Mackie Control Universal 8-Channel Master Controller

Feature:
Its a basic piece of equipment, upgradeable, lots of buttons though i find many do go unused. Flying faders are nice but are extremely light like a feather, could use some beefing up. Pan pots are probabaly the weakest feature, but still work a million times better than using a mouse (ugh!). The best feature is that it senses when you touch the fader (i.e. not just move it) and starts recording when it senses your electrostatic body ground (or something like that). I can go back and see where my brain went for the touch and direct edit in logic in case my fade was a little weak. I guess it compensates for the "too light" feel of the faders that make a good fade difficult.

Quality:
Seems very well made despite being very light, surface never seems to get dinged or scratched. Design overall is excellent and well thought out.

Value:
I don't know how i could ever go back to using the mouse. The control unit value is excellent, but the extenders (beyond 8 channels) are where they sock it to you. They figure they got you hooked with the main unit and if you want extenders (and you will...) its basically almost as much as the core unit. Kind of like Kodak selling cameras at cost and when you're committed they whack you on the film. Wait, aren't inkjet printers like that too?

Desirability:
It looks good in the studio and will sell clients (that is, if you need to in a preproduction studio), or at least give artists you're working with some confidence in that it looks like a pro type of unit. The lower priced Tascam doens't give that impression.

Sound:
A must have for medium budget preproduction studio. You gotta close your eyes and feel the mix even if its just a reference.

Support:
I haven't needed support with this but my 1642 VLZ-Pro i use for an output monitor needed repair and they were phenominal.

Overall:
I'll use this one at least for another 3 years. I like the "bare bones aspect", I don't want integrated AD/DA or mic preamps, just something to get away from the mouse. Unless they can offer branded apogee a/d converters and neve pres i would rather buy those on my own. I think that Mackie sold themselves short when pricing the extenders, so many people will not be able to afford 24+ busses. Too bad for them, because when the competition comes up with a bigger (not necessarily better) thing (thus enters tascam), users with the 8 bus console will have fairly low investment and thus low switching costs. Yeah the faders are light and the pan pots somewhat weak, but despite that its still a great unit. I'll just be watching when the competition comes out with a comparable offering that has better priced extenders.

Feature:
A joy to be rid of the mouse and keyboard when using Cubase SX

Quality:
Great faders. sturdy buttons. only twiddly bit was the pots.

Value:
pricey but worth it.

Desirability:
excellent cause of the fact that you can expand this baby and it'll alway be up to date with the latest sequencer software.

Overall:
Brilliant addition to anyones home studio setup. The ability to add additional units is great too. As your studio grows in complexity, so your mackie controller does too. Going the computer route?? you need one of these!