When you press the EQ button, the Command 8 will identify any track with an EQ plug–in (in other words, any plug–in that ends up in the EQ section of the plug–in menu) by flashing the track title in the display and lighting up the respective track’s Select button. To access the various sections of Channel View you use the eight buttons immediately under the display. The third Command 8 View mode focuses all the unit’s display and controls on one single track, showing all the plug–in, pan, send and insert parameters horizontally across the display. There’s also a Mon/ button, which enables you to toggle globally between Auto Input and Input Only on record–enabled tracks. This works for faders in Home View, send levels in Console View Sends mode, and control settings in Insert mode. When you press the Display Mode button, all the text names on the Command 8 screen are temporarily replaced by the settings values. Also, as with the faders, you can control more than one thing at the same time. I dislike rotary controls on plug–in windows, as they’re hard to use with mice, so it’s great to have physical rotary controls to adjust the virtual ones. When you press the Select button, the display shows the controls for that plug–in if there are more than eight controls, the Command 8 displays them in pages. If a track has a plug–in on that insert, the name is shown on the bottom row of the display and the track’s Select button lights. Pressing the Insert button sets the Console View A to E buttons to enable you to view the appropriate insert on the display. However, this doesn’t work if your Mix window is showing Assignments. Note also that if you have your Send View in the Mix window set to show the fader and routing for a particular send, as you press the Console View buttons, the Mix window will display the corresponding send view. In this mode, the channel’s Select button toggles the track’s send between pre–fade and post–fade. The top row of the display shows ‘Send x - All channels’ and the bottom row displays the send label. Then by pressing button A you access send F, and so on. Using the Console View buttons A to E enables you to select and view the respective send assignments to access sends F to J, you need to hold down the Shift button. When you press the Send button, the Command 8’s rotary encoders display the last send selected on each track. If you have the sends in Pro Tools’ Mix window set up to display the level and pan sliders, pressing a Command 8 Send button in Console View will switch to the appropriate send in the Mix window. Note also that pressing a track’s Select button in this mode will select the corresponding track in the Edit and Mix windows, making it easy to do multiple track selection.Ĭonsole View displays a single parameter, such as Send A, for each of the eight channels currently in focus. For stereo tracks this mode will display Pan L, and if you want to access the Pan R setting you will need to press the Pan/Meter button, which is just under the Control monitor section. With Pan selected, all the rotary encoders will display and control the pan settings for all the tracks viewed on the Command 8 this is the default setting in Console View. When you adjust either the fader or the rotary encoder on a channel, the name is temporarily replaced in the display by the appropriate data value - for instance, the dB setting for the fader or the relative position of the pan controller. This lets you see pan position, send assignments and plug–in assignments for all the channels the control surface has access to. When you hit one of the Console View Selectors on the left–hand side of the Command 8, the unit goes into Console View. In Home View, the track names are displayed on the bottom row of the display and the rotary encoders are set to the Pan settings, which is indicated by the ‘Pan L’ display on the top row. Home View is the default mode, and is what you will see once you have opened a Session in Pro Tools. To start with, there are three view modes that can be selected on your Command 8. However, since I got it I’ve discovered that the Command 8 can do much more than merely control channel levels in Pro Tools, so this month we’ll be looking at the additional functionality and features that this control surface implements. It is an approved, supported control surface that won’t break the bank. This is certainly what I did: I have one beside me now, and most of the time the faders are what I use it for, either when I want to ‘feel’ a mix or when I need to move more than one fader at a time. I am sure most of those in need of a cost–effective, moving–fader control surface for Pro Tools would immediately think of Digidesign’s Command 8 (around £900). Small and affordable it may be, but Digidesign’s Command 8 is also a surprisingly versatile and powerful tool for controlling Pro Tools.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |