Review: Merging Isis Pyramix Controller

Merging Technologies of Switzerland has become a force to be reckoned with in the competitive world of workstations. Pyramix has found its way into more and more studios, particularly in the post-production and mastering sector. As its popularity has grown, the lack of a dedicated control surface was proving to be a sticking point for some. True, the system can be accessed by stand-alone units such as the JL Cooper and more recently, control surfaces such as those offered by Smart-AV and Euphonix, or large consoles such as Harrison and SSL, but a dedicated controller from Merging has been conspicuous by its absence. This hole has now been filled with the elegant new Isis controller system.

EYEBALLING THE ISIS

The Isis controller is available in two parts: the remote controller itself, which has obviously been designed with sound for picture and video editing in mind; and an optional fader expansion module that addresses audio. The control surface offers machine control functions – again with particular reference to video, edit facilities, track arming for the audio tracks, monitor control and an assignable channel strip. The controls are comprised of a large jog wheel, soft keys, an LCD and a channel strip comprising a motorised touch-sensitive linear fader and rotary encoder. All of which, we’ll look at more closely.

The top part of the surface features three groups of eight buttons and these are for arming audio tracks 1–48. The right side of the panel contains a channel strip consisting of a large motorised fader, four push-buttons and a rotary encoder. The fader defaults as a stereo master, with the four buttons being Play and Write for the master automation, plus Mute and Solo. The rotary encoder defaults to monitor level and pushing on the knob resets the fader to zero (or reference level).

As you’ll have already noticed, Merging has endeavoured to provide as many fixed-function controls as possible, while guarding the possibility for the user to re-assign them to other functions as required. I’d say that Isis strikes this balance very nicely. (See box item for the various dedicated functions.)

JOG MEMORY

The centre of the control surface is dominated by the large jog wheel. Given the importance of the jog wheel, it’s heartening to see that a wide range of tuning options are available – operators can adjust settings and responses to suit individual requirements – and these were put to good use during the tests I conducted. Attending the jog wheel are seven pairs of control buttons and a four-direction keypad with keys for selecting tracks and clips. At the top of this section are six machine control keys. You’ll find all the usual transport suspects here with the very useful addition of a Reverse Play button. The Reverse Play button is not available on-screen with Pyramix so is a vital addition for post-production work. All the buttons, with the exception of the red record button, are in clear plastic and illuminate when activated.

The overall look and feel of the machine control section is that of a video editor, where considerable attention has been paid to having a comfortable jog wheel with edit function keys close at hand for speed and accuracy.

THE LCD

The LCD of the Isis helps take care of house-keeping duties and offers an alternative means of accessing/performing certain functions. When you power-up Isis the LCD displays Track Select and Marker functions, and these are accessed by 11 function keys (F1 to F11). The current play-head cursor position is always displayed in the centre as a timecode value. The 11 function keys take care of a variety of duties depending on the screen mode, but their assignments include Record Arm, Record Mode, Monitor Mode, and Marker operations. Finally, the F12 key (‘More’) scrolls to the next menu page in each screen. Which brings us to:

The Machine Select Page provides you with selection and control over chase status for the internal machine plus up to four external machines.

The first User Page offers a useful array of default F-key settings (things like Zoom, Group/Ungroup, Zoom Fit, Undo, and Redo) and unassigned keys for user definition.

The Monitor Page controls the comprehensive monitor functions now offered by Pyramix. A set of function keys send mute, solo, and solo commands to the individual surround channels, while other buttons step forward and back through possibilities for input monitoring, speaker sets, and down-mixes.

Though Isis has been designed to offer maximum flexibility with the factory F-key settings, doubtlessly there will be operators who can’t wait to put the keys to some very different uses. This is achieved by heading to the Settings Page in Pyramix and accessing Controller Mapping, which provides a wide variety of possibilities for reconfiguration. Mapping functions is very easily accomplished. And if you get into a pickle, the default settings can be reloaded very easily.