First thing to do is register your controler. Go the the Euphonix support’s website.

This is where you’ll find the software download, the email support link and the docs.

When everything is working, as explained in previous post, you should have the green « € » in the top right of the menu, and the controler should display the name of the software you are actualy using (safari ? firefox ?)

I had some controler « freeze » at some point. Then, the controler keeps displaying the same application name, whichever application is in focus. For the moment, the only solution I found is to power-off the controler, go in the EuControl settings (the only way to get acces to the menu) and quit.
Then, restart the EuControl application, wait until the menu icon stop rolling, then power-on the controler.
As I said, I emailed the support about that without any real answer. I openned a new case today… we’ll see…

If you are using a supported application the controler comes pre-configured. This is not the case for most basic applications like Safari, Firefox, iTunes or even the finder.
While the MC Transport is not made for that specificaly, configuring these applications will help us understand how the controler work.

Basic notions :

you have two ways to do that : clic on the green icon in the menu and go to the settings -> « soft keys » tab or, simply, clic on the « eye » key on the controler, at the lower left of the keypad.

Before beeing able to use the jog or shuttle you have to enable it. Most of the time the activation key is the first soft key for the jog and the second for the shuttle. When switching into an application, every key should be off (no light). clic again to activate

You can change the color of the transport keys (the one arount the shuttle). The 2 first and 2 last keys can be yellow or red. The 3 keys in the middle can be yellow or green. For the moment, I haven’t found a way to light a key or change its color depending on the action. I openned a case to the support to have more informations. For example, keeping the key green while pressed, or changing the color at every clic… Another request, which may be linked, is having two actions for the same key. This way, you can have a yellow key. When first clic, send the « play » shortcut of the application and turn to red. When pressed again, send the « stop » or « pause » keystroke and turn back to yellow… I hope the support will give a clue on how to do that, or add support in the next software release

The pdf manual will lead you through the configuration process, which is really easy for the basic stuffs. Let’s write down a walkthrough…
All this is done in the configuration software, not the controler.

- select the button to assign
- give a name in the « soft key label » box AND press enter to validate
- change the font or color if needed
- clic on « command… » or double-clic on the button
- clic on the « add » menu and select what to do. Most of the time it will be « key », and if you want to make the button an activation button for the jog or shuttle, use « wheel »
- enter a keystroke or a list of them. Doing this enable you to do scripts
- you can add more option, again, to script the button

If you’re programming the button to activate the wheel, select wheel and a custom function.
If you’re programming the wheel, you have to :
- clic on the « + » sign and give a name to the « command »
- as you do when programming a key, add a keystroke or another function. This will be used when turning the wheel right (clockwise) by default
- clic on the « turn jog right » menu and change to « turn jog left »
- add the keystroke used when turn anti-clockwise

If you’re programming the shuttle, this is a little bit different. You can add action for each of the 15s step of the wheel (-7 -> 0 -> +7) and for each transition (0 ->1, 1->2 …) and the other way around (2->1, 1->0…)

These are the basics. I’ll try to give examples in the next post

[EDIT]
Now that I have my disk array working, I had another try.
Once again, the MC Transport stayed locked on the « Mail » application. This is not the first time, and for the moment, the only answer from the support was « disable firewall in your mac » and « start the audio mixer of FCP ». These answers were done after 10 days, or more. Seriously, Euphonix, what are you doing here ?

If this happen to you, follow these steps :
- power off the MC Transport
- go in the green « € » icon -> « EU Control Settings »
- go to the menu and quit
- poweron the MC Transport and wait until the « Euphonix » logo appear
- start the EU Control application. The menu icon should turn to green.

For the moment, while the hardware is perfectly built, I can’t say the software is working fine… If you haven’t bought yet, WAIT !
Euphonix team, if you read this, I’m willing to spend some time debugging for you. Just provide me a beta software, or one with extra debug. But please, stop giving stupid answers.

Let’s first take a look at the packaging.


This box was is a brown box, which was in a bigger box with bubble plastic for protection. Thank you Thomann for such a precautions. That’s surely why Thomann can offer a 3 years support instead of the classical one legal year in Europe. Seriously, if you’re in the EU, order there !

The content : the MC Transport, a network cable, 2 risers and the power supply. I didn’t notice it at the first sight as it is hidden inside the foam. Maybe the MC Transport can work with PoE (power over ethernet), but I’ll have to check the brochure for that.

Remove all the gaffer and stuffs so every part of the MC Transport can move.

See the small foot under the body. you can set it the way you want. If needed, use the risers.

The 7 transport control keys are soft and responsive. The rubbed semi transparent top is a real pleasure. This is also the case for the six soft keys.
The shuttle ring is also rubbed and is soft, but make some noise when turned left/right.
The jog wheel is really weighted and smooth, that should make it really sharp.
The keypad is also rubbed. You’ll get a real good feeling. The only funny part is that it’s really smaller than I thought.

This is it at my work, with the new Apple keyboard, in front of a 24″ imac.

Next step is to install the driver and software. This is all bundeled in a .dmg file. To get it you need to register your product on the registration support page. You’ll find there 2 versions of the driver… I recommend the latest one, 2.0.3. Note that you do not need to restart your computer for the software to work… some other driver developpers should be inspired !!!
Once installed, you’ll get a new preference pane and an application:

The preference pane allow you to automaticaly start the application on reboot.

Power-on the MC Transport

The software is a green round icone with a kind of € inside. You’ll notice it in the dock and in the menu, as a grey icone.
The only option is to go to the settings.
Plug in your MC Transport and, assuming you are using DHCP, you should see it in the first pane :

Just select the MC Transport and click add :

When the MC Transport and the computer are paired, the icon change to green in the menu.
I’ll try to make another post on the usage in FCP soon… As for now, I already encountered two problems :
- In FCP, jog and shuttle are not working. I had to make some change to have it working.
- When « paired » with FCP (FCP is displayed on the MC Transport screen), there is no way to move to another application. Ex: switch to the finder and move the jog -> it’s still the cursor from the FCP timeline which is moving

After emailing the support, I had an answer after two days. The support asked me to « always have the audio mixer opened in Final Cut Pro ». This is quite strange, and opening it changed nothing to the problems I had… I have emailed the support 3 more times since then, without any answer yet (almost 10 days…)

Stay tuned….

This gives you a lot more than the Shuttle Pro2. It work on ethernet and the driver enable it to be used with almost any software !
Around 400€… availlable around right now…

Should I or not ?

Then you need to install the drivers (or not, as you G5 does not have an express card slot) and the XDcam import tool.

I don’t have a USB expresscard reader and I don’t have a reliable firewire hard drive yet. I then chosed to copy the whole SxS card content from my MacBook Pro to my G5 over the network. 5 mins for  1.5Gb of data. I’m in the way to buy an external hard drive, using firewire and maybe e-sata, with 2 internal RAID (mirror) drives. I saw some brand having this kind of stuff. Then I’ll be able to unload the card to the drive, and have the footages imported to my G5 directly. This will be a little bit faster.

For now, I copied the whole content of the card to a folder with the name of the shoot :

Noel is the french word for christmass, Romain is the name of the father of my girlfriend, which is a french DoP. It was also his birthday on the 25th of December.

Then I start FinalCut, create a new project and go to the file->import->Sony XDcam. This open the import tool. If you have an SxS card inserted, you will see its content immediatly. If you don’t (as you are on a G5), you will have to supply the directory where you put the content of the card.

Just click « Add » at the botom left of the screen, choose your folder « noel-romain-2007″ (the « BPAV » folder will be greyed out) and click add.

The folder will be scanned and the content will show up :

You then have to select some of the footages from the top pictures and click import at the botom. The number of clip to import will be shown in front of the folder you’re importing from, decreasing each time a clip is imported. You will also see a progree bar on the footage you are importing.

I’ll try to add more stuffs here, but I’m on my way to get some pictures of Notre-Dame de Paris then the Champs Elysée. I’ll try to post all that ASAP.

Marry Christmass to all.