Digidesign D-Command / ICON

Unveiled at AES Berlin in April 2004, Digidesign's ICON (Integrated Console) surface arrived just as Pro Tools HD was becoming the de facto studio standard. It answered a specific need: to give engineers back a large-format tactile surface - faders, encoders, dedicated buttons - to drive Pro Tools sessions that had grown too complex for mouse and keyboard. The range comprised the D-Control (16 base faders, expandable to 64-80) and, a year later, the more compact D-Command (8 base faders, expandable by a 16-fader module).

What the surface delivers is the ergonomics of an analogue console laid over a digital engine: touch-sensitive motorised faders (-infinity to +12 dB throw, Penny & Giles on the D-Control), per-channel rotary encoders for EQ, dynamics and sends, scribble strips, and a remote analogue monitor controller, the XMON, handling up to 7.1 with cue and talkback. The surface connects to the host computer over a simple proprietary 100-base Ethernet link.

The key point, often misunderstood, is the total dependence on the TDM engine. The D-Command contains no audio circuitry: it opens, sums and processes nothing. All mixing, EQs, compressors and routing are computed by the Pro Tools|HD Accel DSP cards, and physical audio flows through the Pro Tools interfaces (192 I/O, 96 I/O). The surface is an advanced remote control - hence its classification as a hybrid control surface sitting between DAW and console.