TECHNOLOGY REVIEW


GETTING VISUAL As an engineer, I think this is one of the best-selling points of the S6, especially for post- production engineers, and it deserves a special mention. The display modules don’t just provide a great visualisation of metering, levels, and panning, but they also bring a new trick to the table: ‘waveform scrolling’. This is something we have seen before, but has never been conveyed this well. The best part is that none of this graphical information takes any extra processing power from your host. The S6 simply takes all the normal session information and waveform overviews via the high-speed Ethernet connection and generates its own graphics that you see on the displays. Alongside the meter view for the track, there is a vertical scrolling waveform that matches the audio (and midi!) in the edit window on your host DAW. It also shows faders and the file names of


what’s playing and what’s next in line. It shows the current timeline position, about 10 seconds in the past, and, most importantly, 20 seconds ahead. This way you can very quickly see what’s coming into the mix. The last point may be obvious, but a more significant point of interest is that these waveform views are updated instantly – if you make an edit on the DAW it immediately appears on the S6 displays without the need to either press play, or play through that part of the timeline again.


KEEPING IN CONTROL As mentioned, the centre section of any S6 is made up of the master touch module and master automation module. These modules are only a foot wide but contain so much, and with the focus channel there is never a concern about moving out of your acoustic sweet spot. You have so much control from the centre section allowing you to run your session from fast


navigation tools through to pages of shortcuts. The touchscreen works very


well but it was surprising at first having to think about the mix in portrait, not widescreen. However, once I saw how the tracks were laid out and that the screen also had split uses for metering and parameter controls the portrait screen seems like an excellent idea. With its modern multi- touch gestures, it also felt very much like using a tablet and this slots the console into the current technological era. The display of tracks on the


12in screen can intelligently differentiate between track colours resulting in them being presented to you in an efficiently organised manner. This also helps when working on sessions with well over 100 tracks, which is more and more common these days. There is a similar tiny global metering view, which runs across the top of the screen that allows you to zoom


in and follow what’s happening anywhere in the mix. It also works on a split mode to allow you to view some alternative meters to the tracks you’re working on, for example, the master busses, which is really useful. Plug-in mapping is usually


where these control surfaces let themselves down; however, one way the S6 is addressing this problem is with the eight rotary encoders around the 12in screen. You simply see the selection of parameters that are available to edit on the screen and tap the touch-sensitive knobs to assign them. Easy. To control monitor levels,


cue mixes, and talkback etc, the S6 will only remotely control an XMON Monitoring unit, as no audio passes through the control surface. However, XMON is a well respected and trusted unit that is already in many studios, who will benefit from reduced costs if they upgrade to the S6.


CONCLUSION The S6 has combined the best parts of the much-loved Euphonix consoles and the hugely popular ICON desks in a very modern and coherent package. Not only does the S6 offer many variations for a number of solutions with its modular design, but it also conveys all the information available to it from the host in a beautiful way. Control surfaces were meant to be a simple extension of the software, but always let you down somewhere, forcing you to use the mouse. Avid however, has certainly managed this on a whole new level, as well as offering a few extra bonuses – waveform scrolling!


THE REVIEWER SIMON ALLEN


is a full-time sound engineer and record producer. After a stint as senior engineer at City Studios in Cyprus where he headed up the new music studio, he can now mostly be found at Woodbury Studios in Hertfordshire.


Jory MacKay chats with Avid Pro audio and pro mixing marketing manager Tom Graham about the thought process behind the feature-laden S6.


Tom Graham


Graham: While ICON was a huge part of changing the professional mixing paradigm over the past 10 years, many of our customers were willing to share their thoughts on how the next-generation surface could be even better. Before designing what


would become S6, we wanted to thoroughly understand our customers’ challenges and needs, so we conducted a series of interviews. These resulted in very similar responses across many pro music and post mixers as well


www.audiomedia.com


as engineers. What is also worth noting is that nearly all of the interviews ended with this final thought: “ICON is great… The Euphonix guys are also doing some cool stuff with EUCON, hybrid DSP mixing, and [their consoles] have some great ergonomics and visual feedback – you should look at them… Heck, you guys should buy them!” And so, while I was part of the internal next-gen


“The world is ready to move beyond the traditional monolithic


console model.” Tom Graham


ICON team, I was brought onto another team to look at the viability of acquiring Euphonix. Not only did the Euphonix portfolio nicely blend with Avid’s but adding EUCON to the Pro


Tools/pro mixing world greatly improve workflows and flexibility for our customers. The clincher was that Euphonix was also on a very similar path to a next- generation modular, scalable mixing surface and were further along in the design process.


SHAPING S6 The key design principles behind the S6 were derived directly from the responses


we received from customers: • The world is ready to move beyond the traditional monolithic console model. Mixers desire a high-density, ergonomic, expandable system with easily configurable workflows. Ergonomics (such as reach, tactile interaction, and visual feedback) are paramount to the mixer and should not obstruct or interfere with the


sound. • The surface should build upon proven Pro Tools


workflows, but have the flexibility to control other Avid and third-party apps in a deeper way than just the


HUI protocol. • It should have rich visual feedback like professional metering, EQ curves, panning feedback, routing, and scrolling waveforms to cue


the mixer. • It should be designed around a set of small modules that can be configured together, enabling users to scale or grow their system.


THE END RESULT The key features that set S6 apart from the competition include the revolutionary modular design, which is based on the tried and true tactile control of faders, knobs, buttons, switches, and meters, as well as its ‘heads- up’ touchscreen display master control section, which offers many innovative control, metering, and navigation functions. In a survey we conducted


of over 1,000 professionals, more than 85% said they are mixing ‘in-the-box’ all or most of the time, so tight, integrated control of Pro Tools and other EUCON DAWs is essential. No other manufacturer of mixing desks has the level of integrated, high-speed control that Avid offers in S6 with features like simple Ethernet connectivity and setup, as well as multi- workstation control and scrolling Pro Tools waveforms on the meter displays, to name just a few. S6 offers unprecedented visual feedback, enabling mixers to monitor every facet of their mix with features like colour coded top-lit status knobs and colour LED buttons below every channel fader that follow the track colour in Pro Tools for easy track management. This gives the mixer the critical visual insight they need to mix with complete confidence and speed.


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