4.0

9
Basic mixing
About this chapter
This chapter describes how to work with the faders and
the rows of buttons above them (Solo, Mute, Select and
Rec), and how to select which channels are affected by
the fader settings.
Selecting which channels to control
Mackie Control’s fader section controls eight different
channels in Cubase Essential (plus the master level, which
has its own fader). You select which channels to control
with the aid of the Fader Banks section of Mackie Control.
The Fader Banks section
Using the controls in the Fader Banks section
In the Fader Banks section, press the left or right Bank
button to switch from one set of eight channels to the
next. For example, if you are currently controlling Mixer
channels 1 to 8, pressing the right Bank button will switch
to the next eight channels, i.e. channels 9 to 16. To go
back to the previous eight channels, press the left Bank
button.
• If you press the left or right Channel button in the Fader
Banks section, the fader assignment will shift in steps of
one channel instead.
Let’s say the faders currently control audio channels 9-16. If you press
the left Channel button, the faders will shift one step to the left and con-
trol audio channels 8-15.
• Pressing the Flip button in the Fader Banks section
switches the parameter assignment between the faders
and the V-Pots, i.e. what was controlled with a fader is
now controlled with the corresponding V-Pot and vice
versa.
• Press the Edit button in the Fader Banks section to
open an editor for the current selection.
• Hold down Shift and press Edit to close the currently
active window.
Using the faders
The faders of Mackie Control are used for hands-on level
control and mixing, and allow precise adjustments of the
corresponding channel levels in Cubase Essential. Since
the faders are motorized, they will move to reflect any level
automation you have created in your projects. The faders
will also move when you select a new set of eight chan-
nels to control, instantly jumping to reflect the current lev-
els of the eight channels.
• The faders are also touch sensitive, which means that
as soon as you move a fader manually, the motors are
“overridden”.
In other words, if you have automated level changes, you can grab a
fader at any time, overriding the automation – just as you can click and
hold a moving fader on screen with the mouse.
• Even though the faders are very quiet, there may be sit-
uations when you want absolute silence – e.g. when mix-
ing an extremely soft and subtle piece of music. If that is
the case, you can disable the motors by clicking the Mo-
tors button in the Action Keys section.
When you are finished, click the Motors button again. The fader motors
are enabled again, and the faders will instantly move to reflect the current
levels.
Selects the
previous eight
channels.
Selects the
next eight
channels.
!
Turning the motors off does not affect the automa-
tion in Cubase Essential – all automation data saved
in your project is played back as usual.