Review: Steinberg CMC Controllers

We take a sneak peak at Steinberg’s modular approach to Cubase/Nuendo control.

6 December 2011

Review: Graeme Hague

Ah, controllers… they say that once you’ve used ‘em, you’ll never go back to the archaic RSI-inducing method of working with a mouse and trying to remember the myriad key controls assigned to your computer keypad. I must be one of the exceptions, because while I reckon that a good controller can look impressive on your desk and a set of nice faders definitely promotes a hands-on mix, my old habits of mousing the finer parameters of a DAW refuse to die. I don’t have to think twice about what I’m doing – like, whether I’m going to grab the right knob on a generic controller. And you have to agree that mouse technology has come a long way with ergonomic shapes moulded to your hand, responsiveness that can be fine-tuned and even selectable weights. Do controllers still really offer a significant advantage?

Steinberg obviously thinks so, but it has come up with a different approach to controller hardware for its Cubase and Nuendo DAWs. For a start, the CMC devices – I guess it stands for Cubase Modular Controller – are certainly made by Cubase for Cubase with next to no allowances for them to work with other software. All the button icons and much of the physical layout of the controls directly mimic what you’d get on-screen in Cubase, so there’s no doubting or second-guessing the purpose of each button and slider – for Steinberg aficionados anyway.

It’s not an entirely new idea, but in the cut-throat market of DAW applications and peripheral gear it’s a bold policy – you’re a ProTools, Sonar or Logic person? Bad luck.

PICK N MIX

Steinberg has designed six separate devices, each practical in their own right depending on your individual needs, but at the same time various combinations won’t needlessly double-up on functions. You can also have more than one of each CMC, if you like. So two of the CMC-FD fader controllers will provide eight channel faders. You need 16? So buy four CMC-FDs. Hell, buy a couple of dozen and you might be able to mix down the guitar tracks on a Brian May tune [sorry, Graeme, the limit is four – Ed.].

Steinberg has opted to incorporate what it calls ‘high resolution’ touch surfaces rather than actual faders. It’s allowed for very slim and lightweight designs. However, it immediately makes me question whether these touch surfaces are a contradiction to half the appeal of controller hardware – that tactile, old-school feel of a genuine fader under your fingers still isn’t there. It’s like you’re just swapping one virtual input for another, so what’s the point?

CMC MACHINES

To make any of the above CMCs work you need to download and install a required version of Steinberg’s Advanced Integration (AI) software which takes the pain out of Cubase quickly recognising and initialising each CMC as it’s connected and powered via USB (Cubase AI6 is included in each CMC box). All the units have a fold-out leg to angle the face and they can be clipped together to stand side-by-side as one piece. At 92mm wide and 182 mm high they’re hardly the portable, ‘pocket’ device Steinberg claim and, in fact, either by design or coincidence, four of the CMCs are very similar in size to a normal computer keyboard. An optional Studio Frame 4 will house four of the CMCs or the CMC CC121 Extension Frame lets you put one CMC either side of a 121 Controller. My only beef is that there’s no means to daisy-chain the USB connections. If you choose to buy all six of the CMCs you’re going to need six USB ports. Any decent powered hub will easily cope, but you’ve still got six cables going somewhere.

All combined, the six CMCs will make for a reasonably expensive control surface. Individually, apart from the CMC-CD, they certainly do the job of getting your hands off the mouse. Choose carefully or buy the lot, they will make a big difference to your Cubase studio workflow.

NEED TO KNOW

CONTACT

Yamaha Music Australia:
1800 331 130
[email protected]
www.yamahamusic.com.au

CMC-CH

$199.99

The Case: The CMC-CH is a straightforward mirror of the standard Cubase channel strip with the fader represented by one of the high-resolution touch strips. Sixteen buttons and a single rotary button provide channel selection along with all the usual suspects such as MSR, Read and Write for automation, Monitor plus launching inserts, EQ and Sends. An Edit button opens the larger plug-in GUI interfaces and you have an Edit Instrument key. There is also a Folder button – because Cubase has track folders – and a Freeze button. The rotary knob is for Pan. A Shift button changes all the above into Function keys (F4, F5, etc) or turns the Insert, EQ and Sends buttons into a Bypass for the same.

The Verdict: Apart from the fader just about every function here will send you straight back to the mouse pad, so it’s hard to see the CMC-CH achieving much on its own. Still, I can’t imagine Steinberg not creating this module as a kind of core unit to the whole series. The CMC-CH will be at its best in conjunction with one or more of the others hooked up, too.

CMC-FD

$249.99

The Case: The CMC-FD offers four of the newly developed, touch-sensitive faders to provide precision control over four Cubase channels simultaneously. I lied about the Brian May thing before – at present you can only connect four of these controllers at a time to make 16 channels. The touch faders are dual-mode, turning into LED-based metering, plus there is a solo/mute function by tapping the fader surface – oh, and you’ve got Channel or Bank selectors. But it’s all about the faders which have an ‘ultra-high’ resolution of up to 1024 steps. I reckon that means my fat fingertip will cover about 100 then.

The Verdict: The biggest and only question is how well the faders work and whether they offer a better, more controlled touch for your mixing and since this is a preview I’m afraid the verdict will remain behind closed doors until we can get our hands on one.

CMC-QC

$199.99

The Case: LEDs that change their intensity according to the set position. The controller comes with three dedicated working modes — EQ, Quick Control and MIDI. In EQ mode, the rotary encoders are the Cubase Channel EQ controls with frequency, gain and bandwidth levels. Quick Control Mode is a handy means to assign any parameter to any controller using a Learn function. MIDI mode turns the CMC QC into a freely configurable MIDI controller. Using the included CMC-QC Editor software you can edit the MIDI control change parameters via a graphical interface. Parameter values are displayed underneath the respective encoders and can be entered manually.

The Verdict: Pretty much anything can go anywhere, so the CMC-QC looks like a good partner to the CMC-CH for a start. There isn’t much, if any, indication of what you’ve assigned to where, in either QC or MIDI modes, so you might be testing your grey cells, but it does bring that all-important tactile interaction with finicky parameters through the rotary encoders.

CMC-PD

$199.99

The Case: The CMC-PD has 16 high-response pads for programming drums, samples and the like into your music. Because it has an MPC-style 4×4 matrix and Cubase’s own Groove Agent One uses the same, there’s a match made in Heaven here… well, in Steinberg Heaven at least. But by using the included PD MIDI Editor you can assign anything to the pads, which makes the CMC-PD a handy little beastie indeed. A rotary button works with a Browse key for scrolling through sample libraries. The four Velocity Mode buttons makes for easier Step Mode recording (if you’ve never used Step recording, that won’t make sense – but don’t worry).

The Verdict: One of the must-have CMC units. You could just about turf your music keyboard in the bin, if you’re not a piano player, but let’s not be too hasty.

CMC-TP

$199.99

The Case: The CMC-TP is a Transport Controller with all of Cubase’s normal transport controls plus a slider that offers (take a deep breath) jog, shuttle, locate, scroll, zoom, metronome and tempo. A shift key adds useful extra functions to the buttons such as Marker insert and placement and Nudge, and there is a Copy Track key – which strikes me as what might have been a “we’ve got one button left, what are we going to do with it?” moment in Steinberg R&D. So they chose Copy Track. Four of the buttons can be freely user-assigned.

The Verdict: As someone who is often self-recording and has to stretch for the Transport buttons while hanging onto a guitar, dodging a microphone and trying to keep cans on my head – you never say no to a well-configured Transport Control that you can plonk within reach. The clever slider thingy gets a big thumbs-up as well. The CMC-TP goes on the must-have list, too.

CMC-AI

$199.99

The Case: The CMC AI Controller is centred around Steinberg’s AI (Advanced Integration) Knob, previously (and still) seen in the CC121, CI2 and CI2+ interfaces. This ‘point and precision’ knob allows you to quickly control any visual Cubase object, such as mixer faders, EQ gain knobs or effect send levels. By pointing the mouse cursor on the chosen parameter or virtual device you instantly control it with the AI Knob without additional actions like clicking – that’s the clever bit. The object can be locked to the AI Knob to retain control when the mouse is moved elsewhere on the screen. There is also a Volume Mode for… well, take a wild guess, and a Jog mode to turn the AI Knob into a proper Jog Controller. Four user-assignable keys are provided here too – always useful.

The Verdict: The AI Knob on its own with its intuitive selection of anything under the mouse cursor makes this a clever piece of gear that will get a lot of use. Yes, Volume Mode is a bit silly and I know that a lot of video editors can be picky about their jog wheels and how well they work, but as it is the CMC-AI is a great idea. I want one.

REVIEWED