Ssl big 6 new console leak

at this price point I can't see how they will be in Dangerous or Aurora territory.

Sure, that’s fair hope, but a 16 channel Aurora or Dangerous interface all by itself is like 80% of the price of this ssl mixer.

I bet the ssl mixer sound pretty good as is though.

Wiz your tracks sound great !

Mainly because it'll probably be compromised like every other cheap "all-in-one" mixer out there. The Soundcraft MTK-22 I had was noisy, latency wasn't great etc. the Zed-R16 and Onyx 1640i was better but no match for a mid ranged audio interface. IME when it comes to mixers unless you're in Trident 78 / API the box territory they're not worth bothering with as a main recording solution.

I've always wanted a decent all in one so I won't just write it off but I don't have high hopes either. Anyway I was going to buy another pair of Shelford channels for tracking from a pearl mimic but this is a $1000.00 cheaper than one of them. Hmm... I dunno.

I checked the manual, 117dB dynamic range doesn't say much but it's something. So no, not Aurora level.. In terms of specs though the Aurora is certainly not superior to the Apollo X series, it can't be considered "higher end" but I like you prefer other interfaces despite their "inferior" technical readouts. I get along well with my MOTU 1248 (which is like a 16A) so I'm not too concerned about the conversion..

The noise floor specs however raised a brow, *hrrf.. From a workflow standpoint this could solve a few issues for me, I have a PCM 92 / Eventide delay unit and several OTB comps. Meh, I might just get one with a good returns policy.

@gravesnumber

I mainly use compressors or limiters at the front end to ensure I keep the level hot enough but never clip the converters with sharp dynamics, if it does that job then they're good enough for me. Channel's 1-4 would be Shelford's / 6176's but I don't currently have enough I/O chains to track eight outs from the Pearl Mimic. Two are stereo feed (master / OH) and I only really need kick, snare, toms and HH so I could get away with this setup..

I totally get the hands on thing of a real mixer and the convenience of a built in interface and pre-amps - Alesis, Mackie and Behringer how done these things for years.

But I was thinking (dangerous I know!) isn't is probably true that (for example) 12 channels of the UAD SSL 4K plugin maybe combined with perhaps Slates VCC 2.0 will get you a heck a lot
closer to an actual SSL 4K than this SSL mini mixer?

I still want one for my rehearsal/writing space because it has so many great and practical features for working quickly.

But for tone on a serious mix, these days modelled console plugins with some quality hardware on the stereo bus get's you so close that expansive, expensive large format console sound.

I know what you mean Shadow. It's always tempting to think why put 3k into a board if 5-6k gets you something used vintage that's bigger and better. But I can't say I want a mixer that needs caps and repairs as soon as I buy it though. I like having a warranty too.

I guess it's all speculation until we get reviews from people who know what's up.

Good luck Shadow! That takes some guts. Even thinking about moving off from the Apollo is not easy. It does exactly what it was designed to do perfectly. I never had a moments trouble since 2012 with mine. The reliability and the simple sub-mixer concept of the Console works every time.

Keep us posted..

I've removed all my general meanderings because it isn't adding anything to the convo.. So let's get into the nitty of this as after quite a bit of research I've sorta figured out what it is. Low factor hybrid mixer..

So the EQ, didn't make sense until I read the manual.. It's not made for surgical precision, that's where you'd use plugins to cut bits out that you don't like and then use the onboard to boost / wide cut. In modern music you do a lot of boosting to make things kick like a mule and there's a bell selector for different bands (so it's not just 3.5k but 5K on towards 20Khz).. The board isn't made to implement a lot of outboard, just choice pieces like your line inserts and an FX cue mix send as again it's a hybrid box (summed from cue to main). Which is fine with me.. You could still have 4 X 1176's etc. or 500 rack chains, there are inserts for the stereo channels too so technically speaking you could really go to town on this if you wanted to and become mainly OTB. 

In terms of EQ there's one issue, the cue FX send. I'd always HPF / LPF / EQ a verb then tuck it in, to avoid another round trip with an external FX piece you'd ideally require an external stereo EQ channel in its path.. Again, I'm fine with that. If you just use ITB plugs on the stereo sends then that's not even a consideration.. I will say though the EQ isn't grainy and appears rather musical which is IME unheard of in this price bracket.

That SSL G-comp (lite) buss sounds good (doesn't seem to pump etc.) and does the whole glue thing pretty well removing the need for additional outboard comps, I'm sure like me many do a lot of parallel processing and that's a limitation of this specific board. I'd usually have quite a few dry(ish) backing vox panned L/R (ish) with a parallel processing chain (aux buss), that takes up a lot of tracks and they won't be EQ'd the same so the Big S could only serve as a "master" vox buss and all other processing would have to be ITB. It's not a dissimilar process for drums either..

From what I've heard the one knob compressors sound pretty good but I think they're a stop gap until you can start using the channel inserts for something like a 500 series rack. No issues at all with conversion if the demo's are anything to go by (in fact I prefer it to the Apollo).

You really need to read the not so straight forward manual to understand it, after looking into this quite deeply I think it's pretty damn clever actually. The only real issue I have with this board is channel count, it really should have been at least a 16 channel mixer (if that costs quite a bit more so be it) or there needs to be a way to cascade two units together seamlessly with your DAW. I'm not sure if SSL ever read these posts but any comments on that? It would push me over the fence in an instant..

Ultimately from what I've heard (like the example below) it's a good sounding mixer with a lot of benefits. There would be a heavy reliance on ITB still but that's not necessarily an issue, I've spent a fortune on UA products for example and I'd like to use them. I suppose it makes the workflow a bit messy (board, ITB + 500 rack) but I would try to automate or template, set / forget this stuff (CLA style) as much as possible.

On one last personal note, for me it kinda makes more sense. I have an Apollo X6 and it doesn't have enough I/O for my expanding studio, I'd have to buy another Apollo anyway and because I'll be skipping VST's (mainly) from here on out latency etc. wouldn't be much of an issue. The video below gives a good overview of mixing on the desk..

I'm thinking of trying the Big Six, selling my Apollo X6, and buying a satellite to run plugs. If I'm truly honest with myself, the only UAD plug-in I really need and use is the ATR-102. It's kind of become a signature sound in my productions, my bettermaker. The Ocean Way is also one I still use as a room reverb, but I imagine I could find a substitute setting in one of the six or seven reverbs I do have.

If I got a decent price for my X6 with plugs, it might be worth the hassle of switching, but if I can't, a satellite lets me keep running my UAD plugs, even though it adds to the budget.

It's likely I didn't work hard enough to really learn how best to use UA's plugs, like the Massive Passive or the API 2500, but other company's plug-ins like the Clariphonic MkII usually give me a touch of excitement and the Black Box gives me some analogue tube tones on the 2 bus.