3guk Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 Thought this would interest some of you : http://www.ukslc.org/News/Sound_news/Sound...dcraft_Vi4.html I have a serious amount of gear lust, just looking at that page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zac coupe Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 Nice, very nice, whats the rrp on those? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 I remember posting a link to a promotional video (now taken off line, alas) for the original Vi6, thinking it was the sexiest looking piece of gear I'd ever seen. Actually I still do! Isn't gear lust wonderful. It's too bad that the market acceptance of the Vi range hasn't been great so far...other than play at Soundcraft I have no experience of using the board for real but it seemed a nice unit in the brief time I had on it. I don't know if the limited sales are down to any problems or just a saturated market. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3guk Posted March 16, 2007 Author Share Posted March 16, 2007 Just trying to get prices and more info as we speak, unfortunately it seems most people have gone home !! Will update the news article as soon as I get ideas on prices and a more complete feature list !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevieR Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 I heard of a few users with problems on the desk, including complete crashes during shows! I hope that Soundcraft has managedto iron out these bugs with this new addition. This may in part account for the lack of uptake on the desks. Yamaha seems to have taken the lead on digital desks at present with most engineers having at least some experience on one of their desks. The differences in digital desks make it more difficult to jump between different models unlike their analogue brethren... I have also heard criticism of Soundcraft's lack of support for the new desk(s). This is disappointing as I have always held their products in high regard. Personally, if I was buying a dig desk at present I would put Yamaha in the prime position. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim b Posted March 17, 2007 Share Posted March 17, 2007 I think the interface on the Vi range is a real challenge to other companies, if the rest of the product's performance matches up to that then it'll be one hell of a desk. The Vi6 interface I found when having a quick play was amazingly obvious in comparison to Yamaha's (to quote a nearby lampie "I could operate that"). I haven't heard about these crashes-I'm always suspicious about these things unless I hear the story from the horse's mouth (i.e. the operator or the manufacturer) as it's very easy for chinese whispers to turn a small fault into a total failure (and I'm not implying any motivation behind that, it's just the natural inaccuracy of second or third hand info). I assume there'll be another smaller desk in the range which is where I think the simplicity of the interface will really generate sales. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted March 17, 2007 Share Posted March 17, 2007 Just to be naughty and "me too" jim b's post, I've heard the same rumours about crashes etc on the Vi6 but like him haven't met anyone who could substantiate these stories. Until I hear more, I'll treat the rumours with a pinch of salt. It's worth saying that, although this is a new product, much of the technology is based on the Studer Vista range which is very well-respected in the broadcast market. Similarly, Soundcraft's previous venture into digital (the 328/324) was a reliable, sweet little unit with a UI that was remarkably easy for the time. My own experience with the "quick play" was that the Vi6 UI was well laid out and intuitive. I've done a lot of work on various Yamaha digital boards and my initial response was a similar "I could mix on this". Well, I could if I could afford one! The Vi6 price (last I heard) was in the $80K (£50K) range, putting it in competition with things like the PM5D(RH) and Digico D1, both of which already have a pretty good market penetration and a body of trained ops. It'll take a bit of time to penetrate that part of the market. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3guk Posted March 17, 2007 Author Share Posted March 17, 2007 For those who are interested, I have just updated the release with some specs !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lifeisacabaret Posted March 17, 2007 Share Posted March 17, 2007 Does it use the same stage boxes and local boxes as the Vi6? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Hinds Posted March 18, 2007 Share Posted March 18, 2007 Ditto on the crashes, I've never substantiated that it happens. In my 2 hour demo at Soundcraft nothing crashes or ceased to pass audio. I got one error up on the screen and that was due to a feature that wasn't implemented in the early build Vi6 I was using. It seems a bit like saying that Vauxhall Corsas get crashed a lot therefore they are bad cars, there is a human aspect to both situations. I agree that in the sound world any mainstream conceivable crash will be eliminated by the time a full product is on the market but never underestimate the ingenuity of people, there's always another way and that way might just do it. Of the 4 manufacturers with desks in the market all have their advantages and disadvantages. The Yamaha PM5d/-RH are certainly the most widespread of the digital options and while you can have a system engineer drive via studio manager it's essentially a one function at a time desk. The Digico D1 and the Vi6/Vi4 allow you to use more than one screen at a time so if you want to adjust an aux at the same time as a compressor then you can by nature of their layout. Likewise the Venue/D-Show Profile offer plugins which none of the others do. Bottom line if it's happened to you, fine describe the situation it happened in, what you were doing etc. If it happened to your mother's brother's step-aunt's husband then it's not worth commenting on. Not a dig at you Steve, but just at people in general. I'm no less guilty of assessing products by brand reputation of course, especially the cheaper stuff. Regards Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allgoodnamesaretaken Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 just my £0.02 on this thread ... I own 2x Vi6 which I took delivery of in late June last year and put one of them straight out on the Edinburgh Festival for a 4 week run. There were some minor teething problems with the desk crashing - this was eventually traced to a mechanical problem with the seating of one of the DSP cards in the local rack. I could not commend soundcraft and Harman Pro Uk enough for the support they have given us a customer - its perhaps the best I have ever received from a manufacturer including sending me a complete set of spares on a same day courier! In terms of the software there are a few unimplimented features but its currently rock solid and with the Graphics / FX prcoessing its pretty hard to beat in terms of bang for buck - I've got 3 systems going out on a show on easter sunday. The UK list price is a tad under 50k if you compare that to the other digital systems out there its very very reasonable - its in the same ball park at the PM5D family but then when you consider that the yamaha doesn't come with a "digital multicore" out of the box..... I've put this console infront of several engineers all of whom are up and mixing on it within a few minutes, everyone comments that when you get to know it its perhaps even quicker to use than analogue ... sure it takes a little longer to get your head round some of the more complex routing and configuration features but even then its not hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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