ProAudio Review - April 2008 - (Page 22)

STUDIO | First Look SSL Continued From Page 20 sets its apart. In a workstation, you have digital plug-ins. In many ways what we offer with Matrix through this routing feature is an analog plugin type architecture. It turns your outboard gear into analog plug-ins that you can operate from the console.” With HUI or MCU modes, the 16 motorized faders and channel controls allow the user to mix using just the control surface. From the desk, the user has access to transport and navigation functions, plug-in and virtual instrument parameters, and essential DAW commands. Producers and engineers who work primarily ‘in the box’ will appreciate Matrix’s ability to control up to four DAWs simultaneously. For example, the video game composer can switch between Logic, Cubase, and Pro Tools with a press of a button, using Matrix as the control surface. “[Propellerhead’s] ReWire technology will allow you to connect the transports and stream audio between the DAWs, but by having simultaneous workstation control, you can, select Ableton Live orfor example, select Reason as a workstation control options, and your faders will then control your AbletonReason mixes. Press another button and you’re back in your Logic mixer. It’s very fast way to work with several different applications simultaneously.” The Matrix claims 16 faders, with one additional “Focus Fader” mode (and accompanying V-Pot) that proves useful for a variety of functions. “Maybe you want to ride the vocal level as you’re listening to the mix,” Feldman explains. “That extra fader can be assigned to control a different parameter to the 16-faders on its left. So the additional fader gives you an extra level of control. It’s like a wild card that you can assign to a variety of different tasks.” Other convenient features include an A/D converter available as XLR/AES format and S/PDIF optical TOSLINK connector. “The A/D converter provides a very pure monitoring power from the computer,” says Feldman. The digital I/O can be selected via the front panel to be fed from the REC bus, Mix bus or the Pre Monitor pot signal. The input can be selected from the front panel’s programmable softkeys. The softkeys allow a user to program essential DAW commands, up to 350 per DAW layer. Another proprietary feature called the iJack allows the user to plug an iPod or other portable device right into the console. “Quite often people have ideas they’ve put onto an MP3 player or an iPod,” says Feldman. “This allows you to plug it straight into the front panel, call it up on monitoring, and then listen to it right away.” MATRIX AS A MIXER Routing and controlling aside, Matrix can act like a high-quality SSL mixer when it wants to. Each of the 16 SuperAnalogue channels offers two inputs per channel, a dedicated Channel Output, Stereo Aux Send and four mono Aux Sends. Dual Stereo Mix Busses and four Stereo Returns with full stereo mix bus routing bring the total available mix inputs to 40. Matrix also features independent Main and Mini monitor outputs, an Artist Monitor output section with independent EQ and source selection, and three External Monitor inputs with source summing. Keep in mind, however, that Matrix doesn’t come with inboard mic pre’s and EQs. Matrix users would need to either integrate their own or add on one or more of SSL’s XLogic channel strips. “Our idea was to create a tool that would allow people to make better use of their personal tool kit that they’ve already developed,” says Feldman. “Another reason was pure economics. People said, ‘I’ve already spent thousands of dollars on all of this boutique gear. I’m not going to get rid of it. It’s the focus of my workflow.’ Matrix took those considerations to heart.” For those who are still building their tool kit, SSL offers several options. “An engineer can purchase one or two X-Racks and have a nice powerful production system,” says Feldman. “In the X-Rack system we have mic pres and EQs of a couple different flavors, we’ve got dynamics units, and a bus compressor. You can build close to a small SSL console entirely from X-Racks. Obviously you get a more productionfocused system by combining that with a Matrix. That’s one of our ground-up solutions.” This interconnectivity — or “Logictivity,” as SSL describes it — is one of the company’s key concepts in product design. “By allowing the units to talk to each other, we can add a bit more value, so if you had an entirely SSL solution, you could conceivably do more than if you were using a rack full of other boutique pre’s and EQs.” And while there are parallels between the products, each serves a different purpose. It would be easy to describe Matrix as a strippeddownsmaller, simpler AWS900, but Matrix is actually more complex than that. “The“At launch, AWS900 was a pioneering product in combining high quality analog audio and digital workstation control in a single unit,” says Feldman. “And Duality, its bigger brother, and Matrix, its younger brother, are all parts of the same family. You can see that there’s a DNA resemblance in the three family members. But their feature sets are quite different.” The SSL Matrix ships in May 2008. For more information on Matrix, visit http://www.solid-state-logic.com Heather Johnson is a San Francisco-based journalist and author whose books include “If These Halls Could Talk: A Historical Tour Through San Francisco Recording Studios.” 22 | ProAudio Review | April 2008 Subscribe to the Digital Edition of Pro Audio Review http://www.myparmag.com www.proaudioreview.com http://www.solid-state-logic.com http://www.linearsystems.com http://www.proaudioreview.com http://www.myparmag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ProAudio Review - April 2008

ProAudio Review - April 2008 Contents A Little More Recognition Please Studio News and New Products API 1608 16-Channel Analog Console TASCAM X-48 Digital Audio Workstation SSL Matrix Super Analogue Console Toft Audio Design Series ATB Analog Console KRK Systems Exposé E8B Powered Monitor Broadcast News and New Products ZOOM H2 Portable Digital Recorder Producing Surround Sound at 50th Grammy Awards JBL LSR4312SP Linear Spatial Reference Powered Subwoofer Audio Production For Gaming Euphonix S5 Fusion Digital Post Production Console NAB Hot Gear Soundcraft Vi6 Digital Live Production Console Go To A Show! Contracting News and New Products Studio Consoles Studio Wireless Microphones Alicia Keys “Superwoman”

ProAudio Review - April 2008

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