Icon Digital iControls PRO Motorized Fader DAW Controller review

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Hey what’s good fam?

Hope your week is off to a good start, today I’m back with another product from Icon Digital.

This time it’s a DAW controller

Let’s get into it!

So what is the iControls PRO?

iControlsPROThis is a slimline, 8 channel + master channel motorized fader controller for your DAW

It has 8 channel faders, which are touch sensitive and motorized, as well as a dedicated master fader.

In addition to the faders, there’s a master jog wheel, 9 encoder knobs, transport section, mute, solo, and record enable buttons.

This is all housed in a packages that takes up about as much space as a full sized typing keyboard, it’s actually smaller than my own keyboard which isn’t very wide at all.

It’s designed to be a compact solution for hands on control of your channels.

Oh yeah, you can go in and customize the controls via the midi editor to control whatever you wish, there are 4 layers of control information you can configure.

Quick Specs

So what’s the bottom line on this controller?

I really like this controller, I mean, I REALLY like it a lot. I was looking for a really simple way to get control over tracks in a DAW, but most solutions were insanely expensive, as well as taking up entirely too much desk space.

I didn’t want a console setup, I was in search of something sleek that was more rectangular than large square in shape.

The iControls PRO is exactly the form factor I thought of, but wasn’t sure if it was going to be tiny or not considering they have a more robust “console style” control surface line.

I was concerned the faders wouldn’t have enough travel room, but I was wrong, these are full sized faders, so you can get a really good command of your track and channel settings.

I think the build quality of the unit itself is amazing, really feels nice and chunky, though I’d love to see an upgrade to the fader caps themselves, as well as the jog-wheel and encoder knobs.

I feel those three things didn’t quite match the elegance of the unit as a whole. Also, the fader caps are only touch-sensitive in the top middle section, so you can’t really nudge the faders if you want, since they only move when that capacitive area is being touched.

Despite that, I still love this unit, I found that you could easily replace the fader caps with some that are fully capacitive which not only adds functionality but enhances the look in my opinion.

Setup of the unit is super easy, just make sure you have the power adapter plugged into a a proper working outlet, as it needs the power for the motorized faders. However if you’re not around a power outlet, you can still use it via usb for full control of your DAW, minus the motorized goodness.

4andhalfsubsI give the iControls PRO 4.5 out of 5 subs, to get 9 fully motorized, touch-sensitive faders in such a compact package is a dream come true for many musicians, especially when space is at a premium, or you just prefer to fill it up with other stuff!

Even though my personal desire would be for more of a “metallic” finish on the knobs, wheel, and fader caps, I still feel this thing is a great addition to anyone looking for hands on control in a small footprint.  It’s small enough to fit in most situations, even mobile, yet not too small that it doesn’t feel like a major piece of studio equipment.

If you don’t wish to have a huge console style setup but still want access to quality motorized faders for controlling your DAW, you should definitely check this out.

Head on over to the site to learn more: https://www.icondigitalusa.com/content/icontrols-pro-mini-usb-midi-controller

Leave me a comment below and let me know what you think

 

19 Comments

  1. What’s good St.J, I enjoyed the video. Bruh is there any way to run two of these units concurrent (Synced)? Also lets just say that I wanted to trick it out visually,do you how to make that happen with these units (as you are very resourceful)? Appreciate your time.

    Reply
    • I’m not sure if that is possible, you can chain devices via the extra USB port, but I don’t know if two of these will show up as 16 faders or not.

      Reply
  2. Hi St. Joe… Does the iControls Pro work with Mainstage 3? And if yes, how do I set up the channel strips to respond to the controller. I currently have an M-Audio Oxygen controller with 9 manual faders. And some faders controls multiple channel strips.

    Reply
    • I’m not sure as I’m on a PC so I haven’t tried it with Mainstage, I know you can set it up as a general controller as well but don’t think I recall seeing a specific template for that. Best bet would be to ask them directly and make sure.

      Reply
    • There is a special mode for midi mapping I believe, I don’t have the device anymore I sent it back after the reveiw. There may even be an app for mapping if I remember correctly.

      Reply
  3. Nice review, I bought one after watching your review. At first I doubted because I thought it was quit cheap for full motorized faders, I have it now for a couple of days and it is fantastic. It’s my fist DAW-controller, before I needed to use the mouse and/or keyboard for everything I wanted to do, now the basics to start recording Live bands is really easy. Thanks for the review, and I think it is a positive thing the faders only move when you tough them in the middle, that way I don’t move the faders by accident.

    Reply

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