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It is a pretty cabable little box.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
Bit odd why it's designed with a single 15V rail when it's far easier to use dual 15V rails if you want high headroom and DC coupled gain stages. With the 5 pin connector they could have used a dual supply and still had 2 pins left doing nothing.
Phase inverter on the first 2 channels would have put less than a pound on the total build cost in China ..... seems a silly thing to leave off at first but then I've always found flipping the phase most useful on drums and other multi mic'ed stuff. This is more for vocals and single source stuff I guess so maybe it wouldn't have been that useful.
I used to work on a SSL 4000E, daily. So it’ll be interesting if this tiny thing has got some of that SSL mojo it’s big brothers have.
I had another scan of the SoS article and I didn't pick up on Hugh moaning about the external PSU
" The mixer is powered from an external universal 'line-lump' PSU, and is convection-cooled through vents under the front and at the rear. In use, it gets noticeably warm, with the top of the rear panel reaching a toasty 41 degrees Celsius after a few hours."
"The external line-lump power supply connects using a five-pin XLR — an interesting choice, since only two of the pins are actually needed — and delivers 15V DC at 3.3A (which is why the console runs slightly warm). DC-to-DC converters inside the mixer generate all the required symmetrical power rails and phantom voltages. The screen terminals of the audio connectors are grounded directly (less than 0.5Ω) to the safety earth connection at the PSU's IEC mains inlet, and a spectral analysis of the mixer's residual noise floor showed it to be very clean, with a few (mostly mains-related) spikes all below -120dBu. An on/off button is tucked away immediately above the XLR but doesn't isolate the PSU from the mains supply, obviously."
I know that Paul (White) has a bit of a bee in his bonnet about 'wall wart' PSUs but Hugh's gripes are usually reserved for kit that is prone to earth loops.
First impressions are very good. Sonically, it sounds like an SSL. A major plus point.
The mic pre's seem very usable. Haven't run mics into them yet though, admittedly.
The EQ is really nice sounding and a lot more flexible than you'd expect and the channel compressors are also dialled in very nicely.
The bus compressor. Well. I worked on a 4000E for a long time, and I also had the SSL Mynx/X-Rack bus compressor. Even though the one in the SiX is simplified, I would say that it sounds better than the Mynx/X Rack variant.
To my ears it sounds much closer to the 4000E quad compressor that i used on the big console.
And yes, if you push the mix bus, providing your converters can take the level, it'll start to heat up nicely. It gives an edge and slight crunch to drums that you'll often hear on rock mixes. Especially those done by CLA et al.
The metering is also very good, and the routing is very flexible.
Cant wait to stem some mixes through it and see what's what. To my ears it sounds superior to the Phoenix Audio Nicerizer Mk2 I had.
So just my initial thoughts. Will give a more detailed review when I had had it for a while.
So far so good. Very pleased right off the bat.