Ok, time for me to respond in this thread (I don't post a lot but always read).....
I purchased one of these devices years ago (3 or 5) from ebay because it looks (and feels) like the best hardware controller on the market. Really for me it's all about the shuttle wheel. This device has a super great feel and weight which I appreciate.
But in the time I have had it....... I have never been able to figure out how to use it.
My setup is very streamlined:
Win 10 I7 pc
Fireface UFX
Focusrite Liquid Saffire 56
Presonus M80
Samplitude Pro X3
All I really want to do is some basic stuff:
move the cursor back and forth in Samplitude
hit a shift key and zoom in and out around my cursor
start / stop / pause / forward / rewind
control my main monitor volume in Totalmix
I do understand that writing customer facing software is always very difficult. And I also understand that a lot of users have a difference of opinion on what is "good" about software. I work in my profession at the intersection between hardware and user software so I think I "get it" a little bit.
The software for the Avid Artist Transport is the worst software I have ever tried to use. The only thing worse is the super lacking manual. In my time with the device, I have tried in several "campaigns" to install and setup up the device (spanning years). Each time I have of course downloaded the most current software and drivers. And each time I have committed at least 1 week of try, change approach, and retry without success. My latest attempts have been in this past week when I saw this thread. I have only ever gotten some partial function and have no absolute understanding of how or why it does what it does.
At this time, the most current drivers and software for the device do no install correctly for me on my pc. Of course there is no good help anywhere about this. The last software edition seems to install but after that, everything is so complex and opaque that not even Sir Isaac Newton could figure it out in 7 lifetimes. I have watched youtube videos. I'm sure others have done this too. I have a physics degree and I'm quite sure I can do a thing but not with this device.
The above rant really brings me to this final point.... I am being a stubborn fool. I always say that RME is the absolute best gear on the planet. This really is true and they make a perfectly fine remote controller box thingy for the Fireface UFX already. I think I should just buy it. In fact, I think I could more easily hack any kind of dial wheel on the ARC (actually smelting metal and casting my own heavy knob) than I could figure out the stupid Avid junk.
Sorry I've been no help. I suppose I just thought I would commiserate a bit.
Man, isn't that a great shuttle wheel on the Avid Transport........sigh
oh yea and one final point..... for any of you who have had a bad software experience (like this Avid junk), doesn't it really highlight what is so great about RME.
RME is the best. Awesome hardware, better software.
Rob Kress
Rob