Article Preview - Getting The Best From Digidesign's Command 8

Small and affordable it may be, but Digidesign’s Command 8 is also a surprisingly versatile and powerful tool for controlling Pro Tools.

Mike Thornton

I am sure most of those in need of a cost-effective, moving-fader control surface for Pro Tools would immediately think of Digidesign’s Command 8 (around £900). This is certainly what I did: I have one beside me now, and most of the time the faders are what I use it for, either when I want to ‘feel’ a mix or when I need to move more than one fader at a time. It is an approved, supported control surface that won’t break the bank. However, since I got it I’ve discovered that the Command 8 can do much more than merely control channel levels in Pro Tools, so this month we’ll be looking at the additional functionality and features that this control surface implements.

A Control Surface With A View

To start with, there are three view modes that can be selected on your Command 8. Home View is the default mode, and is what you will see once you have opened a Session in Pro Tools. In Home View, the track names are displayed on the bottom row of the display and the rotary encoders are set to the Pan settings, which is indicated by the ‘Pan L’ display on the top row.

When you hit one of the Console View Selectors on the left-hand side of the Command 8, the unit goes into Console View. This lets you see pan position, send assignments and plug-in assignments for all the channels the control surface has access to. When you adjust either the fader or the rotary encoder on a channel, the name is temporarily replaced in the display by the appropriate data value — for instance, the dB setting for the fader or the relative position of the pan controller.

With Pan selected, all the rotary encoders will display and control the pan settings for all the tracks viewed on the Command 8; this is the default setting in Console View. For stereo tracks this mode will display Pan L, and if you want to access the Pan R setting you will need to press the Pan/Meter button, which is just under the Control monitor section. Note also that pressing a track’s Select button in this mode will select the corresponding track in the Edit and Mix windows, making it easy to do multiple track selection.

Console View displays a single parameter, such as Send A, for each of the eight channels currently in focus.

If you have the sends in Pro Tools’ Mix window set up to display the level and pan sliders, pressing a Command 8 Send button in Console View will switch to the appropriate send in the Mix window.

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