MC Pro & System 5-MC FAQ

Euphonix is signing up a number of local Value Added Resellers (VAR). In territories without local VARs Euphonix will sell these products directly. In territories with local VARs Euphonix offices will pass any leads on to the local VARs. Check out this page for Euphonix sales contacts around the world for System 5-MC and MC.

The Euphonix website has a series of QuickTime movies that provide an In-Depth view of the MC and System 5-MC. Also check out the Euphonix Sales section on our web site which shows the locations of all demos systems around the world.

Support is handled by the VAR backed by Euphonix, or Euphonix if the sale was direct. We suggest also signing up for dedicated DAW support packages from companies like Obedia in the USA.

The price of the System 5-MC is comparable to that of other large format DAW control surfaces. It is slightly more than a comparable Icon because the System 5-MC includes 8 knobs per channel - two more than the Icon’s D-Control - and a high resolution TFT screen at the top of the channel strips, compared to the Icon’s lower-res LED meters. Contact your local System 5-MC VAR for exact pricing for a particular configuration that suits your needs.

The price is mainly down to the number and quality of the controls and screens, and the price of the solid steel frame. The System 5-MC is a professional work-surface and as such the price will be more expensive than with mass-produced cheaper controllers which compromise on control quality and display, and are aimed at the home studio market. Compared to other large format DAW controllers it is highly competitive in price. Look at the monthly cost of a lease and then make the decision about its affordability depending on your professional income. For example, the MC can be leased for a couple of hundred dollars a month, which for a professional editor or composer is affordable if you believe that the surface can speed up and enhance your workflow and quality of product.

The System 5-MC and MC come with Studio Monitor Express Application, there are PC and Mac OSX versions, controlled from the Monitor Section at the top left of the MC. This application acts as a virtual monitor matrix, taking audio inputs from you DAW and hardware I/O and using your hardware I/O for outputs and speaker feeds. See this section in the System 5-MC guided tour. ASIO is a hardware interface protocol developed by Steinberg, supported by most I/O manufacturers. Core Audio is Apple’s audio interface protocol in the OS X operating system. Most hardware I/O manufacturers support this protocol. If a device is Core Audio compatible it will appear in the Sound Panel within the System Preferences of OS X.

It is more cost effective for you if you buy the screen locally, and you get to choose the one that is right for you and you get local support. The System 5-MC includes a VESA compatible mounting arm which fits most monitors. Make sure the workstation you are using supports the screen that you purchase.

The MC includes a USB GPI switch that can be connected to a 4x1 DVI switcher such as those made by Gefen, for example. The DVI outputs from the 4 workstations are connected to the DVI switch inputs. The ouput of the DVI switch feeds the display being used with the MC. Switching between the 4 workstations from the MC will then also switch the display between the 4 workstations. The MCs keyboard and trackball is sent to the workstations over Ethernet so there is no need to have separate keyboard and trackball cables.

You can use any I/O supported by your workstation although there must be ASIO or Core Audio drivers available for the hardware otherwise it will not be recognized by our Studio Monitor Express application. Almost all pro and semi pro audio I/O has these drivers.

The MC has its own processing, we only suggest high speed workstations so that your DAW applications run as smoothly and as efficiently as possible.

Purchase the fastest and most reliable workstation you can afford running Windows XP or Macintosh OS X. The System 5-MC will work with any workstation running these operating systems.

The MC, the 408T fader modules, and all of your computers connect to an Ethernet router via Cat-5 cables. The router and cables are provided. The number of cables will depend on the size of your system. Audio and display wiring also depends on how many different computers you will be using. A diagram in the guided tour shows how different systems are connected using Euphonix I/O, although you can use any ASIO or Core Audio compliant sound interface.

Mac OSX and PC versions of the EuCon Client Application come with each MC and should be installed on each workstation that needs to connect with the MC. The EuCon Client Application takes all the EuCon control data and converts it to keyboard, mouse, HUI, Mackie Control or sophisticated EuCon control for use by the applications running on the workstation.

Yes you can, by creating an insert send and return from your DAW and going through an analog/digital converter and back. There will be delay issues but these are covered in your DAW manual. Different DAWs handle delay compensation in different ways.

It depends what you do. Faders can be banked and each channel strip does have a SWAP button for instant access to another layer. If you mostly master or work with a small number of faders, for classical music applications, for example, you may be quite happy with 8 or 16. If you can afford it go with 24. This will give you enough faders for controlling most projects and it is easy to add extra 408 T 8-faders modules if your work requires more.

No, but it does send out HUI and Mackie Control protocol over high speed Ethernet which appear as virtual MIDI ports in the DAW. This is faster than sending these control protocols over MIDI cables and higher resolution.

You can lock different MC sections to different applications on the same workstation or on different workstations. For exampl,e the Right Edit section SmartSwitches, which include the transport controls, could be locked to always control Pro Tools while the rest of the MC is controlling Nuendo. The faders currently can only control one application at a time.

Yes, you can.

Yes, by using a bitmap application to design the icon and storing them as black and white GIF files in a special folder on the MC’s hard drive. The resolution of the SmartSwitch LCD screen is 36x24 pixels. You can make an icon that is only 36x16 which leaves space at the bottom for a line of text below the icon.

No, the MC’s touch-screen is used to record arm, mute, solo, or select a track in your DAW for control from the 8 MC’s soft knobs

Most other manufacturers use HUI or Mackie Control over MIDI cables to control workstations, which works but is not ideal. Consoles such as the SSL AWS 900 and Duality use this approach. The Euphonix approach to is to send HUI and Mackie Control over Ethernet which is faster and higher resolution than over MIDI Cables, plus Euphonix has the EuCon control protocol which allows very high speed bi-directional communications with any application that supports this protocol such as Nuendo, Logic Pro and Pyramix. In addition the System 5-MC and MC also support up to 56 programmable SmartSwitches that can be used to send out keystroke commands to any application. The other big difference is that System 5-MC and MC can instantly switch between workstations over a network and also between applications - the control surface changes to match each application.

No, it has no fans.

No, Nuendo versions from 3.1 upwards support the MC and System 5-MC if you purchase the Nuendo EuCon Adaptor from Euphonix.

Yes

Your local Nuendo reseller - check out the Steinberg website for more details. Check out our Client Video Profiles. Alan Meyerson, John Ross and Steve Tushar all use Nuendo with the MC/System 5-MC.

In general all plug-ins in VST, UAD (Universal Audio) and TC PowerCore are supported. DirectX Plug-ins are not fully supported and there is nothing Steinberg can do about it because Nuendo is not a part of DirectX. Some plug-ins have better control access than others. For example some of the Waves plug-ins don’t provide all parameters of the plug-in for remote control.

Yes, MIDI channels are supported by the MC and System 5-MC

Yes, the parameters of VST Instruments can be controlled directly from the surface.

Euphonix has been working closely with Merging for some time now and the result is that Pyramix version 5 supports tight integration with the System 5-MC and MC via a bridge that connects the EuCon and Merging’s own OASIS protocol. The control is high speed over Ethernet. Check out the Richard Meredith Client Profile Video as he uses System 5-MC with Pyramix.

Contact your local Pyramix dealer as they handle this. In some cases your Pyramix dealer may also handle the MC and System 5-MC so they can package the whole system. You must purchase the OASIS key from Merging for Pyramix to work with the MC and System 5-MC.

Yes, from version 7.2.1 Logic Pro now includes a EuCon driver for total integration with the Mc and System 5-MC.

No, Logic Pro automatically detects if the MC & System 5-MC is connected during application launch. No additional license or configuration is needed.

In general all plug-ins in VST, UAD (Universal Audio) and TC PowerCore are supported.

Yes, MIDI channels are supported by the Mc & System 5-MC

Yes, the parameters of VST Instruments can be controlled directly from the surface.

Yes. The System 5-MC includes HUI and Mackie Control protocols, developed by Mackie, which allow a control surface such as the MC and System 5-MC to control HUI and Mackie Control enabled DAWs such as Pro Tools. Digital Performer now fully supports EuCon. The HUI/Mackie Control protocols allow for fader level and touch sense, pan, aux send control, solo, plug-in selection and parameter control, record arm, and automation from the channel strips and from the faders and 8 soft knobs on the MC. HUI/Mackie Control also allows audio levels of tracks to be metered on the fader and TFT screen together with a 4-character track designation. Tracks can be scrolled and bank switched to the System 5-MC channel strips. The System 5-MC also controls Pro Tools, and other software, using the 56 SmartSwitches, which can easily be programmed to send out

Meters are lower resolution than with EuCon applications such as Nuendo and Logic Pro, and the System 5-MC is not able to display an EQ curve on the channel strip screens. However, all of the parameter names and values do appear on the knob sets and TFT while editing a plug-in. Each Pro Tools system allows 4 HUI banks consisting of 8 channels each to be connected. This means that only 32 channels are available on the surface simultaneously. The MC/S5-MC allows users to bank through the higher channels. This means that you can access channel 33 when you release channel 1 from the surface. Although channels are not present on the surface they are still active in the background.

Yes the 8 channel strip knobs can be used to control plug-ins for any HUI application.

Yes, the joysticks can be used to pan tracks in Pro Tools.

Yes the 8 channel strip knobs can be used to control plug-ins for any HUI application.

Yes, The MC will control up to 4 Pro Tools systems at one time.

No faders have 512 steps as HUI is sent over EuCon which is faster and higher resolution than MIDI.

The Final Cut Studio suite allows the MC and System 5-MC to connect via EuCon Control. This allows not only transport features like play, jog, shuttle, rewind and fast forward, but also fader and touch-sensitive knob control of parameters in the application. Commands and keyboard shortcuts can be mapped to any of the 56 Smart Switches, allowing for much faster work flow.

Yes it will allow some control of the Sonic Solutions using using the 56 Smart Switches, keyboard and trackball.

Yes, the MC can control Gigasampler using the SmartSwitches, keyboard and trackball. You just need to install the included EuCon Client Application onto each PC so that MC can 'see' the PCs on the network and switch to them using two of the four workstation select buttons on the top right of the MC. Remember, - the MC can control any application. EuCon just allows a much higher level of control. Check out this page describing the levels of control.