Any other Tango Users?

[Filmsat59]

Curious if anyone active on this forum has tried the Tango?
Chris

[Ric]

Hi Chris

I have a Tango at the moment on approval

I am playing around trying to get all the edit functions I have on my keyboard, to work on the Tango. My work is 70 % editing 30% mixing for TV and docos

How are you finding the Tango?

Ric

[Filmsat59]

Love it!
We have a big 5-mc in another room and because everything is inside the pyramix it makes workflow really smooth.
I had it up and running pretty quickly, then exhausted the manual a bit too quickly, then asked a few more probing questions, and now I think we have it working well. The development seems encouraging too.
c

[Bernhard Guettler]

Hi Chris,
I do have a Tango for a while. Love the concept. Building fader groups, solo, solo cancel etc. it is fun to work with the hardware side of Tango.
MonArc works well, managing many strips with only 8 faders has never been easier IMO.
The SASSI software is very premature yet and will need more time to develop into something, that reflects the Pyramix workflow.
AFAIK SmartAV is planning for a Design Kit that users can design their own skins.

I had a problem with the fan inside the console. It is subtle but for critical audio work can become annoying. In my environment it is possible to simply disconnect the fan and still my CPU temperature stays far below critical temperatures.

But that is less of a concern for you in Postpro I assume,more a problem in Mastering and classical I suppose.
If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.
Cheers
Bernhard

[tas]

Hello

could someone give me a price indication for a Pyramix configured Tango?

thanks

[Ric]

Hi
'
Suggest you contact Smart AV

www.smartav.net

I have one and it works great with Pyramix.

Ric

[Bernhard Guettler]

Hello

could someone give me a price indication for a Pyramix configured Tango?

thanks

http://www.for-tune.de/de/produkte/smartav/tango.php

6.000 € plus VAT
+800€ plus VAT OASIS Business key from Merging
Merging is the only company in the competition (Digi, Steinberg, Apple) that charges additionally for using the Tango.
Pyramix configuration is software only. If you think about getting one, definitely try it first in your workflow.
Cheers
B.

[Bernhard Guettler]

Hi
'
...

I have one and it works great with Pyramix.

Ric

Hi Ric,
what do you do with it, that it works great for you? I have things I like and others I do not like at all, it is somewhat a mixed bag here. Pyramix implementation is in an early stage yet...
I use the hardware (fader, solo, mute, transport etc.) and MonArc. Grouping faders works great. Anything else I can do more efficiently with the mouse. I hope SmartAV will eventually hire or contract someone who knows a thing or two about ergonomic UI design, who will write software for the big touch screen that is on the same professional level than the great hardware.

Best regards
Bernhard

[Ric]

Hi Bernhard

I still use the mouse in my right hand and have reprogramed all 20 buttons on my left hand. They have all my keyboard short cuts as well as transport control, so I do not need to take my hand off the mouse. The buttons can be programed to have a command on the release as well as the push, so I have things like Clip gain on the down, I can then change the level with the mouse and have Enter on the release. Also things like split a selected clip on the down and unselect clips on the release so I am ready to move either clip. The custom button is my transport command so my thumb sits on that. I now find I can work as quick if not quicker than with the keyboard, but have all the hardware fader, real knobs for my Eq etc available.

I no not use the touch screen as an editor.

Hope this helps

Ric

[Larry Elliott]

I am not a Tango User myself - Yet.

But last week I saw a wonderful installation in a Studio in Hong Kong at ON Technology, the Pyramix agent. David said it was the best controller he had used - better that a Ramses which is what the replaced with Tango. This was a music studio not postproduction.

Soundmirror of Boston have installed several Tangos in the control room they have set up Marlinski Theatre in St Petersburg.

Larry

[Bernhard Guettler]

Hi Larry,
There are two very good things to say about Tango, the Hardware (well, except for the cheapo, audible fans in both the Tango and the external power supply, but most of the audio world today is hearing impaired anyway ) and The MonArc concept - which enables you to handle rather large track counts relatively comfortable with 8 faders only - are great and worth the investment alone. The Screen software SASSI (8 channel block view) leaves much to be desired to a professional user beyond an eye catching factor at trade shows IMO. I definitely can't work with it effectively (yet). And what is the point of the big touch screen, if you have to revert to the mouse for the mixing tasks beyond the fader. I'm hopeful SmartAV will catch up on this and/or give the user a comprehensive SDK to develop their own skins.

If you look at the competition below 10k $ in the controller market it is a sad picture. Which might be at least a part of the reason Soundmirror fit them into their installation in St. Petersburg. What else could they have used?

You have nothing of quality in the range of the Tango, except Yamaha DM1000 maybe, which is on top a full mixing desk. In the triple or quadruple price ranges we look at Ramses or Euphonix. A Yamaha DM2000 might also work well, if many good and smooth faders is most of what you need in a controller. I recommend anyone thinking about the Tango to also look at the Yamaha DM1000 with 16 faders, it works as a controller for Pyramix under the Extended Midi protocol, which is much more limited than the EuCon/OASIS protocol, but if what you need in a controller is mostly faders/solo/mute and do everything else with the mouse it might be worth a try. The DM1000 is probably also the better choice for mobile recording, since it is built more robust, having no touch screen that might need recalibration after rough handling, and is a full mixing desk with built in monitoring, talkback etc. Any solution has a lot of pros and cons and depends on your preferences and workflow.

Cheers
Bernhard

[Ramine]

Hi everyone,

I own a Tango 32 since early 2009. For editing, if you activate "Auto select clips under the cursor" in the Selection menu, you won't need to use the mouse for editing anymore. Just select the track you want to edit with the fader, place the cursor on the clip and edit with the "ARC modifiers" hardware keys (LHS of the faders).
This way you will be able to edit with both hands !

The Screen software SASSI (8 channel block view) leaves much to be desired to a professional user beyond an eye catching factor at trade shows IMO. I definitely can't work with it effectively (yet). And what is the point of the big touch screen, if you have to revert to the mouse for the mixing tasks beyond the fader. I'm hopeful SmartAV will catch up on this and/or give the user a comprehensive SDK to develop their own skins.

The working channels are pretty handy when controlling Plug-ins parameters, Channel Strip EQ and Compressor. You can copy/Paste any EQ, Compressor or any other parameter (plug-in, EQ, Pan, Aux etc.) from a channel to others. The great thing is that once a channel strip's bloc is activated (insert, EQ, Dynamics, Sends or Pan) all the controls are always at the same place, on the RHS of the screen.
The only missing feature is the insert of the Plug-ins from a list like in Nuendo and Cubase. But that depends on Merging since there is no remote function for that yet.
Regarding the SASSi customization, it's on Smart AV's list. They are pretty busy with the new upcoming version 2.4.0 these days. They will spend more time on the "goodies" after the new software version.

[klaukholm]

We now have a 20 fader Tango here, replacing our 32ch procontrol as the mixing system and I must say I am very happy so far.

[Ramine]

Just to let you guys know that ConsoleSoft v2.5 is out and brings a lot of new features and enhancements!
Pyramix:
- Sub-automation has been added. Now you can have inserts, EQs and panners in different states.
- Surround Mix Multi Bus is now consistent with the Stereo and Mono Multi Bus. Stems are displayed and selected using the group buttons.
- Input monitoring support added. Use 'custom' MonARC modifier button, cycles through 3 input monitoring states.
- "DAW active channel synced" Option has been added. It keeps Pyramix & Tango active channels in sync.
- Tango now displays Dynamics gain reduction on Dynamics block and MonARC.

The release notes are here