Mackie Control: Display Zone

The display zone, located along the top of the Mackie Control, features four displays. Each shows different information:

Mackie Control: Main Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)

The main LCD is divided into eight sections (or columns), each with two lines of text. Each section displays information for the channel strip controls directly below it. Depending on the parameters you are editing and whether Mixer view or Channel view is active, the information displayed on the main LCD changes. In general, the upper row of each section displays the (abbreviated) track (or channel) name, and the lower row displays the (abbreviated) parameter name and its value.

In some modes, a long parameter name (or other text) appears briefly onscreen while you are moving the corresponding control. You can set the display and duration of long parameter names in the Control Surfaces preferences. For information on setting preferences, see Basic Control Surface Setup.

Note: On the LCD, 8-bit ASCII characters such as curly quotes and umlauts are replaced with the best-possible 7-bit ASCII equivalent.

Mackie Control: Assignment Display

The Assignment display (also referred to as the mode display), to the right of the main LCD, shows a two-digit abbreviation for the current assignment status. A period (.) appears at the bottom-right corner of the display when Channel view is active.

Mackie Control: Time Display

The Time display, to the right of the Assignment display, shows the current playhead position, either in musical time divisions (BEATS) or in SMPTE time code format (SMPTE). A small LED to the left of the display indicates the current display format.

  • When the format is set to Beats, the four segments of the Time display show the current playhead position as bars, beats, beat subdivisions, and ticks.

  • When the format is set to SMPTE, the four segments of the Time display show the current playhead position as hours, minutes, seconds, and frames.

You can switch between formats by pressing the SMPTE/BEATS button directly below the display. You can also set the default format with the Clock Display parameter in the Control Surfaces Setup window. Information on this (and other configuration options) is found in Configuring Your Control Surface Setup.

Mackie Control: Solo LED

The Solo LED (labeled as Rude Solo on the Mackie Control), located at the right edge of the display zone, is lit when a channel strip is set to solo, or when Solo mode is turned on. It is a helpful reminder in situations where you have soloed a channel strip, and then switched the fader bank, resulting in the Solo LED (of the soloed channel strip) being hidden on the control surface.

Mackie Control: Display Buttons

These buttons, located just below the left edge of the Time display, affect what you see in the main LCD and Time display.

NAME/VALUE

Press the NAME/VALUE button to switch between the two parameter display formats (either the parameter name or value is shown) on the main LCD.

Pressing the NAME/VALUE button while holding the SHIFT button cycles through three level meter modes on the main LCD:

  • Vertical: In this mode, the last character of each channel (in both LCD rows) is overlaid by a vertical bar which shows the channel level. The text characters reappear when the level meter is not visible.
  • Horizontal with Peak Hold: In this mode, the lower row of the LCD is replaced by horizontal channel level bars. Peak Hold appears as a hollow box, which disappears after a few seconds. Signal overloads (clipping) are indicated by an asterisk, which remains on the LCD display until cleared (see below).
  • Off: In this mode, no level meter bars are displayed in the main LCD.

In all three modes, the SIGNAL LEDs of the channel strips function as per usual, indicating the presence of a signal.

Pressing the NAME/VALUE button while holding down the CONTROL button clears any overload (clipping) indicators in the Logic Pro Mixer, and in the LCD of the Mackie Control (if the Horizontal with Peak Hold mode is active).

Pressing the NAME/VALUE button while holding down the CMD/ALT or OPTION button activates Control Surface Group Settings mode. This mode lets you edit the following control surface group settings, some of which are not accessible with a single button:

Control
Action
V-POT 5
Sets the track name display format.
  • Name: Displays the track name only.

  • No: Name: Displays the track number and name.

V-POT 6
Switches Channel view to Lock mode.
  • Off: The standard mode, where selecting a channel strip makes it the active (currently being edited) channel strip.

  • On: Locks the active channel strip. Selection of another channel strip has no impact on the channel strip being edited.

When you switch from On to Off, the channel strip is also updated.
V-POT 7
Switches the LCD display format.
  • Name: The upper line of the LCD displays global info, and the lower line displays parameter names.

  • Value: The upper line of the LCD displays parameter names, and the lower line displays parameter values.

Functionally, this is identical to pressing the NAME/VALUE button.
V-POT 8
Switches the Clock display format.
  • Beats: Clock is displayed in bars, beats, beat subdivisions, and ticks.

  • SMPTE: Clock is displayed in SMPTE format.

Functionally, this is identical to pressing the SMPTE/BEATS button.

You can exit Control Surface Group Settings mode by pressing NAME/VALUE, or by entering one of the Marker or Nudge modes.

SMPTE/BEATS

Press the SMPTE/BEATS button, located just below the SMPTE/BEATS LEDs, to switch between the two time formats (SMPTE time or beats). For more information, see Mackie Control: Time Display.