SSL Console hardware

[VOLCANIC]

Well at-least we have balance as a hardware but it would be nice to have Propellerhead SSL Mixer as a hardware that would interact with the console on reason.

It should be fiberglass with LED touch light in weight and cheaper

Well I guess thats just a dream as PROPS said they focusing on software bUt it would be nice to have it in in home studio

[Ronin]

Yeah I would love a mixer midi controller.

[mcatalao]

Propellerheads phased out Balance, and are not making it any more. They didn't state the reason sompletely but it might have been that they didn't have the turn out they wished. They also stated they were not going to invest more time on hardware, and keep the company focus on Software, and sometimet later they started to turn their heads to apps and reason as the flagship product in paralel to RE's.

Anyhow, there are plenty of options already working very well with reason (i'm using 2 Beringer's BCF2000 and a BCR2000), which are uggly but sturdy and work quite nicely:

[joeyluck]

The BCF is great!

But now that it has gone up in price since I bought my BCF, and the X-Touch series is better for not much more, I would take a look at that!

[mcatalao]

It's still a big difference from 299 EUR to 500 for the compact. And if you go for the XTouch normal it hops to a nasty 740 eur. I'd like to test them though, they seem to be nice, and have some more controls than the BCF''s. And the fader motors are different, and touch sensitive, so your faders will not fight with the DAW when automation is on. Reason deals with that quite well with the BCF's... Anyway, if money wasnt an issue, and since i need at least 16 channels, i would go the extra mike for a X32!

[joeyluck]

It's still a big difference from 299 EUR to 500 for the compact. And if you go for the XTouch normal it hops to a nasty 740 eur. I'd like to test them though, they seem to be nice, and have some more controls than the BCF''s. And the fader motors are different, and touch sensitive, so your faders will not fight with the DAW when automation is on. Reason deals with that quite well with the BCF's... Anyway, if money wasnt an issue, and since i need at least 16 channels, i would go the extra mike for a X32!

Yeah, an X32 would be awesome. Would take care of audio interface needs as well if need be.
One of the knobs on my BCF (the first knob) started acting up a few months back
But everything else still works great! I've had it for 4-5 years?

The knobs on the X series are also better. There's more knobs on the X-Touch Compact than the BCF or the X-Touch regular.
I think for $100 more (for the X-Touch Compact over the BCF), with the better faders, knobs, more knobs, more buttons, you get quite a better bang for the buck. Curious to see if they knock the BCF price back down or phase it out? When I bought the BCF years ago, I think it was $179 or so new. The prices I see (on Sweetwater) are BCF = $299 vs. X-Touch Compact = $399

[joeyluck]

That said, I'm really leaning towards trading up for the X-Touch Compact, but would love to have the X-Touch regular for the scribble strips and the ethernet remote capability. I think it could be used with an X Air? The options are great and Behringer's prices are still phenomenal when compared to similar devices (such as the Avid Artist series).

[mcatalao]

You can use everything with everything as long as it talks correctly with reason. As far as i can see the x air would work like the bcr in my arrangement. Since they are different devices they will have different remote maps.

Sent from my HUAWEI G750-U10 using Tapatalk

[mcatalao]

!

Sent from my HUAWEI G750-U10 using Tapatalk

[joeyluck]

Well the X Air has no controls. I would use it as a stage box.

[freeQlow]

Is the entire Channel and Master map able with the controllers you guys are using?

[mcatalao]

Is the entire Channel and Master map able with the controllers you guys are using?

Everything is mapeable... the issue is how many buttons can you map to a single devices and how. The "problem" with the channels, is that they have a LOT of buttons. It starts in the Pan Control and ends with the Volume riiiiiiight there high in the sky, it must be more than 40 controls. And that's mainly why i bought the BCR also.

The BCR2000 is great for the channel. What i did was to rearrange the channel on the BCR2000, with sections for EQ, compression, Gate, Inserts, and Sends, all controllable by the BCR2000. Of course you can only control 1 channel at a time, but still... you rarely tweak EQ/Compressor/Gate/etc more than one track (at least maybe for sends, where you might tweak some of tem in a row).

Anyway, i usually do not tweak the master channel, so, i didn't map any fader to the master fader, and the rest is mostly tweaking the master bus compressor, leave it alone. You can easily override the master bus compressor controls into some left stuff from the BCR2000 (i never felt the need, it's just something that i do with the mouse).

For ease of navigation, i mapped some controls to track selection and the BCR2000 is set as a master controller (as the rest of the midi controllers, whereas the BCF2000 pair are locked to the SSL Master Channel (though they do not control the master fader. You could actually do it, but i didn't find it important).
The result is that when i'm mixing, i separate the ssl work between Balancing ,where i mostly take care of overall levels, pan, wideness of instruments, and input volume, then detailed timbre and time controll, where i take care of equalization, compression, and any other insert i put in the channels, and then i take care of spacial positioning, where i will work over the sends, and again equalization, and some form of stereo spreading, widening, and fasing issues.

As doing this, and after the initial balance stage, i might come and go from eq, to compress, to sends, to gates, to whatever, but with the track controls (next track, previous track) i can easyly navigate between all the tracks and tweak the whole channel.

The other good thing about the BCR2000, is that it has so many controls that you will want to use it in other devices, and even with Huge Beasts like LabOne's Red Queen and NN-XT, you will be able to map and control much of the device's settings.

So, the simple answer is yes, with at least a BCF2000 and a BCR2000 pair, you can full control of reason's mixer.

[freeQlow]

This is where one of those custom livid designs would make me buy one.

Hoping the presonus mixer controller works on the ssl, I feel like I will have one some day.

With all the channels I can see what you mean, if that's what you have the 2 beringer for.... Man I'd get lost

[mcatalao]

Mmm, in fact is quite straight forware once everything is well set up.

I think the presonus mixer does not have motorized faders. Imho, non motorized faders for a daw are useless, and you'll be better off with your mouse... :/

[mcatalao]

Livid designs is an interesting idea, the color coding stuff is nice, but i've been seing the videos and i can't understand if they are motorized.

People who never worked with a control surface, don't know the importance of motorized faders until they try a surface out. Point is, even if you do not have much automation going, the simple fact you balance 16, 24 , 32 and more with a 8 fader controller, go forward and backwards a lot! The process is that when you mobe along the multiple channels, the controller will put itself in the position of the faders it is controlling.

[joeyluck]

I just learned of this:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/9 ... _midi.html

Looks pretty cool and inexpensive. I'm not familiar with the Icon brand, but this form factor could work for many people. I actually realized how little I adjust several faders at once on my BCF with Reason. Live mixing for me is a different world of course. But a single channel focus for recording and mixing might work for most folks.

The Frontier single channel controller is no longer available.
The Steinberg C121 is made for Cubase, but could probably be mapped just like any controller.
The Presonus only has the one pan knob aside from the buttons and single fader.
And unfortunately, the Behringer X-Touch Mini's fader is not motorized (although some original announcements said it was).

So, aside from the X-Touch, I might take a look at this.
Anybody have any experience with the Icon brand?

[joeyluck]

I think the presonus mixer does not have motorized faders. Imho, non motorized faders for a daw are useless, and you'll be better off with your mouse... :/

That is true for the Studiolive line.
But this one has motorized faders:
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SLCS18AI

For the price though, I'd go instead with an X32 Producer or Compact for less. Or for a bit more, have a look at the Midas M32R.

[joeyluck]

For those interested...a comparison of the Presonus Faderport and Icon Qcon Lite:

[mcatalao]

I couldn't agree less... while recording, one channel might be enough, for controling you need several while balancing. With one channel it will be a toggling mess, imho...

[freeQlow]

the old studiolive AI is probably what OP was thinking.

The CS is coming soon!

18 x 100mm motorized faders and exactly what I wanted over a year ago when I mistakingly purchased a 16.0.2

Here is what I was talking about when I said Presonus.
It's soon to be released

[freeQlow]

I think the presonus mixer does not have motorized faders. Imho, non motorized faders for a daw are useless, and you'll be better off with your mouse... :/

That is true for the Studiolive line.
But this one has motorized faders:
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SLCS18AI

For the price though, I'd go instead with an X32 Producer or Compact for less. Or for a bit more, have a look at the Midas M32R.

Allen & Heath/Behringer knockoffs are sexy, but I'm married to Studio One now.

Those white controllers, I thought those were Mac only?
Maybe wrong but their selection of products is something to notice!

[freeQlow]

I actually realized how little I adjust several faders at once on my BCF with Reason. ?

Great Point btw.

That Icon Jog Wheel is sexy AF!

I would suppose a V2 Fader Port will come out 6-12 after the big boy.

Would be awesome, but I can't see Presonus even going as far as mentioning it be for the Big Boy comes out.

[mcatalao]

Let me stres stress out the fact that even if you only move one fader at a time (thought i still think in the balancing stage you will use multiple faders at a time, or in quick sequence), with a single fader device you will have a hard time moving from channel to channel, and it will be a visual mess.
This is obviously an opinion and it's worth what its worth. Anyway, when reason didin't have group channels, i moved multiple faders a lot, now i group sections and move the group faders. Still, visual, and even touch feedback is paramount and you won't have that with a single fader.

PS.: The new Presonus in the video looks really nice, but 2000 eur for a controller, is out of my reach. I would go for the behringer, wich is NOT a mock up, really, it is probably one of the few boards they designed from the root, and for what i've heard is a great digital board. It also has a great set of plugins, if you plan to use it live (of course for the sole purpose of Daw Control it is overkill).

[CharlyCharlzz]

iam really thinking on a double case home made 500 mixing console , maybe a modulare synth on one side and a mixing board on the other side ....
something I could start now and finish in 20 years