Give it USB and I'd expect to (and gladly would) pay a couple of hundred more. I use a pair of SuperAnalogue channel strips in my travel rig, and I'd rather leave these at home. These came analogue-only with a digital I/O option - pity the Six doesn't.
Thanks Rezzy, for chiming in with your side of things . It's interesting to hear the thought process that goes into these things. I hope for your sake that the Six does well, but as your 'nearly' customer I also hope that it does well enough for you to produce a Six 'Pro' more suited to my needs!
Just to be clear - I have a few bits of SSL in my studio and I love 'em all...
Last edited by The Elf on Thu Mar 21, 2019 6:24 pm, edited 4 times in total.
Lovely piece of kit. I agree with Wonks tough that I have a hard time seeing applications that extract the benefits without pairing it with an equally superb A/D. But of course there’s the badge, and that alone will certainly appeal to many. Hope they succeed!
Last edited by CS70 on Thu Mar 21, 2019 8:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I will have to read the review slowly a few dozen more times but it appears to be more than I need
Except
For those few unexpected times when a special setup or routing is required, in which case I’m covered with this Six.
Plus I can get rid of a few pieces of gear that I keep for those special moments that mostly take up space as they collect dust.
We shall see how the price point converts once it reaches our fair forested shores.
Interested I am.
Last edited by ManFromGlass on Fri Mar 22, 2019 1:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
I would have thought that anyone who wants the ‘SSL sound’ for a home or small recording studio, at this price, would be ecstatic with this mixer.
If you’d wanted the focusrite sound (AIR studios blue and yellow module) to include two mic’ pre’s, eq and stereo compressor you’d have spent a good deal more.
In addition you have to buy their A to D as an additional purchase or choose your own third party digital conversion.
The fact that you can use it as a summing mixer as well, if you like to work out of the box, then that would seem to me to be a no brainer.
I bought the focusrite twin mic’ pre-amp (that was £500 at the time without eq etc) and have gone the UAD Apollo route myself and have bought SSL plugins.
Last edited by MOF on Fri Mar 22, 2019 1:47 am, edited 2 times in total.
My Mackie mixer is still working fine and all I need at the moment, but if I had to go out and buy a new mixer, this would be the one I would get. I have never had a digital output from a mixer so is not really an issue for me.
Leaving off the interface was the right way to go. Why add to the footprint, weight, and cost when the customer is going to have their own specific interface needs?
MadManDan wrote:Leaving off the interface was the right way to go. Why add to the footprint, weight, and cost when the customer is going to have their own specific interface needs?
Because I don't want to take two boxes out with me when I'm using it as a portable device - which it purports to be.
MadManDan wrote:Leaving off the interface was the right way to go. Why add to the footprint, weight, and cost when the customer is going to have their own specific interface needs?
Most people with the wherewithal of buying the Six proabably have an interface with one of the standard protocols... or optional cards could have been an idea.
Wonks had made the point : in this time and age, the only application which still may get away without any digital affair is a (small) live show... where any pretension of "SSL sound" would be rather pointless (other than for the artist's ego, I guess). There's always the odd exception of course, but for almost any studio applications nowadays you want eventually to get the sound thru some converters.. and since the point of Superanalogue is purity (I ain't no expert, but insofar I understand the SSL console sound is given by more than that - summing thru VCAs, high voltage rails, etc not to mention the series-specific EQs and channel compressors) it seems odd to leave the conversion stage to chance.
But you may actually have a point as well: just occurred to me that people eyeing the Six may already have top notch converters in the studio..
Last edited by CS70 on Sun Mar 24, 2019 8:55 pm, edited 2 times in total.
that's what i meant....especially in regards to number of interface channels. If they built one in and you needed more you.....
Use a second interface? Ridiculous. I see so many possible combinations of how this beautifully engineered board could get used that it is much better to leave the interface options in the end user's hands
I can appreciate the views of many expressed here that it would have been nice to have some inbuilt conversion in the SiX, specifically so that it could book-end a DAW directly without need of an external interface/converter. Indeed, I made that same point in my review of the thing. And yes, the omission inevitably reduces the potential market for the SiX to some extent, just because it doesn't provide a simple instant solution that some users think they want. So it's not competing with the likes of the Audient ID interfaces, or the RME Babyface or whatever....
However, taking up Jim's point from earlier, as soon as you start thinking about going down that direct DAW integration road you quickly realise that you would either need to add an awful lot of complexity to the SiX, adding a lot of converters and elaborate interface software requirements, or you would have to simplify the analogue functionality of the mixer considerably -- which would then reduce it's unique feature set and corresponding appeal.
For many, one of the highlights is that the SiX can serve as an SSL summing mixer, so to interface that feature directly to the computer you'd need 12 D-As and some additional switching on the channels to route signals from the DAW into the various summing signal paths of the SiX. More buttons, more panel space, and a lot more electronics = more cost (and heat, and power, and an additional digital power rail...).
Same with with bringing the DAW returns into the mix-bus (to access the bus compressor) , into the monitoring, and into the Foldback chains which could add another eight D-As. So already we're up to 20 D-As. And do you bring those DAW returns back instead of one of the external analogue inputs, or as extra inputs?
And to get the SiX's mic signals into the DAW you'd need A-Ds on the first two channel Inserts sends (for direct record feeds), as well as on both the Mix A and Mix B outputs, so that's six A-Ds. And what about being able to access the two Cue sends or the LMC in the talkback chain? Possibly not, but some would complain if you didn't, so that's another three A-Ds and another D-A...
So 21 D-As, 9 A-Ds, plus a load more routing buttons, a lot more internal circuitry and a more complicated power supply and a USB interface, bespoke drivers, a control app.... Plus there would be digital clocks running around in a box with lots of sensitive analogue, so although all perfectly do-able, it's becoming a lot more challenging to design and construct. So maybe not such a good idea for only the second product SSL has designed for construction in the Audiotonix factory in China...
Moreover, this thing would no longer be a £1000 mixer, that's for sure... And people would still complain that it doesn't do something or other that they really, really must have...
Personally, I think the SiX offers a very reasonable and practical compromise. It is 'just' an analogue mixer, but one that does what it does very well, and it can be partnered with an interface/converter system of your choice to provide the precise facilities and quality you require. Which makes it very versatile and customisable to each individual's specific needs.
Usually, review gear gets packed up and taken away from me fairly promptly once I've finished my testing and writing, but the SiX has remained wired in at the side of my desk and has been in daily use, just because I've found it such a useful facility to have on hand. I think that actually says a quite a lot about the real-world practicality of the SiX.
H
Last edited by Hugh Robjohns on Mon Mar 25, 2019 12:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Technical Editor, Sound On Sound...
(But generally posting my own personal views and not necessarily those of SOS, the company or the magazine!)
In my world, things get less strange when I read the manual...
Since the "B" word has already been broached, can I mention the UCA 202 ?
No! not suggesting for one picoSec that you partner a Six with a 202 but the wee interface IS very handy for bolting to a tape deck or hi fi system to dub analogue material.
Now, I am not aware of an upmarket converter of similar size? (the UCA is eminently rocketable) but maybe a decent 2 in 2 out converter exists that could be used with the mixer? I cannot at the moment glean the dynamic range of the Six but a USB 3.0 converter with a DR of around 110-120dB should be doable for around £100?
USB "three" because it would be very handy for such a device to have a meaty headphone output, maybe two?
Great minds Sam. Great minds!
Dave.
Last edited by ef37a on Mon Mar 25, 2019 12:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Sam Spoons wrote:So what's needed to complement the Six is a modular AD/DA to USB box or a high quality, no frills USB interface. Does such a thing exist?
Hm directly to USB, the one I've seen is a Lavry (but I havent really looked, so there could be dozens more). But with ohters the path can probably be AES to input interface to USB to computer or something like that, i.e. using the digital input capability of the interface to connect in the converter's digital output and then use the interface to get the signal to and from the computer.
Now a 12 channel good converter, as of price that's gonna put some water in your eyes
Watchmaker wrote:
I believe I could run this into the Audient ASP880 convertors without worrying about compromising the sound or having an extra pre in the signal path.
The ASP880 would be a good way to convert from analogue to digital as you could simply feed the Six's insert sends to the ASP's insert returns via a 25 way D-type cable. You would still need an ADAT equipped audio interface though - as well as something to go the other way.
I have both a Focusrite Pre8x and an Apollo 8 so covered for routing options I hope. I was thinking of using it as a summing mixer. i.e. send up to twelve analog outs to the SSL Six for summing, and bring the stero sum back via the ASP880.
Not sure if I gain anything by doing that... Point being, the insert into the AD convertors on the ASP880 is extremely cost effective way to get good convertors on your desk with the added benefit of some great pres.
The Elf wrote:But I don't have my good ADA with me in the place that I would be most likely to use it - away from the studio!
But surely, if you're going to bother to take a SiX with you, it wouldn't be much of a hardship to take your favoured interface too, if it mattered? So I don't really follow that argument....
...but with a simple 2-in/out USB interface it could have been so much more.
It would have been something rather different. But with only a 2-in/out USB interface it would also have had lots of people up in arms because they wouldn't be able to access the summing bus or the direct outs within their DAW... Which just goes to prove you can't please everyone all the time.
As you said; it is what it is -- and I'm quite impressed with it as it is. I see no need to get bogged down in what something that doesnt exist might be if someone wants to make it in the future. There are several good quality 2-in/out USB interfaces on the market already if that's what you seek. SSL chose not to make another; they made something quite different and unusual, and interesting... It obviously won't appeal to everyone, or meet everyone's specific needs. But it will suit some people's set ups and ways of working and they will appreciate what the SiX offers.
Last edited by Hugh Robjohns on Mon Mar 25, 2019 5:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Technical Editor, Sound On Sound...
(But generally posting my own personal views and not necessarily those of SOS, the company or the magazine!)
In my world, things get less strange when I read the manual...
The Elf wrote:But I don't have my good ADA with me in the place that I would be most likely to use it - away from the studio!
But surely, if you're going to bother to take a SiX with you, it wouldn't be much of a hardship to take your favoured interface too, if it mattered?
My MADIFace? Why would I want to unrack my main studio interface?
For my mobile rig at the moment I use a pair of SSL SA channels plumbed digitally into an old DigiDesign MBox. At least if the SiX had digital outs I could use it in place of the SAs. As it is I'd not only have to still take the MBox, but interface to its AD converters, which I can bypass at the moment.
As I said, I'm sure others will love it, but for me - no sale.
Last edited by The Elf on Mon Mar 25, 2019 6:01 pm, edited 5 times in total.
But I don't have my good ADA with me in the place that I would be most likely to use it - away from the studio!
It's unlikely that this would be used on location due to the restricted number of inputs.
It's not a cheap piece of gear either, so if you're worried about it being damaged or stolen (away from the security of your studio) then you wouldn't use it there if you weren't happy about taking your good ADA.
. It's interesting to hear the thought process that goes into these things. I hope for your sake that the Six does well, but as your 'nearly' customer I also hope that it does well enough for you to produce a Six 'Pro' more suited to my needs! 
