Happy travelers?: PT11 & Softube Console 1

[crandallwarren]

Searched around for a bit and couldn't find much on the DUC about this. Any folks on here using Console 1? Thoughts? Stories? Pros? Cons?

Much love.

[Southsidemusic]

LOVE IT!

We use Console 1 everyday even though we have a Pristine SSL 4000G+ console and i can honestly say that the Console1 sounds as good as can be compared to an exact comparison to our console so its a superb purchase and one of few plugins we bought lately.

We have soo many great plugins so we stopped flat out buying duplicates of everything we already own and nowadays only high end outboard gear purchases here.

The Console works extremely well with PT11 HD and non HD and IMHO its the BEST SSL emulation out today. We have all the UA plugins and Apollo Quad and Apollo 16 aswell as Apollo UAD-2 Satellite OCTO and Quad and not even these awesome plugins are as good as Console 1!

If you have been thinking about that I would stop thinking and act

You will be VERY VERY HAPPY with your purchase. And Softube will be adding more console emulations to the Console1 in a near future. We got both SSL emulations 4000 and 9000 and both are soo great you have to hear and work with one to believe it!

Great ergonomic workflow and the sound couldn't be better.

I am sure more will chime in with the same perspective as I have.

Best Regards
Christopher

[crandallwarren]

Wow. Alright, cool. Are there any things that you don't like so much? I've heard some people mention for instance the track naming scheme and having weird behavior when tracks are hidden/shown within Pro Tools.

Also, do you ever experience problems with transportability between one system and another? One thing that's very attractive is using the "gain" knob on the Console 1 like its the volume fader. But I've always wondered what happens if you wanted to then transfer that session to another system, etc.

[guitardom]

Originally Posted by crandallwarren

Wow. Alright, cool. Are there any things that you don't like so much? I've heard some people mention for instance the track naming scheme and having weird behavior when tracks are hidden/shown within Pro Tools.

Also, do you ever experience problems with transportability between one system and another? One thing that's very attractive is using the "gain" knob on the Console 1 like its the volume fader. But I've always wondered what happens if you wanted to then transfer that session to another system, etc.

I concure the above. I think its great!!

as to your questions, If you transfer the session to another system, it depends in C1 is installed. it would be like any other plugin if it is not on the system. It would obviously just not be there and no processing. It is a fancy plugin controller really.

the track naming/order issue is the only real problem I see. There are a lot of workflows you could do, but I recommend getting the session prepped and tracks in order. make sure no plugins is in the first A slot. move as needed. hold down the all modifier and instantiate it on the first track so it creates it on all tracks. in your view settings, turn on track number. Now you can see your track number and how it relates to which instantiation on C1 on the controller. as things change it is easy to renumber them.

Another thing I have been trying is use the first page of C1 for drums, second page guitars/bass/ 3rd page other instruments/ 4th page vocals/ 5th effects. This is much easier if you are moving track orders around and such to renumber the instantiations to match the track number view. This sounds crazy, but his part takes a bit to learn the flow of, but just be patient, be creative, and you will find your preferred workflow.

[crandallwarren]

Yeah, that all makes sense. Thanks!

Ok, one more question. With the stock "4k" emulation-- do you guys ever find the console emulation to be too colored for certain material? Is it able to be fairly transparent if the drive controls are brought down? I guess what I'm asking is-- how versatile is the overall sound of the "console" in terms of different genres.
Can you see using on more jazz or folk oriented material? For instance, is there any inherent "self-noise" contained in the signal-- the way that the waves analog modeled plugins have?

[WorldStudios]

I like it a LOT. Yes, it is a bit hard to keep track of the track numbers, but once you have made your initial settings by hand on the controller, you can always fine tune them in the small plugin gui by mouse.

I thought I was going to like the 9k better, but I actually prefer the 4k. Too colored? Not until you push it. The drive is very good, both the 4k and 9k one. You will find yourself using it on everything. More or less.

I have an issue, where it sometimes won't open a session with, say, 20 C1 instansiated. It will open the session with all plugins disabled and with al C1's disabled as well - and once the session is up, I can turn them all back on. Softube are looking into the matter. It is really only one session, so perhaps it is some other plugin messing with C1. This on HDX11 Mac Yosemite...

[Softube]

Hello all,
Henrik from Softube here. I happened to see this thread and just wanted to let you know that I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Thanks for the excellent review, Southsidemusic! Just a clarification: Someone reading it may get the impression that the Console 1 plug-in runs on AAX DSP as well as native, which it does not—it's native only. It has to do with how DSP chips reserve processing power that might be needed and not just use what is actually needed. A native CPU only processes whatever Console 1 sections you have activated, so if you have the plug-in inserted on a channel strip but don't use any of its sections, this draws virtually no CPU power at all. But the DSP system reserves all the power it would need to run the entire channel strip, regardless of whether you choose to do so or not. So it quickly eats up DSP power that you might want to use for other things. It's not Avid's fault, it's how these DSP systems work, and since most plug-ins just do one thing, it's not a problem in most cases.

Automatic transfer of track name from Pro Tools to Console 1 is in place since PT 11.2.1. So just upgrade and the track names will transfer automatically.

Unfortunately, this is not so with track number. In a number of other DAWs, the DAW track number also gets automatically transferred to Console 1, which means the Console 1 mixer layout corresponds to the DAW layout. If you move a track in any of those DAWs, this gets reflected in Console 1. We're hoping that Avid will include track number transfer in a future update.

Until then, we implemented the ability to move tracks in Console 1, so you can manually rearrange the mix layout to correspond to the Pro Tools mix. It's quite easy, but of course still not automatic.

Lastly, if anyone feels the included SSL SL 4000 E model is too colored for their tastes, we have now released the SSL XL 9000 K model (it's a separate purchase). This is super clean, and for the Drive section, we modeled SSL's VHD circuit (Variable Harmonic Drive) which gives you the ability to seamlessly move from 2nd harmonic distortion to 3rd harmonic. It is possible to mix and match the different effect sections in any channel, so if you for example want the 9k strip with the 4k gate and Transient Shaper section, you can easily do that. Any Softube gate, EQ and compressor can be inserted in the channel like that. More Console 1 channels will be released in the future.

Hope that helps, and if someone thinks I'm slow to respond don't hesitate to poke me at [email protected].

Cheers,
Henrik

[audioluche]

Originally Posted by Softube

Hello all,
Henrik from Softube here. I happened to see this thread and just wanted to let you know that I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Thanks for the excellent review, Southsidemusic! Just a clarification: Someone reading it may get the impression that the Console 1 plug-in runs on AAX DSP as well as native, which it does not—it's native only. It has to do with how DSP chips reserve processing power that might be needed and not just use what is actually needed. A native CPU only processes whatever Console 1 sections you have activated, so if you have the plug-in inserted on a channel strip but don't use any of its sections, this draws virtually no CPU power at all. But the DSP system reserves all the power it would need to run the entire channel strip, regardless of whether you choose to do so or not. So it quickly eats up DSP power that you might want to use for other things. It's not Avid's fault, it's how these DSP systems work, and since most plug-ins just do one thing, it's not a problem in most cases.

Automatic transfer of track name from Pro Tools to Console 1 is in place since PT 11.2.1. So just upgrade and the track names will transfer automatically.

Unfortunately, this is not so with track number. In a number of other DAWs, the DAW track number also gets automatically transferred to Console 1, which means the Console 1 mixer layout corresponds to the DAW layout. If you move a track in any of those DAWs, this gets reflected in Console 1. We're hoping that Avid will include track number transfer in a future update.

Until then, we implemented the ability to move tracks in Console 1, so you can manually rearrange the mix layout to correspond to the Pro Tools mix. It's quite easy, but of course still not automatic.

Lastly, if anyone feels the included SSL SL 4000 E model is too colored for their tastes, we have now released the SSL XL 9000 K model (it's a separate purchase). This is super clean, and for the Drive section, we modeled SSL's VHD circuit (Variable Harmonic Drive) which gives you the ability to seamlessly move from 2nd harmonic distortion to 3rd harmonic. It is possible to mix and match the different effect sections in any channel, so if you for example want the 9k strip with the 4k gate and Transient Shaper section, you can easily do that. Any Softube gate, EQ and compressor can be inserted in the channel like that. More Console 1 channels will be released in the future.

Hope that helps, and if someone thinks I'm slow to respond don't hesitate to poke me at [email protected].

Cheers,
Henrik

Hi Henrik,

Thanks for the explaination. I was wondering why console 1 was not available for HDX. Any chances to see these plugins splitted into modules like EQ, comp,etc... In AAX DSP? I use à lot of Softube plugins in DSP and i would love to use your SSL emulations with my HDX Rig.

Keep up the good work!

Cheers!

Luc

[JCBigler]

Ok, please explain to me what the Softube Console 1 is. I previously had thought that it is just a control surface for their channel strip plugins. But does it actually process audio? And does the unit have DSP of some kind built into it?

And if so, does it work with offline bounce?

[crandallwarren]

Thanks again for all the responses everyone! And Henrik, thanks very much for the detailed explanation. Well, I've taken the plunge-- and my Console 1 should be arriving some time this week! My next project is another concert recording that needs to be turned around very quickly-- so it seems like a perfect chance to give the Console 1 workflow a go. I'll definitely report back.

One thing I'm curious about-- now that Softube is further along in providing different console emulations (And I'm assuming there's more to come), has anyone at the company considered giving the purchaser the option to choose which one they initially recieve with the control surface package?

I'm wondering because I feel like given the choice, I might have opted for the 9k emultation as its reportedly less-colored sound might be a little more versatile given that I'm often doing folky, less-agressive type material.

Any thoughts on that?

(Of course-- I don't mean at all to make an unfair judgement of the sound of the 4K emultation before actually working with it.)