Hello. I’ve been using a pair of Eiphonix Artist mix now for about 20 years and they’re starting to wear out. Bad faders/knobs so I"m looking at replacements.
Budget end the behringer X touch seem great with the scripts avaialble.
or I was looking at an second hand Avid S 3 which for 16 channels isn’t too expensive.
However does the S3 work exactly the same as the Artists mix? with cubase via the same Eucon integration?
thanks for any insights from fellow users.
M
well, seems people are not big Eucon/Avid users here…
The generic remote bug is still there and TBH the Behringers feel a bit plasticky so that’s what swayed my decision.
I’ve bought an Avid S3…got a good deal considering they cost £4500 new!
I’ll report back how well it works with C14 if anyone’s interested.
M
installed the S3 today. Fantastic controller with C14 , easy stup and was working in minutes.
Not quite as good integration as Pro tools but it’s pretty damn good with Cubase 14.
M
Congrats. I’ve worked on the s3 with PT and it’s a solid feeling piece of kit for sure. I would have gotten one but got the s1 instead.
Once you start integrating the Eucontrol software on your tablet you’ll be able to do some really neat things, assuming it integrates just as well as the s1 does. To me it’s been a massive workflow improvement.
Just the ability to create fader layouts and have them recallable at the touch of a button is great.
Interesting. Tell me more about the fader layouts…
I have an ipad pro with the avid app,havent used it though.
M
The short version is that you can decide to lock physical faders to tracks in Cubase, and after you have done that using bank/nudge or click-selecting in the project will not change those locked faders. You can do that with all of the faders as far as I know, and it includes audio, FX, group and VCA tracks. And then you can save as a “Layout”. You have a bunch of layouts available to save.
If you work with templates you can use this to save a bunch of time. I have layouts for; dialog edit and premix, premixes for nat, hard fx, backgrounds, music, for FX returns, one layout dedicated for the final mix after predub… and so on.
And you can trigger your softkeys in Eucontrol to execute a macro as well. I have one button that says “MIX” which will change the layout on my s1 as well as trigger a macro in Nuendo which chooses a specific workspace with timeline on main screen and meter plugins on the secondary screen, as well as changes folder open/closed configuration, and it changes the softkey page in Eucontrol to one with dedicated soft keys for mixing.
Found this:
thanks @MattiasNYC it’s something I needs to look into over the xmas period.
I must say, sat with the S3 in front of me took me right back to console days. I know it’s only 16 channels but it’s very well built and feels great . I can imagine once I get my head round things I’ll be able to mix on this without using the mouse as much.
got round to adding some commands to the soft keys after your post. Excellent, this is going to be good. I’ve also resurected my old MC Transport which I can plug directly into the S3 which has a weighted jog and shuttle wheel and transport commands…and is soft touch black to match.
M
Yeah, I think you’ll find a lot to love about the combination s3+tablet.
Please feel free to share your setup if you don’t mind. I love learning more from other people’s workflows and setups.
@MattiasNYC actually having watched a few videos I think I’m going to buy and Avid Dock to go with the S3 looks like the perfect combo.
It’s a shame i can’t mount the ipad above the Avid transport I have and save myself £1200 !!! however the S3 looks so great it would be a shame not to have the matching dock. It also means I’ll keep my ipad pro for other things as I’ll get an android amazon fire tablet for the dock.
M
I’ve thought about getting the dock as well, but I’ve basically gotten used to working without transport controls and the other things it offers. Another good piece of gear from them I think.
For the tablet- you could try a tablet stand though, no? I have one from Ugreen and I find their stuff to be good quality. The one I have is pretty “flexible” in terms of adjustment, it has three hinges and swivels 360 degrees, but it does ‘move’ a bit with a big tablet on it. Some of their others look more ‘sturdy’ but with maybe less flexibility.
Anyway, it’s a non-1200 quid option 
Here’s their Amazon page (US):
I had a FireHD for my s1 and I just got the Galaxy A9+ instead and am a lot more happy with it. The HD10 was fine for a while but page updates are pretty slow. Forget about scrolling through large track counts on some of the Eucontrol pages (in my experience). I also got the feeling that the battery didn’t like the use case I had for it, which meant having it connected to a power source almost all the time, so I got problems charging. And lastly I hate the fact that it’s their proprietary app store you have to use, so some Android apps you can’t use unless you “tweak” the system, “hack” it basically, so that it accepts official Play Store software.
It’s a budget option, but I would recommend spending a little more for a non-Amazon tablet. Check the Avid forum for threads on it. There definitely is one for a tablet for the dock specificially.
@MattiasNYC thanks for the tip and many thanks for helping me via PM to get the channel mode working properly.
I may as well use my ipad pro then although it’s very large and I wanted somethng smaller.
Hmmm TBC.
M
Well , I had to… So to compliment the S3 i bought a Dock. Anyone who has a dock and wants a decent price, quality tablet should look no further than this
only £99 and most importantly it fits perfectly .
Octo core , with a full 2k Screen. Perfect for the dock.
Merry Christmas all.
M
Sexy!
Thanks for sharing.
Now we just need to get Steinberg/Cubase to use all the available settings possible on these devices. I can imagine with pro tools it’s amazing as there’s so much mapped by default.
There’s quite a lot though that doesn’t in Cubendo . Probably Avid keeping their cards close to their chest so pro tools users don’t desert .
M
