POTTERS BAR, U.K. – Soundcraft has released its Vi1, a console that offers Vi Series sound quality, the Vistonics user interface, the Lexicon FX and the BSS EQs, but in a much smaller shell and at one-third the price. The Vi1 is just over a meter wide and includes 16 motorized channel faders with fixed and user-definable layers, 8 output/VCA faders and 2 master faders.
It offers 32 channels of analog input to 27 analog outputs, plus six digital inputs, four stereo FX returns and six digital outputs, all in one chassis. There are 24 busses [27 including left/right and center] – up to eight of which can be configured as matrix mixes, each with up to 16 sources, and standard input-to-mix capacity is 46 channels, although it is capable of mixing 64 channels simultaneously by adding a stagebox (which is compatible with the existing Vi racks). Soundcraft could argue that size, in fact, doesn't matter.
"We wanted to create a smaller-footprint, cost-effective live sound desk which can be used for many applications, from touring to various installs such as music clubs, theaters, and, for the U.S. market, churches," said Andy Brown, head of digital console strategy for Soundcraft.
"It doesn't need any of the external racks either – apart from, say, the stage rack if you wanted to use the remote capability – but it also has all the I/O on the back so you wouldn't have to use a stage box if you didn't want to."
All of the DSP and the audio processing is the same quality as the Vi6, but it's been reformatted to sit in the frame rather than sit in a rack, enabling much of the cost to be reduced. The Vi1 also has many of the facilities of its larger siblings, including Soundcraft FaderGlow, four stereo Lexicon effects engines, BSS Audio graphic EQs on all output busses, and integral dynamics on all channels.
When I asked Brown whether there'd been any major challenges during the console's development, he cited what he called "a stroke of genius" by Robert Huber (Vi Series project manager at Soundcraft Studer) at concept design stage:
"Robert came up with this way of using one large screen to basically fit three or four of the Vi screens into one. Getting a concept design that allowed the same software to be used in such an obvious way was such a key thing and really unlocked this product; without that we'd have struggled. I'd say it's probably one of the fastest turnarounds of a console we've ever done."
This idea led to the development of the new Widescreen Vistonics interface, which will be instantly familiar to anyone who's worked on a Vi6 or Vi4. It displays all parameters for 16 channels side by side, on a single 22" Vistonics touch screen. The upper half of the screen handles the Output section control as well as Cue List or Menu displays. Parameter control is via two rows of 16 rotary encoders. It has exactly the same channel functionality as the Vi6 and Vi4, along with all the same core snapshot, talkback and monitoring facilities.
I asked Gert Sanner (FOH for Deep Purple and a Vi user) what he thought of the new product. He said:
"For my gig, it is perfectly equipped; I have 26 inputs and I need only four FX so it has everything I need. Any Vi user could play with this board for five or ten minutes and know where they were with it."
"When I first started using the Vi6, the fader count was quite important to me; I was fairly new to Deep Purple so I liked the idea of having everything on one layer," Sanner added. "But now after three years of using them I am kind of over that, so I could happily do it with 16 faders. Another advantage is that this will only need one flight case; I can see myself actually building my own one with a couple of wheels and a handle on it and rolling it up to check-in! We have a show in Mexico in April, so I might actually do that and see what happens; I am seriously thinking about taking this on tour."
Sanner will be demonstrating the Vi1 as an extension of Soundcraft's "Mixing With Professionals" program at Pro-Light+Sound in Frankfurt later this month.
The list price starts at around £15,000 UK list (less than $23,000).
Soundcraft is a unit of Harman International Industries, Inc.
For more information, please visit www.harman.com
