$2000
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MTiCoreDeskBun1
$3000
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MTiCoreDeskBun2
I don’t give a shit about the desk frame, I want the monitor!!! I could really use a separate workstation for music production, sound design, and composing. Was thinking about tossing the NI S88 keyboard on the surface.
Are these just generic touch screens? Does anyone use one? Or as anyone tried running a touch screen LCD?
I actually intend to pick up a touchscreen monitor that Dell makes fairly soon. So, I’ll probably have some input on this topic in the near future.
http://crunchytech.com/pq-labs-g5-overlays/
aw dang…that’s expensive. You may as well just buy that Slate, and save yourself the trouble of having to build the desk.
I’ve never used a raven, but I do think that if you just want a touch screen, you can probably do it with any touch screen monitor. But keep in mind that almost no DAWs are really designed to be used as a touch screen, so a lot of things won’t work that well. I think the idea behind the slate one is that it acts as an interface as well so you can take advantage of a lot of touch screen features that the DAW doesn’t have built in (like multi touch, etc)
I’m not sure. It looks like the Slate Control monitoring unit is a separate $2500 purchase.
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SlateControl
And it makes no sense. People buy the CraneSong Avocet, the Grace M904, and the Dangerous Monitor ST because of their AD converters. There’s absolutely no reason to buy that switcher…the DB25s on the back of it are analog, and it would be an ergonomical nightmare to use that thing for 5.1 surround (though it appears to be cable of it).
The multi-touch and swipe motions do seem to be a big deal. I’d still have to try one. i think it could be awfully difficult to move little blips on an autotuner or click tiny little buttons on a Rob Papen interface without missing. I’m also questioning how well this will do with Finale and Sibelius in the music notation realm, though that’s where Id really like to have it.
oh, sorry, I didn’t mean audio interface. I meant control interface. I believe (I could be wrong) that the Raven has to translate the touch screen stuff to send to the DAW so it can do it’s thing. It’s more than just a touch screen, it’s a touch screen that can talk to the DAW.
Ok. I see what you’re saying. So would explain why he says its compatible with the PT, Nuendo, and Logic, but not Reaper. Which seems it would imply its not compatible with Sibelius, Finale, or Ms Word either? Is that the idea?
Maybe I’m just old fashioned, but I don’t get why anyone would want to use a touchscreen for anything. It just seems so clunky and imprecise compared to a mouse, and you can’t right click for more options. Plus you gotta lift your arm up all the way to the screen and I’m just way too lazy for that nonsense when a mouse works so much better. I just don’t get it.
I’ve been thinking about this more. Other than a point-of-sale or educational software type touchscreen, I’m starting to see problems. If I had to click and drag a the edge of a region and just nudge by a couple frames. Or if I had to quickly maneuver around a busy plugin, I think this could slow you up.
I sort of like the idea of not having a mouse. But unless all the buttons on the screen are the size of a computer key, I’ve started second guessing how useful this would be.
Yeah, I could see it maybe being cool for certain functions but not all of them, going completely mouseless would be crippling. Touch screens are great for phones and iPads, but I can’t imagine running an entire daw without a mouse. The mouse has been around for a long time but I still think it’s the best way to navigate around and get stuff done on a computer.
Wow - that is cool !!!
I feel the same way about the mouse. Why would someone want to drag around a middle man when they could just reach out and touch the plugins and faders.
I can never go back to a mouse full time.
Interesting! which one do you have?
That video was pretty cool, editing worked better than I thought it would, but I still wouldn’t want to edit like that, it looked slower and more difficult than a mouse. Faders and certain plugin parameters though I could see working really well with a touchscreen. Now I wish I had some kind of hybrid setup.
Pro Tools is at a particular disadvantage to begin with because you can’t re-assign key commands. I can’t remember which DAW you use, but with protools, the numeric +/- keys are very important, as are the ‘p’, ‘l’, ‘;’ and ( ’ ). Both clusters require you to keep your right hand moving back and forth from the mouse.
The trimming, zooming, and fading, I think would have been faster with a mouse if your hands were already on the mouse, and you’re in focus mode.
I’m not sure about duplicate on the touchscreen. I’m pretty used to hitting Shft + CmD + D by dropping my left 5th finger to the shift key, then taking my left thumb under my first finger to catch the CmD key. Its real fast and tactile.
Once the region is duplicated it selects automatically as long as the Link (which I have custom assigned to ctrl,opt,cmd,L) is engaged. Then ‘H’ snaps the region start to the playhead. Or say you’re copy pasting choruses, you can nudge to the next chorus marker then hit H. Or you could copy and paste there, but I think its easier to hit H than it is to hit CmdV. Really…thinking through this out loud, I probably would use the touch screen for this one. But a lot of the editing, I’m really used to doing from the keypad. Matter of fact, I’m so used to doing it with the keyboard, I re-configured Logic, Reaper, DP, and Nuendo to all match the PT key commands.
The one think I do not think the Raven can replace (nor was it intended to) was the tactile mixing surface. I wish someone would do some psychology studies to prove that people listen and work different when they can move around and turn tactile knobs. Opening and closing plugin screens is tedious. Once the editing is done, I don’t wanna touch a mouse. And if everything is properly set, you can navigate the whole session with most console transports. 
@jameyz, as much as I’m pretty invested in using the mouse (also to work on rigs that aren’t in my own facility), my interest in the Raven was largely to run it on a separate editing station with an 88 key NI s88 controller and Cubase.
If you’re using it primarily for MIDI, score writing, and sequencing, does it work for just as good for you?
I was filming with my other hand and speaking about what I was doing, it would be much faster with 2 hands available.