My trusty Alphatrack recently died, and I’m really missing having a fader and some controls under my left hand - going back to mouse-only mixing kinda sucks…
As the Alphatrack is long-discontinued, I’m considering pickup up a CMC-CH and an AI, as I think these would fit my workflow. Yes, I know they’ve also recently been discontinued, but the only real alternative around the same price point is the Presonus Faderport; however a couple of things have put me off it - it needs external power for it’s fader, and apparently it’s not functioning too well in C8 for some people.
Anyways, I have a couple of questions regarding the CH and AI (I’m running C8 Pro on W7):
Does the CH follow mouse-clicked channel selection in the MixConsole and/or project window, ie you don’t have to use the scroll left/right buttons on the CH, and can just click directly on the channel you want to control?
Is it possible to set up a fader flip on the CH, so the fader can also control send levels?
If fader flip on the CH isn’t possible, can the AI knob control send levels?
Is the touch strip on the CH a decent alternative to a physical fader - how’s the resolution/responsiveness/general feel?
I’d also like to hear from anyone who’s owned these two controllers for a while - are they worth getting into at this point in time? The only alternatives in the price range that I can see are the Faderport and the Icon Qcon lite (which looks rather horrible and plasticky, and apparently has pretty poor QC - sticking buttons, etc).
The CC121 isn’t an option here, because I rarely/never use the channel eq, so half of it’s controls would be basically useless to me, and I just don’t have the cash at the moment to splash on something like an Avid Artist control.
Hi,
I’ll be interested to hear others’ responses to these questions, as I’m making similar investigations (though my priority is to have a physical moving fader). I just wanted to chime in as I noticed when looking at the CC121 that the eq encoders seem to work with quick controls as of update 1.5:
CC121: Cubase DAW Controller | Steinberg -
“New Quick Control mode for assigning further Cubase and plug-in parameters to the twelve encoders and four buttons of the EQ section”
The mention on the same page of access to folder and automation folders seems to imply it might be possible to record e.g. midi cc automation using the fader, which would be good - perhaps a CC121 user can confirm?
I don’t know if that makes any difference to you, but it’s got me leaning a bit further in the CC121 direction…
Cheers for the info Quayle, although I don’t think I’ve actually ever made use of quick controls either! If the buttons and encoders were freely assignable, now that would be pretty sweet…
Yes it follows whatever channel is selected in the Project window or mixer (assuming you have the two synced as I have).
No.
Yes. Also set the mouse over the send and press the lock button and it will continue to adjust send even if you subsequently use the mouse to control something else.
It takes a bit of time to get comfortable using it, but no different to using similar controls on a tablet or phone. Eventually these types of controls, abeit per touch screen as opposed to discreet HW controllers will likely become the norm.
The CC121 is basically the CMC-CH QC and AI units combined as well as some TP functions in a single controller so that’s actuall less than 1/3 you think you won’t use, but I bet in time you’ll use that too. It’s also still a current product.
