LAS VEGAS – At Prolight+Sound/Musikmesse and NAB, DiGiCo featured its SD11, the company's smallest console – in size and price; its SD Ten, positioned between the SD7 and SD8; and a limited edition SD8, marking 20 years of production at DiGiCo's factory in Scotland.
DiGiCo SD11
The SD11 is designed to be used as a desktop console or mounted in a 19-inch rack. Featuring DiGiCo's Stealth Digital Processing, the FPGA-based SD11 is also notable for its compact price. Made with a steel chassis and a polycarbonate-overlaid, aluminum work surface, the SD11 features 12 touch sensitive moving faders below a 15-inch touch sensitive screen.
The console is equipped with 16 Microphone pre amps, eight line outputs and two mono AES I/O, and users can connect a DiGiCo D-Rack to the CAT5E port for a remote I/O rack frame with an additional 32 Microphone inputs and up to 16 outputs.
Further connections are a MADI port, GPI/O, MIDI, Overview screen output, Word Clock I/O, an Ethernet port for console remote control / networking and a USB port for file exchange and session backup.
The SD11 features 32 input channels with full processing, eight of which can be configured as full Flexi Channels. All inputs have dual mono inputs for fast ‘Main' and ‘Alt' channel switching, which are ideal for corporate events where a large number of spare microphones may be required.
Standard input channel processing includes channel delay; single and multi channel presets; HPF and LPF, with an industry leading 24db per octave; four bands of parametric EQ with band curve selection; compressor and gate; moveable insert point and access to all bussing.
Standard output channel processing includes output delay; four bands of parametric EQ; filtering; compressor and gate; moveable insert point; groups with buss to buss routing; and Auxes that have direct talk to output with dim control for fast monitor communication.
Dynamic EQ provides both expansion and compression on all four bands of the parametric EQ. These processors can be assigned to any of the input or output channels, whether they are Mono, stereo or LCR and four units can be allocated as required. Multi-band compressors offer extended dynamic control of any input or output channel. Again, four units can be positioned on either input or output channels.
The SD11's 12 Flexi Busses can be configured as mono or stereo. In its maximum configuration these could be used as 12 stereo mixes – equal to 24 busses. An additional stereo or LCR Master buss and 8×8 output matrix is provided, and eight control groups (VCAs) allow for faster access to multiple channels and busses, user and snapshot configured for ultimate show control. Dual solo busses are also provided.
An unlimited amount of Snapshots can be saved and recalled, with user defined recall scopes being set globally, per snapshot or per channel function. Additional tools include feature-defined crossfade, sequence fire, MIDI control and a Snapshot notes panel.
In addition to the SD11's core processing functions, insertable Stealth stereo FX and 12 graphic EQs can be routed, controlled and even snapshot recalled for the most complex show design. Four Stealth stereo FX units can be configured at any time from the palette of thirty-three effects.
More processing is available through the SD series integration with Waves plugins. DiGiCo provides complete control of plugin parameters and recall of snapshots and single loading and saving, directly from the console's surface. Sixteen stereo Sound Grid racks can be inserted, with up to eight plugins in each rack.
The SD11 software runs on a standard PC or Intel-based Macintosh for offline preparation and remote control of the console. One SD11 can also be linked to another, using a standard CAT5 crossover cable, providing 24 faders for control. In this configuration, the audio engine of the first SD11 provides complete redundancy for the other.
Security options can be configured to protect console settings from accidental or unwanted change. These can also be password protected, making it possible to vary the amount of user parameter control.
DiGiCo SD Ten
DiGiCo's SD Ten is positioned between the SD7 and SD8, both in terms of performance and price. It features a 15-inch touch sensitive screen with a control surface offering 37 100mm touch sensitive faders. There are 96 channels with full processing, 12 of which can be configured as full Flexi Channels – and outputs that can be assigned across the surface. All inputs have dual mono inputs for fast ‘Main' and ‘Alt' channel switching.
Smart Key Macros are provided, accessed via four layers of 10 backlit keys. Local I/O, positioned on the rear of the console, includes eight mic inputs, eight line outputs, eight mono AES I/O, two MADI connections with redundant cabling connections, 16 GPI and GPO connections (with the option to expand to 32 GPI and GPO), MIDI, plus Wordclock, MADI and Optocore for synchronization.
Standard input channel processing includes channel delay; single and multi channel presets; HPF and LPF with an industry leading 24db per octave; four bands of parametric EQ with band curve selection; compressor and date; dual insert points and access to all bussing.
Standard output channel processing includes output delay; eight bands of parametric EQ (previously only seen on the SD7); compressor and gate; dual insert points; groups with buss to buss routing, plus Auxes that have direct talk to output with dim control.
Dynamic EQ provides both expansion and compression on all four bands of parametric EQ, and these processors can be assigned to any of the input or output channels, whether stereo or LCR, with 10 units being allocated as required. In addition, any input or output channel can be mastered via the multi-band compressors. Again, 10 units can be allocated.
The 48 assignable busses can be configured as mono or stereo groups or auxiliary busses. There is also an additional stereo or LCR Master buss and 16×12 output matrix. Dual solo busses give monitor engineers the comfort of accurate monitoring security.
Insertable FX and graphic EQs can be routed, controlled and snapshot recalled for the most complex show design. The 24 graphics can easily be inserted and controlled from the work surface and 10 Stealth stereo FX units can be configured at any time from the palette of thirty-three Stealth FX. Integration with Waves plug-ins offers yet more processing options.
DiGiCo provides control of plug in parameters and recall of snapshots and single loading / saving, directly from the work surface. Sixteen stereo Sound Grid racks can be inserted, with up to eight plug-ins in each rack.
The SD Ten software runs on a standard PC or Intel-based Macintosh for offline preparation and remote control of the console, and one SD Ten can also be linked to another, using a standard CAT5 crossover cable, providing 74 faders for control. In this configuration, the audio engine of the first SD Ten provides complete redundancy for the other.
The SD Ten's expansion options include:
- Second-generation Optocore optic connections. Just like the SD7, an SD Ten can connect to up to 14 SD or D-Rack IDs with 448 audio channels on a single redundant optical loop.
- Five redundant consoles can share all inputs from the stage racks, and outputs on the system can be assigned in blocks of eight. For example, a single rack can provide 56 inputs to both consoles with 40 of the outputs assigned to the monitor console and 16 used by Front of House for feeds back to the stage.
- One console can directly route outputs to another console on the loop, for convenient tie lines.
- D-Rack, SD-Rack, SD7 and SD Ten can operate together at 96khz. The audio advantage here is clear, but also means just over 1ms of latency when routing a stage input through a channel and buss, with processing back to a stage output.
- Sound Grid Waves can be added, allowing full connection and control of a Waves Sound Grid, providing low latency plug-ins on a floating-point digital console.
- For connectivity to the outside world, the SD Ten comes with different I/O options because tailored DiGiCo systems and complex set ups are completely user configurable.
- In addition, the SD Ten also features dual hot swap, switch mode, PSUs as standard.
DiGiCo Limited Edition SD8
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of its factory in Scotland, DiGiCo is producing a limited run Special Edition SD8 digital mixing console. It comes in an understated titanium color but has all the features and benefits of the original SD8's Stealth Digital Processing with Tiger SHARC FX engine.
For more information, please visit www.digico.org
