In Summary

Avid’s Eucon protocol allows tactile command of hardware monitor controllers from the console, but a recent development sees a pairing with the latest virtual controller for stereo and surround formats. We show you how to get up and running.

Going Deeper

Where’s The Remote?

Avid’s has a well-established tradition of remote hardware command for monitor control. Including the older ICON Monitor sections that talked to the X-Mon controllers, followed by the current Eucon protocol for a range of surfaces, the tech has let mixer-less studios take control of what they are hearing without having to reach for the mouse or leave the sweet spot. In these environments, incoming and outgoing signals have until now had to pass through a Eucon enabled hardware monitor controller (or interface/controller such as the MTRX). Remote command then comes from buttons and encoders found on surfaces such as the Avid Dock, S4/S6 units, or from mobile devices using the Avid Control app.

Ginger Audio GroundControl Sphere

Ginger Audio’s GroundControl Sphere offers surround enabled virtual monitor control. For smaller facilities, this makes use of the existing physical I/O on any audio interface, and also comes with its own virtual drivers that allow studios to pipe application audio out to speakers and headphones as well.

Other advantages of Sphere and its smaller GroundControl Room sibling have been their ability to host audio plugins, such as for loudspeaker correction, and to be controlled by MIDI to make the most of real buttons and encoders on that spare controller.

As of Eucon-2023-6, GroundControl Sphere is now supported as a controllable device from Avid products. This means that those using Dock/S1/S4/S6 systems and/or the Avid Control app can use them to have control over signals passing through GroundControl Sphere, including its can’t live-without buttons such as Cut, Dim, Talk, and Mono, as well as level controls for monitors and Pro Tools’ Cue mixes.

In the video we demonstrate how to set up GroundControl Sphere to receive Eucon control data. Having installed Avid Control on our tablet, and GroundControl Sphere on our machine, we make sure that Avid Control and Avid Dock are visible in both fields of the EuControl Surfaces tab. We then ensure that GroundControl Sphere’s virtual ports are enabled and set to Connect Upon Application Launch following Settings>Controllers>Eucon. We also show how configurations in GroundControl Sphere are reflected on the Monitoring tab in Avid Control.

GroundControl Sphere now has the following improvements as of version 1.2.6 and up:

• Reduced CPU Consumption.

• Main Output Peak Meter added.

• Metering Customization: Turn on/off any meter according to need.

• Added linking Talkback and DIM preferences.

• UI/UX refresh.

• Enhanced Sphere Studio: Now supporting up to 7.1, alongside Sphere Atmos' existing 9.1.6 support.

• Stream Deck plugin - now featured in the Elgato Store.

• Bug Fixes.

Virtual Big Console Monitor Control?

Although there will be many Avid surface users with modest setups, fewer will have the requirements or budget to justify exotic monitor control such as that offered by Avid or DAD hardware. For these smaller scale users, using a virtual monitor controller will be a neat solution that will soak up spare interface socketry and save cash at the same time.

With GroundControl Sphere and a little help from the free Avid Control app, S1 and Dock owners can now get the big S4/S6 experience for their monitoring with fewer cables and a smaller footprint to rival the big guns.

Our thanks go to HHB for the loan of the Avid Pro Tools Dock for this article and video.

A Word About This Article

As the Experts team considered how we could better help the community we thought that some of you are time poor and don’t have the time to read a long article or a watch a long video. In 2023 we are going to be trying out articles that have the fast takeaway right at the start and then an opportunity to go deeper if you wish. Let us know if you like this idea in the comments.