![]() Like I said, responsive and pleasing, and super compatible with all of the plug-ins I use (UAD, FabFilter, SoundToys, Eventide, Softube, etc.). This allows for super fine-tuning when turning them slowly, but thankfully if you’re changing the value quickly by a bunch, you’re not turning the knob forever. The taper on the rotary encoders is velocity-dependent, which is really smart. Additionally, Avid is adding new features to the protocol regularly. There are a whole bunch of other advantages that EUCON has over MIDI, like higher channel count, lower latency, longer track name support, etc. Back to EUCON for a second though it’s important to point out that it has a much higher resolution than MIDI, somewhere around eight times as high, you really feel the difference when making small fader rides or long slow fades. That also means I won’t get into any of the uses of the S3 as a live sound controller, which it is designed to be able to do. I will only discuss how it interacts with Pro Tools in this review. It connects to the computer via Ethernet and uses Avid’s proprietary EUCON protocol (purchased along with the company Euphonix a number of years back), which has an accompanying EuControl application that runs in the background allowing it to speak to Pro Tools or a number of other DAWs. The otherwise handy 10-segment bar-graph meters kind of trail and blur in your peripheral vision, which makes me just a bit dizzy, especially in low light.įunctionally, the S3 has 16 faders and 32 rotary encoders, which are all touch-sensitive and feel a good deal more responsive and pleasing to use than any fader or knob I’ve yet experienced on a digital control surface. The only visual oddness is “that thing” that happens with LEDs when you move your head fast. Overall the S3 boasts a timeless, unassuming look (which I really can’t say for the company’s previous ICON/VENUE aesthetics that looked a bit like they were trying to appeal to toddlers more than to professional engineers). The LEDs above the displays are multi-colored to indicate either their current function or the color of the associated track in Pro Tools (or at least an approximation of that color). Its housing is a pleasing sleek black matte, with stylized silver fader caps and bright yellow clear text on its 32 individual OLED channel displays. The thin profile meant I had to prop the back up with a small piece of wood to give myself a better angle to reach the controls and read the scribble strips, but that’s a pretty easy hack to get the thing into my comfort zone. I favor listening to my mix with both ears at the same time.) So, the size of the S3 is a really nice in-between zone for me, since it fits perfectly on my desk. (Don’t even start telling me to put the computer display and keyboard to the side them’s fightin’ words. My one ergonomic issue with large-format analog desks – and I still enjoy working regularly on them – is the distance they put me from both visual and auditory information. ![]() I’ve been looking for a solution bigger than an Artist Mix – which overall I enjoy using – but not as big as an actual console, so I can be closer to my speakers and computer display while still having room for my computer keyboard in front of it. ![]() This is a good thing, as the whole reason I was interested in trying out the S3 is that I’m setting up a part-time home studio in the Catskills (Spillway Sound). When it arrived, it was a good deal smaller than I expected, both in terms of footprint as well as thickness. Okay, now that I’ve outed myself as both old and heavily into tactile control, let’s dig in. My current main mix setup at Figure 8 Recording includes an SSL AWS 900+, which is an analog console that, with the push of a switch, snaps into digital mode, acting as three ganged HUIs and allowing 24-channel banks of fader and rotary control via MIDI over Ethernet. In addition, over the years of working at various studios, I’ve used the PreSonus Faderport, Behringer BCF2000, as well as (pre-Avid) Digidesign’s Command 8, Digi-003, Control 24 and C|24, not to mention their old flagship ICON D-Command surfaces. ![]() I was an early adopter of both Neyrinck V-Control Pro and Avid’s Pro Tools | Control iPad apps. Since that original behemoth died an untimely and gruesome death, I have since owned a Mackie MCU, a Euphonix MC Control, and an Avid Artist Mix. Even when I was just starting out making records, the thought of doing it without knobs, faders, and buttons seemed incomprehensible. I will start with the bold statement that I feel solidly qualified to weigh in on Avid’s latest control surface offerings, the Pro Tools | S3 and the Pro Tools | Dock, having purchased the very first control surface available for Pro Tools – the Mackie HUI (Human User Interface) – way back in 1999.
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