The benefits with touch

Hello,

I am like many others on the constant quest to find the ultimate DAW control solution.

This is my thoughts.

With touch i get the ability to get hands on with Cubase. Thou i need to keep my eyes on what i do all the time. I believe that my brain wants to confirm that the fader i am moving is actually moving. Even thou i could just close my eyes and listen for it. I need some kind of stimuli feedback to fully put all energy into my auditory section of my brain. Fully listen.

The same thing happens when i use a graphical EQ, the curve i see starts to conflict with what i hear. “That EQ curve does not look right? But it sounds good!”.

For these reasons, analog consoles lets me focus on what i hear. Since i don’t get any real visual feedback, only tactile response from the fader and knobs and of course the change i inflict on the sound.

My conclusion is, that i benefit the most from combining the best of the two worlds. Touch works great for me as long as i don’t change a parameter over time, such as turning a virtual knob. Therefor virtual buttons are working great, such as soft keys. Its simple 1/0 changes, on/off which i don’t require a tactile feedback for.
Thou when i swipe changes to parameters, to much focus goes to making sure contact is being registered by the iPads touch screen. I can not leet go the same way as if i am holding something physical.

So my idea is that the best for me would be to use touch for soft keys, and to pick which parameter i want to change. And actual change of the parameter with a Steinberg CC121 control surface. Which have a physical fader, pan and even AI/parameter change knob too.

For example. What i want to do is. Having the iPad running IC Pro next to the CC121. I want to see all channels displayed inside Cubase IC Pro. And just pick what channel i want to change with one hand and changing the value of the parameter with the other hand using the CC121. That way, my workflow gets really close to analog. I dive into the region of the virtual console where i want to make the change, and at the same time when i would have got a grip of the physical fader with the same hand diving down on the console, i get control of that channels fader with the CC121 hand. The difference is that i need to use a two hand combination to do the same thing as one hand would have done in the analog realm.

So my wish is to add page inside IC Pro where all channels are being displayed as a matrix.Rows of boxes, with names and meters for each channel, color coded. With quick tools to find the right channel fast.

And if i use a touch screen with Cubase on my computer. Then i want to simply touch the knob on the VST instrument that i want to change, with my right hand, and change the value of the knobs parameter with the AI knob on the CC121, with my left hand. Like if i was diving into a physical synths parameter.

It would be even cooler if i did not need a touch screen on my computer. Instead if my iPad could show the plug-in on the iPad display, and i just choose what parameter i want to change from there.

I’m on the same track with Wedoh. Currently searching for an easy solution to select mixer track in (Win7) Cubase Pro for CC121.

I saw it mentioned in another thread that IC Pro can’t select tracks of Cubase runnung in computer and the feature is in wish list, 3-5 years ago.
Is this feature implemented already or am I better looking som other iPad application?

B.r. VP

Hi VP,

I found a solution! The Pro Tools Control app also works with Cubase, so what you could do is use it to select channels. It can display a list of all channels, or you could select what type of channels you want to display. For me it lags, i dont know if it should be like that or if its just my connection that is slow, but it works. Also you get softkeys and other functions through the app, you could for example display the built in EQ and control it through the app. I have not tried it yet, but i imagen it might be a good combo to use with the CC121.

My wish is that the IC Pro gets a control function of the built in EQ and channelstrip. Like the channel editor window. Logic has it in their app, so does Pro Tools, even thou PT does not have a built in EQ…

Did i say i use the Raven too? What i do is, i select parameters of plug-ins by touch and change their value with the AI knob. I think this hybrid approach is the future for controllers. This way you do not have to translate the parameters into text and spread them out on a physical control surface. Instead you just touch what ever you want to change with the AI knob and change the value. I keep my left hand on the AI knob and select with my right. The same goes for handling channels. I can select channels right on the Raven, and use the CC121 to solo etc, change EQ, Pan, or fader level. Thou it requires me to keep the Raven close to me in a angle so i can rest my elbow on the table, otherwise it would not be very ergonomic for me. Therefor i believe a better soloution would be to see the plug-in on the iPad screen, select parameters and change their value with the AI-knob.

And how about making an application with TouchOSC? It is some work, though, but at least one could make it how he wants it. Except you probably can’t e.g. read the channel colours from Cubase etc. I don’t even know if the channel names can be read…

No luck with PT Control (lags too much and some pushes do not deliver. Otherwise it works somehow.