Waves’ Yaniv Litmanovitch outlines the finer points of the FIT Controller

WAVES

FIT CONTROLLER

Waves Senior Product Manager, Yaniv Litmanovitch discusses the FIT Controller, a surface co-engineered by Waves Audio and MIDIPLUS to offer live sound engineers hands-on control of the Waves eMotion LV1 live software mixer.

What was the original goal of the FIT Controller? As a policy, Waves is always open to suggestions and feedback from our community of users. Within our large community of LV1 users, we were frequently requested to provide a tactile controller that will integrate into the eMotion LV1’s workflow. These users specifically wanted a hardware anchor to the LV1’s touchscreen-based interface and, in addition, users requested that it be as compact and robust as possible.

What parameters are you able to control with the surface? Naturally, you can control all the faders for all of the LV1’s channels and mix busses, and their corresponding Mute/Solo/Cue/Pan/Gain/Select parameters as well; you can easily toggle between factory layers 1-8 and custom layers 1-8 and spill the DCA groups; you have control over Send levels with ‘fader-flip’ options, tap a tempo and save a new scene; there is a dedicated ‘Touch-n-Turn’ rotary encoder, which will control any parameter that’s selected on the screen. Also, the LV1’s User-Assignable Keys and Mute groups are always accessible with the ‘User’ toggle option, and FIT has its own dedicated Three User-Assignable Keys that can be set to a specific function out of a long list of options.

How long did it take to bring the FIT Controller to the market? It took us a little over a year. We were forced to adapt to the COVID-19 limitations, which created quite an inevitable setback.

Could you walk me through Waves’ collaboration with MIDIPLUS in developing the product? What was the discussion process? At the start, we took a few months to plan the device, focusing initially on design iterations for layout sizes and functionality. At that stage, working

with the MIDIPLUS development team, the original prototype was created, luckily before the COVID-19 outbreak.

Our team – including software developers and QA engineers – together with MIDIPLUS’ hardware and firmware engineers, got together in order to discuss and begin implementing details concerning protocol and mapping. This type of joint integration session is a crucial step for these kinds of collaborations. It expedites the planning and production progress and getting to know the people behind the tasks tends to make everything work much better later on. From that point on, it involved a great deal of Development – QA cycles, which continued until we got it right.

How has the feedback so far from live audio engineers helped shape the FIT Controller? From the get-go, we had a lot of feedback from our users as to how they use other controllers with the LV1. What’s good and what to stay away from and, of course, what functions they desired to have in this unit. The FIT’s design is aimed to cater to as much of that user feedback as possible. As an example: following user feedback that we received at NAMM when showcasing the prototypes, we actually did a last-minute change for some of the controls, changing their layout and function with user satisfaction in mind as a top priority.

How could this product change the workflow of a live audio engineer using plug-ins? The use of a tactile fader bank can help engineers use the main touchscreen to edit plugins, while keeping a ‘blind-hand’ on the faders. This workflow is something many people wished for. On the flip side, the dedicated ‘Touch-n-Turn’ rotary encoder will control any plugin parameter you touch, making tweaking plugins much easier and more fun. Can we expect to see similar, hands-on products from Waves in the coming years? Was there an increasing demand to move away from touchscreen options? I believe that what we will be seeing is more of a combination and variety of products aimed at different or complementing workflows. While for some users, getting used to touchscreens is a breeze, to others, hardware faders are extremely important and a vital component to their workflow. At Waves, our aim is to always ensure that every type of user finds a workflow that fits them best when working with the eMotion LV1 mixer.

How have you been introducing customers to new products in the wake of COVID-19? COVID-19 has certainly created some major new challenges for everyone in the industry. Since FIT was presented at NAMM 2020, it has created quite a buzz and it is receiving quite a lot of attention from the media and within the industry.

As f or additional new products released during this perplexing period, we have seen that customers are still keen to acquire products that can clearly benefit their workflow and creativity, and that assist them in solving significant issues. Despite the current lull in touring and live productions, due to the situation, there is an acute increase in streaming and broadcast, both of which benefit from using Waves tools.

In a ddition, although ‘live’ hands-on presentations are not currently possible due to the pandemic, we have put in an extra effort in doing online demos and educational events, which have proven to be in demand and valuable for all sides concerned. TPi Photos: Waves www.waves.com