Euphonix MC – affordable luxury transport
By Paul Dakeyne
| Posted in Music Technology
Launch of the day so far for me at ’09′s Musikmesse is this luscious new controller from Euphonix. The MC Transport brings that incredible speed, resolution and software integration of their higher range controllers to an affordable, project studio environment.
I was turned on to the Euphonix hardware after finding out how useful it was to our good friends, The Freemasons when integrated into their Logic and Pro Tools set-up. It was only budget restrictions that halted me in my tracks for an investment. But now, well, here’s the answer to a few birthday and Christmas wishes rolled into one!
Accessible through a one handed operation, the MC Transport lets you in, right through the front DAW (I know, shoot me!).. Ergonomically sound, with beautifully laid out controls, the main focus is on the weighted, optically encoded jog wheel which for the main part takes care of navigation across your timeline. Pressing the appropriate soft key quickly assigns this to control a multitude of other parameters.
Surrounding the above is the spring loaded (with a satisfying rubberised surface) shuttle ring. Totally customisable, its functionality can, via soft keys again, be switched on the fly to match however you prefer your workflow to operate. Next up are the seven, multi-colour LED programmable transport/navigation keys which switch to match whichever is the ‘in-focus’ application – again, totally customisable. The top right numeric keypad perform the obvious task of timecode and marker position entry, but double up, by pressing the function key, to act as further programmable soft keys to enhance the row of six ‘basic function’ ones already in place.
We wait for June ’09 delivery then.. 
Tags: control surface, Controller, euphonix, freemasons, Logic 8, Pro Tools 8