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[Kevin Maxwell]

I think your arms would get tired holding up the mixer too!

I was thinking about that but that's where the minions come in you just put it on their back and have another one dragging the cables and the generator behind. 

[Mal Brown]

Given the user interface of the Soundcraft ui-24.   I prefer mixing on it to my SI -3 or 1. I mixed a show tonight on an SI Imact.  Was wishing I had my ui-24 and Dell all in One Pc... it is sooo,much faster for me.

[Jim McKeveny]

... view on the touchscreen.

I was referring to the poor haptics of touchscreen faders and that most (all?) touchscreen fader UI's only permit one-at-a-time movement.

The trend in upmarket digital consoles seems to be more knobs and faders and screens.

[Randy Pence]

Not necessarily trying to prove analog is better, but some aspects of the workflow were absolutely better. Being able to simultaneously assess the status of every channel can be a huge advantage. Sometimes it's the "potential" scenarios that will bite you in a bad way, and you won't know it until it's too late and you've missed the cue. There's plenty of things I do not miss about the analog console days, but the ease of workflow is not one of them.

I always lost time finding my way in the rotary matrix of analog mixers. Quickly selecting the appropriate channel of whichever digital needed to tweak means that I can be more confident about whose parameter I am adjusting, not to mention the time saved not having to look at a separate rack.

[Russell Ault]

I was referring to the poor haptics of touchscreen faders and that most (all?) touchscreen fader UI's only permit one-at-a-time movement.

For what it's worth, the good touch screen control apps (Mixing Station, for example) track multiple fingers for simultaneous fader movements.

I couldn't agree with you more about the haptics of touchscreen faders, though. I can control a physical fader from three sides with two or three different parts of each finger, so moving two (or three, or even four) faders synchronously is relatively simple. Good luck doing that on a touch screen.

-Russ

[Mike Monte]

I don't know if it is because of my analog upbringing, but I have found fader input - particularly multi-fader actions - to be lacking in the interfaces I've come across.

Is it just me?

I am of the "analog days" but have moved onto digital boards (QU-16/24).
Digi boards do have their place being able to mix without the use of a snake, but there are shortcomings...

I would never rely on remote tablet mixing, thus a digi mixer without faders is out of the question for me.
I like having faders as a backup - plain and simple.

Since my boards are used mostly for band work, they are, for the most part preset; channels 1-6 vocals (effects, etc. preset) 7-11 for instruments, and 12-16 for drums.  This gives me a basic schematic to go from.
I set the mixer stage-side, get a rough mix, and tweak with my Ipad mini - down and dirty.

If for some reason my Ipad fails (or loses connectivity) I can still limp through a gig from stage side.

I know "the lastest/greatest/newest" is always out there but mixing a gig depending only on wireless is like going for a boat ride with out have a life jacket onboard......not a good idea.

Remote mixing is fine but a backup is totally necessary in my book.

[Mal Brown]

Why move multiple faders ?  maybe the board doesn’t support VCA ?  UI-24 does...  wired vs remote ?  Why not both ?   Dell all in one PC (21.5” hdmi touch screen with 10 contact points for multi fader moves for the vca impaired or in my case the forgetful...) wired direct to router as is the ui-24. iPad available for wandering.

Really not very different architecture from my SI and Mini Stage box setup except for the knobs and faders.

I do get the attraction for knobs and faders but mixing on glass really isn’t that hard.  It’s like anything else if you want it, you log the time and learn it or not...

[Russell Ault]

Why move multiple faders ?  maybe the board doesn’t support VCA ?

The typical Broadway musical is mixed on VCAs (or more likely these days Control Groups, which is the DiGiCo name for them). Almost always there will be a pair of Control Groups for the chorus (often labled B&G for Boys and Girls) that 90% of the time are moved together as a pair; they're separate to allow the mixer to adjust the balance on the fly if needed (which it often isn't). The band is also usually at least two Control Groups, sometimes three, and again 90% of the time those faders move exactly together, only varying if the sound designer calls for it.

I do get the attraction for knobs and faders but mixing on glass really isn’t that hard.  It’s like anything else if you want it, you log the time and learn it or not...

I'd like to see anyone try to mix a musical line-by-line on a touch screen. Even just riding vocal levels is that much more difficult.

If all you're doing is making an adjustment or two every couple of minutes, only bumping solos and that sort of thing, then yes, you can do that on a touch screen, and it's not that hard. I've certainly run a console that way, and sometimes it's all that the event calls for. I personally don't think I'd call that mixing, though.

-Russ

[Mal Brown]

I can see that Russ...  different jobs, different tools.  I sure think of mixing bands and festival settings as mixing even if is it not as challenging as mixing Cirque DI Soleil.

[John Chiara]

Of course. You can't operate a touchscreen and watch the stage at the same time, because you have no way of knowing if you're still on the control. Especially true with multitouch.

I got a Behringer X-Touch for my X32R and it's very usable.
DCA's on the faders I usually have up. An iPad or 2 for channel adjustments, FX and anything else. All running wireless...it's pretty slick.

[ProSoundWeb Community]