PRO TOOLS C24
The Pro Tools C24 is a sleek yet powerful work interface. Seeing as Pro tools is one of the best DAW currently in the music industry. Its advanced technology and popularity plus the sleekness that comes with many Avid products give it a natural edge over the competition. The full Pro Tools HD system is a complete set of hardware, and software created for premium professional sessions and ultimate reliability for professional audio Engineers, Mixers, and mastering engineers.
As innovation continues to drive them, there are control tools that maximize your sound experience. With the fashion and function primed 24-channel C24 control surface, you can speed up your Pro-tools recording, editing, and mixing tasks, whether basic or HD. The C24 gives you direct control over most of the software functionality in the package.
The C24 control panel allows you to extend your studio with an array of high-quality analog inputs. Additionally, a 5.1 analog monitor section is included to use with the audio interface of your Pro Tools system. Impressively, the hardware easily integrates with your DAW. This will give you an astonishingly powerful and richly featured surface designed exclusively for pro tools users. And let’s not forget the talk back mic!
FEATURES
The main features of the C24 are:
- Gives full hands-on control
- Allows you navigate and edit projects quickly
- You can plug in and mix
- An auto power supply that can work with any grid system.
- Equipped with Talk back Mic capabilities.
Additionally, with the Pro Tools C24:
- You can have easy access to the recording, editing, routing, and mix functions in pro tools through its 24 banking channel strips.
- You can control levels, pan EQ, dynamics, plugin settings, and more using the 24 touch-sensitive, motorized faders and 24 multi-function encoders.
- The C24 also has dedicated switches in each strip that is used to quickly mute, solo, enable, select, and automate tracks on the system.
- There are two rows of LED displays that allow you to view and quickly read channel names, view absolute time, SMPTE, feet/frames, and Bars/Beats, additional parameter settings, and more.
- There is an ergonomic design which means you can scrub through audio, edit clips, and shuttle through sessions quickly using the jog/shuttle wheel.
- You can save and recall windows configurations and memory locations, switch encoder functions to the faders using flip mode.
The new C24 has now a new external power supply. Unlike the older model. Also the power supply is auto power selecting whch means you can plug it in to any AC outlet in any country in the world. Additionally, with the c24 you can easily integrate your analog equipment with your digital equipment fairly easy.
With the digitalization of most devices, it seems counter-intuitive that the modern C24 is an analog audio device. It might seem strange, but all the audio digits are inside your Pro Tools rig, to which the C24 attaches using an Ethernet cable. The digits within the C24 are not there to store or transport audio. They are just there to control Pro tools and display parameter values.
As an analog mixing console, it has many microphone inputs. Most systems use the microphone preamplifier as an outboard device. The C24 puts it back inside the console. The C24’s 16 preamps are as clean as you can get to control console with excellent specifications to boot. It boasts a frequency response that is flat within 1dB up to 100 kHz, an equivalent input noise of -127dBu and a total harmonic distortion plus noise of 0.004 percent at 1 KHz.
The C24 has many inputs and likewise monitoring options. There are connections for at least four monitor input sources: Two six-channel surround, and two stereos, there are also two cue inputs and two outputs, one of them being six-channel surround also. There really are several amazing features with the monitoring section!
The auto talk-back function is something I really like about the unit. Whenever the transport stops, the unit automatically goes into to talk back mode. This really cuts down the control time and usability.
INTEGRATION
Integrating the C24 with your Pro-tools system, and the rest of the studio is not quite as complex as new users think. It should be noted that the C24 is not an interface to your Pro Tools system; it works with your current interface. The C24 sends analog signals to and from the Digi 003 rack. Your line-level sources will connect to the line-level inputs. Guitars will use two separate input jacks. The output of the preamplifiers are analog and at line level. They connect to the line-level analog inputs of your interface.
PROS
- Smart tracking and mixing with the Pro Tools C24
- Powerful automation facilities
- Easy access to regularly used functions
- Greatly helps to eliminate reliance on keyboard, mouse, and monitor
- It has sufficient input/output capability.
- It uses Digidesign’s experience in control surface design.
- Its industrial but sleek design means it can fit into any music or post-production studio.
CONS
- Multiple complex operations makes it hard to get used to at first instance
- It doesn’t integrate with all DAW.
- Could be a bit pricey for some producers.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR THE PRO TOOLS C24
The main system requirement is one of the following Pro Tools systems:
- Avid-qualified Mac or Windows computer running Pro Tools 9 or higher software
- Pro Tools/ Pro Tools HD system running Pro Tools/ Pro Tools HD 7.3.2 or higher software.
- Pro Tools LE system running pro tools LE 7.4 or higher software.
WHY DO YOU NEED THE PRO TOOLS C24?
The mixing console is the crucial piece of any recording studio. Larger consoles are generally preferred in this situation. Since the turn of the new millennium, there has been a drift from using consoles to mix toward using a mouse to mix. The truth is, if you have ever had the chance to mix on a conventional analog console of a decent size (most professionals do), then you will understand the joys of mixing instinctively. When you mix instinctively, music from the speakers enter the brain, filtering through the arty, non-analytical, non-technical regions, and almost without conscious thought, the fingers just move the faders, and work the rotary controls.
Additionally, the mouse cannot balance one sound against another; something like the level of bass versus the low-frequency EQ of the rhythm guitar. With a mouse, you can only control one parameter at a time. Also, with the C24 control, you can work on several faders at a go, as far as your fingers can allow.
Maintenance and care
We don’t advice you to move the unit around too much if you don’t have to. It’s a pretty solid and sturdy piece of hardware. With that said, many of the components are fragile and are hard to come buy. Also, try not to have the Pro tools c24 in a hot space either. I know a few guys who work out of a garage. Uf there isn’t some kind of temperature control in your garage, you could risk seriously damaging the control surface.
Also be careful with suing the controls around food and water. It’s fairly easy to get sticky things into some of the components. Spilling of soda or water is a no no! These components could be really expensive to replace. Use care when using the fader knobs as well. You don’t need to apply too much pressure to get them moving. We know that some guys are heavy handed but just try to be gentle with it if you know what I mean:). Same goes for some of the other controls as well. You don’t need to apply that much pressure to get things moving.
The pro tools c24 have a utily button if you want to check and make sure your faders and other functions are working properly. Just press utility on the top left and then you can go in and do most all your tests. You can check your LED test and put all of the board lights on. Just press exit and you’re out of the utility mode. Easy!
Conclusion
Finally, as a pro Tools user, to maximize your effort, and get completely professional, you need a control surface. It’s all a matter of ‘when’ you will buy it not ‘if’ you will buy it. With the C24, you have all you need in a control surface. We’ve done quite a bit of real world testing with some our new projects to help give you guys a feel of what it’s like. With all the new separate monitor mixes in the board we were able to have an seamless work flow with everyone in the studio simultaneously.
Please leave us a comment below if you have any other thoughts. We would love to hear from you!
