Soundcraft SI compact

[whisky-zulu]

The sub groups are interchangable with the auxes, same as on the full size version.

[cedd]

Yeah they seem to have done away with auxes in favour of 16 mix buses which are capable of doing everything.

 

The question is, is it possible to get a group fader on the same layer as some mono inputs? Custom fader layer allows this on the LS9, and it's clearly present on analogue consoles and lots of other digital consoles that have specific group faders. As I said above, however it manages it, I need access to groups and mono faders simultaneously.

 

It may be that you can patch a mix bus to a mono channel, or even come out of a mix bus output with a short patch cable and back to a mono channel, but it's a bit of a shame if you have to, plus you loose a channel.

[whisky-zulu]

After a quick skim throught the quick start guide it doesn't look like there is a user defined layer available.

[techywhizz]

I got a demo of the desk this week. There are only Si compact 16 and 24 channel in the UK. The 32 should be here soon.

 

Thought I'd try to answer some of the questions and share a few of my thoughts.

 

There are no user layer, or user keys.

 

Only way to control the mix buses is by "sends of faders." There's not a physical encoder for any of them. However with fader glow they change colour depending on whether the are pre fade, post fade etc..

 

I like the extra stereo inputs.. on the 24 channel it gives you 24 mic preamps and 2 stereo in. (great for playback etc)

 

Loving the fact that any expansion cards from all the vi and si series fit the si-compact.. eg. aviom card from the vi fits the si-compact.

 

Loving delay, parametric eq, and full graphic eq on every bus and matrix.

 

Oh a bizarre twist. the 24 channel only has 22 faders on the page.. the other 2 (channel 23/24) are on page 2 - same with the 16 only 14 faders, and the 32 only 30 faders..

 

RRP: + vat 16:£4800 24:£6200 32:£7800

 

Unfortunately I only got an hour to see/play with the board.

 

All in All I'm hoping to get a longer demo and put it on a gig in anger..

[whisky-zulu]

 

 

Loving the fact that any expansion cards from all the vi and si series fit the si-compact.. eg. aviom card from the vi fits the si-compact.

 

 

I find that an interesting point as the Si Compact cards are the same as those available for the Si full series, but they're a different size to those available for the Vi from what I have seen of them. As far as I am aware, the Version 4 software for the Si series consoles allows the Vi stageboxes to be used with the Si series of consoles through the use of the appropriate Si expansion card - so to use the full 64 channel Vi stagebox, an Si MADI card needs to be put into the desk, but it will interface either through Cat 5 or optical fibre with the card on the Vi stagebox, which would be a Vi series card.

[d.breeze]

I got a demo of the desk this week. There are only Si compact 16 and 24 channel in the UK. The 32 should be here soon.

 

 

...there's a 32 channel one in liverpool ;)

[techywhizz]

I got a demo of the desk this week. There are only Si compact 16 and 24 channel in the UK. The 32 should be here soon.

 

 

...there's a 32 channel one in liverpool ;)

 

I stand corrected.. The rep told me they weren't in the country yet...

[d.breeze]

I got a demo of the desk this week. There are only Si compact 16 and 24 channel in the UK. The 32 should be here soon.

 

 

...there's a 32 channel one in liverpool ;)

 

I stand corrected.. The rep told me they weren't in the country yet...

 

they're not meant to be, and some of the reps don't realise there is one. All 3 sizes will be on the market very soon once all the final tweeks are finished.

[Biro]

Was at Soundcraft yesterday, pretty nifty bit of kit!

[Alec]

Am liking the look of this desk, but feels overpriced at £5k - £8k. For "only" double the higher end price, you can get the highly capable Vi1.

 

But then, going to the other extreme, the 16 channel is *hugely* more expensive than the 01v96, which is a real shame, as it has the potential to kill that product.

 

And, with the Behringer X32 potentially coming out around £1,800 inc VAT, it could be in a tough market. Which is a shame, really, as it has some real potential.

[whisky-zulu]

Am liking the look of this desk, but feels overpriced at £5k - £8k. For "only" double the higher end price, you can get the highly capable Vi1.

 

 

That's before you factor in the price of the Vi stagebox (64 channel: £9000) as well as MADI card ontop of that, and digital multi (£600 per 100m for optical fibre).

[Alec]

That's before you factor in the price of the Vi stagebox (64 channel: £9000) as well as MADI card ontop of that, and digital multi (£600 per 100m for optical fibre).

 

But the Vi1 has analogue in/outs so doesn't need the Vi stagebox...

[whisky-zulu]

That's before you factor in the price of the Vi stagebox (64 channel: £9000) as well as MADI card ontop of that, and digital multi (£600 per 100m for optical fibre).

 

But the Vi1 has analogue in/outs so doesn't need the Vi stagebox...

 

Yes, but only 32 ins, so if you want to use the full possible 64, you need the Vi stagebox, either in full of compact version.

[Alec]

So, anyone else had the chance to play with one of these in anger.

 

Am still quite tempted by a way cheaper 01V96, but the SI Compact has the real edge with the graphics & the easier interface - allowing it to be a real one-box solution. Just a shame about the price...

[Maxmccollum]

I've been using the 24 channel version since before christmas, my boss was beta testing it so I got to use it when he wasn't working, in fact I'm using it right now. It's a really nice desk the pre's sound sweet and it makes achieving a good sound very easy, however, there are a few down sides to it like you can't put fx returns on layer A, and there's no pad (there's a few more, can't think of them all off the top of my head). All things that can be worked around though. I asked my boss to tell soundcraft about the issues and I think some have been resolved. The built in fx are what you'd expect from lexicon and the BSS graphics do the job well. I much prefer it over an LS9 , and would definately recomend this desk as one of the better smaller "all-in-one" digital desks. The Vi6 kinda shat all over it when I used one of them but I guess it would really. If you've got any questions I'll try and answer them considering there's one in front of me.

 

Max