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Mackie Control Surface
I just want to send a quick recommendation for anyone considering a control surface for FCP5. The MCU is beautiful! It was always one of my top 5 feature requests for FCP, and Apple did a great job implementing MIDI into FCP (and Soundtrack Pro—still working on Motion).
From box to system, I was up in less than 15 minutes. No drivers to install, Apple sees the Edriol UM-1 MIDI to USB interface and FCP “sees” the Mackie Control Unit and configures to it. Of course you need to tell the software to look for the devices, but other than that it is true plug and play.
I plan on mixing a 12 track show with the MCU, but a quick test proved this machine was up for the task. Response is instant when moving faders. Jog wheel is accurate, along with the timecode, when navigating around the timeline. As long as the Mixer tool is open, you have complete control over pan and levels with the MCU. You can also save, undo, and step through the timeline using the MCU.
There are only TWO things I would like to see improved or upgraded:
–Track naming, similar to SoundtrackPro
–Assignable buttons from MCU, similar to SoundtrackPro.Anyone considering this machine…go for it.
If you work in broadcast and have the “required” 8-12 tracks of audio to mix (dialog, narration, music, effects, etc…), this makes mixing a LOT easier.Later
RonOSX.2.9
FCP5.0.2
Cinewave 4.7 (sone to be Kona 2)
Edirol UM-1 MIDI to USB
Mackie Control Unit. -
10 Replies
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Does the jog-shuttle work? What about the transport buttons? Earlier reports had these not working. If those work, I’m buying one immediately…
Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.
mitch@insightproductions.com
http://www.insightproductions.com -
If you are interested, they certainly work on the Tascam FW-1082, another excellent surface.
Godfrey Pye
Mulholland Bays – in the Hollywood Hills -
Yes!! They work. And it works perfectly.
Jog wheel, play, stop ff, and rew…all work flawlessly and without any delay. Mute and Solo buttons are the only other buttons that are active as well.As I mentioned, I hope future releases of FCP will allow more button assignments…especially for plugins and other audio functions in FCP.
Worth the money! I mixed a show last night using it…It was everything I expected it to be. I found I still needed the mouse for minor keyframe edits (pops and clicks) but other than that it was all jog wheel, faders, and transport controls.
Ron
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[Godfrey Pye] “If you are interested, they certainly work on the Tascam FW-1082, another excellent surface.”
Unfortunately, the Tascam can’t be considered. It was a big mistake on their part requiring firewire instead of midi. Anyone with something like and AJA Io can’t use the Tascam. Adding a firewire card solely to accomodate it is out of the question, since those slots are being used for HD card and SATA disk array…
It’s a nice product otherwise…
Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.
mitch@insightproductions.com
http://www.insightproductions.com -
So what doesn’t currently work on the MCU with FCP?
Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.
mitch@insightproductions.com
http://www.insightproductions.com -
[Mitch Ives] “So what doesn’t currently work on the MCU with FCP?”
Well, everything works, don’t get me wrong…. but a lot more function could be assigned to the MCU. If you go to the Mackie site and look at the unit, you will see a LOT of buttons on the unit.
There are Function (F1, F2…F8) buttons on the MCU that can’t be accessed with FCP (I believe they can be in SoundtrackPro).I would love to be able to assign functions to some of those buttons, and more importantly, the V-pots which are only functioning as Pan controllers at the moment.
If you load an audio plugin on a clip, I would like to see the MCU come alive with parameter control (ie: EQ settings, Compressor/Limiter settings, Reverb, etc…). This is probably what you get if you use MCU with Logic or Protools.
The possibilities could be endless when you consider control over the color correctors. Motion has MIDI function, but I haven’t played with it yet.Here is my list of what is functional right now with FCP5:
All faders
Jog wheel
arrows
Transport controls (not including the Record button)
Solo
Mute
V-pots (Pan only)
Bank buttons– for changing track views if you’re running more than 8 tracks
Marker
Nudge
Save
UndoI’ve only had the unit a couple of days, but these are my early observations.
Ron
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I can support Ron’s observations – works perfectly for me too – don’t know where the supposed jog problem came from – works very well, JKL emulation plus the wheel that gives frame advance when moved slowly, and speeds along when moved quickly. My only gripe, and more of a wish for a future implimentation, would be for programmable buttons. The icing on the cake so to speak,
Ken.
FCP 5.0.2
G4 D125 -
[ken Pugh] “My only gripe, and more of a wish for a future implimentation, would be for programmable buttons. The icing on the cake so to speak,”
And a custom Lexan overlay for FCP/Soundtrack from Mackie. 🙂
As far as reports of the MCU jog not working, I think it had more to do with the MIDI/USB convertor they were using. If you buy this unit, make sure you purchase the Edirol UM-1 MIDI to USB interface.
This seems to be the recommeded interface.
If you have other MIDI devices, you can upgrade to the model with more I/O’s. -
Could be…. I’m using the Edirol UM-1SX and it’s ‘fast’ midi implimentation, rather than the alternative standard (slower) midi driver. So perhaps this speed boost is significant when interfacing with the Mackie.
Ken.
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Thanks Ron for all the detail…
thanks to all of the rest of you as well…
Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.
mitch@insightproductions.com
http://www.insightproductions.com
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