Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)If you're looking to get away from mixing with your mouse and are looking to spend as little as possible... there are two big choices. PreSonus Faderport ($150) and Frontier Design Alphatrack ($200).
Faderport - PROS: PreSonus put most of their money into the fader... it's an alps fader used in many higher end consoles.
Nothing fancy. It is intuitive and to the point, but still has what I want and need... a good fader and transport control.
Easy to install.
Small.
CONS: Wall-wart. It is bus powered, but you need the AC adapter for fader automation.
You can only automate volume and pan. (protools user's! If you have a track selected with the faderport with pan automation, protools will lock to the pan control of the faderport and will not play back the written automation until you switch to another track. This is a known issue that PreSonus says they are working on for an upcoming firmware update.)
Alphatrack - PROS: Controls; volume, pan, EQ, plugins, and automation.
3 encoders instead of 1.
Jog and shuttle strip... (this is really cool.)
Bus powered.
LED screen with track/eq/plugin info.
CONS: NOT Intuitive... It took the guy at G***Center over 30 minutes just to get it to do anything. And after another 30 minutes could only get the fader, pan and transport controls to work. (I never did get to automate any plugins with it.)
The fader was sluggish and when it played back the automation in kinda shook and was loud. (check out youtube.com "faderport vs alphatrack" and see a side by side comparison.)
The LED screen was hard to navigate through and the user programmable controls (which only work with native software, not HUI emulation) are labeled F1- F8 which may take a while to remember.
Slightly bigger then faderport.
OVERALL: I went with the faderport. While there are a few quirky things I've had to deal with (in protools, so far it has worked great with sonar) it's still straight forward, serves its purpose and does what I need it to do. It gives me the ability to feel and touch a mix. The transport controls alone make it a great asset, not having to reach for the mouse every time I want to arm, mute, solo or record a track. As for the alphatrack, the fader on it alone was enough for me to steer clear. But, the fact that it was a fight to get it to work at all (and never saw it fully functioning) put me over the edge... I fight with enough stuff to keep everything running.
Click Here to see more reviews about: PreSonus FaderPort USB Automation Controller
The FaderPort puts the feel, vibe, and efficiency back into music recording and production. No more clicking through menus and drawing automation edits with a mouse. The easy-to-use FaderPort delivers complete transport control for fast and efficient recording along with ultra high quality, touch sensitive motorized fader for writing fades and automation.The touch-sensitive, long throw motorized fader on the FaderPort has the feel needed for recording perfect fades and writing volume, mute and pan automation in real-time. Solo and record enable can also be easily controlled with the FaderPort along with window selection, play, stop, record, and managing markers (locate points) for fast and easy recording. A foot switch jack is also included on the FaderPort for hands free punch-in/out recording. The FaderPort works with all Mac or Windows-based recording software including Pro Tools, Cubase, Nuendo, Logic and more.
Click here for more information about PreSonus FaderPort USB Automation Controller
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