RME ARC USB

I bought a full RME rig made of a Fireface UC, a Quadmic and an ARC controller. Overall, I'm happy with the quality and general implementation of the RME products.

However, of the three pieces I bought, the ARC Usb is the one I'm the least happy about. The controller has in fact some arbitrary limitations in regards to MIDI configuration and programming.

More specifically, I wrote a custom script for the ARC which was supposed to make it behave like a mixer controller for the RME UC (within its own TotalMix software) and as a generic MIDI controller within my DAW, using the ARC buttons left unassigned on the mixer. After inquiring to the RME people on their forum, I now understand that they do not allow the ARC to be freely programmed, and that the controller will only work within the audio interface functions.

I'm extremely careful in keeping a minimalist working environment. I spend a lot of time optimizing the usage of my gear, and making sure nothing sits on my desk under-utilized.

I now have 8 unused ARC MIDI buttons sitting right by my left hand, which could have been easily used to control basic functions within my DAW (i.e. play, rec, stop, tap, metronome, and so on), saving me space and money for another controller.

I really did not expect this from RME. If I buy a pro-grade product, I expect to be able to do some very deep re-configuration. It's the product that must adapt to my workflow, and not the other way around.

RME for me is the brand that represent what very high standard brand supposed to be. I use fireface, octamic and now I get this ARC USB to control the total mix and it works flawlessly 10/10 plug and play.

I don't even need to ready any manual, it's just works and so easy to assign any button even the additional footswitch to it. Yes it is a bit expensive for this specific type of remote but we don't expect cheap price too for this quality.

One thing to concern (very little concern actually) is when it plugged in and recognized in PC as new device (I'm a Windows user btw), it start to freeze for the first time and did not worked. Surprise me a bit. But all I need to do is just to pull off the usb cable from this remote and then plugging back in, voila! It's works like a charm. Love this product and the brand.

I use this as a monitor controller with the RME Totalmix with the RME UFX. I use the Snap buttons for six monitoring presets:
HS8 / NS10m / both HS8 and NS10m / HS8 + Focal Sub / NS10m + Focal Sub / HS8 + NS10m sub + mains

The other two snap presets are for Recording,
The mono works well.
Great little unit that saves the on using a monitor controller and lets me set the cross over dB roll off slope and frequencies in RME Totalmix.

I think it can do much more. For instance I have to explore more about assigning the rest of the buttons and jog wheel.

This is, in conjunction with the RNE UFX, one of my most used pieces of hardware.

I don't have anything bad to say about this controller really. It speeds up your workflow instantly. It took me about half an hour before I figured out how to set it up in Totalmix FX (thanks to the RME youtube channel), but once I had that going, it's easy.

Sizewise it's big enough so you can control it from out of the corner of your eye, very tactile, but small enough as to not take a lot of space on crammed desktops. It's lightweight, built like a Land Rover and works on USB-1 so hardly any CPU-draw. The ability to work with snapshots is a great feature to easily swap between a mixing, tracking or mastering environment.
The big volume control is definitely a plus.