Why no iOS control surface app?

[Warren Eig]

In all honesty, I find them useless without real buttons. You have to look at the small iPad screen or iPhone screen to see what you are doing. With control interfaces with buttons, it’s tactile. I can look at the screen of video I’m working on and feel the button or slider– eyes always on the project.

Warren Eig
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[Eric Santiago]

I would welcome an iPad that can view and control any of the Inspector tabs.
I sometimes find that too cumbersome to deal with.
Most of my systems are on Cinema Dual 30s.

[Scott Witthaus]

I don’t see an advantage to another surface in X. How do you see it as beneficial? Do Adobe and Avid offer this as well?

Scott Witthaus
Visual Storyteller – FCPX, Premiere
https://vimeo.com/channels/1322525
Managing Partner, Low Country Creative LLC
Professor, VCU Brandcenter

[Oliver Peters]

[Scott Witthaus] “Do Adobe and Avid offer this as well?”

That’s irrelevant. The point is that Apple felt the need to do that with Logic. So, it follows that there might also be a way to extend FCPX control to iOS in the same way.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/logic-remote/id638394624?platform=ipad&preserveScrollPosition=true&platform=ipad#platform/ipad&platform=ipad

– Oliver

Oliver Peters – oliverpeters.com

[Scott Witthaus]

What features do you want to see in a iOS extension of an NLE? How do you think it might help the X workflow? Perhaps that would be a better way to pose the subject? Adobe has iOS apps. Why no extension into Premiere? Not sure why you are posting this.

How do you expect someone to answer this question?

Scott Witthaus
Visual Storyteller – FCPX, Premiere
https://vimeo.com/channels/1322525
Managing Partner, Low Country Creative LLC
Professor, VCU Brandcenter

[Oliver Peters]

[Scott Witthaus] “How do you expect someone to answer this question?”

I guess, you’d rather be argumentative just for its own sake.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters – oliverpeters.com

[Michael Gissing]

I have long been a fan of good ergonomic controllers for any sort of editing platform – DAWs, NLEs etc. Over the years and working with DAW developers, I have always found touch screen devices without actual buttons and knobs to be inferior to direct feel and feedback that real buttons, knobs and jog wheels give. Anything that makes a beeping noise instead of a real button press is super annoying. The real deal breaker is not having an accurate jog shuttle wheel on any touch screen emulators. Once you have a real controller and you let go of the mouse ASCII nightmare, you will always demand a proper surface.

So a controller on a tablet device isn’t exciting to me and I understand why neither Apple or 3rd party devs might not be rushing to provide for their NLE. Same I guess applies to the other NLEs. I particularly find NLE editors to be so wedded to that mouse ASCII combo that they are almost impervious to the more elegant solution. That’s why I am looking forward to getting a proper edit control surface for Resolve when I make the switch from Fairlight stand alone to using it in Resolve. I would not think for a moment to operate something like Fairlight without dedicated edit control and mix surfaces. The bonus is that I will now be getting that same control with the Resolve edit page. I cannot begin to tell you how I am longing to get the mouse and ALT/ CTRL/SHIFT keys out of my life. I’m using the Tangent wave for grading which gives me proper trackballs for grading and OK jogging but I will also be getting the Resolve mini grade panel as well.

[Scott Witthaus]

[Oliver Peters] “I guess, you’d rather be argumentative just for its own sake”

Not really. But, hey, this is a debate forum!

But just throwing a topic out there as stated is like saying “hey, GM used to make refrigerators and tanks back in the day. Why no ice-makers and 50mm cannon on my Pontiac?”. Kidding of course….

So a better way to state this would be “How do editors see an iOS control surface app working with FCPX? Good idea or not?” Your framing makes it look like Apple is ignoring the “long suffering editor” by not giving them a vital tool.

Scott Witthaus
Visual Storyteller – FCPX, Premiere
https://vimeo.com/channels/1322525
Managing Partner, Low Country Creative LLC
Professor, VCU Brandcenter

[Oliver Peters]

[Scott Witthaus] “Your framing makes it look like Apple is ignoring the “long suffering editor” by not giving them a vital tool.”

Thanks for moving the conversation along 🙁

But, more to the point… Why limit your thinking to only a control surface? What about another screen to put some module into, like maybe the inspector, or scopes? Or, do you use a trackpad? Why not have it function as a track pad or pen & tablet (iPad Pro + Pencil)?

– Oliver

Oliver Peters – oliverpeters.com

[John Young]

This long-suffering editor would love it if FCPX itself received the same kind of updates that Logic Pro receives. Every time Logic Pro update comes out I get jealous. Thank god for Commandpost for filling in things I want/need that should be in the app itself. As to the actual topic, I find iPad second or third screens better in theory than in practice, primarily because of lack of tactile feedback.