This paper is available in Français too
We waited a long time because, much like a Japanese brand with a love for tuning forks, Avid took their time to create this new live mixing console, the Venue S6L.
Powerful, flexible and open to the outside world, Venue S6L combines PC core technology for the control, mixing and internal processing with an HDX-standard DSP for plug-ins. The best of both worlds in a very nice product.
Jean-Gabriel Grandouiller, sales manager for Avid in France, introduced us to this new console or, rather, these new consoles, because, as you will see later, two cores and three models of console are available.
We offer him a big thank you for his hospitality and for squeezing the whole French demo schedule, into which SLU shamelessly slipped.
Our apologies to Marco de Fouquières for making him wait ;0)
Venue, vidi, vici
SLU : There is a strong family resemblance between this one and the S6 studio …
Jean-Gabriel Grandouiller : It has some elements that come from the S6, the encoders and faders, for example, but redesigned especially for live mixing and live conditions.
SLU : : It’ll be more robust than the S6 ?
Jean-Gabriel Grandouiller : You could put it that way. The system includes three different types of control surfaces, two types of mix engine and a new stage rack. Therefore there are six possible combinations to chose from, based on the requirements for processing power and control surface size.
SLU : How big is the largest control surface ?
Jean-Gabriel Grandouiller : That would be the SL6-32D, with 32 faders and four screens.The medium-sized surface, SL6-24D, has just 24 faders and three displays. The smallest, SL6-24, also has 24 faders but only one screen, the main center display, which provides access to all the functions of the console.
It doesn’t leave out any functionality, it simply lacks the visual feedback and speed of control that you have using the touchscreens. The screens are all touch-sensitive.
SLU : This reduction in the size of the surface brings down the price ?
Jean-Gabriel Grandouiller : It effectively gives it a more affordable price, with equal processing power, but nothing prevents the user from adding screens later. The big advantage is really the compactness of the desk, maintaining the same specs.
SLU : The display management is included in the screen ?
Jean-Gabriel Grandouiller : In theory, yes, but I am not certain. This is true of the S6 studio, though. What has been a lot of work is using colors on the display in order to trace the signal path and selecting what functions would be applied to each button or encoder.
Each of the surfaces has eight analog mic/line inputs, eight analog outputs, four pairs of AES3 inputs and as many outputs. There are also eight GPIO in and out, MIDI, LTC; nothing is missing, not even a video output for an additional screen to scroll through your snapshots, for example.
The engine runs great
SLU : Tell us about the mix engine
Jean-Gabriel Grandouiller : There are two. The big difference between this and the old generation Venue is that the local inputs and outputs are no longer on the engine, but on the surface itself. The rack “engine” actually includes only the connections to the stage and to the control surface, and the processing
The big advantage of this in a fixed installation is being able to place this 5U rack in an equipment room without having to run the audio lines over long distances. So we have two engines, the E144 and E192. Their names are derived from their number of possible input channels. The E144 has 144 and the E192, logically, has 192 potential inputs. Naturally, this also depends on the number of stage racks up front.
SLU : Outputs don’t count in the calculation…
Jean-Gabriel Grandouiller : No, unlike other consoles, where the processing resources are divided between inputs and outputs, this new console does not change its processing capacity, and its sampling frequency can be freely selected between 48 or 96 kHz.
SLU : And for the outputs ?
Jean-Gabriel Grandouiller : On the 144 there are 64 output busses, plus LCR, and on the E192 there are 96, plus LCR.
SLU : Assignable to physical outputs, so it all depends on how the stage racks are set up…
Jean-Gabriel Grandouiller : The stage racks have 64 inputs and 32 outputs. You can install analog cards, digital cards and, now, a brand new Dante card – during the NAMM show we signed a partnership with Audinate – enters into the Connectivity Tool Kit.
SLU : Getting back to the engine, how many VCAs does it handle ?
Jean-Gabriel Grandouiller : Each model offers 24, with two completely independent solo busses.
A Plethora of Plug-ins
“A look at what there is under the hood will tell you a lot more than all the language that salespeople can use to try to tell you that it is good.”
SLU : In terms of plug-in resources, we’ve heard that these are AAX…
Jean-Gabriel Grandouiller : Exactly, and in terms of resources, the 144 Engine has 128 slots and the E192 takes that up to 200 slots. Of course if you set up 200 EQ3s, the resources of the system would be far from exhausted; it all depends on the complexity of the plug-ins.
SLU : I understand that the resources remain the same for the i7 depending on the sampling frequency, however I imagine that the HDX cards lose power if you work at 96 kHz …
Jean-Gabriel Grandouiller : Yes, absolutely.
SLU : What can you tell us about this choice to combine the two technologies in the engine ?
Jean-Gabriel Grandouiller : This is new for Avid, at least relative to what was there with Digidesign or Euphonics.For the first time, we’ve chosen to use the two technologies in parallel. The plug-in section is handled by the now familiar HDX cards; moreover these can also be increased to four.
This choice allows us to maintain compatibility with everything that has been developed up to now in this protocol. On the other hand, the audio engine adopts the Intel i7 processor with RTX technology, which allows cores, and hence the audio resources, to be allocated outside of the OS that manages the console.
And that is quite a job, since each input and output channel of the console has a large number of processes that are carried out by the i7.
SLU : What is True Gain Compensation? Is it the management of the digital gain to compensate for its effect on the gain at the input stage ?
Jean-Gabriel Grandouiller : This is a feature that already exists on the S3L. If a stage rack is being shared by two consoles, at the user interface each user has the impression of controlling his own gain.
SLU : Yes, well, if one of the two saturates the input, though, the other will lower its gain and it will only attenuate the level of a distorted sound…
Jean-Gabriel Grandouiller : In such a case, which falls into the realm of human error, yes, but what is interesting is the management of the snapshots.When you control the analog gain and you make a snapshot with the gain at 41, if another operator returns with his console and takes control of the gain – with your console passing to slave – and changes the gain, your gain display will remain at 41 and compensation occurs.
When he disconnects, you return to your gain of 41. You maintain a fixed gain structure for your showfiles without worrying about whether or not you’re in control of the gain. You can also have master gain control on one stage rack and slaved control on another. This is useful because the one who controls the inputs also controls the outputs. This is well suited for monitor engineers, who manage a maximum of outputs, in contrast to FoH engineers.
SLU : How is the compatibility with older showfiles ?
Jean-Gabriel Grandouiller : The compatibility is complete. The display changes and is better, but you could call it cosmetics to take into account 16:9 screens with higher resolution or to display more and better plug-ins.
Venue is at version 4.5.2 on the S3L; could be, we are going to 5.
What language do you speak, my dear ?
SLU : Which audio transport protocol does the S6L use ?
Jean-Gabriel Grandouiller : AVB, over optical and copper links. This whole little world can be connected without the addition of any supplemental interface or card. Redundancy is established via a return loop between, for example, two stage racks connected to each other, and one link from each to the engine. If one link is interrupted, the system retrieves the data through the other instantly. The control surface is connected to the engine in AVB. The stage boxes can accept Dante and interact with other devices that also use this protocol.
SLU : How about Dante on the engine ?
Jean-Gabriel Grandouiller : There is a very good chance that Dante cards will also be available for the engine but today we don’t see too much use for them.Perhaps for recording, but you can do that using AVB or 64 channels in Pro Tools. An optional Thunderbolt card will also permit a very large number of channels in terms of recording.
SLU : How many ?
Jean-Gabriel Grandouiller : They’re talking about 192 channels. Today, connecting a Mac Mini or a laptop via Ethernet to the surface or to the engine, you have a total of 64 channels with ProTools to record and play back: the simplest Virtual Sound Check.
SLU : What can you tell us about the Stage 64 rack ?
Jean-Gabriel Grandouiller : An interesting feature is the MADI mirroring incorporated as standard in each stage rack.This means that, without having to go through a matrix or through the console and the engine, it is possible to recover signals and route them to another console, to a recorder or to any other device that accepts this transport standard. Two ports are provided for this, in order to convey the 64 channels in 96 kHz.
Each stage rack incorporates a screen and a selector, coupled to a headphone jack. This allows you to listen to any input locally without disturbing the FoH or monitors.
SLU : How do the Stage 64 racks ship asstandard, in terms of cards ?
Jean-Gabriel Grandouiller : In the standard configuration, they have 48 analog inputs and 8 analog outputs, but they can be equipped to accept 64 inputs and 32 outputs.Therefore, they manage 96 signals.
SLU : How does the system do in terms of latency ?
Jean-Gabriel Grandouiller : The delay compensation is automatic and dynamic, as on S3L. The console is also ready to work, in the near future, at 192 kHz.
SLU : : When will it be available ?
Jean-Gabriel Grandouiller : The availability has been set for September 2015.
Plus d’infos : http://www.avid.com/FR/products/Venue-S6L/overview
