Control surface recommendations

[Skinnyman]

I'm thinking of adding a control surface to my recording setup (Mac with Logic Pro X) and I've narrowed the choice down to the latest Mackie MCU or the relatively new Icon Qcon pro x. Both seem to do what I want. The mackie has been around for a while now and seems to be Logic-ready right out the box but I hear disappointing things about their customer support. The icon has a quick-start setup for logic but seems to be geared for Cubase out the box but is about 25% cheaper.

At the moment, I'm leaning to the mackie but it's right at the top of my price range so I'm interested in experiences/comparisons with the icon.

So, has anyone used either or both of these and which would you go for?

[MoonBassAlpha]

Do you not use your R24 as a control surface? If you have and don't rate it, I'd be interested to know, as I may be doing that soon.

[Skinnyman]

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1492274045' post='3279158']
Do you not use your R24 as a control surface? If you have and don't rate it, I'd be interested to know, as I may be doing that soon.
[/quote]

I do and it's fine as a basic control interface but youre a bit limited in what you can control, hence I want to add something with more functionality....

But the zoom works fine as an audio interface and as a (basic) control surface

[tedmanzie]

I used the older version of the Mackie and I never really liked it. The faders were never 100% - glitchy and sticky. It may well be that I never gave it a proper chance to integrate, but after the initial thrill of moving faders wore off I ended up using it less and less. It eventually gave up completely on 3 of the faders. I should emphasise that this was the old (12 years ago?) version. They may well be brilliant now, but my main bit of advice would be to be sure what you want to achieve with it. I wanted to mimic the feel/worklflow of a real console as much as possible and for me it was nothing like it at all, just a kind of limited use half way house.

I actually much prefer using the iPad logic remote - have you tried that? It is really good.

[Skinnyman]

Interesting, thanks. I might try the app first then and see how I get on. Like you, I'm after something that feels more like a traditional desk so it's worth knowing that the Mackie didn't work for you in that way - and I guess that means all the control surfaces will be broadly similar....

[JapanAxe]

I use Touch OSC on my iPad to control Reaper. IIRC I am using the Logic template. It has The only downside is that you have to flip between screens to go from, say, volume fadres to pan settings.

[lowdown]

Yes Touch OSC works great (well on iPad).
But, I have just had my head turned with this, and for about ten/eleven quid, I will be going down this route...
'Metagrid for IOS' (excellent for Audio & Midi)
I am a Cubase user and it seems it works great on this.
http://metasystem.io/

Over at the VI Control forum, there is a thread regarding 'Metagrid' that might well be worth checking out.
http://vi-control.net/community/threads/metagrid-for-ios.

Edited April 19, 2017 by lowdown

[tedmanzie]

Leemur is another one of these type of things, I was about to investigate it myself:

https://liine.net/en/products/lemur/

[funkgod]

Not sure what you want to spend but Check out the mackie D8B with probox, on youtube