If you are on a tight budget and cannot afford more than $300 to $400 on a new DAW control surface, then these are great options to consider. They are typically much simpler in design so the purchase price typically reflects that.
Another of the benefits of these sorts of control surfaces is the price. These little devices serve users who are frequently on the go well as they are small enough to throw into a backpack and move around with a laptop. Many engineers move between studios or travel a lot with work. Having limited desk space isn't the only reason to consider a single fader controller. The most compact control surface is one that combines transport functions with a single fader. With all of this in mind, let’s take a look at a range of control surfaces that are suitable for your home studio.
It was used for Pro Tools-only control surfaces such as the Digidesign Control 24 and ProControl as well as the Avid C24 and the ICON line. Any DAW that supports Eucon can benefit from the deeper integration offered with Eucon as opposed to HUI and MCU.ĭiginet: This is a legacy protocol as it isn’t used in any control surfaces currently available. It is now part of the MCU Mackie Control Universal protocol and is the only way for 3rd party control surfaces to interact with Avid’s Pro Tools as Avid has ringfenced Eucon support for their own control surfaces as an interface for their own DAW.Įucon: Originally developed by Euphonix, Eucon is a high-speed ethernet-based control protocol, which carries control information for faders, knobs and displays between control surfaces and whatever the main Eucon enabled application is in focus on your computer, such as Pro Tools, but not restricted to just Pro Tools. HUI (Human User Interface Protocol) and MCU (Mackie Control Universal Protocol): HUI was developed in 1997 between Mackie and Digidesign for use with non-Digidesign control surfaces for Pro Tools. All perform slightly differently depending on the DAW you use: There are a number of protocols that most control surfaces use to interface the hardware between a DAW you need to know about. What Qualities Define A Control Surface For Mixing?Įven though most modern DAW control surfaces appear similar in form and function there is an important difference under the hood that you need to aware of, which cause compatibility issues.
Have you ever watched a skilled engineer mix on a large format console or control surface? If you have, then you would have noticed that the engineer was more than likely using both hands and all of their fingers to manipulate the console.Įngineers who are accustomed to mixing with physical faders often perform a number of mix moves in one go such as balancing multiple tracks together to perfection in what seems like a blink of an eye, try doing that one fader at a time with a mouse! Mixing with two hands is for some the only way to mix as it’s a quick and intuitive way of working, which is why using control surface is the preferred route for many to get the job done. When you mix a session using just a mouse and keyboard you generally have the power to adjust one thing at a time in your DAW such as setting a track’s fader level or pan position, what’s wrong with working this way? In this article, we look at the control surfaces suitable for your home studio.
However, to get the work done efficiently, we do need access to a control surface.
With more and more of us working from home, a lot of us need a control surface, but we rarely have space or the budget to have a large format control surface or console.