Cubase Control Room vs Saffire Mix Control

Cubase
1

For years I’ve used Cubase with my Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 DSP interface and used the bundled Saffire Mix Control so have never taken a look at Cubase’s Control Room. I’m in the process of doing a full reinstall of all my software on a new studio PC so I’m wondering whether the Cubase Control Room should be used instead of it, or whether to stick to Saffire Mix Control, or am I wrong in thinking they would do the same kind of thing?

2

Control Room is a great feature and it does several things.
Not sure what is your workflow so I’ll tell you how I use it.

  • I set 3 different cue mixes, 1 for my drummer, 1 for my bass player and one for myself so we can monitor our rehearsals and live performances with independent mix levels and metronome/cue track volume.
  • While rehearsing, we monitor the cue mix and after the takes we listen to the recordings so I send the main mix to my band mates’ monitors all this from cubase iCPro remotely from my spot.

I use a similar approach when recording
When mixing, you can use the control room to monitor a reference mix without altering the main mix.

I’am sure I only use a small part of the control room features but as you can see it is a very powerful feature, I have a Focusrite clarett 8pre and a scarlett 18i20 and rarely touch the mix control app.

3

If you don´t need all the features you get in Cubase with the control room, you should stick to your focusrite thing.

4

This is exactly what I use Saffire Mix Control for so it does seem they’re pretty similar. The only thing is Saffire Control Mix was last updated 21/12/2015 so I’m thinking switching to Cubase Control Room might be a better option.

5

I was thinking that but Saffire Mix Control was last updated 21/12/2015 which is why I’m thinking moving to Cubase Control Room might be the better option now.

6

You can turn CR on and off whenever you like. So you could just give it a test drive to see how you like it.

Also I don’t expect that CR and Mix Control are mutually exclusive, run them both and see what’s easier to use for different stuff.

IMHO the Loudness Meters in CR are reason enough to turn it on.

7

Totally Agree!!

8

Or the Listen button, or the ability to add plugins after the master bus.

9

Oh, I’d forgotten about the Listen button being part of CR. That is a biggie.

OP, just turn CR on.