OLED channel strip displays, motorized faders, transport controls, etc., and Steinberg appears to have ZERO interest in making this happen. So frustrating!!!
Anyone willing to spend over 5k on control really should just get the Avid gear I think. The problems aren’t that frequent and I don’t know what the “compatibility controversies” are(?). A set of s1’s with tablets offer the deepest integration you can get right now and has the bonus of then offering the same deep integration with Pro Tools should you ever need it.
Holding out for this mystical potential hypothetical Steinberg controller is just a waste of time. I used to tell Steinberg at conventions that we needed a good controller and they came out with the Nuage series. But it was clearly priced too high for many and since then it’s been crickets. Like, how many decades is it reasonable to wait?
At the price point of s1 + cheap android tablet I don’t really see how a professional facility won’t just buy that. Best case scenario if a new Cubendo controller by Steinberg or Yamaha shows up the Avid gear still has resale value and there wasn’t that much spent to begin with. Anyway, surely productivity improvements far outweigh waiting decades while using nothing!?
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Funnily enough, Barry Johns who was long term Pro Tools user swapped to Cubase recently and he was promoting the Avid controllers over the UF8:
Eucon is so much better than MCU, agreed.
Also in regards to Steinberg making a new control surface I think the investment into the MIDI Remote API makes me think they’re happier to support third parties.