New -VCA- button

[johne53]

At the bottom LHS of each channel strip is a button labelled -VCAs-. I'd never noticed it before so I'm guessing it's a new feature....

If I hover over the button with my mouse, a tooltip pops up saying VCA Assign but if I actually click the button, nothing happens.

What am I missing? Do I need to load (or create) VCA's somehow? And what's their purpose?

[Dingo]

What am I missing? Do I need to load (or create) VCA's somehow? And what's their purpose?

Second question first... a VCA (Voltage Controlled Amplifier) is a non signal processing (No EQ /DYN etc.) control fader that adjusts the reference level of any fader.
That means a fader can have a dynamic level movement and if assigned to a VCA that faders entire level can be trimmed up and down whilst maintaining the dynamic moves.
As a mix gets bigger and bigger you often need global ways to massage sub groups of instruments /elements.

First part, the VCA assign button was moved onto the fader base in v6 and yes once you have created a VCA or two you can assign or deassign from the fader.

VCA's allow you to trim and control a monster mix, they also allow amazing control of solo/mute functions.

[johne53]

Many thanks Dingo. Strangely enough, when I create a VCA its name is getting shown below the fader (and the fader seems very long for some reason...)

With everything else (tracks / groups / master etc) their faders are all the same size and the name is always shown above the fader. I wonder why it's different for VCA's

[Dingo]

I think the design reflects that a VCA cannot pan and no plugins need apply... so they can be thinner.
There has also been some discussion about making VCA's, Input Channels and Sub Groups visually different.
It may also stem from the design ethos of the S10/S12/MPC consoles where blocks of VCA's (RF's) could be stacked in groups of four the height of the console strip, giving 16 remote faders.

[Andy76]

If I hover over the button with my mouse, a tooltip pops up saying VCA Assign but if I actually click the button, nothing happens.

That should be a feature request.

If no VCA exists clicking on channelstrip VCA button prompts for creating a VCA attached to this channel. "Create VCA attached to this channel?"

Anyone?

[sunrat]

If I hover over the button with my mouse, a tooltip pops up saying VCA Assign but if I actually click the button, nothing happens.

That should be a feature request.

If no VCA exists clicking on channelstrip VCA button prompts for creating a VCA attached to this channel. "Create VCA attached to this channel?"

Anyone?

Not really. It seems logical you need a VCA before you can assign to it.
As for the longer faders, I see that as a bonus - more fader = finer control.

[johne53]

If I hover over the button with my mouse, a tooltip pops up saying VCA Assign but if I actually click the button, nothing happens.

That should be a feature request.

If no VCA exists clicking on channelstrip VCA button prompts for creating a VCA attached to this channel. "Create VCA attached to this channel?"

Anyone?

Yes, that sounds sensible to me. +1

[Andy76]

Not really. It seems logical you need a VCA before you can assign to it.
As for the longer faders, I see that as a bonus - more fader = finer control.

Doesnt it seem logical to you to have a one-click operation in expected place to create VCA if it is non existent? Instead of Menu-Add Track-add VCA-Assign to etc..one click instead of many.

[sunrat]

Not really. It seems logical you need a VCA before you can assign to it.
As for the longer faders, I see that as a bonus - more fader = finer control.

Doesnt it seem logical to you to have a one-click operation in expected place to create VCA if it is non existent? Instead of Menu-Add Track-add VCA-Assign to etc..one click instead of many.

Certainly it's logical. Whether it's worth the developers time to code it considering the complexity or simplicity of implementing it must be weighed against the advantage of saving a couple of clicks. I'm not totally against the idea at all.