Soundcraft

Si Compact 24
Soundcrafts compact desk is designed to offer
digital power and versatility combined with an
operator-friendly analogue feel.
Digital Mixing Desk
as ease of use, uncomplicated user controls
and portability that will attract the interest
of casual users who dont and wont
spend much of their working lives behind
the desk. The main reasons I bought my
own digital mixer were the vastly increased
functionality, the ability to store and recall
many different settings, and the ability to
use digital communication between stage
and control point.
There are lots of other reasons to take
the digital route, like audio quality, future
software enhancements and so on, but
there are still some things to consider before
making what can, for many users, represent
a considerable outlay of cash.
From The Top
The Si Compact has been designed
from the outset to maintain Soundcrafts
long-standing reputation for excellent
audio and build quality, and to offer the
user a straightforward hands-on experience
so that they dont need to keep referring
to a set of instructions or menu choices
to access most of its functions. Lets take
a tour of the Si Compact, which comes
ready to work straight out of the box, with
its factory settings.
True to its name, the Si Compact is
indeed a small, neat unit with an air of
M I K E C R O F T S
S
oundcraft have just released Version
2 software for their newest portable
digital mixer, the Si Compact.
The latest version adds new features and
improves the performance of what is
already a well-respected desk, so I was very
keen to get hands-on with this interesting
package for the first time.
One of the long-time goals for digital
mixer designers has been to give their
product an analogue feel, something that
will widen its appeal especially amongst
those considering making the move
from analogue to the new world, where
outboard effects racks and tedious cable
patching are gone forever.
The technical advantages of
a fully integrated digital mixer are already
pretty obvious, but its practical things such
Soundcraft
Si Compact 24 6200
P R O S
Great audio quality.
Excellent build quality.
Lovely fader feel and performance.
Practical and easy to operate.
Many useful and innovative user features.
C O N S
Nothing major.
S U M M A R Y
The Soundcraft Si Compact 24 is among the
best in its class, with a vast array of features
accessed by an interface that could trick
you into thinking Si stands for simplicity
itself . Though it will set you back quite
a bit financially, what you get is an excellent
digital mixer in terms of build, features,
usability and audio quality.
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116 March 2012 / www. s oundons ound. c om
Having re-booted and re-set everything
to factory defaults, I was able to start
getting a real feel for the Si Compact. The
24 faders have a full 100mm of travel and
feel exceptionally smooth, with no hint of
stickiness or digging in. When moving
under their own power, they travel quietly
and quickly, and even when I made the
whole lot move along their full travel, by
flipping between layers, there was only
a refined whoosh.
In a fully digital mixer, the number
of input sources, processing channels,
physical faders, buses and outputs are
independent and unrelated: the Si Compact
24 is actually a 40-channel mixer, with 24
mic preamps, eight (four stereo) effects
returns and a further eight channels that
can be patched as line inputs or AES digital,
double-patched to existing sources, or used
with inputs provided by the option slot.
The faders are therefore used in layers, with
two input-source layers and two output-bus
layers. The default setting places channels
1-22 in the first layer (called IN A) with
channels 23-32 and the stereo effects (FX)
returns on the next layer, IN B, which
HiQnet data. Theres also a 64- by 64-way
expansion I/O slot, which is compatible with
Si option cards.
Start Me Up
As soon as the Si Compact is connected to
a live mains supply, the on and off button
flashes slowly, and a short press brings
everything to life. My first task was to
install the newly-released software update
(downloadable from the Soundcraft web site
at http://www.soundcraft.com/downloads/
software.aspx), which was accomplished
simply using a USB flash drive. It takes
around 40 seconds for the booting process
to complete (about five seconds faster than
before I updated to V2), and all the default
active sections light up.
The start-up time seems quite long, but
theres a lot going on inside the desk, and
the only time this might be frustrating would
be if the desk had to be restarted during
a performance. Personally speaking, I always
feed my digital mixer from an online UPS
(uninterruptible power supply) that gives
me about 20 minutes of full operation if the
mains power goes down.
purpose about it. The housing and main
panel are black, with various colour-coded
sections that all have clear and obvious
functions indeed, I remarked on the clear
panel labelling as soon as I unpacked the
desk. The model I borrowed for review was
the 24-channel version, which is no trouble
to lift and carry, as it weighs only 15.5kg and
is about 28 inches wide: very compact for
this frame size.
The Si Compact provides a full
complement of 24 (or 16 or 32, depending
on the model) XLR inputs on the back
panel, and two additional pairs of analogue
line-in connectors using TRS jacks. Below
the inputs are no fewer than 16 analogue
outputs, of which numbers 15 and 16 default
to the main left and right output. On the
24- and 32-channel versions only, there are
four insert points with separate send and
return jacks. Inserts are a welcome feature,
as they allow the use of any favourite
or specialist pieces of outboard gear an
engineer might have.
To complete the extensive connectivity,
there are ports for MIDI, word clock,
AES digital I/O, and an Ethernet port for
117 www. s oundons ound. c om / March 2012
application of these controls can vary quite
widely between manufacturers and designs,
but the Si Compact has a clean, well
thought-out layout that makes everything
easy to see, adjust and understand.
The Assignable Channel Strip, or ACS,
contains five sections: the input controls
are outlined in blue and consist of a twin
eight-segment LED ladder for input
level, phase reverse and phantom power
switches, a pair of rotary encoders for trim
level and high-pass filter frequency, and
a high-pass filter button. I like the provision
of separate input metering rather than
metering that temporarily uses the main
output displays, as you can see a direct
correlation between input and main out
levels if you want to. It also means the input
meter is right where you want it, alongside
the controls youre focusing on.
The rotary encoders have plenty
of room around them, and include
a globally-dimmable illuminated scale
thats easy to see, and especially
good when using the desk in low-light
conditions. The next two (green) sections
in the ACS are for channel dynamics, with
separate sets of controls for operating the
compressor and gate, which even provide
a facility to adjust the side-chain high and
low cutoff frequencies.
The dynamics sections each have an LED
display showing their current status, and
this is also indicated on the mini-displays
alongside each fader. This means that the
dynamics status of every channel on the
active fader layer is displayed right across
the console and you can instantly see,
for example, which channels are gated,
no matter which one is currently selected
and being controlled in the ACS. This an
incredibly useful feature, and one with
definite get out of trouble fast potential!
The remaining ACS sections
are a four-band equaliser (with two
fully-parametric mid bands), an output
Looking at the IN A layer for the
moment, inputs 1-22 are controlled by
the faders, and each channel has other
dedicated indicators and switches: in the
space directly above each fader are selector
buttons for solo, on (which is, in effect,
a mute switch) and a select button which
links that channel to the detailed channel
controls within the strip above.
The channels also have a rotary encoder
each, which can function (globally assigned,
not per-channel) as pan, trim or input
filter frequency, the last being adjustable
over a huge range from 40Hz all the way
up to 1kHz. Finally, there are two small
four-segment LED displays that show
input signal level, gain reduction when the
compressor is being used, and gate status.
The Channel Strip
In common with most compact digital
mixers, the Si Compact has a single physical
set of controls that are used to access all
the main strip parameters available, and
these controls will affect and display settings
for the currently-selected channel only. The
assigns mic inputs 23 and 24 to faders 1 and
2, and so on.
The next two layers are for the 14 output
bus masters and matrix masters respectively,
and lastly theres a fader mode for accessing
the graphic equaliser in two banks, where
the uppermost 14 faders are used to control
EQ bands 31Hz-630Hz or 800Hz-16kHz.
The V2 software allows more flexible layer
configuration than before, and the default
configuration can be modified by the user to
place any input channel on either (or both)
input layers, and any output bus master on
either of the bus layers.
The result of all this is an uncompromised
overall layout thats easy to see and work
with, boasting a generous amount of space
around the controllers and displays across
the whole board.
All Aglow
The faders on the Si Compact are very
high-quality components with the various
functions printed alongside them, and come
equipped with a handy and visually attractive
feature called Fader Glow. This lights up the
fader slot in different colours depending on
what its being used for at the time. It looks
very good without being over the top, and
the colours are distinctive.
Other than when a fader is assigned
to a mono input channel, the colour
code indicates whats going on, even
distinguishing between pre-fade and
post-fade bus settings. Changing between
fader layers is simply a matter of pressing
the relevant button in a small bank between
the channel and master faders, and each
layer comes up directly with a single hit (one
button per layer), with no stepping through
required at all.
Increased inputs to mix on Si Compact
16 and 24 models.
Support for multiple shows on an SD card.
Ability to dim the illuminated control
surface elements from new PREFS page.
Wider gain range on line-trim function.
Ability to isolate inserts.
Press and hold of backspace button on
QWERTY keyboard will auto-delete
the current name.
Improved system-default settings for FX
return routing and bus masters.
Ability to instantly set bus and matrix sends
to unity or -infdB.
DOGS Gain tracking.
Selective copy and paste.
Security lockout.
Assignable fader layers.
Control of snapshots using MIDI.
Ability to independently send left, right and
mono mix to a matrix bus.
Desk can be word-clock slave
or word-clock master.
Global isolation of individual buses.
Patching of stereo inputs to any channel.
HPF setting shown on EQ screen.
Delay displayed in meters, feet and ms.
PEQ filter width displayed in Q
and octaves.
SELect Function Focus includes additional
information, and is active only whilst SEL
key is held.
Support for CobraNet and Aviom.
Minimum 25 percent speed improvement
on all processes.
Improved fader operation.
Easier access to LCR > Matrix function.
Improved menu navigation.
Key Changes In V2 Software
The illumination
of the Si Compacts
faders is colour
coded, changing
to represent
the function
theyre currently
performing.
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up on screen when the data
encoder is pressed.
The menu screen is
uncomplicated and shows all the above
settings without any need for diving into
further layers. Creating a routing matrix is
easy, too, by selecting one of the four MTX
buttons and simply sending an output, and
input sub-groups can be effectively created
by sending them to an aux bus and then
assigning its output to the main mix.
While on the subject of the buses, its
worth noting that the Si Compact has
a 28-band graphic equaliser (created by BSS)
on every aux bus, matrix and the main outs.
The graphic EQ is accessed directly from the
faders, and an on-screen display (showing all
the bands at once) complements the fader
positions. In this mode, the motorised faders
exhibit a physical zero-detent feature, which
is quite pronounced and makes it easy to
notch them back into the zero position.
Having a full graphic EQ available on
all buses is a must for live monitor auxes,
and the Si Compact certainly delivers in
this respect. Also, they are always on and
the system load is constant no matter how
many aux buses or graphic EQs are in use,
so running out of processing power is not a
worry. The Assignable Channel Strip section
also operates on any selected bus, offering
all of the input strip functions except gating.
Patchbay & Connectivity
The Si Compacts patchbay allows very
flexible input and output routing: almost any
input source can be patched to any control
channel and linked as mono or stereo.
The input patch screen shows the current
source for whichever channel is selected by
displaying a row of input connector icons:
the one with a tick mark is the current patch,
and to change it you just have to touch
another icon on the screen.
Theres also a handy automatic function
within this screen, which will assign patches
incrementally from the one youve just
selected, meaning that re-patching a whole
section of the desk becomes a breeze,
rather than a chore.
being adjusted, as soon as you move one of
the controls, the touchscreen automatically
displays a lower-half overlay showing all
the relevant parameters. Its clear, easy and
makes it virtually impossible to go wrong!
If you happen to notice something
missing from the main mix, pressing the LR
key will similarly light up all the channels
currently assigned to the stereo output.
This is much better than searching channel
settings one at a time, and is another great
little feature designed to make life easier.
Immediately to the right of the
channel-strip section is a monitoring section,
with eight-segment LED metering for the
main stereo and mono output buses and
a separate stereo meter for the engineers
monitor outputs. A dedicated encoder
controls the monitor level, which can be
switched to follow the main mix, PFL or AFL.
The engineers headphone output is
tucked away under the front left-hand edge,
by fader 1, which is a sensible location, since
most single-wire headphones have left-side
cable entry.
Bus Routes
One of my favourite things about the Si
Compact is the ease with which auxiliary
buses can be set up, and the generous
number available: no fewer than 14. A row
of buttons selects the bus you want to
set up or work on, and the faders light up
yellow or green depending on the buss
pre or post configuration, becoming
the channel sends to that bus. If a bus is
selected, the menu on the LCD touchscreen
makes the outputs option selectable.
Pressing that brings up a menu where
various bus properties can be addressed.
The bus can be either mono or stereo,
or linked with an adjacent odd or even bus
to form a pair. Two destination patches can
be set from here too, and there are two
pre and post options available, namely
the signal source either before or after
the channel fader, and also a pre or post
EQ option. These settings result in the
corresponding Fader Glow colour being
displayed whenever that bus is on a fader.
The selected bus can be given a name,
using a QWERTY keyboard which pops
control, pan, and an always-accessible
delay control that can be used to set up
to 500ms of delay. Although the low and
high EQ bands are not fully parametric,
the two mid-range bands can in fact be
swept over a 20Hz-20kHz range, so can
operate anywhere in the spectrum. Whether
this works for you is down to personal
choice, but I didnt see the fixed shelves
as a problem, since I almost always have
the upper and lower EQ bands of my own
desks set as shelves anyway. If additional
EQ control is really necessary, bear in mind
that each of the output buses also has its
own four-band EQ and a full GEQ graphic
equaliser (see the section on buses for
a full description), so there is plenty of
equalisation available to throw at any of your
problem sources.
All of the ACS functions are easy to
operate, and I like how every control has
a single dedicated function that always does
the same thing, and is always available no
matter what else the Si Compact is doing.
My feeling is that this desk encourages you
to mix with your ears rather than becoming
too reliant on visual indicators, but there is
still some additional information available on
the LCD screen: when anything in the ACS is
Similarly equipped alternative digital desks
include the LS9 from Yamaha and the Roland
M-series consoles.
Alternatives
Soundcraft mixers have incorporated
Lexicon technology since a long way back,
and the Si Compact is endowed with four
separate processors that have a dedicated
control area below the LCD screen, and are
based on the Lexicon MX400. They also
have their own buses that are additional
to the auxiliary, main and matrix buses.
Accessing the reverb sends is simply
a matter of pressing one of the four FX
buttons, whereupon the faders glow blue
and become the channel sends to that
processor. Individual effects processors
can be set to a preset (14 reverbs, seven
delays, and eight more effects of various
flavours) from a list, and the parameters
can be edited by using the touchscreen and
adjustment encoder. There are plenty of
great default settings, including some very
smooth hall and room reverbs, and the
amount of fine control available should be
great for most live sound requirements.
Four Lots Of Lexicon
The Si Compact 24 has
a comprehensive range of
analogue inputs and outputs, as
well as HiQnet and an optional
expansion board.
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The more I saw of the Si Compact the more I was
impressed by the amount of ease of use thinking thats
gone into the design, and these features (including an auto
insert feature which lets you add a channel into the middle
of a group and moves everything up one slot, names and all)
are typical of its user-friendly nature. Perhaps Si is short for
simplicity itself.
Conclusion
So is it really that easy to use? The answer has to be
a resounding yes as far as getting up and running goes,
plus if you read through the Quick Start guide youre pretty
much sorted for all the basic stuff. I havent really got into
all of the more advanced capabilities of the Si Compact, but
you only have to download the full Version 2 User Guide
to start thinking about the potential. Ive looked at the Si
Compact very much as a straightforward live sound mixer,
but it has a lot more to offer, especially when you look at
the possibilities offered by HighQNet and connecting it up
to digital stage boxes (the Si Compact will work with Studer
D21m, Soundcraft Vi and Soundcraft Compact systems) and
so on. The Version 2 update is quite a long list and includes
features like DOGS gain tracking, which maintains direct out
feeds (to a recorder, for example) at a previously stored level
even if the gain is manually altered on that channel during the
live performance. Theres a very neat copy and paste function,
which can replicate all the settings in any section, and an
enhanced security lock-out feature which allows system access
rights to be set up and modified within a security profile (and
can be used by more than one operator) rather than having to
change every individual user.
Although it seems to be built around live sound use,
its excellent audio quality makes the Si Compact a great
portable recording desk too: theres also no fan noise, but the
fader motors murmur quietly sometimes. Although channel
EQ and dynamics are always a matter of personal taste,
I think the folks at Soundcraft have got all of this spot on:
the EQ is sweet, smooth and practical, and youd surely have
to go a long way to find anything that out-performs the Si
Compact 24 in this price range and with such a small footprint.
A small issue I noticed was that because the screen doesnt
flip up, you have to sit pretty much above it for optimum
screen contrast. In a semi-darkened room, I also found the
letters on some of the soft-feel buttons hard to read when
they werent lit up.
In the portable live sound market, this little desk performs
at the top of if not above its class, and offers more than
enough flexibility to cope with virtually any situation. If youre
considering a digital console, it would be well worth arranging
a proper dealer demonstration.
The Si Compact 24 isnt the least expensive digital desk
money can buy, but it ranks among the best, and offers
grown-up performance and operating capability. Its also
designed in the UK and produced by a company who have
a reputation for standing behind their products. Id describe
the Si Compact as a great
little pedigree series that
combines seriously good
performance with innovative,
thoughtful and practical
design values.
6200 including VAT.
Sound Technology T
+44 (0)1462 480000.
www.soundtech.co.uk W
www.soundcraft.com W
121 www. s oundons ound. c om / March 2012
This article was originally published in
Sound On Sound magazine, March 2012 edition.
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