[geoff]

On 20/12/2020 3:23 pm, Mike Rivers wrote:
On 12/19/2020 6:54 PM, geoff wrote:
I have a Mackie Control which I could (and have) used in conjunction
with DAW software (Vegas Pro, Acid Pro, Reaper, etc), but nowadays
find that I more often just use envelopes and mouse on timelines to
mix down. Though the MCU can be used to generate those envelopes in
real-time.

I don't have the patience to manipulate volume and pan envelopes with a
mouse. That's why I like using a console. Pans, at least for the work I
do, are static - I can set those and they stay in one place throughout
the song. But with volume, I play with that like playing an instrument.
If something's too quiet, I just ease the fader up until it sounds
right. And if I'm not quick enough, I'll do it again and get it right
the second time. But I don't know by how many dB I've changed the level.
With a volume envelope, you draw what you think is right, then listen to
it to see if it's what you want.

With the software I use made a node and drag it up and down like a
fader. or 2 nodes and drag the line between them up and down. Yeah pan
stays constant, with occasional exceptions.

I've thought about using something iike the Mackie MCU but I'm not
enough of a horse trader to buy one,(if you can find them any more), see
if I like it, and if I don't, then sell it. PreSonus makes a couple now
- actually three - one with one fader that they've had out for at least
10 years, one with four faders, and one with eight. They're kind of
expensive, though, but since they don't pass any audio, they're a lot
cheaper than a console.

Behringer do one too - prolly much cheaper.

I wonderÂ* what is being used on consoles for analogue (or external
digital) mixdowns - EQ, Level, pan, preset or interactive. Or mainly
just level.

I'm not sure I understand that question. Do you mean how are console
moves stored and played back through the console?

Stored as preset scenes, manually tweaked up and down for the mix-down,
or stored as flying-faders (and presumably tweaked/recorded per pass too) ?

geoff