ARTIST MIX AND MEDIA COMPOSER 

THE MISSING MANUAL v1.1

EuControl 3.6.1

AVID 8.9.0

Mac 12.12.5

Hopefully this helps other Media Composer editors who are struggling with this poorly implemented piece of hardware.  Personally, I'm giving it one more go before deciding whether or not to sell it.

To create this, I first read ‘EUCON APPLICATION SETUP 3.0’, as well as ‘ARTIST MIX USER GUIDE 3.0’ and ‘EUCONTROL 3.6 READ ME’. I then spent a few hours testing. 

If anyone has more info to add to this, other relevant links or can correct me on something below, please do so. 

General Use

I use the MIX to adjust levels and pan, as well as automate music. The general bugginess of the MIX, along with it’s noisy fader motors mean more often than not, I’m not using it.

Automation only works by going to the mixer in Avid and switching it to AUTO and hitting the record button in AVID. There is no other way. I like to use it almost always in ‘TOUCH’ mode, which means turning on all the little red lights to the left of the Artis Mix’s faders. You do this by holding shift and pressing them, or by enabling a feature in the EuControl that lets you press them without shift. If you don’t use the TOUCH mode, the mixer will record keyframes in the ‘LATCH’ mode. I put a definition of the modes below.

Also, the manual states you can disable the faders temporarily by pressing SHIFT+SOLO on track 1. This feature was lost a few versions of EuControl earlier. I’ve complained to Avid many times, but they don’t really care. I managed a workaround using Keyboard Maestro here: http://community.avid.com/forums/p/161724/867088.aspx#867088

Touch: After the fader or knob is released, the parameter follows existing automation on the track. Latch: Works like Touch mode, but after the fader or knob is released, the new parameter value replaces existing automation on the track. So if you let go of the slider at -10db, it will hold that value.

Mixer Buttons

Most of the buttons on the MIX have no use in Avid. With these exceptions:

SHIFT - allows access to higher level button functions

SEL - selects track. basically useless if you have the Select by Touch option selected in eucontrol

AUTO - switches between Touch/Latch for automation recording

SHIFT+FADER - zeroes the track level

SHIFT+PAN KNOB - does nothing! why

ON - MUTES the track

SOLO - SOLOS the track

PAN KNOB - pans the track

BANK/HOME/END/NUDGE - moves your track assignments around

SHIFT+(all 8 of the transport controls under tracks 5-8) - moves your playhead around; not a great way to work within avid I've found.

That’s IT.

EuControl 3.6.1 Settings

GENERAL

Workstation tracks knob set changes

DOES NOTHING AFAIK

Open plug-ins on workstation when editing

DOES NOTHING

Close plug-ins 

DOES NOTHING

Select by Touch

I LEAVE THIS ON. ALLOWS YOU TO SELECT TRACKS JUST BY TOUCHING THE FADERS

Auto-bank to selected track

I PREFER LEAVING THIS DESELECTED BECAUSE I LIKE MY 1-4 TRACKS TO ALWAYS BE DIALOGUE. I WILL USE THE BANK/NUDGE KEYS TO ACCESS OTHER TRACKS IF NEED BE

Rec/Auto switch press changes automation modes

I LEAVE THIS ON. THIS ALLOWS YOU TO TURN THE LITTLE RED ‘AUTO’ BUTTON (FOR TOUCH/LATCH MODES, MORE ON THAT BELOW) ON/OFF WITHOUT PRESSING SHIFT

Solo Mode

DOES NOTHING AFAIK

Wheel Sensitivity

DOES NOTHING

PREFERENCES

THE ONLY THING THAT WORKS HERE IS THE SHIFT+FADER SETS LEVEL TO 0, WHICH I USE. 

ASSIGN AND LAYOUTS

THIS IS JUST A CRUEL TEASE. AVID WILL NOT SAVE LAYOUTS (AT LEAST I CAN’T GET IT TO) SO IT’S NOT A USEABLE FEATURE. TOO BAD, I’D LOVE TO CREATE A MUSIC ONE AND A DIALOGUE ONE.

SOFT KEYS

DOES NOTHING

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 24.0px Helvetica} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica} p.p4 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 24.0px Helvetica; min-height: 29.0px} p.p5 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px} p.p6 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica; min-height: 22.0px} span.s1 {font: 12.0px Helvetica} span.s2 {font-kerning: none}

Thank you for this! I'll try out your suggestions as soon as I can.

It would be (would have been) so fantastic if Artist Mix and Media Composer were tightly integrated.