The need for compact consoles has made way for a generation of boards that squeeze the latest digital technology into a format half the size of traditional models. Despite this trend, the big boys still rule the block when it comes to blockbuster concerts, HOW and large scale live and theatre. 

With so much on offer the choice of digital mixing options has expanded far beyond the question of price and brand loyalty to speed, power, sound and application. Herein lies your guide to the who and what of the latest technology on the market:

Allen & Heath
Allen & Heath’s iLive digital mixing systems feature the MixRack, which serves as the mixer. The portable unit can be placed on stage as the stagebox, as a stand-alone unit, or at the mixing control next to the control surface. For DSP/Processing control iLive utilises TCP/IP and the control surface connects to the MixRack using standard LAN/Ethernet protocol. This allows the mixer systems to be networked for control, including the iLive Editor Java platform on PC or Mac. Users have the choice of iLive hardware, MixRack and Control Surface sizes and all iLive hardware racks and surfaces are interchangeable and compatible. Firmware and online/offline editor software enables settings to be saved on one system for USB file transfer to another. All controls are visible on the processing strip, not hidden in sub menus.

iLive features a Linux (open-source) backbone for its on-board touchscreen computer. Allen & Heath’s proprietary Audio and Control over Ethernet (ACE) links to 120m single CAT5 cable (including zero-loss redundancy) to connect rack and surface. The board also feature 32 mix outputs, all with 1/3 octave GEQ (faders), compressor, limiter, delay and insert, in addition to eight in-house designed DSP FX engines, without losing any of the 64 mic channels.

A range of self-powered plug and play configurable fader/rotary PL hardware remote controllers are also available for use with iLive via a Cat-5 connection. Audio interface options for system integration include EtherSound, MADI, ADAT, Aviom, Hearbus, iDR and growing.
www.allen-heath.com

Digico
Digico was the first live digital console manufacturer to use touchscreen technology as well as the first to use SHARC DSP and single FPGA components. With sound quality its main priority, all of Digico’s consoles are Floating Point with up to 40 bit processing, which provides a great amount of headroom on the mix bus.

Digico’s boards capture and convert audio to digital close to the source via the use of remote stage racks to provide the highest possible audio quality. A minimum number of components in a system are required and all processing is done within the console rather than external racks of DSP.  Redundant hot swap PSUs are also built into the surface. Remote Stage Racks interface with the console’s surface via MADI or Optocore, making Digico systems easily integrated with third-party equipment.

Digico has pioneered the use of recording and playing back shows and the recent launch of the RME MADIface, a MADI interface for laptops, simplifies its virtual sound check functionality. Broadcast WAVs can be directly imported into almost all DAWs, including Cubase, Logic, Nuendo and Pro Tools. Additionally, remote Stage Racks can be shared with both D-series and SD series consoles with gain tracking security.

Key features of the D Series Live consoles (D1 and D5) include: the ability to mix up to 160 mix channels; 48 buses, including eight matrix buses; two stereo solo buses; 24 VCA-style control groups; six Stereo FX, including 12 graphic eqs; connection of up to four remote racks providing up to 224 I/O, plus DAW connections and compatibility of session files between D1s and D5s.

Digico’s SD7 and SD8 utilise FPGA-based Stealth Digital Processing and local I/O built into the surface. Key features of the SD7 include: dual engines for complete redundancy; 256 processing paths at 96khz – combination of I/O; four-band parametric eq with dynamic eq, multiband comp, tube emulation on all paths and additional four-band parametric eqs on outputs for system control; eqs all have classic and digital characteristics; max of 128 output buses; max of 32 x 32 output matrix; two stereo solo buses; 32 VCA-style Control Groups; 32 x 32-band graphic eqs; 16 stereo 40-bit floating point seven tank, seven tap reverbs; 32 stereo multi-effects including delays and time based FX; local I/O – 12 analog I/O and 12 AES I/O; up to 12 remote racks providing up to 696 I/O and interactive meter bridge and VNL (video network link).

Key features of the SD8 include: 60 mono or stereo input channels (equal to 120 channels  of DSP processing); 24 mono or stereo output buses, plus stereo master bus (50 buses of DSP processing); 12 x 12 output matrix; two stereo solo buses for separate wedge and IEM solos; 12 VCA-style control groups; 12 x 32-band graphic eqs; six stereo FX including reverbs and time-based FX; local I/O – eight analogue I/O and eight AES I/O; up to two remote racks providing up to 112 I/O; 37 touch sensitive faders; 15-inch high resolution TFT touch screen and full, per fader metering with ballistic control and laptop/script tray.
www.digico.biz

Digidesign
Digidesign’s new Venue SC-48 is listed as a cost-effective and compact live sound solution that is compatible with industry standard professional A/V systems.

 The SC48 sees the introduction of several new features that enhance the mixing process, including professional plugin support for compatibility with Digidesign plugins and a number of third-party developers to recreate studio sound on the road. Direct Connection to Pro Tools LE allows users to record shows and perform virtual sound check using a computer connected to the SC48’s built-in USB port.

Channel Control allows single click access, display and adjustment to any channel parameter. In addition, any eight parameters can be assigned to the colour-coded framework for immediate access during the mix. The board’s Centre Flex Channel provides immediate access to any key input without scrolling through fader layers. VCA and Group Spill provides control and access to grouped channels within a mix by focusing the control surface layout to match the logical groupings created by VCA and Group style mixing.

The larger Venue D-Show System employs a Venue FOH Rack and Stage Rack processing and I/O system, which provides I/O and console expandability for large performances.

Designed by a team of veteran live sound professionals, the console provides a user-friendly interface to enable control of a large number of inputs from a compact mixing surface, with the option to expand the console. D-Show combines a central Assignable Channel Section (ACS) with two encoders per channel for instant adjustments, in addition to display sections with displays and indicators for confirmation of signal routing, dynamics status, eq and other insert processes and signal activity or overload and access to numerous inputs at a glance. Venue D-Show also provides full Pro Tools recording and plugin compatibility.
www.avid.com

Innovason
Innovason’s compact Eclipse console features a DSP engine that enables users to mix up to 104 inputs simultaneously into 48 mix buses, with the capacity to manage up to 320 inputs on the console using up to five remote audio racks. The control surface is furnished with 48 linear faders and 48 fully configurable rotary knobs in a SmartPanel for 96 ‘faders’.

The standard Eclipse package offers 80 inputs and 40 outputs, of which 24 are fully processed including 31-band graphic eq. It also comes with two Innovason FM-8VB eight-in/eight-out plugin effects cards and a stage box, all fully flight-cased and complete with the new NOVA software, which offers a modern, intuitive graphic user interface on a stable platform.

Eclipse users can also opt to add Innovason’s unique Multitrack Audio Recording System (MARS) system, a built-in digital 64-track recorder that uses a hard disk plugged into the back of the console. MARS provides high-quality live recording and virtual sound checking functionality.

The new console is fully networkable, supporting EtherSound, Innovason’s proprietary, Muxipaire protocol, Aviom’s A-Net and MADI (via an optional DioMadiES converter). It is also compatible with all existing I/O and effects modules and audio racks and supplied with a dual redundant power supply.

The Sy80 is the largest board in the Innovason range and features 104 channels, up to 144 I/O and 48 mix buses. Sy80 is listed as the original ‘user-definable’ console and one of the few consoles  to offer 80 faders that are configured as an input channel, aux, VCA, group, master, matrix, or as an output, or SmartFAD.

SmartFAD enables the management of a maximum number of inputs with a minimum number of faders and replaces the ‘layer’ approach. Any fader or zone of faders may be designated as a SmartFAD control, thus an input fader can either be allocated to a single input, or it can manage several inputs in the SmartFAD zone. In this case the fader in charge of these inputs is known as a bank of faders. When selected, all of the inputs it is handling appear on the SmartFAD screen simliar to a VCA, which enables customisable configuration of mono and stereo channels, given that a stereo channel is also in fact a fader bank handling left and right of any given instrument. It was also integrated to provide flexibility when handling large numbers of inputs.

Sy80 is suitable for FOH, monitors, live recording and broadcast applications. High-quality mic preamps are used on all of Innovason’s consoles.
www.innovason.com

Midas 
Midas designed the Pro6 control surface around the POPulation concept praised by XL8 users, which provides an easily navigable number of well-spaced and quickly identifiable key input faders.

The Midas Pro6 is a series of discrete hardware devices that create a networked audio system. Its modular approach allows for specialised configurations with an inbuilt tolerance to any software, hardware, or connectivity failure.

All Midas digital systems have dual-redundant Linux control computers. The Pro6 has a modular audio processing engine, which is typically located remotely from the control surface so that audio processing takes place in a controlled area. Its control surface is described as a high-spec mouse used to control the audio processing in the remote engine.

The Pro6’s internal processing is 32-bit floating-point @ 96kHz. A/D and D/A conversion are also fixed at 96kHz and latency is dealt with in a unique way. All audio is transmitted within the network using AES50 to provide intangible latency and lets the Pro6 audio system keep track all audio samples at all times. Whenever audio samples are summed together they are first synchronised down to single-sample timing. This means that all of the audio will be phase-coherent. The Pro6’s automatic delay management system compensates for differential latency anywhere within the processing engine, and also for latency created by external analog processing.

Onboard processing includes a gate and compressor on every input with a choice of eight different compression options and six-band PEQ on all 35 buses, eight scene-specific stereo FX processors and up to 36 Klark Teknik 31-band graphic eqs with a dedicated hardware remote controller.

The Pro6’s I/O hardware is also modular, making it expandable to include additional I/O. The modularity of this system also allows distribution of the network’s I/O around a venue and located wherever required in blocks of 24 connections. Modular I/O devices are then connected using Cat5 cable, and the console can then automate the process of routing audio.

Routing throughout the Pro6 audio network is automated and scene-specific. Within each scene of the show, the ‘mixing console’ component of the Pro6 can handle up to 80 simultaneous mixing channels from a max of 264 inputs and mix audio to 35 buses (264 max outputs).

The board features automated I/O, eliminating the need for an input or outboard channel as they are only used in one scene and connected to a channel for the entire show. Mix buses can be repatched to 264 potential outputs, even to multiple destinations, on a scene-by-scene basis, and routing changes can be effected instantaneously without audio dropouts.

Using Pro6’s automated routing, the board can tackle much bigger shows than could be addressed with any other 64 input, 35 bus mixer.

Other key features of the Pro6 include: modular control surface with multiple input areas; all input output, and dynamics processing meters simultaneously visible; dual daylight-visible display screens; audio outputs are time and phase coherent, modular, expandable and user-configurable I/O hardware system; KVM switching on control surface, VGC centric mixing; input paging by musical function, rather than numbers and layers; 192 x 192 channel dual-redundant digital snake as standard; a remote modular audio processing engine and dual fast-access control areas.
www.midasconsoles.com

Roland
The RSS V-Mixing System is a complete digital mixing system including the M-400 console and its digital snakes system. The M-400 features dedicated knobs and buttons for all console functions, 24 touch-sensitive moving faders, an onboard help function, large, bright TFT LCD display and Cat5e connectivity for low cost installation and increased portability.

The 48-channel console has 16 buses, channel and bus DSP, four stereo FX processors, four graphic eqs, built-in stereo recording and playback, and built-in multi-channel split capability. It also offers up to 40 channels of limitless digital splits from a dedicated Cat5e port for monitor/broadcast positions and/or PC recording without any audio interfaces. Sixteen returns to stage over Cat5e cable are standard; however, V2 software allows flexible patching of up to 40 outputs using the S-4000SP REAC splitter. 

High-quality mic preamps are used with a Cat5e Snake, which eliminates high-frequency losses, while onboard digital processing, channel DSP and routing eliminate any other unwanted noises. Its onboard 24-bit recorder provides lossless capture of live events and. the Digital Split allows lossless transmission to monitoring, recording or broadcast positions and Bus and Main LR return over Cat5e enables a complete digital signal path back to the stage.

The M-400 is capable of storing 300 scenes for total recall of all mixer, effect and routing parameters with password protection. Integrated PC software allows loading/saving setups as well as real-time control and its libraries provide the ability to store custom channel, patchbay and effect settings. Direct-to-PC recording over Cat5e enables up to 40 channels of direct digital recording in pre eq, pre fader or post fader setups. It also provides remote control from laptop over USB, MIDI and V-Link with free RCS software, Wi-Fi control using RCS and USB device server.

RSS feels that the M-400 provides large-format desk features in a compact footprint. The latest Version 2 software for the console includes support for the company’s new M-48 Live Personal Mixers; support for LCR sound system configurations; six new vintage effects; real-time analyser; enhanced parametric eq ability and numerous user interface enhancements.
www.rolandsystemsgroup.net

Soundcraft
The Vista 5 SR is Studer’s flagship touring digital console and used by some of the world’s largest artists, including Celine Dion, Billy Joel, and the Broadway revival of West Side Story.

Vista 5 SR utilises the same high-performance DSP core as the Vista 7 and 8 mixers and has the capacity for large amounts of I/O, with configurability that allows customisation of the mixer surface, bus structure and other show-specific facilities, in addition to the intuitive Vistonics user interface.

Soundcraft states that Vista 5SR’s 40-bit floating point architecture  provides high-quality audio and vast amounts of headroom, which is complemented by its well known high-quality mic preamps.

The popular Soundcraft Vi6 console boasts a compact footprint with a mix capacity of up to 96 inputs to 35 output buses. The board’s Vistonics II user interface provides users with analog-friendly and simple navigation of channel and output functions. Its onboard mix system provides eight stereo Lexicon effects processors, full 30-band graphic eqs on every output bus and snapshot facilities.

Soundcraft FaderGlow indicates whether faders are in channel, aux, matrix, VCA mode. It also features 16 VCA Groups and extensive channel facilities like ganging, stereo linking and assignable inserts. MADI connections are integral, with optional cards available for CobraNet, EtherSound, ADAT I/O, Dolby D/E decoding, and SDI de-embedding, plus interfacing to the Optocore fibre network system. Virtual Vi is offered for offline editing and allows engineers to set up shows offline and download via USB.

Soundcraft’s Si2 is marketed as a compact ‘one-box’ digital console, with all analog I/O connections and PSU integrated into a single chassis, with the intent to replace analog consoles. In addition to a comprehensive user interface, each channel strip has a multifunction rotary encoder and OLED display, which can be used to control virtually any channel parameter. The central master section manages control of the 32 bus/matrix outputs, each to its own dedicated physical XLR output, and the 12 VCA groups and eight mute groups. A central bank of encoders provides numerous functions including control of input eq and Dynamics and output eq with FaderGlow illuminating colour coded faders.

The Soundcraft Si2 has 48 mono mic/line inputs, four stereo inputs, four integral Lexicon effects engines and four internal dedicated stereo FX returns, as well as eight assignable external insert connections. Option card slots can expand the I/O to include MADI connections.
www.soundcraft.com

Yamaha
Since its release in 2004 the PM5D has become a very popular digital live digital mixing console. It offers high-quality audio and versatility in a compact and lightweight format with user-friendly features, while eliminating the need for outboard processing gear. It features integration with digital systems including Yamaha’s DME series digital mixing engines and AD8HR eight-channel A/D converters with remote controllable preamps. For projects with large I/O needs, the PM5D-EX, a PM5D console plus a DSP5D digital mixing system provides I/O and processing capacity of two PM5D consoles controlled from a single control surface, plus the digital cabling over long distances. The system’s open architecture also provides flexibility and expandability to suit numerous live sound and recording applications.

The M7CL carries many features of the PM1DV2 and PM5D consoles. It includes an array of advanced concepts, such as the Centralogic control interface, making it similar to analog consoles while providing comprehensive management facilities. The console also provides 48 mono and four stereo inputs, 24 mix buses and two stereo outputs, and eight matrix outputs (expandable) in addition to many other custom functions and purpose-built features.
www.yamahacommercialaudio.com