Choosing a DAW controller for Cubase - any suggestions

[uselessoldman]

The Control surface is the heart of your recording experience an extension to your hands and arms and the communications portal with your DAW. If you are recording more than mixing then maybe its less of an importance but for mixing with automation for me, its absolutely vital/critical. It is now the last piece of the jigsaw in my studio upgrade and been the hardest and challenging deciding which option is best.

X32 Compact, Control Surface Audio Interface and small enough to be a complete mobile /static studio on its own. Plenty of add-ons limited only by having 17 faders and moderate quality sample rate. There is the slightly cheaper x32 Producer NO strip bar not considered.

X-Touch nice Control Surface small footprint but limited use functionality only 9 faders and no audio interface. Out done by the small additional price for the bigger more versatile X32 Compact.

X32 Full, if you have the space then this has to be seriously considered. Only draw back size, yes its mobile (JUST) but again limited be only a moderate sample rate.

Midas M32R?? Top quality audio interface and acceptable desk footprint MOBILE and priced similar to the X32 Full but with less faders.

Wing - let down by the same 48kHz sample rate as the X32 - NOT CONSIDERED good enough for studio considering its "premium" price

If I were starting again I would have bought the Midas but I already have a full rack based audio recording system. I like the extra faders on the X32 full, but I am limited on space so the X32 Compact is more practical. Having an all in one mobile studio could potentially be useful X32 certainly is but the full version is rather BIG for one person to manage. I know one day I will pull the trigger and just click a button and buy the X32, but which one?? They all hold their value well so you can be assured they are all good value for money !! BUt the Midas is way better as it has proper Midas pre amps not just ones designed by them? aaaaugh, not an easy decision

[The Elf]

X-Touch nice Control Surface small footprint but limited use functionality only 9 faders and no audio interface. Out done by the small additional price for the bigger more versatile X32 Compact.

Err... more than triple the price from what I can see!

[Zukan]

I'd listen to the Elf. I certainly am as I have been looking for exactly the same thing.

[Luke W]

X-Touch nice Control Surface small footprint but limited use functionality only 9 faders and no audio interface. Out done by the small additional price for the bigger more versatile X32 Compact.

Err... more than triple the price from I what I can see!

No interface would be a plus point for me personally. I can see the appeal of an all in one if it's for a new setup or to replace multiple parts of a system, but I'd assume that most people adding a control surface will likely already have an interface that does what they need so it's just an additional cost and parts for a feature that probably won't get used.

I'll admit to being pretty fussy with control surfaces in general though. The intergration with the software has to be really good to make it worthwhile personally, one or two buttons that go unused or don't do what they say on the tin and I'm out!

[Sam Spoons]

I use an X32 Compact as my interface, I have, briefly, looked into using it for DAW control (I currently use Reaper as a sort of 'souped up' tape recorder and mix through the X32C) and discovered that DAW control is only available on the second bank of faders*

The X-Touch plus an X-Touch Extender gives you 17 faders for just over half the cost of an X32C (£514 + VAT as opposed to £990 + VAT).

* I don't know if this is still the case as I haven't looked at it recently.

[uselessoldman]

AS an inexpensive control surface the x-touch is hard to beat and its expandable including the x-air series of snakes/rack mountable interfaces so a no brainer and I think unrivalled by anything anyone else can offer. Its just a shame they do not do one with more faders as standard that would be an absolute killer, like the x32 full for studios

[The Elf]

I don't know. Once you're having to scroll back and forth to make a lesser number of faders meet a greater number of tracks, then whether a control surface has 8/16/32 faders doesn't really matter so much, at least that's how my mind takes it. For any typical mix even 32 isn't going to allow me to avoid scrolling. How long does anyone spend working on the fader levels of a mix as opposed to all the other minutiae?

And given that, no matter how much anyone squirms, the mouse and keyboard are going to be far quicker to do the majority of detailed work in any sophisticated DAW, it's probably better kept to a smaller size than a typical mixer.

For those who need them, extenders are an option, but I dread to think of having to find space for one here, and I bet I'm not alone.

[Drew Stephenson]

I find 8 is a good compromise between space and use. It's generally enough to pull together any submixes*, and I generally run things into 8 busses for the master so that works for me as well.

*drums might run but over actually I find if I'm using that many channels I've probably ballsed things up earlier in the recording process.

[OneWorld]

I don't know. Once you're having to scroll back and forth to make a lesser number of faders meet a greater number of tracks, then whether a control surface has 8/16/32 faders doesn't really matter so much, at least that's how my mind takes it. For any typical mix even 32 isn't going to allow me to avoid scrolling. How long does anyone spend working on the fader levels of a mix as opposed to all the other minutiae?

And given that, no matter how much anyone squirms, the mouse and keyboard are going to be far quicker to do the majority of detailed work in any sophisticated DAW, it's probably better kept to a smaller size than a typical mixer.

For those who need them, extenders are an option, but I dread to think of having to find space for one here, and I bet I'm not alone.

I have the same thoughts about extenders and have stuck with an 8 + master fader control surface setup but I added a notation launchpad which has an 8*8 matrix of pads from which I can access any of 64 tracks at random. A which a single fader ‘follows’ the Launchpad track selected. The Launchpad also has another number of ‘buttons’ which I have configured to activate commonly used commands and macros. Best thing about it is that it takes up little space, is usb powered and the pads light up to give instant feedback. Would be so good if notation made an equally compact gizmo something like the BCR2000

[Scouser]

I've never got on with mice and computer keyboards very well, they just seem to dump me out of creative mode. I may become less happy when proper mix time arrives, but I guess I have some time to figure that out still.

I really like the buttons as well, I hated the harsh click on the Alphatrack, maybe silly but it did put me off using

Another ex Alphatrack user here, also thinking of going the x touch route, for similar reasons. Probably go for the one channel version.

Would be really interested to know what the Cubase integration is like with these units, as I have heard mixed reports. Better than Alphatrack ? Is it straightforward to control plug-ins?

The CC121, seems like a better option, for one channel, but very expensive in comparison.

[OneWorld]

I've never got on with mice and computer keyboards very well, they just seem to dump me out of creative mode. I may become less happy when proper mix time arrives, but I guess I have some time to figure that out still.

I really like the buttons as well, I hated the harsh click on the Alphatrack, maybe silly but it did put me off using

Another ex Alphatrack user here, also thinking of going the x touch route, for similar reasons. Probably go for the one channel version.

Would be really interested to know what the Cubase integration is like with these units, as I have heard mixed reports. Better than Alphatrack ? Is it straightforward to control plug-ins?

The CC121, seems like a better option, for one channel, but very expensive in comparison.

As far as I know, the advantage the cc121 has over other single fader controllers is that the fader follows channel selection. I have had a couple of single channel faders and they us3d the mcu protocol. But when for example I was at channel 1 and went to channel 10, then I had to bank select then channel select. I got a real bargain of a single fader icon but didn’t use mcu protocol and configured it so the fader followed channel, however it doesn’t remember fader position and I can’t figure out how to make it remember fader position.

[The Elf]

I've never used the X-Touch One, but the X-Touch proper integrates perfectly well with Cubase. All of the buttons do what they're supposed to do (you'll need to label them, though).

I wouldn't (and don't) muck around trying to control plug-ins with it, though. It's far quicker and easier to use the mouse and keyboard - and I doubt this would improve with any other controller.