New Controller

I’ve just taken delivery of a new Behringer XTouch compact controller to help with the mixing duties on my DAW. I tried this some years ago with an early version of Mixbus, but I never could get the program and the computer to work together. I ended up selling the controller and resigned myself to mouse-mixing, which I don’t particularly love, but since I don’t have access to my analog mixing setup, it’s mouse-mixing or nothing. Then I stumbled upon this video that Harrison posted outlining the setup procedure for Mixbus 3.4 with this same controller. Looks like Harrison has done a lot of work to the program to make controller integration fairly easy. I haven’t set it up yet, so it remains to be seen if it actually works in real life as well as it does in the videos, but I’m fairly confident that it’ll work.

I bought the smaller “compact” version of the X touch, since space is somewhat at a premium and the additional controls found in the larger version are mainly transport functions. I don’t mind using the mouse and keyboard for that… it’s been forever since I used a jog and shuttle wheel to locate edit points, and a mouse feels faster and more accurate. But we’ll see- I can always sell this one and get the larger version if I feel I need more buttons.

I’ll add a more comprehensive post once I’ve used this setup for awhile, so stay tuned.

UPDATE… And as usual, I’ve learned that while this unit works, my choice wasn’t the best choice for Mixbus. It allows fader control, pan, mute/solo/record ready, and transport buttons, but no EQ control. The larger, more expensive X Touch is a far more capable unit, plus it has the added bonus of label displays for the rotary encoders, so you can tell exactly what you’re controlling- important because the unit has several layers, so depending ot the setting, the rotary encoders control pan, individual channel EQ, or individual channel compressor dynamics. So this unit is currently listed for sale on eBay, hopefully I won’t lose TOO much money on it.

A new Behringer X-touch controller, just off the truck!