Let’s face it: most of us work inside the digital realm one way or another. Some of us might be confined to using a mouse for our recording, arranging, and mixing duties while some have the privilege of using a control surface. If you’re pretty serious and running a Pro Tools HD setup, you might have C24 or maybe an ICON controller. If you’re like most of us, however, you need something a little more economical for your Pro Tools LE, Logic, Cubase, et al setup. Don’t worry though. You can have an amazing tabletop control surface for under $1,000 that rivals any other high-end surface on the market.

The Technical Stuff…

You can’t really appreciate any piece of gear without knowing what’s under the theoretical hood, right?

The MC Mix has eight touch-sensitive motorized faders. That’s right. Eight motorized faders. This may not seem like a big deal to some, but for someone like me, this is a major selling point. Since I’ve had the pleasure of working on large format recording consoles (some with VCAs, a couple with motorized faders), I long to actually touch faders, pots, and actually buttons while mixing. It feels right; it feels like I’m actually mixing. The motorized part is just amazing for automation. Write some volume automation and watch it play back before your eyes. Not essential for the mixing experience, but it certainly makes you feel like you’re actually mixing.

The encoders are also touch-sensitive and feel very nice. They’re not too big, not too small. They’re also fairly accurate, which means a lot on a control surface. The eight displays on the LCD display are clear and concise. Like most tabletop control surfaces, you’ll do a fair amount of expanding deeper into menus for plug-ins that I’m not really a fan of but seems to be unavoidable with devices like this. That being said, navigating plug-ins via the onboard screen isn’t anymore difficult than navigating plug-ins on a D-Command or D-Control in my opinion.

You can expand your traditional MC Mix setup to go from basic tabletop setup to desk sprawling all-inclusive control surface easily. Link up to four MC Mixes together (or three MC Mixes and an MC Control) to max out your MC Mix/Control setup, which would be amazing. I had the pleasure of being able to link up two at a time and had a blast with it. Mixing larger bands with two of these units was so much easier with faders and encoders. Can you imagine having 36 high quality faders at your finger tips to work inside your DAW of choice?

The Setup…

The MC Mix connects to your MAC via Ethernet which makes it plenty fast. It not only supports HUI and Mackie Control protocols so it’s usable with major DAWs like Pro Tools and Live, but also runs Euphonix’ own proprietary EuCon protocol which is supported and integrated into products by Apple (including Logic, Soundtrack Pro, Final Cut Pro), MOTU (Digital Performer), Steinberg (Cubase and Nuendo), and more. EuCon is 250x faster than MIDI and has 8x the resolution of said protocol. The marketing spin isn’t spin at all: this thing is fast. When dealing with motorized fader, having something fast and accurate is extremely important. It read very fine automation without any problems.

Like I said above, the MC Mix connects to your machine via Ethernet, and that’s no mistake. The Ethernet port on the MC Mix (and all Artist series devices) supports Gigabit Ethernet. Without the speed that Gigabit Ethernet allows you, you wouldn’t have the 12-bit fader/knob control and you wouldn’t be able to control multiple applications/workstations at the same time, which is one of the major draws to the MC Mix and similar devices in the Artist Series. The speed, resolution, and integration that the partnership between Euphonix and Apple have does nothing but help you even after setup.

The fact that Euphonix has teamed up with some of the largest DAW manufacturers to fully support the MC Mix doesn’t hurt setup, either. The protocol is supported and integrated into products by Apple (including Logic, Soundtrack Pro, Final Cut Pro), MOTU (Digital Performer), Steinberg (Nuendo), and more.

The setup in general was pretty painless. It was no more difficult than setting up your everyday USB controller. I set up the MC Mix inside Pro Tools 8 and Logic 9 easily.

The included manuals and CD give you plenty of options and make setup even easier. The CD comes with complete setup guides for popular DAWs which you should find useful.

In Action…

I had a great time with this piece of hardware. I used it to mix a variety of projects (some small, some relatively big) and it worked well regardless of the situation. The faders were responsive, the encoders useful, and the buttons (for solos and mutes) worked just as well as you’d need them to.

I tried to push this thing as hard as I could. I also tried to use it instead of my mouse as much as possible, too. I found ditching the mouse to adjust levels and write automation very easy. While I don’t mind doing menial tasks like this with my mouse, it’s so much better to have some faders to complete the tasks instead. The same goes for soloing and muting. Simple things like a mute/solo button make mixing with a control surface so much nicer.

The MC Mix also allows you to change the input, view inserts, dynamic, EQs, group options, auxes, and panning right from the surface. Despite having all these different knobs, faders, screens, and buttons, the MC Mix doesn’t feel crowded. It also doesn’t feel like its wasting valuable real estate.

Within no time I was forgetting that I even had a mouse. I was zipping around my sessions with ease for the most part and mixing much more efficiently. I was still using my mouse for editing tasks, but all other tasks were being handled by the MC Mix.

The only real issue I have with any controller like this is navigating and tweaking plug-ins. It’s just as easy on the MC Mix as it is with a much larger controller, but still kind of funky. I used a variety of plug-ins with the MC Mix: the more advanced Brainworx EQ, the Elyssia mpressor, and a lot of the stock Digidesign plug-ins for reverb, delay, and more.

Basic plug-ins like compressors and delays worked very well and I was able to leave my mouse alone for a bit. However, when venturing into more advanced EQs and reverbs, I often found myself just using my mouse. Perhaps I’m just too impatient as I know I could’ve tweaked those plug-ins with the MC Mix, as well.

Conclusion!

I really had a great time with the MC Mix. It was easy to setup, fast, responsive, and did everything I needed it to do and more. Everything worked like it was supposed to and I never encountered any funky errors with either operating system or DAWs. I would certainly buy one of these. Team an MC Mix up with an MC Control or MC Transport and you’ve got yourself a highly decent control surface combo.

My only real concern about the MC Mix is the build: it’s not cheap, by any means, but it feels rather fragile. I know that something like the MC Mix is meant to be stationary, but the site markets its lightweight/thin build as making it extremely portable. I, however,would not feel comfortable moving this beyond out of my house. I just have a feeling that if I had dropped one of the MC Mixes, it would have been done for.

Just understand that this device is not cheap. Everything on it feels nice, solid, and smooth. Just like most pro-grade studio stuff, it’s not meant to be dropped or thrown around.

Pros: Feels high-end with a mid-range price; easy to setup; works well with both major OSes and PT/Logic; essentially eliminates a mouse from the equation when dealing with mixing
Cons: While the build quality is great, the MC Mix does feel fragile
Recommended for: Any studio in need of a control surface; studios that are looking for a surface that they can expand on; people who want to stop using their mouse for mixing
Selling points: Fast; lightweight; works with a variety of configurations; expandable

The Euphonix MC Mix is available now from all major retailers for a price tag of $999.99. For a sample of what I mixed with the MC Mix, click here.

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