Tangent Wave or MC Color??????

[Dustin Cross]

I have read as much as I can find and I played with the MC Color at NAB. Couldn't find a Wave at NAB I could really play with.

I am still on the fence. Which should I get for Apple Color and Redcine X?

I am leaning towards the Wave because it has more buttons and seems like it needs less key combinations to use, but I can't find a video demo of the Wave, so I don't know that for sure.

Now that they have both been out for awhile, which does everyone prefer?


Thanks,
Dusty

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

I own the Wave. It's been a good purchase. I have also played with the MC Color a bunch. If I had to buy another right now, I would probably go with the Wave again because it has a bit more supporting software out there and will work with the $995 version of DaVinci when released. That said, I think I like the MC Color a bit better for its ergonomics, even though it has fewer buttons. The wave is a bit funky and I think if I could re-design it, I would reshape it a bit. Both are good though. Don't pay more than $1399 for either of them new. I got my Wave from Safe Harbor (sharbor.com) for $1349 w/ free shipping, but that was a while ago -- like the end of last year.

 

[BigLu]

I also own and use the Wave.
I have used the MC Color in the past and it seemed to have a smoother more fluid response with the wheels and joy balls. I think its shape is less clunky than the Wave too.

That said what I love about the wave is its layout has been very useful. It has severed me very well for Color and REDCINE X. It has not given me any problems its very light and over all I LOVE IT.
One noticeable thing i like about it much more than the MC Color is its powered by the USB and does not require another power supply. Thats helpful for my workflow as im on set on the move, grading RED footage in RCX.

Seems to me your best bet is to try them both for a few hours and see what you like better.
I love my wave and all the useful buttons.

 

[Dustin Cross]

Thanks for the input. Sounds like i should get the Wave.


Dusty

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

one note about USB power with the Wave. It takes full port power and I was not able to run it through two different hubs I have, even though the hubs are "powered". I run a 15ft USB2 cable straight from the Mac Pro to my Wave. Works great.

 

[Yohance Brown]

Yea I'd say go with the wave. I can't live without a shuttle controller on my surface. The wave has the shuttle and more. MC Color does not have a shuttle you can buy one at additional cost. I know a bunch of NYC based colorist and we all love the wave.

 

[David Battistella]

There are reviews of both of these controllers at creative cow.

David

http://library.creativecow.net/tutorials/applecolor

 

[Robert Horwell]

Yea I'd say go with the wave. I can't live without a shuttle controller on my surface. The wave has the shuttle and more. MC Color does not have a shuttle you can buy one at additional cost. I know a bunch of NYC based colorist and we all love the wave.

You can set the MC color up to work as a shuttle, it quite easy and works well. MC color also works with Redcine X, it 's got a solid build quality.

 

[Dustin Cross]

I really like the MC Color. The controls felt great. The size is great. My problem is all the hidden functionality that is mentioned in the Creative Cow review. Something like 72 keys you have to memorize vs the Wave has a display to tell you what the keys do.

I am worried a lot of the functionality of the MC Color will be lost because I didn't memorize enough keys.

The only reason I didn't buy something this weekend was because neither panel controls the Red Tab in Color and I spend a lot of time in that tab.


Dusty

 

[Stuart Smith]

one note about USB power with the Wave. It takes full port power and I was not able to run it through two different hubs I have, even though the hubs are "powered". I run a 15ft USB2 cable straight from the Mac Pro to my Wave. Works great.

Hmm...thats strange - I second the Wave because of it's portability. We have one Wave that gets moved between 3 different cities, just plug and play. All of our suites have USB extenders run between the machine room, where the rigs are, and the suite, longest run probably 125 feet. I've never run into a problem running the Wave, keyboard, mouse and Wacom off the powered extenders. Trying to plug anything else in will usually give low power warnings. If you're OK with you're solution thats great, but I don't think you should be having a problem like that. If you want any other info about our setup to try and troubleshoot anything, just let me know

 

[brandon thomas]

i've had the MC Color for about 4 months now and absolutely love it. While i'll agree there are more keys to memorize, there's a button on the MC Color that brings up the EuCon interface to show you what any key does, it goes away when you hit the same button again. so If you're unsure it's nearly instantaneous to see the function of any key, and to reprogram it on the fly.

anytime i'm unsure about a function, i've found my answer and am working again in seconds.

I haven't been able to get my hands on a wave either, but i demoed a prototype of the MC Color and was hooked. I did opt to get the MC Transport as well, but in hindsight i could easily live without it. You can toggle the right trackwheel to serve as a jog wheel, and it has dedicated play/pause/rewind/next and previous clip buttons.

using multiple MC devices basically necessitates that you buy a ethernet hub for all devices to communicate properly. You'll also need a hub if your tower is connected to an xsan or already is using it's two ethernet ports.