DAW control surfaces

Softube lacks scribble strips and meters. IMHO that renders it usable only on the most contrived youtube demos. In a real-world project, that would be a dealbreaker.
 
Someone should make a controller that actually looks like a proper console with dedicated knobs for 4 band eq, comp, channel fader, 2-3 aux sends et al. Basically something that would be totally hands on, but still running through the daw once you set it up.

On the new SSL one for example, there was no easy way to just grab and sweep a mid freq knob on a given channel, always had to toggle over to the given channel and then you couldn’t adjust anything else until you switched back again and it felt really frustrating to be honest. And then even though it had good controls over the comp, what if you wanted other effects ? Didn’t have any easy to use aux send controls so you had to go back to the mouse


Basically everything that is super easy and hands on with even the cheapest analog board is always so convoluted on digital boards or controls for some reason

Just make a one to one knob style 1604 controller and I’d totally buy it and drop my hardware. I’m fine and good with a daw, just want the hands on workflow
 
Someone should make a controller that actually looks like a proper console with dedicated knobs for 4 band eq, comp, channel fader, 2-3 aux sends et al. Basically something that would be totally hands on, but still running through the daw once you set it up.

On the new SSL one for example, there was no easy way to just grab and sweep a mid freq knob on a given channel, always had to toggle over to the given channel and then you couldn’t adjust anything else until you switched back again and it felt really frustrating to be honest. And then even though it had good controls over the comp, what if you wanted other effects ? Didn’t have any easy to use aux send controls so you had to go back to the mouse


Basically everything that is super easy and hands on with even the cheapest analog board is always so convoluted on digital boards or controls for some reason

Just make a one to one knob style 1604 controller and I’d totally buy it and drop my hardware. I’m fine and good with a daw, just want the hands on workflow

An S6 or a Nuage can do that. Or a Raven if you don't mind the touch surface.
 
An S6 or a Nuage can do that. Or a Raven if you don't mind the touch surface.

I tried a Raven a while back, and I’ve heard they have improved things a great deal since, but just didn’t really get on the touch screen. Cool concept but just not quite the same as having hands on knobs and being able to tacitly move around while listening and not really have to focus on the screen to see what’s going on. I liked it, but I didn’t like it $1200 worth for the 22”.

Maybe the 43” would be a different story but I don’t really have the room or money for that one

S6 certainly would fit the bill but again, costs a bit more than both the cars in my driveway so probably not getting one of those soon either lol
 
I'd love to see Steinberg do a very stripped down Nuage for hobbyists, mid budget. Just watched this vid on custom mapping on the S1 for plugins. I see the advantage now of AVID over Softube here. What i'd love is a console with a load of knobs that are automapped to the major plugins for tactile control. Seems though, with the S1 if i took the time I could map and save the templates for recall basically.
 
S6 certainly would fit the bill but again, costs a bit more than both the cars in my driveway so probably not getting one of those soon either lol
So you're asking does someone make a control surface like an S6 for the price of an S1? You might as well ask does someone make a car like a Porsche for the price of a Kia :).
 
So you're asking does someone make a control surface like an S6 for the price of an S1? You might as well ask does someone make a car like a Porsche for the price of a Kia :).

Scaled down version of it anyways for enthusiast users.

Kind of like how they made the ms20 ic controller for the ms20 software, or that Repro controller which is a one to one front panel of a Pro One for those wanted the hands on experience for every parameter.

Basically just faders and a bunch of pots
 
Basically just faders and a bunch of pots
An S4 or S6 is just faders and pots and buttons if you only include channel strip modules when you buy it.

We all want the same thing you do: the workflow of a big analog console in a control surface with motorized faders. You can buy that if you want, but the economics of the situation are such that the price for that will range into 5 figures.
 
An S4 or S6 is just faders and pots and buttons if you only include channel strip modules when you buy it.

We all want the same thing you do: the workflow of a big analog console in a control surface with motorized faders. You can buy that if you want, but the economics of the situation are such that the price for that will range into 5 figures.

That is the thing though, I don’t think it really needs to be all that expensive or fancy.

I could do without motorized faders just fine, and I don’t need any sort of endless encoders etc, basically just say 12 rows of knobs for eq, pan, aux et al.

On my little Tascam model 12 mixer it has a daw mode where the faders, mutes, pans, and track arm buttons all work in a DAW mode as a little control surface. What it doesn’t have though is the eq knobs or aux knobs send any midi control. Couldn’t cost that much to add like 40-50 dedicated knobs, especially if we are talking about just basic pots without LED ring, endless encoder, etc. If they can make things like the Repro controller hardware for couple hundred dollars and it has like 40 knobs, how much extra would like 12 faders add to the cost ? Could probably do it for $500 or so depending on economy of scale.

I’ve basically got enough gear to do similar things between all my various controller keyboards with knobs and faders, but I’d just love it have it all in one little desktop control surface just like a mackie 1402/1604 size unit.

Big step up from just 8 faders on a keyboard or a Korg nano control, big step down from a high end digital console.
 
Well my Avid S1 has arrived at the shop. Guess its a happy coincidence that its my day off. Next few days will be testing out to see if it stays.
 
alright @GlennO I see what you're saying now. Eucon is great. I'm in the very early stages of exploring the features of the S1 but the first time I loaded up Cubase 11 Pro yesterday and fired up the S1. Went to add the device in Studio setup in Cubase. The moment I clicked on Eucon my Avid S1 just lit up, faders all moved into positions and track names and even track colors sync'd immediately. I did not expect it to work that quickly. Lots to explore yet but so far I gotta say its a pretty slick controller
 
Figured I'd share a few pics of the new unit and my basic setup here. In order to get everything in front of me I installed an undermount desk tray for keyboard/mouse. Opened up all sorts of desktop space. So far, digging this unit.
 

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Very nice. I only wish it had dedicated transport controls.
I like these too:
https://monogramcc.com
These were on my radar some time ago and I totally forgot about it. The modular design is very cool. I had thought about using something like this. just a bunch of rotary encoders , configured in a such a way to emulate go-to plugins and map it all out.
 
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