Eucon 2021.10 adds functionality for all Eucon surfaces as well as some features which are specific to the larger surfaces like the S6 and S4. For larger surfaces there is Multi Swap Layer functionality and a major boost to performance on all surfaces (requires Pro Tools 2021.10). The Avid S1 gains an Insert Bypass, and there are many smaller features and bug fixes. As ever we have the details.

Swap Layers

Specific to the larger surfaces are Swap Layers, a features usually found on large DSP consoles such as those from Harrison.

What Swap Layers do is let you take fader assignments from a layout and on a per channel basis swap out up to four alternative layers without having to recall a new layout across the whole surface. This workflow will be particularly useful in larger facilities working on bigger projects.

Avid S4 and S6 now let you assign tracks with up to four Swap layers, letting you quickly access different tracks from the same strip(s). Tracks are assigned to Swap layers from the Layouts Assign page. You can then cycle all strips through each Swap layer from the Master Module Swap Button (S4 and S6). On S6, you can also initiate Swap from fader strips to cycle all strips or individual strips. To simplify navigation, the names of tracks in other Swap layers can be shown on Display Modules.

Performance Improvements

While not exclusive to the larger surfaces, EUCON 2021.10 brings performance improvements to all EUCON surfaces, though the bigger the surface the greater and more noticeable able the gains will be.

EUCON is ethernet based, so the performance is much much faster than MIDI-based protocols like HUI, but on really big sessions running on big surfaces there is still a great deal of data which has to be moved between computer and surface and this can result in extreme cases in a lag between the surface and Pro Tools. These performance improvements in 2021.10 probably won’t be noticeable to users of small surfaces but users of large S6’s should see improved performance and an end to ‘surface lag’ which can happen on big dual operator S6’s.

In addition to speeding up session load and close times, Layout recall, Banking, Spill and Attention are now much faster. To further increase the speed, Avid has also added a new option to exclude Inactive Tracks from being sent over EUCON. To benefit from this update users are advised to be running Pro Tools 2021.10.

Bypass Inserts 

Users of the super-popular S1 might be feeling left out but there is a small but extremely useful feature coming to the S1 in the form of a dedicated insert bypass button for EQ and Dynamics etc. The previously unused ‘X’ button (Surface Shift+Page Right) now functions as a dedicated bypass, something which was notably absent before.

Other Features

EUCON 2021.10 introduces several other features, including: The Avid Dock monitor knob is now touch sensitive so you can see the volume on touch; fader values are higher resolution when below -10db; and new Pro Tools View Softkeys have been introduced for I/O, EQ Curve, Object and Meters and Faders.