Mackie control universal

Hi guys, thanks to those who have taken an interest....

I'm looking at buying my son a DAW control surface and am more or less settled on the mackie control universal. I have also decided to go for an extender and was wondering what does the C4 do that the extender does not?

I realise I'm being dim but not being musical and never having used a DAW any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Alan

the C4 extender is mainly used for the plugins controls, like in an eq you can control the frequencies, gain/cut, etc.

Thanks for the reply...

Can't the extender do that too?

The C4 has mostly knobs (32 i believe), whereas the extender has eight more faders and knobs. Depending on what he'll use it mostly for will determine which one to get. If he's mixing large multi-track projects, then the extender would be your best bet. If he's more of a bedroom producer using plugins and virtual instruments etc, then the C4 offers more 'tweakability' plus it has 3 more lcd screens for visual feedback as to what the knobs are doing.

hope this helps.

That's great thanks, though I have one more question. Do the 'knobs' on the extender do the same as the 'Knobs' on the extender?

Yes they both use the same encoders with a ring of LEDs round them.