For a while now I’ve been contemplating some kind of DAW Control surface as I’ve moved more and more ‘into-the-box’.
On Saturday I finally parted company with my trusty Roland RS-5 Synthesiser. It’s served me well and has brought me endless hours of pleasure and some very pleasant sounds; but it’s just too long in the tooth for todays SoftMusic Environments.

There’s bumper loads of offerings out there now, all fighting for your business and offering you complete parameter control of all your Favourite DAW platforms and Vi’s including Pro Tools, Cubase, Reason, Logic, Ableton and so on. I’ve watched endless Promo Videos, Demo Videos, Read Forum Posts and Visited Manufacturers home pages and I’ve finally settled on an Axiom Pro 49.

It’s got shortcomings that I’m already fully aware of but it’s positive’s completely out-weigh these minor gripes for me.
It’s biggest selling point is the ‘out-of-the-box’ integration with Pro Tools 8 and Cubase 5. No Parameter mappings required just plug, load and your off. I can’t think of a better way to fire up a Recording Session than just that. Much as I like faffing and digging about in the engine room I’ll be more inclined to do so now that the majority of control is already mapped to my hardware.

Price did come into my determining choice. Of course, it comes into everything and it’s usually associated with Quality and Features. Overall though, it looks ‘different’ which is always good. It has proper sized Piano keys which is also a nice feature. The Faders are probably it’s weakest link but this is one of the shortcomings I am aware of. I don’t ride faders constantly so I’m sure these 40mm rides will be adequate for me.Yes of course, Motorised Faders would have been lovely but that’s when the cost/feature ratio starts to take effect. (Same with a Jog Wheel… something for my next level purchase)

One of the The Flagship DAW Control Surfaces that I do admire is the Mackie Universal Control. Definitely something I will look at again in the Future. This really is Pro-Class Control for the ‘In-the-Box’ Music Producer. I can see a number of units similar to this one making it’s way into our Markets during 2010. For now though, I’m just going to enjoy the moment with the Axiom and work my way into this two-way relationship at a steady pace.  As a replacement for my unused Roland RS-5 Synth, I’ve got some Technology that’s light years ahead and communicates perfectly with my Computer. I feel like I’ve been on Swap Shop and Won.

Other Products I have considered and researched were:

Steinberg CC121 | Alesis MasterControl | Behringer BCF 2000 WH | Euphonix MC Control | Novation SL 49 Mkii