Controller for C7: CC121 +CMC or Mackie Control?

I have used the basic Mackie Control for years, mainly for channel fader control and pan. I recently purchase the CC121 & CMCFD & CMCQC, thinking they would integrate better with C7. I have messed with the CC121 & I have to say I’m not sure I get it. It seems less intuitive than the old MC. Maybe cause their are 8 faders on the MC. I haven’t even tried the CMC units yet. So my question is is the CC121 a better choice, just that I need more time with it & need to coordinate mouse use with or is the MC truly the more accessible unit when it comes to C7? Maybe by integrating the CMC units it will make more sense. Have any of you switched from the MC to the CC121 & found it to being the better controller?

thank you

I don’t have the CC121 but have changed over from using a BCF2000 in Mackie Emulation to using the full set of CMC controllers. The CC121 is basically the CMC-CH, CMC-QC and CMC-AI controllers combined. After a short time of getting used to the new controls, I can definitely say that I much prefer them now. As for the 8 faders of the MC, you can have up to 16 faders by combining 4 CMC-FD units. The addition of a CMC-TP is also recommended.
I will probably relegate the BCF2000 to operating in Generic midi mode and using it to control the In and Out channels.

The CMC has a advantage with the shift-button and QC has a I/O learn. They dont exist in CC121. But the faders on CMC is totally useless. I have only the CH. But the fader is never used. (I have a CC121 too) I should have preferred if it could have been reprogrammed to use the led as a meter-indicator or locked to be a monitor volume. And why cant the user override the primary function of the buttons and knobs?

I’m using Euphonix (Avid Artist) DAW controllers, which are fantastic! Much more better, than Mackie Control.

I like the CC121 too. It’s specialised to Cubase/Nuendo only. So you know, what exactly are you doing, where are functions, etc. I’m not sound engineer, and I can’t mix 8 channels at once. I’m mixing track by track. So, I don’t need more than one fader, in fact.

I like the CMC series. I like these touch faders. They are totally silent. So it doesn’t disturb me at all. And I can work at home, at night. No one needs to listen the sound of motor – great! And shift+fader is fine tuning, which is fantastic!

I don’t like Mackie Control. There is lots of drop-outs. Very often it didn’t work (when I used it in my studio). I had to restart Cubase multiple-times. It was unreliable. No more Mackie; even though they moved production to China.

…And I hate BCF 2000. It’s very perturbation, noisy, faders are short, and they are not touched! For serious work, it’s not applicatble.

These are just my personal experiences and opinions – nothing definitive. :wink:

It’s a geat shame there is a limitation of only 4 CMC-FD units, It would be great to have 12 of them giving 48 faders using 3x Studio Frames. Would just have to find a 12 way USB hub though !

just bought the “CMC Six Pack” and it’s very good ! gonna buy 3 more “CMC FD” to have 16 channel

You are lucky! This offer is not for my country, unfortunately. :-/

On my two DAWs I have Mackie Control Pro and BCR 2000 as better CC121.
I like the MCU better than the Euphonix.
I tried the CMC Ai but returned it after 4 days testing because lot of the 3rd party plugins don´t work as expected.

The BCR2000 works in 14Bit (via NRPN Controller) for Channel EQ Frequency and as Monitoring Controller.
My Overlays and BCR Preset with Generic Remote Implementation:

I hope that steinberg implements the HC and LC of Strip EQ in Generic Remote that I can implement it in my xml.

The consensus, so far, favors the CC121/CMC units over the MC. It’s making me feel more confident in my investment and makes it easier to retire the MC.

No , i dont like the CMC FD because they don´t have a Channel Name LCD.
I often look at the Mackie LCD for Channel Naming, on the CMC FD it is searching in the dark…

I agree, this is cons.

Agreed. The FD should be redesigned to provide motorized faders and channel information displays. I rarely use mine due to the absence of these features. I thought I would get used to the touch strips but I have not been able to get comfortable with them. This issue is compounded by the lack of textual feedback. For some reason I bought four FD units but I am now looking at alternate solutions such as the Avid Artist Mix.

Thanks for the great feedback. I may not have bought the Steinberg hardware but new physical space constraints means the MC is no longer in a good viewing/listening position, therefore I bought the CC121 & two CMC units.

I plan on having the C7 mixer open on my second monitor,so I’ll have visual feedback. I assume that by “tactile” feedback, people don’t care for the movement of the faders on the CMC, correct?

The FD faders work as advertised and there is nothing inherently wrong with their operation. In fact (even though this may appear a contradiction to my earlier post) they have the advantage of being quiet compared to many flying fader alternatives. I just find them somewhat ‘lifeless’ in the sense that there are no haptics or friction - nothing to really grab onto. I suppose this may be the result of habit and expectation rather than a design flaw but my preference is for a more conventional fader.

I invested in the considerable price of the CC121.

I was really disappointed.

The hardware built quality is good, but the functionality falls way short of its obvious potential.

I thought the software support woould would grow with Cubase, but Steinberg/Yamaha seem content merely to release compatibility updates (late) and ignore the many user requests.

Some examples

  1. the EQ knobs are the opposite layout to onscreen (doh!), and there is no software option to flip them, though these would seem trivial to implement.
  2. The AI knob does not work with third-party plugins eg. Waves, even though they happily accept mouse-wheel input
  3. the buttons do not light up as shown in the marketing
  4. you can’t use the fader to write automation

very sad.

I’m beginning to wonder about the CC121 myself. Again I’m just starting to mess with it, but I’ve noticed the fader won’t control the master out in the C7 mixer when selected, I can’t figure out the forward and backward jump buttons. I was lead to believe they would move bar by bar as well as to the loop markers…maybe it’s me? Isn’t the A1 knob suppose to control bank/patch selection in Halion Sonic. I just don’t find the unit as intuitive as advertized. I know practice, practice practice. I can’t find ANY good tutorials on the unit.

Is anyone really happy with the CC121 using it with C7?