Vegas's automation, etc, is designed with the Mackie Control Universal as the intended external controller.

Other controllers will work with Vegas to the extent that they are able to emulate the MCU. But you should be aware that some controllers claiming to be MCU-compatible do not provide a full emulation and hence some functions may not be available.

The Behringer BCF2000 does a decent job of emulating the MCU and it makes a reasonable poor man's alternative to the MCU if you can't afford a real one. But because of the smaller number of buttons on the BCF each of them has to perform multiple functions rather than the (mainly) one-button-per-function arrangement on the MCU so the BCF is not as nice to use as the real MCU.

(It is also possible to use much simpler controllers like the Frontier Tranzport and the PreSonus Faderport, but they offer considerably less control features than the MCU.)

There is information in the Vegas User Manual on using the MCU with Vegas, and a White Paper on the Sony website about using the BCF to emulate the MCU.

Mark

Anybody tried the Alesis Mastercontrol (now discontinued, I believe?)

Ralph

The Presonus Faderport is good for vegas they have it built into the software and it is pretty inexpensive.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?atclk=Brand_PreSonus&Ntt=fader&N=4291271271

I just started a few days ago using the Peavey PC 1600 x which has 16 faders and buttons ....with Vegs Pro 10 ..... Is anybody else using this one?

My Mackie Control Universal Pro doesn't work with Vegas for any version after Vegas 9x. Neither Vegas 10 or Vegas 11 work. Now, you can enable external control and configure the Mackie in 10 or 11, , and it will receive sync commands from Vegas, but none of the MCU controls will control or communicate with Vegas. All one way (Vegas -> MCU only). Very frustrating. I have Vegas 9 through 11 installed on my machine, and Vegas 9 always works like A DREAM with the MCU- like they were built for each other. I can fire up V9 right now and the Mackie lights up like a Christmas tree and can control anything you want on the vegas timeline- in/outs, FX, save/undo, jog/shuttle, transport, rewind, yadda yadda. But no dice with any build version of 10 or 11.

If any of you out there have had any luck at all with the MCU Pro and any flavor of V10 or V11, please let me know, because I've got 24 channels of dormant control surface here that used to make my Vegas setup purr like Pro-Tools, and now it's just so much techno junk.

Just a question...what's the advantage of a 'controller' over keyboard short cuts?

Bump ???

It's nice to have dedicated faders if you are use to a mixing board workflow. You can tweak multiple channels in realtime. Also, you can gain-ride tracks without having to resort to compression. Again, this is if you want to use a "mixing board" type of approach. Vegas has all the tools necessary to do what you want without external control. It has the best audio control of any NLE out there, and always did.

I have used Vegas for audio production since it was just Vegas for audio (before Sonic Foundry added the video functionality). Ingenious and intuitive software, and that's from somebody who has used Pro Tools, Avid, Final Cut, Premiere, DPS Velocity, Media 100, Performer, Cubase, Sonar (aka Cakewalk- remember that one?)

So, in short, MCU definitely NOT necessary, but very nice to have assignable faders for more complex audio mixes, and has some nice video controls too.

thanks,

Darby

Same goes for the Shuttle Pro, its not essential but it really helps. Jog/Shuttle being the main features that help. Real time control knobs rather than keyboard shortcuts. It just feels better and its a little faster too.
Not a must have (although maybe to some it is), but very nice to have.

Paul.