POTTERS BAR, United
Kingdom — The newly
launched Si Performer integrated sound and lighting control desk from HARMAN’s
Soundcraft has made its world debut—mixing the current UK club tour for rapidly
emerging Sony artiste Kyla La Grange.
West Country
PA company Amber Audio is the first rental house to pilot the board and
co-owner Paul Bullimore (handling Kyla’s FOH mix) is loving the experience.
Amber Audio
was already a fan of Soundcraft technology, with an inventory including GB4,
GB8, K1 and Series 2—as well as the popular Si Compact 32, which Paul and
partner Alan Burgess purchased 18 months ago. Yet Bullimore believes the Si
Performer 3 (32-channel version) is more akin to the superior Soundcraft Vi platform—particularly
with its assignable Gain, Pan and HPF functions.
“We had
inquired about Soundcraft desk updates with this tour in mind and the timing of
the Si Performer launch couldn't have been better,” Bullimore reported. “When
Soundcraft showed us the new desk it contained everything that was good about
the Si Compact 32—along with even better features, such as the independent LCD
channel screens and eight assignable VCA groups, which the Compact didn't have.
“But the
strongest attribute is the select fader function which allows you to assign any
fader to any job, and build the work surface you want specifically for the show
you’re working on. The other notable feature is the TOTEM touch [The
One Touch Easy Mix]
which allows you to get to your mix with one button push; so the board is
definitely quicker to navigate enabling engineers to get straight on and use
it.”
Since Amber
Audio also handles one-off shows and dry hires in addition to touring, Paul
Bullimore believes that the lighting function will have a major role to play,
providing control of a single DMX512 universe. “There are customers we hire to
who will love the ability to do simplistic lighting scenes with this desk,” he
predicted.
As for road
tours, the physical advantages of the Si Performer stand out. “As a touring
desk to have 32ch measuring under 1m in width, which I can carry on my own and
put in the back of a splitter bus, is amazing. The Si Performer fits comfortably
into small format venues—yet there’s so much under the bonnet.”
In
particular, he singles out the 14 mix busses —which when touring small venues
and theatres with part-equipped house rigs has enabled him to handle monitor
mixes from FOH. “Most in-house desks I’d be working on during this tour would
be unable to handle five- or six-way monitor mixes and in ears; they wouldn’t
have the physical outputs do it. Being able to bring the Si Performer into
small venues enhances stage sound for the band, making a more enjoyable
performance for everyone.”
The list of
attributes extends to the FX. “Using in-house desks I’d rarely have more than
two FX busses to play with but now we can use all four Lexicon FX—vocal hall
and plate reverbs, varying delays, drum plate etc on this tour, while the
preamps are crystal clear and transparent, the gain pots responsive and the BSS
EQ robust.
In summary,
he said, “The Si Performer is fantastic and the feedback I have had from
engineers couldn't be more positive; they all speak of the ease of getting
around the work surface and how quickly they can be up and running on the
board. Most importantly they say it sounds a lot better than comparable desks
while several technical managers have commented that they see the DMX feature
as a real asset.”
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