M-Audio iControl

 iControl
View a Large Image
M-Audio iControl
This product is no longer available to buy.

Click here for related products
  • Product Description
  • Reviews
  • News
  • Videos

iControl delivers total tactile control over GarageBand. Dedicated transport buttons and jog wheel put record and playback functions at your fingertips. Its eight rotary encoders are easily assigned to track functions like volume and pan, or to parameters for effects such as GarageBand’s EQ or any other AU plug-in. iControl also provides dedicated mute, solo and record-enable buttons for each track, plus a master volume fader. iControl is USB bus-powered, class-compliant, and automatically recognized by GarageBand, making setup a breeze. iControl puts you in complete creative flow with your GarageBand experience.

Hands-on Control

Making music should be about the creative process, not messing with technology or working with its limitations. After all, GarageBand emulates pro studio gear that has dedicated controls. That’s why recording studios in the know have tactile controllers for their music software. Of course, they usually cost a lot more than iControl—but GarageBand breaks the mold in a lot of ways.

Designed for GarageBand

iControl is the only control surface designed specifically for GarageBand. By avoiding the pitfalls of trying to create a generic controller to work with a variety of software, the M-Audio design team was able to deliver a tool that gives you ultimate control over all the functions you use regularly in GarageBand.

Bank on It

iControl features a bank of controls for eight tracks at a time including dedicated buttons for solo, mute, record, as well as rotary encoders assignable for volume and pan. Need more tracks? Just press the +/- buttons to assign the eight sets of track controls to a higher or lower grouping of tracks.

Effects and More

In addition to track volume and pan, those eight rotary encoders are great for programming and tweaking instruments and effects like EQ and Generator. Assignment is simple—just push the Select button associated with the desired track, then press the button in the “Selected Track” group associated with what you want to control. The rotary encoders instantly become controls for that module or effect. To switch back, just press either the Volume or Pan button in the “All Tracks” group.

Features

  • 8 endless rotary encoders assignable to control volume, pan, aux bus sends or effects
  • 7 mode buttons assign encoders to control tracks or effects
  • 8 sets of Mute, Solo, and Record-enable buttons
  • +/- buttons assign the group of eight encoders to additional banks of eight tracks or effect parameters
  • Master volume fader
  • Dedicated transport buttons: Play, Stop, Record, Fast Forward, Rewind, Rewind to Start, and Project Cycle on/off
  • Jog wheel for easy song positioning
  • Option button for future enhancements
  • USB bus-powered—no power adapter required
  • Additional MIDI 5-pin MIDI input jack for control by external MIDI keyboard
  • Class-compliant driver
  • Automatically recognized by GarageBand for easy setup

Compatibility

  • AU
  • AIFF
  • GarageBand 2

Minimum System Requirements

  • Any computer running GarageBand 2

iControl Review

Blair Cowan
April 13, 2006

Rating: 9/10

The iControl does for Garageband what Pro Tools did for DAW. It's well thought out ergonomics make for a great input device - much better than keyboard & mouse. If that was all it did, then that would be enough in itself to justify the purchase price. However it also helps me get more out of Garageband, as I can quickly manipulate several tracks at a time.
Build quality is very high - I can see this product working faultlessly for years to come - and it feels and looks great.
It isn't however a complete replacement for the mouse though: You can record enable an existing track from it, but not create a new track. You can control individual track's volume and pan, but not input 'fades'. You also can't access the Master track to do things like experiment with different compression settings for mastering, or select and edit the overall reverb setting for the track.
It would be great if M-Audio offered a software upgrade to make Master Track selection and editing possible. in fact it owuld make a very good product pretty much perfect.

  • Björk Rocks Coachella Festival...with a Lemur!

    No, not the wide-eyed animal, but the eye-catching, revolutionary MIDI Controller by Jazz Mutant.

  • Part 3: Section 2: MIDI Controllers (without keys)

    It’s fair to say that whatever your keyboard playing skills there is a controller out there for you, as we’ve already seen in section 1 of this part of our computer music guide. But what if you don’t want a keyboard? Or what happens if you already have a keyboard and just want some extra controls to manipulate your music software? Fortunately there are many MIDI controllers without keyboards that will fit your needs.

  • Apple Garageband online seminar

    Tune in to this free online seminar and learn how to transform your Mac into a musical instrument and record new and inspiring masterpieces. Who knows? This seminar may take you from musical inspiration to 50,000 screaming fans.

Competition - Have your say

Have your say and submit your own product review on the M-Audio iControl
Please let us know what you think of the M-Audio iControl or any other product on our site. The best review chosen from all that are submitted this month will win a fantastic pair of M-Audio IE-30 - High-Definition Professional Reference Earphones with Dual-Driver Technology worth £189.00 M-Audio IE-30

Help us with your Feedback

  • If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, Contact Us
  • Is there any other feedback you would like to provide? Click Here
 

Email our /images/specialists/Computer Specialist

RSS Feeds

iControl RSS Feeds...

Sign-Up

Sign up now for special offers & industry news...

Optional extra lists you can sign up for...