I use Avid´s Artist Control V2 with PT12 and Logic Pro 9. To make it short: this control surface is simply amazing!

As vicrep has been pointing out, the initial setup is a bit fussy, but once you´ve registered the unit and installed all the software it needs to run properly (which took me about an hour, including downloads, FW updates, etc.), you´re ready to go.

I cannot comment on the previous version´s build quality, but the V2 makes a very stable impression and is designed just perfectly imo. The faders, knobs and buttons operate flawlessly with an immensely high resolution. Having the Artist Control under your fingers feels awesome - and will look pretty sexy on right about any producer´s desk.

The amount of features and commands mapped is quite overwhelming. It took me some weeks to browse through most of them, and I shift from utilizing keyboard shortcuts to using the Artist Control´s dedicated features more and more. Once you get used to using these, your workflow will speed up rapidly. Complex editing tasks become a piece of cake. The learning curve can be steep at times, but it will totally be worth it.

The unit´s programmability is another huge plus. I can set up any chain of commands to be executed by pressing a single knob within a few seconds. The ability to populate the faders with dedicated channels that will stay the same as you´re banking through the channels is awesome too. These so called „layouts“ will be saved with the respective project file. I often use different layouts within one project, and changing these is again just a matter of pressing one button.

The touchscreen is easy to read under any lighting circumstances, and is reacting very rapidly. I have not experienced any hangups yet.

Overall I can highly recommend Avid´s Artist Control surface to everyone who is interested in purchasing a high quality control surface for their DAW of choice (since the Artist series is compatible with almost every DAW on the market). This is professional quality gear.

Build quality: Please take the "sound quality" score as "build" quality, and it's easily fives stars. Nice metal chassis, construction looks tidy and everything feels like it will last. Fader caps could be better, but the faders themselves are awesome. 10mm of fun and precision. Jog wheel is quite responsive and the encoders have a good feel and decent precision despite being a bit underwhelming because of the software implementation. Buttons are also well made and respond well. The touchscreen has a decent resolution and its easy to visualize, but remember that this is touch-screen technology from the 2000s and can't hold a candle to an ipad or anything made in the last five years, but it feels like it will serve its duty. Overall this feels like a professional piece of equipment and has impressed everybody who came to work in my studio.

Ease of use: It seems like I got this controller on the best time possible given the amount of complaints and cranky posts I've seen about the firmware, drivers and general support. See that first review, which was written nearly 3 years ago? Well, fortunately it looks like we're past that and everything is super easy nowadays: easy to install, easy to program and assign functions to the touchscreen and buttons, extremely easy to use once you learn how to deal with the touchscreen. Remember once again that this is touch-screen technology from the 2000s, so you current phone probably puts it to shame. My personal trick is to tap it with the back of my finger, using the tip of my thumbnails. I've also tried a pen with a rubberised tip to good avail. Regardless of the outdated tech, the touch screen is very useful and provides a wealthy number of functions.

Features: A very nice feature set and one that's growing as Avid adds more functionality on each firmware release. However, there are some good amount of features to be implemented, such as a linear mode for the encoders (which are currently limited to the unruly exponential mode) and an use for the forgotten "control room" encoder that is left unmapped at this point.

Bang for buck: Expensive, there's no way around that. This is a very good piece and it's worth more than the asking price if you look at what it brings to the table - at least that's my personal experience with and my DAW mixing life can be divided in "BC - before this controller" and "AC - after this controller". The after-controller life has been quite amazing and puts my mind at absolute ease when I think about the considerable investment I've made to acquire this nice piece of gear that has become absolutely crucial to my studio. Overall I'm very happy with this controller and my workflow has certainly been improved a lot with it, therefore I can say that the steep investment has paid off nicely.