Let's talk about midi controllers, how do you work?
I used to have an 8 track control surface mixing with a lot of faders, knobs and my hand on the transport controls and nudge-wheel. But when I started doing sound design, I took this Ableton course, which moved my workflow into 98% mouse and keyboard, so I rarely reach for a controller anymore.
I do miss my Faderport2 for automation and setting levels during mix though (I still have it, but there's no room on my table atm.)
@mosgaard iCON M+ with X Extender here.
I noticed that i tended to look at fader position numbers rather than listen and back in the day with analog desk my mixing was more musical than atm. That's why i got some units for hands on mixing. Still struggle for the hands to leave the mouse. But for overall leveling (drums!!) and blending guitar tones i move faders.
micromoves in Automation stage i stell do with mouse and draw the automation but that is the next step to train fader rides.
@eighty that’s a really good perspective. I can totally see - and feel - what you talk about. Draggin’ the mouse up and down, is a totally different feeling than riding a fader.
Last time a mixed a live project, I used a lot of fader-automation for both volume and effects like reverb. It really gives life to mix, to have moving faders.
@mosgaard I have a kind of monk problem. When i see a fader position at -3.7db i have the urge to go to -4 or -3.5 because the number is prettier but pretty doesn't sound. To be clear, one can do great mixes with mouse and keyboard. This is a me issue!
But when i'm at the faders there are some things i really miss. Ardour doesn't really have the selection on screen switches to fader when the controller is in another bank. (Yes, there is a feature and you can manipulate the configs but it didn't work in may case really Reaper can do this.) Also i would love to have the extender just for vcas for better navigation and the main unit for the normal stuff.
@mosgaard I have a BCF-2000 (8 faders, 8 knobs, 16 buttons).
I love it for performative work on a given patch and performing it into the DAW ( #BitwigStudio). Most of the rest of the time I am happy on the mouse.
@ambientspace you give examples of how you would approach this performative work? Mapping effect/synth controls?
@mosgaard sure! I have a VCV Benjolin patch that I have mapped the same way for more than a year and I have become increasingly fluent in being able to adjust filter cutoff, resonance, tuning, rungler frequencies, etc... It's much more fun when you have a more intimate control that comes from muscle memory.
@ambientspace uh, that does sound cool. A little like having the actually modular hardware.
I could definitely see my self go that route!
