Best controller for Cubase to replace mouse and keyboard

I had an Avid for a bit… the Artist Control V2-
I hated it.

The support is shite for Cubase.
It was slick-looking though. . . but my Icon kills it. My old MCU killed it.

Interesting.

Now, does the controller also intelligently re-map DAW channels to controller channels? What I mean is that if the controller is showing for example channels 10-17, and I hide four channels “in the middle”, numbers 13,14,15,16, will the controller move channels over or just make those four “empty”?

No. They will just still be there, not hidden at all.

Yes, that is correct unfortunately. I have a workaround using some additional software (Autohotkey) that allows you to kind of hide tracks with Eucon. See this video for an example:

I tried an MC Control briefly but I sent it back. The touch screen is not very nice. Still, personally I’d take anything Eucon over anything MCU without a doubt. The Avid S3 is really the one to have although it’s obviously not the cheapest. Add an iPad with the Pro Tools Control app and you can do everything the Artist Control did but without the dated touchscreen.

totally not trying to battle…but have you used an ICON? Its glorious, even though it is stuck on the dated MCU protocol. The build quality is excellent, and it is reliable.
I have a little Arturia keyboard next to it, with an additional 16 rotary controls and 2 banks of 8 buttons each set to a Generic template- to give me that flexibility the MCU protocol lacks… and I never miss that Avid board AT ALL.
Like, there is no functionality I am missing… with the exception of jumping to named markers on the touchscreen. (of course, it was super inconsistent… but when it worked it was great!)

The shame with BOTH of these controllers is the software! The devices themselves are great.
Eucon control is a joke in the Cubase world. Obviously it is barely supported, and each company blames the other.
Whereas MCU Protocol is a hundred years old and stuck in the mud. (Let me toggle LEDs, ffs!) But at least it is STABLE.

Having used both, I think the MCU protocol is more reliable and USE-ABLE than EuCon…right now, with Cubase.
With the Avid, I would often leave my desk, with everything up and running… and come back to find Eucon had disconnected and I needed to power-cycle my hardware, kill Cubase and restart. Clearly this ruins workflow, and couldn’t be tolerated.
With MCU… although I am stuck doing only what Mackie thought was useful back in 1997 (plus 8 assignable functions!)… at least it is always ready and willing.

Same here (not with Cubase only). It’s a nightmare to keep EuCon connected. When I was using it, I had to learn dedicated procedure his to start my system to ensure EuCon is connected. MCU protocol is old but reliable. Unfortunately it’s not true for Mackie hardware anymore. If iCon is reliable, go for it.

Well maybe I’m lucky but I use Eucon all day every day and I literally never have any connection/stability issues. I did have issues some years ago with a wifi card but I managed to solve that.

As for “Eucon control is a joke in the Cubase world” -I’m surprised you would say that. Steinberg actually created Eucon in partnership with Euphonix, whereas MCU was originally developed for Logic. You can assign virtually any Cubase function to buttons/touchscreen. You can remap plugin parameters (which you can’t actually do with Avid’s own Pro Tools). You can create macros. Instantiate plugins and change routing easily (which was virtually impossible last time I used MCU). You can access all the ‘Control Room’ features, including volume. Apart from hiding tracks which I talked about above, I can’t think of many things you can’t do with Eucon.

Everyone’s experience and tastes are different though, I guess.

I have used an Icon on Pro Tools, but not Cubase. Awesome controller for sure. Yes, the build quality is great. Still… Having to use MCU let’s it down for me personally (and the lack of colour coded channels which I do find very valuable when navigating a large session).

You are lucky!

I wished I could have had a stable setup. The thing was so elegant looking.
I tried hard, though, and neither Avid nor Steiny had any answers other than “check with the other guy”.
Maybe it got better with Cubase 9?

And you are SO right about the flexibility of the touchscreen controls! That was really awesome… when it was working.
I especially loved having different banks of buttons for different stages- recording/editing/mixing/etc.
BUT- adding a cheap midi controller and running a generic remote replaced that functionality generally… I am a simple man. :slight_smile:

Hey everyone. I’m looking for a controller to complement my S61 Mk2. Wish they put some faders on that beast.

Has the story changed much in the last 2 years?

The soon to be released Avid S1 looks interesting although it will presumably not solve the existing issues that come with Eucon/Cubase (most notably, you cannot hide/show tracks on the control surface).

If you are looking for total control on a shoestring, then you might look in direction of Raven Slate.

Everyone looking to get a controller should probably ask themselves a few questions (and then share the answers):

  1. Do I want to use this for composing/arranging etc., or for mixing?
  2. Do I want to control plugins with this or ‘just’ the mixer (pan, fader, solo/mute etc.)?
  3. Do I want actual tactile feedback or not?
    (and maybe more questions like these)

I know many are happy with the Raven, but I’ll just point out that there are a few things about it that I find questionable, and the most ‘obvious’ one in this context is the lack of tactile feedback. I sometimes see users ask about a control surface and give out their own examples which will include controllers from Mackie and Avid, and then the feedback and also maybe what they end up choosing will be something completely different. That’s a bit counter-productive I think.

Anyway, I really think the above questions need to be answered by anyone looking for “a controller”.

Hello Guys, I have the opportunity to buy both used gear Mackie MCU pro and Behringer X-touch for the SAME price.
I have C10pro and use a lot plugins per channel, and edit a lot of MIDI and Audio, but not to many channels at the same project, maybe 30 or 40 max.

What should I do? What you guys do if were me?

Thnaks!

Hi,

Since Mackie moved it’s factory to China, the quality decreased. But I would still prefer original Mackie hardware over Behringer, which is also using Mackie protocol but might don’t have all needed dedicated buttons. Thanks to the fact it is using Mackie Control protocol anyway, it cannot be better than the original Mackie, from my point of view.

anyone else?

Hi,

Btw for total control you can also go for Yamaha Nuage. But that is the top class.

Sure, but I have limited budget for this, which is arround $500.00, so Nuage is out the list.

Why does the FaderPort 8 and 16 look like the old Steinberg Houston ?

I agree with the others. Any device that looks like the Mackie and runs the same protocol will act essentially the same. Mackie at least used to have the better quality (don’t know about what they’re like after production moved to China).

If 500 is your limit then you really don’t have a lot of choices, and they’ll all use a Mackie protocol most likely.

I would recommend you go to a store if you can and just try them out. Pay attention to the feel of the faders. Do they feel like plastic or feel more substantial? Do they wiggle or do the feel solid in their tracks? Try to automate them and then play them back and listen - how loud are they when they move? When they move, do they “jitter” or is the movement smooth? Press the buttons; do you like how they feel?

Also consider form factor. The X-touch, the Mackie and the Faderport 8 all probably have slightly different from factors. Imagine what they’ll look like on your desk and also move your fingers across and get a feel for how close things are together and if you like it.