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Allen & Heath S7000
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Avid S6L
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Cadac CDC Seven
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Digico SD12
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Midas Pro X
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Soundcraft Vi5000
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Solid State Logic L500 Plus
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Yamaha Rivage PM10
Each year, thousands of fans, celebrities and media converge upon Churchill Downs for the spectacle that is the Kentucky Derby. Revered for the fashion and people watching as much as the race itself, the aura surrounding this spectacle remains unparalleled. When considering front of house mixing consoles in any church, we often liken them to the Derby winning horse. The coveted piece in our arsenal, drawing the ooo’s and ahh’s from passersby as colorful lights and meters shine out in the auditorium darkness.
USERS SHOULD TAKE TIME TO EXPLORE THEIR UNIQUE SITUATION, ENLIST THE HELP OF AV PROFESSIONALS, AND ULTIMATELY FIND THE SOLUTION THAT MEETS THEIR NEEDS NOW AND INTO THE FUTURE IN THE BEST WAY POSSIBLE
Let’s be clear, no piece of equipment should ever be put up on a pedestal and idolized. Gear is only a small conduit for solving problems and ushering in desired results, but it still remains a point of pride for any technical director, and for good reason. Today we will look at the latest in large-format mixing consoles. Products on the leading edge of technology, options and control for the most demanding applications. While all consoles ultimately function in similar ways—transferring audio source to loudspeaker reinforcement—each contains its own set of user interface, connectivity, and workflow. As always, users should take time to explore their unique situation, enlist the help of AV professionals, and ultimately find the solution that meets their needs now and into the future in the best way possible.
Writer’s note:
We always aim to cover a broad overview of options from a wide variety of manufacturers. Large-format consoles do not always change year to year for each brand, but we are presenting the most recent products in this category, as applicable.
- Allen & Heath S7000 | Allen & Heath
With the release of its dLive series, Allen and Heath has brought a revamped and redesigned high-end offering to the digital console market. The flagship S-Class series features the S5000 and larger S7000 control surfaces. Powering the surface is the company’s XCVI Core which allows for full, 96kHz sampling over 128 processing inputs, 16 stereo FX returns, a fully configurable 64 bus architecture, all with 0.7ms latency across the board. I/O connections feature dual GigaACE link to the mix rack, two additional expansion card slots, wordclock BNC I/O and eight analog inputs and outputs.On the surface, the S7000 features 36 physical faders spread across several banks along with two, 12-inch fully interactive touch screens. The screens should feel instantly familiar with any smartphone user, responding to pinch, swipe, drag and drop gestures among others. The accompanying rotary knobs are assignable across any user preference along with RGB illumination, color mapped for instant visual recognition. Allen & Heath has integrated its DEEP processing architecture, allowing users to insert high-end compressors and processing emulations directly into a channel strip without burning one of the FX slots or dealing with external latency. The company has integrated dual redundancy into every audio connection along with external options for an array of personal monitoring systems, surface expansion wings and more.
- Avid S6L | Avid
One of Avid’s bigger upgrades with the S6L, and following suit with other consoles featured in this article, is its first console surface with touchscreen technology. With a modular and scalable system, local and stage I/O racks can be configured as needed. The company has also integrated shared I/O allowing multiple S6L surfaces to be networked together from a single stage rack while managing gain compensation for each engineer. The most recent Venue 5.4 software update added several features sure to be utilized by large productions. The entire snapshots section has been overhauled, now with the ability to see each individual aux send as its own entity, defining a snapshot as a parent or child, allowing a hierarchy to define certain changes, and selection groups which enable changes to be made to one snapshot that will affect others within the group. For complex holiday productions and events, engineers know how crucial snapshots can be in maintaining mix sanity.Known for its tight integration into the company’s Pro Tools DAW software, the S6L connects just as easily to a laptop or desktop computer and automatically creates a Pro Tools session from your show file--complete with track names and patching. The same file can be used for recording or playback back through the S6L for virtual sound check.
- Cadac CDC Seven | Cadac Sound
While Cadac may not be on the radar of most audio engineers in the house of worship market, their new CDC series digital consoles have every reason to be on the radar in the future. Featuring the company’s own MegaCOMMS I/O interface, the control surface can be connected through a variety of local I/O cards, stageboxes, and audio network bridges. While the console will handle up to 96 inputs, the network provides up to 128 bi-directional channels of 96kHz audio.The control surface of the CDC Seven features 36 faders, each with stereo metering and user-definable OLED display above. The dual, 23.5-inch LCD touch screens allow for full navigation, channel selection, and arrangement. Users can define 48 of the console’s 56 busses in any combination of auxiliaries, groups, stereo auxes, stereo groups, or matrix outputs. Cadac has also included a Waves Soundgrid slot within the console, allowing users to connect directly to one of Wave’s Soundgrid servers or computer-based solutions, integrating the full suite of Wave’s processing effects, dynamics and sound shaping tools. Full control of parameters shows up directly on the console’s LCD screens.
- Digico SD12| Digico
Over the past decade, Digico has expanded its console offerings, covering a wide range of applications and price points. Their most recent console, the SD12, brings the processing power of their largest, most robust consoles into a slightly smaller surface, yet every bit capable in stature. The SD12 features 24 faders plus a master sections. The 48 encoder knobs use an RGB ring for customizable color coding and function. The channel strip has been fashioned after the company’s flagship SD7 along with high intensity meters by faders and dynamics metering. Able to handle up to 72 inputs with full processing thanks to the Stealth Core 2 software, the SD12 is loaded with 36 assignable busses, full suite of FX, built-in MADI interface, and expansion slots for multiple I/O options including Dante, Waves, Aviom and more. Digico has packed multiple features into the SD12 such as a built-in recording interface, allowing the use of Virtual Soundcheck easier than ever. The console also includes a DVI output for easy connection of an external monitor for a full console overview, separate from the dual 15-inch touch screens. The company has also included two assignable master faders--only previously seen on the larger consoles.
- Midas Pro X | Midas
For years, the Midas name was synonymous with coveted analog mixers and preamps–and still is for that matter. However, it was only time before the company entered the digital console market and has done so with many accolades. Among their varied offerings, the Pro X comes in as their flagship model, with all the power, options, and connectivity to handle the most demanding environments.Utilizing the HyperMAC networking protocol from Klark Teknik, owned by the same company as Midas, the Pro X can integrate up to 168 bi-directional channels over copper and optical fiber. Dual redundant snake connections and a full array of AES, analog, and digital I/O handles any performance environment with ease.With 29 motorized faders and dual 15-inch screens, the Pro X features a unique channel and mix bay navigation system. The consoles POP groups allow for real-time and custom mix groups in a variety of formats, allowing large numbers of inputs to be mixed with ease. Integration of Klark Teknik effects, and graphic equalizers provides a large suite of dynamics and sound coloration options.
- Soundcraft Vi5000 | Soundcraft
Also known for their long-standing tradition of analog consoles, Soundcraft has expanded their digital offerings considerably in the past decade. Able to handle 128 input channels and 32 mono/stereo busses, Soundcraft’s Vi5000 can run up to a 96kHz sample rate if necessary. The expanded the internal Lexicon effects and dynamics processing features the legendary BSS DPR901ii dynamic EQ and BSS graphic eq option on every bus output. Recent firmware upgrades have brought Soundcraft’s vMix automated microphone mixing to the console–a technology originally implemented for panel discussions but altered for live use in managing large amounts of singers or speakers. Another new feature allows access to full channel strip settings on the master control bay screen by soloing any input channel on the console. One of the more interesting features is the integration of the company’s VM2 (Vistonics Microphone Monitoring). This allows the status of any compatible AKG or Shure wireless microphone system to be displayed directly on the console’s respective channel strip display, giving users information regarding battery life, muting, internal clipping, and RF status without the need to monitor the actual receiver.
- Solid State Logic L500 Plus | Solid State Logic
Solid State Logic, long known for their renowned studio and analog products, has transitioned into the digital, live mixing world with ease. It’s flagship model, the L500 Plus, has brought SSL’s famous studio sound and features to the live market. The console features 48/96kHz sample rates and up to 256 channel paths. It comes flush with multiple I/O options for networking including redundant pairs of coaxial and optical MADI ports along with local XLR inputs and outputs for peripheral needs. Additional pairs of MADI plus an optional Dante card expansion port are available for advanced signal routing or external FX loops such as a Waves SoundGrid server.
The company’s recent V4 software update for the console has integrated direct gain compensated I/O sharing, allowing multiple SSL Live or System T broadcast consoles to share a single stage box in a single installation. The patching bay has received an update for simultaneous assignments and quick, 1:1 patching along with a new sub bass harmonic FX plugin called SubMonix.SSL’s legendary channel strip processing, especially the renowned Stereo Buss Compressor, is an attractive part of its feature set. Also included is the Variable Harmonic Drive (VHD) Saturator, a digital emulation of the company’s VHD circuit that introduces variable amounts of 2nd or 3rd order harmonic distortion, adding blends of transistor grit or tube style warmth to any channel. Users will also appreciate the large, 19-inch, multi-gesture touch screen offering quick and intuitive control.
- Yamaha Rivage PM10 | Yamaha
Released in 2015, the Rivage PM10 builds upon the architecture of the company’s PM1D but with significant expansion, processing power, and flexibility to meet the highest demands.
In 2017, Yamaha unveiled the new CS-R10-S control surface, which is two-thirds the side of the existing PM10 surface. Allowing for a more compact solution but with every bit of processing power and function.Newly developed microphone preamps utilize the company’s VCM (Virtual Circuitry Modeling) technology along with SILK processing and Rupert Neve Designs circuitry--highly regarded in the studio world for their analog preamps and dynamics processing. Yamaha has added a continuously variable “texture” knob allowing sonic shaping at the input stage, adding analog warmth, grit and sparkle as required. The Rivage PM10 features 45 onboard plug-in types--with 384 available slots--which have been created in collaboration with industry leaders such as Rupert Neve, TC Electronic, and Eventide. The newest firmware update in 2017 includes the revered Eventide H3000 ultra-harmonizer plug-in and the Dan Dugan Sound Design automatic mixer plug-in. An additional analog delay and other Yamaha plug-ins add to the already large array of sound shaping tools.
With dual 15-inch touchscreen monitors, 144 input channels, 72 mix and 36 matrix busses running at 96kHz, along with a full complement of Dante networking and expansion I/O slots, the Rivage PM10 provides all the tools and more for large-scale applications.
