User`s guide

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User’s Guide
User’s Guide
Note: If you purchased a Mackie Control on or after March 1, 2003 that has not yet been upgraded,
you can receive a free upgrade kit by going to our website at http://www.mackie.com/products/
mackiecontrol/upgrade_kit.html (or you can call Mackie Tech Support at 1-800-258-6883). If you prefer,
you can send the unit to the Mackie Woodinville Service Center for the upgrade (a labor charge will apply).
You will need to provide a copy of your sales receipt with the purchase date for the free upgrade kit.
If you purchased a Mackie Control before March 1, 2003, you can either request an upgrade kit from
Mackie at a nominal cost, or send the unit to the Mackie Woodinville Service Center to have the upgrade
performed for the cost of the upgrade kit and a labor charge.
Here are a few tips to get you started using
Mackie Control with Pro Tools:
• Make sure HUI Mode is selected (see
“Selecting HUI Mode” on page 7).
• Make sure the overlay (included with the
upgrade kit or with the Version 2 Mackie
Control) is placed over the right-hand side of
the Mackie Control.
• When using a Mackie Control Extender with
Mackie Control, be sure to assign the Mackie
Control to Peripheral Slot 1 in Pro Tools. This
will give you the ability to edit plug-ins by
banking channels over to the eight channel
strips on the Mackie Control.
• The Mackie Control Extender only supports
the Pan function with its V-Pots. Plug-in
parameters can only be edited on the Mackie
Control (via Peripheral Slot 1).
• Place the Mackie Control to the left of the
Extender(s), so the channels are correctly
oriented with the channels on-screen in Pro
Tools, starting with channel 1 on the Mackie
Control.
• The Master Fader on the Mackie Control is
not supported in Pro Tools, so it is disabled.
• Mackie Control will work with Pro Tools v4.1
and higher, on either the PC or Macintosh
platforms.
• Refer to the HUI section in Digidesign’s
“MIDI Control Surfaces Guide” for more
information on setting up and using Mackie
Control HUI mode with Pro Tools, available on
their website at:
http://www.digidesign.com
Custom lexan overlays are available for other
supported DAWs (see the Overlay Request Card
included in the box). These overlays fit over the
right-hand side of the control surface and correctly
label the buttons for the functionality supported by
the DAW you are using.
Introduction
Thank you for choosing Mackie Designs for your
Pro Tools control solution. Mackie Control and
Mackie Control Extender provide the familiar feel of
analog-style mixing to your Digital Audio
Workstation (DAW) environment. It will improve
your efficiency and unleash your creativity so you
can focus on the music, and not the interface.
How HUI Mode Works
In order to best understand how to use the
Mackie Control HUI mode with Pro Tools, it is
helpful to know exactly how Pro Tools and HUI
mode work together. The Mackie Control emulates
the MIDI protocol of the original Mackie HUI
(Human User Interface), acting as a hardware
“shell” of the mixer in Pro Tools by becoming the
physical embodiment of the faders, knobs, and
buttons found in the software. This effectively
eliminates the ordeal of having to mix using a
computer mouse, allowing you to work faster and
concentrate more on the mix than on the technology.
The audio processing in the Pro Tools mixer, however,
is always performed by the mixing engine in the Pro
Tools software/hardware (for TDM/HD systems).
In order to stay in perfect synchronization with
the software, Mackie Control receives information
from Pro Tools telling it which lights should be lit,
what text to display on the LCD, and where the
faders should be at a given time. Likewise, Mackie
Control relays information to Pro Tools regarding
which buttons are being pressed, the direction that
knobs are being turned, etc.
This is all done via the MIDI connection using a
proprietary MIDI protocol, meaning that the Mackie
Control will always reflect the current state of the
Pro Tools mixing engine. It also means that any
feature additions, new plug-ins, or changes to the
Pro Tools software will be reflected in the Mackie
Control without the need for any software updates to
the control surface. All of this adds up to one thing
— the Mackie Control HUI Mode works as a seamless
extension of the Pro Tools DAW environment,
enabling you to work faster and easier, and truly get
the most out of your Pro Tools workstation.