Multitouch Mixer

Cubase
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1

It would be really a huge improvement to add multitouch capabilities to the mixer.

I have a 23’’ multitouch screen, positioned like a hardware mixer, and it is very frustrating not being able to use more than one finger when you are recording real time mixer events.

I was hoping for this in Cubase 8… and later in the update…
Does anyone know if this will be developed soon?

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Not likely unless something changed very recently. Details in this SOS article:

The relevant paragraph states: “It seems that most of the major firms are the least interested in implementing multi-touch… Steinberg… went as far as to state that they don’t currently see a market for multi-touch outside the iPad”

I like the look of the Devil Technologies stuff, though — kinda like a Slate Raven for standard Windows multitouch — and it appears they have plans to support Cubendo…

3

Oh, bad news then :frowning:

We are loosing a big train here… So I’ll add 5 reasons (there are more, of course) why Steinberg should embrace multitouch:

  1. Vision: Years ago we all heard things like “no one will need more ram!” and “who needs a bigger screen?”… You know where I’m going. Yes, there is a market outside the iPad, a big one. Do Steinberg want to ride a new weave or just to be something “good” between other “good” companies?
  2. Creativity: Multitouch composing and Multidimensional MIDI. I’m not talking just about hardware devices like Linnstrument or ROLI’s Seaboard (great ideas, by the way). I’m talking about expressive plugins designed for multitouch, synths, saxs, woodwinds, guitars… and also about a new key editor that allows you to play with expresive movements in real time.
  3. Usability: That’s the whole point. New capabilities for musicians and a better interface. That kind of thing make the difference. You sell more, people are happier… A win-win situation.
  4. Marketing (yes, that’s important): This is an easy to sell idea for a company like Steinberg, something that right now will make Cubase the one for people with new ideas about how to compose and how to play (live or in the studio).
  5. Big studios & home studios: For a big studio this will add new options, and for home studios this will allow people to spend money in different things (if they don’t need a hardware mixer they will buy a new expressive instrument, maybe made by Steinberg :wink: ).

Where to start? The mixer.
Lost of people will cheer this evolution right now, and the currently evolving ideas will follow.
I’m not saying that a revolution is a good thing, but evolution is everything.

A practical example: A movie soundtrack.
You are composing with multiple tools, keyboards and libraries, but you always want something more, sometimes organic, sometimes not. Anyway, you always want something a little different.
Then you think “ok, I have the best strings library, maybe a good idea, but I want to express this feeling right now…”, you press record and start moving your fingers. You record the rest of your orchestra, you add a chorus…
After that you can start correcting thing and changing CCs, just like now, but you don’t need to spend time adding expression for everything because it is there. The feeling is there from the beginning.
Then you want to send a mock up, but first you need to mix everything. You move your fingers again while hearing you composition… and voilà, you send it. You know its ok, you felt it all the way, and you have more time to enjoy your work.

Yes, this is a look into the future, but everything starts at some point, and here I think that point is the mixer.

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+1 on multitouch… Instantly tweaking everything on the screen by hand is awesome…

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+1 in that I’d like to see it.

Alas, until Apple get their arses in gear and support multitouch in OSX (or OSXI or iOS Pro or whatever the next-gen Mac OS will be called), there’s instantly going to be a whole bunch of users who wouldn’t get the benefit…

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Investment in a multitouch screen could prove to be a rather expensive error if the HoloLens technology really catches on. I don’t blame them for waiting to see how holographic interfaces develop. Could make multitouch monitors obsolete very quickly, and any major investment therein a grave mistake.

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I don’t really see a major investment here: A year ago I bought my 23’’ multitouch screen for 140€ (right now 180€).
You can enjoy a touch system (maybe a laptop for your gigs?) for a reasonable price.
On the contrary, holographic systems will be a new technology, expensive at first… maybe 400€, maybe more?

Don’t get me wrong, I’d love a good holosystem… for the same price.

In any case, from a developer point of view, mutitouch for a screen is not much different from multitouch for holotech.
I have developed for 2D and 3D graphics, and there are not big differences in the UI layer when working with sliders and knobs (well, yes, 3D looks awesome… that’s all).
An example: the “pressed” event. You set the position and area of a 2D/3D object (lets say, a slider) and the OS/Framework sends you a message when a finger is there.

But that’s not important: the touch mixer will be the same for HoloLens because you will be able to use 2D software (like Cubase) displayed in a 2D surface of your 3D environment (a wall, a table…).
What changes is the Operating System, so there is no need for waiting to see other technologies.

Ok, maybe you want a fully 3D Cubase… but I think we’ll need to wait several years to see that :wink:

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+1 for multi-touch in Cubase

iPad iC Pro is clunky. There is some lag involved and the display is too small. Two nice big 27" touch screens could replace my Mackie MCU Pro that keeps breaking and work so much more seamlessly for less money. I really wish Steinberg would get over it. I don’t just want to touch the mixer, I want to touch plugins, MIDI editors, all of it.

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Part of the reason I moved to Sonar and FL Studio is their multi-touch implementation.

I am looking forward for many iPad midi controller and Synth apps to be ported to the Windows multi-touch environment. With the added real estate and computer power these iPad and tablet app developers will be able to add features to their existing products and create the next innovative got-to-have multi-touch VST or VSTi. These VST’s will come with their own slider and knob midi controller and midi note generator controller.

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If this were a big change I could be thinking about moving, but this is not the case, so I think (I hope) Steinberg will include this improvements in the near future.
Although it would be nice to know if the developers are working on it or if they have a schedule for this kind of thing, just to know if we should wait a month, a year… or forever.

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I hate Mulitouch and Touchscreens.
I prefer hardware-controller for DAW´s.
I would like to have anything comparable to Mackie´s Controller. (Yamaha/Steinberg…?)

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I am just woring on a Lemur template that allows Multi touch mackie control of cubase.
This is a demo of a 32 channel mixer: How to control a DAW (cubase) with 23" touchscreen and lemur 32 channel mixing - YouTube

This is working using an android TV box running the Lemur app and a 23" 10 point touch screen monitor.

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That looks pretty clever.
Although the design isn’t really for me, but a 23" touch screen sounds like a cool concept for lemur. My iPad mini is somewhat small.
And a android TV box is cheap, I bet the screen ain’t though…

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That´s great! would like to know how you set it up, I can see myself porting my cubase template to a 23 screen.

Would you like to tell us a bit of how it works, setup etc?

Thanks!