Daw control surface

Does anyone use a daw control surface especially for mixing - if so which one and has anyone got any recommendations.

I miss mixing on a desk and want to get more hands on rather than just doing mixes with a mouse.

Thinking along the lines of motorised faders etc but still on a reasonable budget.

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I have a Mackie MCU Pro, but put in on a shelf (not using it) last time I reorganized my studio like…2 years ago. Because I opted to have 2 MIDI keyboards on my desk, and I can simply not fit a big control surface there anymore. Just something you need to be aware of. Space, and “reachability”.

Aside from that, if I were to choose one now, I would NOT go with Mackie MCU. It’s built like a tank, extremely high quality…but way way too big.

This is the one I would recommend:

The M+ was one of the ones I was looking at a long with a few others. Seems to have good features and reasonable price as well.

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Did you check out the Softube Console 1 as well? I would be interested in it myself, but sadly it does not have 100% feature compatibility with Logic Pro.

Yeah console 1 looks really good depending on what you use. I know a few audio engineers who use it but like you said for logic its lacking.

I used to have a mackie too Amy moons ago. It was a lot of fun but to be honest I only used the faders. I literally find no use for rotary knobs which some people find good. I have always found them clunky… so I got rid and upgraded my keyboard (8tears ago, wow I feel old) to the novation impulse 61… which was one of the best on the market at that point in time. It’s still comparable now but it’s starting to show it’s age so I’m going to upgrade, which is beside the point (sorry for digressing).

But the reason I opted for this particular interface was because the integration was the best of its kind at the time. Even now I find it very useful as everything is assignable with just a slide of a fader… which it has 8 faders with 8 banks… it still has rotary knobs but I don’t use them (sigh). Another feature that is great on a midi keyboard for mixing is drum pads. All of my drum pads are infact synced to my kontakt keys switches which means I can play in my part with my left hand and key switch with my right. This is a game changer for workflow.

I plan to upgrade this setup at some point for the Komplete 88 keyboard, but when I do I’ll also get a small drum pad and set of faders to accompany it as I’ve got so used to this style of workflow, I couldn’t see myself ever divulging from it.

Having said all of that, I also have my eye on the stream deck which I’m positive will give me even more flexibility… I can’t afford it right now but I’m setting up the app on my phone and computer so I can remotely do the same thing… it’s a £3 subscription bug a good start onto the key switching world of the stream deck I think.

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I use an iPad with TouchOSC app for daw control surface mixing its better than Logic remote which is another option. I like the touchscreen more than a physical mixer which like Mikael I have a Soundcraft 12mtk back in its box

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