Touch-sensitive vs. motorized faders

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Hi folks-

I'm shopping for a basic controller to use with Logic on a Mac G4.
One thing I'm confused about is the practical difference between
just motorized faders, and motorized touch-sensitive faders. My
understanding is that when you touch a touch-sensitive fader, that
alerts the DAW to start recording moves on that fader. But with
a motorized fader, I presume the DAW records any *change* in the
fader setting, i.e., the controller sends a message when the fader
is moved (and not just when it's touched). Is this correct?

So then, what is the practical difference between the two moving
fader types? The one difference that occurs to me is that presumably
with touch faders you can *overwrite* existing automation---i.e.,
the DAW can play back moves, but as soon as you touch a fader, it
knows to start recording that one and overwrite previously recorded
moves. Is this the only difference? Is there a way a controller
with just motorized faders can overwrite (e.g., by sensing that
the fader is "grabbed")?

Thanks,
Tom

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

> I'm shopping for a basic controller to use with Logic on a Mac G4.
> One thing I'm confused about is the practical difference between
> just motorized faders, and motorized touch-sensitive faders. My
> understanding is that when you touch a touch-sensitive fader, that
> alerts the DAW to start recording moves on that fader. But with
> a motorized fader, I presume the DAW records any *change* in the
> fader setting, i.e., the controller sends a message when the fader
> is moved (and not just when it's touched). Is this correct?

> So then, what is the practical difference between the two moving
> fader types? The one difference that occurs to me is that presumably
> with touch faders you can *overwrite* existing automation---i.e.,
> the DAW can play back moves, but as soon as you touch a fader, it
> knows to start recording that one and overwrite previously recorded
> moves. Is this the only difference? Is there a way a controller
> with just motorized faders can overwrite (e.g., by sensing that
> the fader is "grabbed")?

I don't know the proper answer to your question. But when I worked for Rupert
Neve 20 years ago, the faders were always active. You simply grabbed one --
regardless of what it was currently doing -- and moved it as you chose. The
computer noted the change and recorded it.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

In article <10hn9r2kvk1u478@corp.supernews.com>,
"William Sommerwerck" <williams@nwlink.com> wrote:

> > I'm shopping for a basic controller to use with Logic on a Mac G4.
> > One thing I'm confused about is the practical difference between
> > just motorized faders, and motorized touch-sensitive faders. My
> > understanding is that when you touch a touch-sensitive fader, that
> > alerts the DAW to start recording moves on that fader. But with
> > a motorized fader, I presume the DAW records any *change* in the
> > fader setting, i.e., the controller sends a message when the fader
> > is moved (and not just when it's touched). Is this correct?
>
> > So then, what is the practical difference between the two moving
> > fader types? The one difference that occurs to me is that presumably
> > with touch faders you can *overwrite* existing automation---i.e.,
> > the DAW can play back moves, but as soon as you touch a fader, it
> > knows to start recording that one and overwrite previously recorded
> > moves. Is this the only difference? Is there a way a controller
> > with just motorized faders can overwrite (e.g., by sensing that
> > the fader is "grabbed")?
>
> I don't know the proper answer to your question. But when I worked for Rupert
> Neve 20 years ago, the faders were always active. You simply grabbed one --
> regardless of what it was currently doing -- and moved it as you chose. The
> computer noted the change and recorded it.
>


The motorized faders on the Mackie D8B can be used to automatically sense
movement, but the threshold of movement detection leads to a lag in response.
The manual mode sets the desired channels to "Read" and makes changes from the
previous setting immediately.

The Tascam DM-24 has touch-sensitive faders and the lag is reduced in automatic
mode.

-Jay
--
x------- Jay Kadis ------- x---- Jay's Attic Studio ------x
x Lecturer, Audio Engineer x Dexter Records x
x CCRMA, Stanford University x http/www.offbeats.com/ x
x-------- http/ccrma-www.stanford.edu/~jay/ ----------x

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

In article <cfg5q6$43e$1@news01.cit.cornell.edu> loredo@somewhere.cornell.edu writes:

> I'm shopping for a basic controller to use with Logic on a Mac G4.
> One thing I'm confused about is the practical difference between
> just motorized faders, and motorized touch-sensitive faders. My
> understanding is that when you touch a touch-sensitive fader, that
> alerts the DAW to start recording moves on that fader. But with
> a motorized fader, I presume the DAW records any *change* in the
> fader setting, i.e., the controller sends a message when the fader
> is moved (and not just when it's touched). Is this correct?

Not exactly. The "motorized" part is the indicator as to where the
fader actually is. When playing back a stored mix, the fader position
is read and sent to the motors to move the faders. If the signal
actually goes through a pot attached to the motorized fader knob, then
the movement of the fader actually controls the level. If it's one of
those software mixers, the actual level is controlled by the data and
the movement of the fader is independent (though hopefully
representative of the channel gain).

Some automation systems are truly touch-sensitive. When you touch the
fader, it goes into the "write" mode and turns of the "read" move
which would move the fader under you fingers if there were changes
written at that point. Some other systems are "motion sensitive" which
means that it doesn't write changes to the automation until you
actually move the fader.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers (mrivers@d-and-d.com)
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo