Eucon, though a proprietary protocol owned by Avid, has lower latency (for things like fader moves), and generally offers the ability to control many aspects of your DAW, including virtually all your plugin parameters.Īn opinion about latency and fader moves: you’re unlikely to notice a big difference while mixing, until you make fast moves for things like vocal rides.

NewerTech USB 3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet Adapterīetween EUCON (Ethernet) and MCU (USB), EUCON arguably offers higher performance and deeper integration compared to MCU.

Not to worry though, as there are multiple ways to add Ethernet to your machine: This is especially important if you have a late model Apple laptop (approximately 2014 and newer) that no longer has an Ethernet port. If you’re set on a control surface that utilizes EUCON, you’ll need a host machine that supports Ethernet connectivity. You’ll also find that there are many, many more choices available, and at lower price points. The good news is that EUCON-enabled control surfaces can typically fall back to the MCU protocol when EUCON is not supported.Īs of the writing of this article, the official “qualified EUCON media applications” include:īy contrast, MCU/HUI is generally compatible with just about any modern DAW. Sometimes MCU is referred to as HUI, though HUI is technically now part of the MCU protocol.ĮUCON is a proprietary protocol owned by Avid, and as a result, its availability is limited to a small selection of control surface products, and is officially supported by only a few DAWs. For practical purposes, there are two industry-standard protocols that most control surfaces use to communicate with your DAW software: EUCON and MCU (Mackie Control Universal Protocol).

The DAW you use can have a significant impact on how deep your control surface integration will be. And remember, you can always start with one unit of eight faders, and then expand to 16, 24, and so on. But, if you’re getting into complex mixes and intricate scores, you’re likely to benefit from having more faders within reach. So, if you generally work with mixes that are only a handful of tracks, or if you just don’t have the desk space to spare, a compact, single-fader control surface may be a good option. It’s also important to note that even if you start with just one bank of eight faders, you can usually combine multiple units to expand the number of faders available to you. The most popular control surfaces typically feature either a single motorized fader or a bank of eight-more expensive options can feature 16 or more faders in a single enclosure. The first decision you’ll need to make when choosing your control surface is how many faders you need. While most mainstream control surface solutions offer similar functionality, there are a few things you’ll want to consider before you make your purchase. Most modern control surfaces offer a few basic functions like motorized faders and transport controls, while some also include pan pots and the ability to control plugin parameters. If you don’t enjoy using your mouse to draw fader moves and find mixing in-the-box to be tedious, a good control surface may be the perfect solution.

A control surface can be a game-changer for your studio mixing workflow.

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