Very interesting. I hope someday Yamaha bring us a “Nuage LE” or something like this.
I use Houston on two rooms and Yamaha DM2000 in the main room. Nuage is pretty but not cheap at all for our needs, maybe something like S4 would renew our DM2000, but I’d prefer to keep in Yamaha hardware if they’ll made an affordable Nuage version.
For me what you do, or rather what the workflow is, still makes a pretty big difference.
In all studios I’ve worked I’ve done TV “style” productions where I do pretty much all of the work. For me the main use of a controller is the faders. I often don’t even use transport because I’m so used to moving the cursor with the trackball to locate on the timeline.
The last time I actually used encoders for plugins was on an Avid Icon and that’s because the encoders had a 1-to-1 ratio between parameter:encoder. I find it pretty cumbersome to use encoders when the mapping isn’t like that. Of course, it could simply be a matter of me having to learn a different way of working.
Anyway, what I was getting at was that the Avid Artist Mix and s3 are both fine for me because they provide me with what I need the most and do it using up little space. So for me personally an s3 is a pretty good middle ground for a controller… though I too of course wish that Yamaha/Steinberg released something similar… for less…
“The S4 works with any EUCON-enabled DAW, such as Pro Tools, Nuendo, Cubase, and Logic Pro. Configurations range from 8 to 24 faders, and you can add displays, joysticks, post, and knob modules as you see fit. Avid says that the S4 lets you “quickly assign and control talkback, listenback, and speaker sources and levels right from the surface to handle everything from simple cue mixes for music recording to monitoring immersive audio projects.”
Actually the S4 is much more expensive than Nuage.
The basic 16 fader S4 is 38K. It has cheaper Alps faders. It comes with no Display modules, they are optional. Each Display module for S6 is about 6k Euro. I guess the same displays are used on S4.
With Nuage you buy cheap 24" monitors instead. You get a lot for your money with Nuage.
But I too would like to see Yamaha make a small “Baby” version of Nuage.
Peter
I’ve found these prices for S4 configurations:
8 fader model, which includes one Channel Strip Module, one Master Touch Module, and one Master Automation Module in a 3 foot frame will be $23,995.00
16 fader model, which includes two Channel Strip Modules, one Master Touch Module, and one Master Automation Module in a 4 foot frame will be $37,995.00
24 fader model, which includes three Channel Strip Modules, one Master Touch Module, and one Master Automation Module in a 5 foot frame will be $52,995.00
I can’t believe. I thought S4 would be much cheaper than Nuage, but not, and I prefer Nuage integration with Nuendo than S6.
Well, I don’t know if I’ll get a Nuage but my Yamaha DM2000 + Euphonix MC Transport work very well together 
Ouch! The 24 channel S4 is almost as much as the new mid-engine Corvette, which looks like a shockingly good car. Supercar on a budget, basically.
If I have to choose, the S4 loses for sure!
Sure it’s kind of off topic, but all work and no play…
I agree with that. Plugin control from controller is rarely good enough to be useful. When I have to look away from the screen I’m loosing focus and time.
Hmmm… s3 or new Triathlon bike…?
Dilemmas…
At one point I actually set up a Behringer rotary encoder unit to correspond to the UAD-2 Neve 88RS channel strip plugin. It was actually pretty cool and I also added automation macros to the process so I could quickly do a select range-loop playback-start playback-engage ‘preview’ and then tweak, followed by manual punch-out. But there’s still a learning curve trying to get the mind/body to remember what’s where so there’s less lag between intent and execution.
I still might invest some time getting my speed up on surfaces… when I have time to spare…
I hope they’re planning a Ver. 2 of the Dock that will MATCH the S1’s, so that the Displays all line up. It looks very strange to have the channel displays be larger than the master section.
