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New Functionalities, More Power!
What’s up Apogee users! We’re very excited to share with you our newest Control 2 update! This will apply to the following products:
Current Products:
Legacy Products
- Quartet
- Duet for iOS, Mac, and PC
- One V2
Unleash The Power of Talkback
Users now have talkback at their fingertips. What’s talkback? This feature allows engineers to speak to performers via their playback system (headphones etc).
Imagine you’re working with a vocalist in a vocal booth, rather than having the performer come into the control room to give notes, you can have a 2 sided dialog with the performer all while keeping them in their zone and not disrupting the session. The update also cleverly does not use one of your interfaces’ Mic inputs, instead, it utilizes the built-in mic in your computer or any USB mic connected to the computer. A great choice to step up from the internal mic is the Apogee Mic Plus.
To engage talkback, just press the mic icon in the toolbar:
Options For Routing
By default talkback is set to output through playback channels 1 and 2, which is a nice
starting point. This is likely the same signal your performer is listening to in their
headphones and also what your main playback monitors are fed by default.
Let’s say you have an interface such as the Symphony Desktop which sports multiple
headphone outputs, you may care to choose where audio goes from and to. For
example, if you’re using one set of headphones to monitor while your performer uses
the other headphone output for their headphone mix you might decide to route to an
alternate set of outputs such as 3 and 4.
Whatever the creative application, you’ll create these routings via a new feature in the
sidebar of Control 2 which is labeled Talkback Settings. This is also where you choose
what mic acts as a talkback source.
Control Remote Compatibility
For those looking to put talkback within arms reach, you’ll be pleased to hear about our
next feature; Apogee’s Control hardware Remote now works with USB interfaces!
This makes a great fit for those who would rather have a button than move between
their DAW and the Control 2 software.
What does it do? Simply put, it puts any of the functions inside of the Control 2 software
at your fingertips.
While the buttons start with defaults, the really cool thing about the control remote is
that it can be easily customized to do whatever functions best suit your workflow. To
customize, make sure the remote is connected to the same computer as your interface
and click the “Remote Assign” icon in the Toolbar, you’ll see a whole plethora of options
come up:
Essentially the “encoder knob” can be used to change headphone or monitor volume,
while the above buttons 1-4 and A-D can be assigned to whichever functions best serve
your purpose.
8 buttons not enough? No worries, we got you covered. You can now save
“presets” for the control remote functions. These allow you to recall different sets of
features and assignments.
Oh! Did we mention you can use up to 4 remotes all with independent presets? The possibilities are endless.
Wrapping Up
We’re stoked about the new Control 2 update and want to send a special shoutout to
our loyal customers for requesting this functionality and imagining the utility of these
features outside of our Flagship Symphony MKII interfaces.
We’re always happy to hear from you. If you have any questions about the new features
or related products, feel free to reach out to us.
