Here at Pro Tools Expert we recently received an inquiry from community member Nick Daley, about his experiences with a funny little bug when using a D-Command in touch write mode.
Hey guys, thanks for everything you put out for the community of editors, mixers and creators - really love the info you provide.
I'm curious if you've encountered this quirk with automation while using a control surface. Here's my scenario (Pro Tools HDX, MacPro, OS 10.10.5, D-Command): Let's say I am writing automation in touch mode on a music track using my Icon and I want to check out what's happening with an EQ on a dialog track. If I click the EQ plugin to bring it up with my mouse Pro Tools immediately acts as if I have taken my finger off the faders and stops writing automation unless I lift and re-touch the fader. It happens for any plugin window coming up while writing automation. It doesn't seem to happen in latch mode, though.
This is an annoyance - if I had two operators on the console that would mean the second operator couldn't change the floating plugin window during a touch automation pass. It may have always worked that way but for whatever reason I never noticed it until version 12. Wondering if that's always been the case or if it's a glitch. I can see the logic of this in a simple mouse and keyboard setup since you can only ride one automation parameter at a time but not in a control surface configuration where the point is to be able to write multiple automation lanes concurrently.
Have I become too complicated for my system? Damn me for wanting to use both hands, ;)
Well, no Nick, I certainly don't think this is too complicated! Here's what I found when I tried it out on my system -
As you can see, I'm getting exactly the same thing as you. This is trying with Pro Tools 12.4HD, running on Windows 10 pro, using a "blue" D-Command, of the older vintage.
The Pro Tools Expert Team did some tests on equipment we had to hand - a D-Command, a C24, and Eucon enabled devices - the Avid Pro Tools Control iPad app, and an Artist Control, and we could only recreate it on the D-Command.
I find this really odd. The D-Command, D-Control and C24 are all linked in that they use the old Diginet protocol to connect the surfaces to Pro Tools, rather than Eucon. It would have seemed sensible that this bug would appear across all Diginet devices, but it seems not.
Has anyone else come across this? Please let us know in the comments section if you have.
In the meantime though Nick, I've a nasty feeling that this is unlikely to get resolved, as it is effectively legacy kit, and now Avid have their eyes on all things Eucon.
Best of luck as always!