Digital Mixer Worksurface—from CM Labs
by Eddie Ciletti
Several years ago, I met Carl Malone at an AES show where he was demonstrating Motor Mix, a digital mixer work surface. (I subsequently invited him to speak at a workshop on the User Interface.) It is with great pleasure that I got to review Motor Mix along with my Soundscape workstation, especially now that automation has been implemented.
PIECES OF EIGHT
Motor Mix is perhaps the most compact controller of any I've seen, with eight motorized faders spaced on ¾" centers. (The list price is $995.) CM Labs seems very conscious on multiple levels here. Motor Mix conserves physical space, yet the layout is spacious and comfortable. In addition, multiple controllers can be mechanically connected into either a single "linear" package or with "wedge" inserts to form an arc. Some of the 56 back lit switches are labeled, others are "soft," and all can be applied to variety of mixer and transport functions.
The first thing you'll notice about Motor Mix is its rock-solid feel. From the full-throw 100mm Faders to the 40-column x 2-row alphanumeric display, it feels totally pro with no "flexing" of any kind when a switch is pressed. A quick peek under the hood revealed high-quality fiberglass-epoxy circuit boards with plenty of support. This is not a disposable product but one that can grow with your needs. CM Labs also makes a dedicated transport controller with a large Jog / Shuttle knob.
Motor Mix connects to your workstation via MIDI in and out ports. (There is also a 9-pin Accessory connector.) Some workstations support multiple Motor Mixes - ProTools accepts up to four. The workstation manufacturer supplies the software interface. Console Manager is the Soundscape "applet" that allows users to select Motor Mix from a list of supported controllers. Within Soundscape's SETTINGS menu is a user option to boot Console Manager along with the workstation. Do this once, "save settings" and it becomes transparent.
MIX THIS
I got right to work on a mix from scratch and it sure was great to be able to put down the mouse and just audition individual tracks. All of my on-screen track labels showed up in Motor Mix's LCD display above each channel strip. Motor Mix can display four characters for each channel so I modified some of the on-screen track descriptions to make the most of what could be displayed via LCD. At the upper left corner of the controller are a pair of VIEW buttons "Û" that advances channel access to the either the next BANK of 8 or the next GROUP of 4 channels depending on which of those switches are selected.
MAX RESOLUTION
To take full advantage of the 100mm faders and of Soundscape's automation, some global levels were set onscreen. For example, "overdriven" electric guitars can be recorded hot, resulting in fader positions 20 dB down from nominal. Automation systems do not have as much resolution in this area; trimming the track's level down 20dB allowed the fader to "live" at nominal. From this point, I made all Fader and Mute moves from Motor Mix including lead vocal composites. Aside from my errors while learning Soundscape's automation, Motor Mix always responded with speed and precision.
THE SKILLET
The only "issue" I have with Motor Mix concerns panning. The eight rotary controls across the top row are continuous - a great feature for panning a surround mix - but for traditional Left-Right positioning, finding "center" requires the user to look at the computer screen. The knob has a position indicator line as-if it were hardware but it's "virtual" and relatively meaningless.
Soundscape has an on-screen "center" button that is convenient but not implemented in their Motor Mix interface. One solution would be to physically center the knob while implementing the "center" button. I would go further to suggest a knob with two vertical positions - up and down - one with center détente and end stops; the other would be the original (continuous) mode.
Reprinted with permission from Eddie Ciletti, Tangible Technology, 2001
© 2001, All Rights Reserved
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