M-Audio @ Digital Experience - showin' off the iControl
By Ryan Block 
posted Jun 29th 2005 8:29AM
posted Jun 29th 2005 8:29AM
It was more or less what we expected—simple, iconic, bright lights, and pleasantly rubbery. Yes, we got to tool around with M-Audio's iControl for a little while: the buttons had punch, the switches felt smooth, and we didn't leave thinking the thing cheaped out by any means. Of course, if you want to do much of anything with it besides controlling Garage Band at this point, you're pretty much on your own, so don't go thinking it's actually a real mixer or anything, as much as we'd all like to.
mmm perhaps it could be made to work with iMovie, looks like an overblown version of powermate to me , pity it doesn't glow!
*bah* usb
How is this built for mac ?
u07ch, have something against PC compatibility?
Macs support USB IIRC...
i mean it's just not that cool. get something with automated faders from digidesign. protools is where it's at, anyway.
#5: Well, you can't get anything from protools for <$200. This is meant to work with a consumer program, it's not the be-all end-all of control surfaces. Give it a break.
sorry sarcasm clearly isnt' appreciated ... but as a garageband (mac only) product why not make it firewire; you could have had the glowing lights then !
err, i thought that the glowing lights and case mods where limited to the lanpartying, cs-playing wintel crowd? isnt mac supposed to be more high class then that? :P
looks helpful, and i use garageband a lot. although i can't justify the price $179 (as mentioned earlier) for things that i could do with a mouse and some patience anyway. sure, it'd be easier, but i can't afford such luxury yet.
u07ch - are you on drugs or are you just not paying attention...
This unit is USB powered.. AND it has bright lights. It says that in the very first line of the review. You can even see one of the buttons with what looks like a blue backlight.
I mean really - I know the diehard Mac fan is dismayed by the effective marginalisation of Firewire... which is all but dead in most markets, but get over it. The reason they went with USB is simple: everyone - including Macs - has USB. And for a device like this, 500ma is more than enough current, so Firewire is overkill, harder to support and more expensive.
I've been doing multitrack recording for about 15 years, much of it on digital 8-tracks like the ones offered by BOSS. These boxes are great because they are simple and fun to use and offer more-than-adequate results.
I'll bet there are a lot of folks like me who have been dazzled with the idea of moving recording over to the computer--which has more power, storage, and flexibility--but have been intimidated by programs like Logic Express and Pro Tools, which can take forever to learn.
GarageBand is a great middle-ground, b/c it offers a good amount of the power, storate, and flexibility, but it doesn't overwhelm like Logic or Pro Tools.
Still, it's a little easier and certainly more satisfying to use an all-in-one recorder with knobs and sliders to control the music--like the old 4-Tracks and newer 8 tracks I've been using for years.
It may not be for everyone, but I think that with the iControl, M-Audio is aiming for people like me hobbyists who want ease of use, power, and flexibility at a low price.
I'm looking forward to the its release--and I certainly plan on picking one up for myself.
Look guys, they went with USB because there is just no need to go with Firewire. After all, this is not a high-bandwidth product (it's just a MIDI controller) and USB was made for this.
Firewire makes sense for harddrives, video, high-end audio, and other devices that use a lot of bandwidth.
Great hands-on, Ryan! (But tell me -- how's the fake wood feel?)
I'll second everyone's "don't blame USB" comments. Let's recall USB is the success it is today because of Apple's advocacy of the format, in the form of the original Bondi iMac. (Even PC manufacturers will say that.) USB works perfectly well for simple audio, and even better for this kind of application, where it's effectively a really sophisticated mouse/keyboard: it's an input device.
Not to mention, WHAT marginalization of FireWire? FireWire remains the format of choice for DV, and is THE solution for high-end audio -- compare the number of USB 2.0 audio devices (I count about two) to the FireWire audio devices (I can't even count them . . . including even a keyboard from M-Audio.)
Here's the interesting question: the iControl is really cheap, but how many GarageBand customers will buy one? I'm guessing actually a fair number, given the response so far.
USB 2.0 can't even perform to its own specification whereas 1394, which was designed from day one as a real-time protocol, is PERFECT for video and automation.
While 1394 can pretty much hold it's own performance wise with USB 2.0 overall, USB takes more processor power and interrupts than 1394 and 1394b just outright stomps USB anyspec.
As far as licensing, $1 per port I find is hardly "expensive".
Any serious scientific cameras use firewire or some proprietary bus or even Infiniband, but not USB2.0.
I see PLENTY of firewire products on the market. iControl doesn't need FW, plain ol' serial is just fine...