Audio Media - September 2008 - (Page 74) 09|08 AM t this month’s PLASA show in London, Soundcraft will formally introduce the Si digital live sound console, the first (and the flagship model) of a new console line. “It’s a totally integrated unit,” says Product Manager James Shears, “no racks, power supplies are built in, audio ins and outs are on the back on physical XLRs.” The Si is conceived as a plug and play replacement for a conventional mid-format analogue console, “effectively, take your analogue one out,” says Shears, and “put your digital one in.” Shears says there won’t be ‘a half-fitted’ Si ; the configuration is fixed, though ample for a broad range of applications, including the House of Worship market. The Si has physical mic/line inputs, busses, and eight matrix outputs. Each bus output has a dedicated physical connection and metering. “You can assign those as groups or auxes, however you wish,” says Shears, “You want auxes, you’ve got auxes.” FRANK WELLS can’t wait until PLASA ’08 – so he gains a sneak preview of the Soundcraft Si3, a fully integrated bridge between analogue and digital consoles. A panel handling such signals as the main output busses, assignable analogue insert I/O, and external stereo playback device input. In addition, Lexicon signal processing units are built-in to the Si – four of the same units employed on Soundcraft’s Vi . The few options available for the already full-featured desk will include power supply redundancy and, for four option slots, cards to handle additional interfaces like MADI, CobraNet, and I/O suitable for direct connect to digital stage boxes and headphone systems. Harman HiQnet connection is, as one would expect, standard. Two sixteen-channel fader sections sit either side of centre, each controlling channels of input. In a ‘Global’ mode (think ‘horizontal’), the encoder and corresponding OLEDs for each strip control the identical functions for each channel allowing a quick view of pans, bus sends, mic gains and so forth across each input channel. SOUNDCRAFT SI3 Digital Live Console THE REVIEWER FRANK WELLS is the Editor of Audio Media's sister magazine, Pro Sound News in the US. His career includes experiences in military communications and radio broadcast engineering. He spent nearly 10 years as Chief of Technical Services for Masterfonics studios in Nashville and was the founding editor of Audio Media USA. “The technology we developed for this is called EMMA, Embedded Multi-processor Mixing Architecture. Basically, it’s a console on a board, and we can then use that for different platforms depending on how much I/O we want,” says Shears. The Vistonics control surface technology developed by fellow Harman Pro company Studer, and employed on Soundcraft’s Vi console, and the outboard DSP engine that Studer and Soundcraft share for the Vi and other consoles, are currently cost prohibitive to deploy at the target price point of the Si – in the mid five figures (roughly half the price of a Vi with the same nominal I/O). The Analog Devices SHARC-based EMMA platform will be migrated down to a number of future products. The Si uses a single encoder knob and fader per control strip, the control and display topology still benefiting from the Vistonics-like philosophy of distributed and agile displays. Local OLED blocks at each encoder provide information like channel names, current encoder function, metering, and status (i.e., VCA assign, phantom power, polarity reverse). “What we’re trying to do is get away from having to go into a screen to see something,” explains Shears. Indeed, though the Si will be able to support an external screen and editor software, the onboard touch screen is diminutive and is primarily used for housekeeping and set-up functions, and for display of EQ curves. The Si ’s four modular rear panel I/O modules each has inputs and eight outputs, with a central I/O In the ‘Channel’ view (or vertical), the full range of controls (gain, pan, EQ, dynamics, etc) for a selected channel are laid out across the encoders and displays. “Channel mode is like you’ve taken your analogue channel strip and you’re just lying it on its side,” explains Shears. In the centre section, faders, and two rows of encoders and displays, allow similar control of output and VCA group functions, and the parameters of the Lexicon processors. Soundcraft’s FaderGlow illuminated fader tracks change illumination color by function for a quick indication of whether the faders are controlling groups, VCA’s, mute group assignments. or channel levels. Snapshot automation, preset, and user definable keys round out the Si ’s capabilities. A walk through of the Si draws the simple conclusion, ‘It’s a console’, bridging the simplicity and familiarity of an analogue console with the power and flexibility of digital. ∫ I N F O R MAT I O N £ Guide Price -GB£20,000.00 A Soundcraft, Harman International Industries Ltd., Cranborne House, Cranborne Road, Potters Bar, Herts EN6 3JN T +44 (0) 1707 665000 F +44 (0) 1707 660742 W www.soundcraftdigital.com 74 AUDIO MEDIA SEPTEMBER 2008 http://www.soundcraftdigital.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.