DAW controller or mixer in the sub $5K range?

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I didn't look closely at the dm2000 since it's a digital mixer.  I'm not really interested in a digital mixer.  I'm interested in a controller...(I realize the dm2000 can also be a controller, but I didn't look super closely at it since it also seemed to be mainly focused on being a digital mixer first and foremost.)

EDIT: From a quick look at the specs, it looks like there is no way to "bank" through tracks.  It seems like it can control only 24 tracks (or maybe 96-I can't really tell) In any case, I'd want to be able to bank through whatever arbitrary number of tracks I have...Just finished a track a few days ago with 100+ tracks...
 
Mbira said:
At the end of the day it seems like all the controllers are a compromise with serious drawbacks EXCEPT the Nuage....which would cost about $24,000 for a master section and fader bank.  I'm not willing to pay the cost of a downpayment for a house on a controller at this point, so I think I'm just going to go with a little single Presonus Faderport since it gives me transport as well as a fader for automation (covers about 80% of my control surface needs) plus the single user assignable button will let me change monitors in Cubase's control room.  Then I can use the $23, 850 that I save towards outboard gear. Ha!

If you're going with Presonus, why not get the newer Faderport 8 then? That way you get 8 faders for cheap - real cheap. I'm assuming of course that the quality is about on par with the single Faderport.
 
I like the look and feel of the Mackie, feels more like a traditional mixer, but HUI is limiting.

I switched to the Avid Artist units. They don't feel as nice, no transport, on instead of mute buttons, the quirk list goes on. But Eucon makes things way easier especially for editing plugins. The 8 encoder limit of HUI made it an ordeal to edit plugins
 
Mbira said:
Well I just rented the faderport for the day...they don't work on 64 bit Macs running Cubase.  :mad:

I have at least a dozen or so installed on Macs. And I doubt anyone would still be using a 32 bit Mac. So where did you get this info from?

Or is it a Cubase problem?
 
Under mcu protocol you can add artist mixes as extenders of up to 24. I suppose thats dependent on the DAW used.

I like the feel of the artist series but mine developed problems and i had begun migrating away from PT to Studio One which made the Artist Series even more unreliable.

I ended up getting a X-touch (I know Behringer pa-tooey) and its actually really nice, with quite faders, programable buttons, and responds nicely to automation.
Compared to the older model Mackie Control Universal i owned years ago its really nice.
Because of the console I need a smaller format controller and have been looking at Icon's offerings but with the amount of post production work i get I'm also looking at digital mixers.
I need recall and have owned 5 control surfaces as once i get used to them i can move much faster but everyone of them had its caveats and qualities.
I really wish Avid didn't suck so much as I'm most comfortable on PT and wish they would release eucon to third parties so we could use their gear on other DAW's but  until then...
 
Mbira said:
But then again I do a ton of automation within the DAW, and pretty much all my processing is done with UAD and other plugins.  So I wonder if I'm really just stuck needing a controller instead of a real console. 

Yes, you only need a controller.

That's it

 
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