SSL UC1 plugin controller

[unkJE]

Originally Posted by lydpik

That's great, good idea! :) Hopefully they are listening... No updates on the 360 software, so far...

UC1 and SSL 360° (version 1.2)
https://www.solidstatelogic.com/prod...dsandDocuments


SSL release version 1.0.55 - (previously version 6.5)
SSL Native Channel Strip 2
https://store.solidstatelogic.com/pr...ents#documents

SSL Native Bus Compressor 2
https://store.solidstatelogic.com/pr...?tab=documents

[Ben Jenssen]

I've had the last version running fora week or two (hard to be precise in these hazy times), and everything seems to work okay. Nothing in the way of changes in functionality as far as I can tell. Plenty of bug fixes, according to the release notes.

[Ben Jenssen]

Back to the UC1.
I'm still loving it.

Here's a post I made on Gearspace UC1 thread:

A simple thing that makes the UC1 - Command 8 combination so wonderful for me:
I have my setup in my living room.
I have my controllers in the sweet spot in front of a TV and 2nd display and Dynaudio monitors on each side. I stand when I mix.

I'm relaxing and watching sports on the TV from a sofa in the back of the room, and I get up to fix myself a drink. As I pass the controllers, I recall that I have Pro Tools running in the background with a session open. I hit 'play' on the C8, and I'm immediately mixing. I see nothing of PT on my screens. I can select tracks on the UC1 - and I can edit other plugins and sends/volume/pan and transport on the C8.

Screens still showing just the sports. (BTW. It's a TV but it only acts as a display for the mac and I use a browser for TV along with PT and everything else.)

Of course, this is possible because Command 8 can talk directly to PT, even if PT is not the active application.

[Ben Jenssen]

UC1, Native plugins, SSL360 software, and CPU performance.

Attached is a screenshot of a session running on the mac in my signature.

Just under 30 tracks of audio, each of them with SSL Channelstrip on them and two submixes with SSL Bus compressor. All tracks also have four sends on them.

Playback engine settings:
HW buffer: 64
Optimize perf at low buffer: off
Ignore errors: off
Dynamic processing: off
Video engine off
Disk cache 3gb

Session resides on internal flash drive w/2500gb/s r/w speeds.

Activity Monitor shows PT using 90-100%

I have Activity Monitor, Firefox, mail, and a few other apps running in parallel. Firefox has a couple of full screen windows open with tabs, on separate spaces, one of them running Eurosport live stream tennis from Cincinnati. 6i6 interface handles all audio.

Also, I have the Turbo Boost Switcher, and have disabled TB to have the fan silent. I've mesured that to cost me up to 15-20% in loss of single-core CPU performance.

Conclusion:
These plugins are not only some of the best sounding PIs I know, but they seem to be very well made and extremely light on the CPU. Notice the plugin latency compensation. None.

Skjermbilde 2021-08-19 kl. 20.46.53 (2).jpg

[EddieJones]

I had a play with this and the 8 fader unit with PT. Obviously I'm biased being the Product Manager and Designer of EUCON Surfaces but heres a conversation starter ;-)

• High 90 degree front edge, nearly 2 inches of the table and very wide(8 fader unit)
• They are really basic HUI, 4 knobs only, our channel strip plugin has 13 pages of 4 knobs! I thought they would have done something clever like we did on the MCPro and scanned the knobs and shown 8 at a time.
• The knobs on both units are not touch sense, you have to move them to start writing automation and you really have to be in Latch only so no auto match. Along with the above I found the 8 Fader unit useless for plugin control
• Pan is one knob at a time so for a stereo tracks you have to switch between the L and R knob and no surround panning knobs (its HUI)
• The Faders are easily as noisy as the S1, you can feel the teeth of the belt as you move them too(which is far worse than S1) I suspect cheap Penny and Giles but will find out later
• Despite SSL claims that the faders are 10bit.....HUI isn't so you only get 9bit automation...which when compared next to EUCON is terrible, especially the lower down the scale. You can't even hit 10db or 20db spot on with the SSL.
• Theres a reason it has a lot of buttons…..you need them to navigate, theres none of the EUCON plugin/attention automated stuff
• The Channel Plugin Module can only control one set of plugins…the SSL Channel and Bus Compressor and for it to work correctly you need to put it on every track as it communicates through the plugin for much of the workflow (cause HUI doesn’t), again no touch on the knobs
• Again….its basic HUI so nothing like VCAs, Folders, multi track meters, layouts, automation feedback etc.
• The 360 App for setting up the 8 softkeys, firmware update etc is OK but pretty basic.

I really think this is like buying a Ferrari kit car….it looks great from a distance but as soon as you get close and start to use it, its just a Berringer underneath.

I'd love to hear what users like about them that we could improve on Avids surfaces?

[Ben Jenssen]

Originally Posted by EddieJones

I had a play with this and the 8 fader unit with PT. Obviously I'm biased being the Product Manager and Designer of EUCON Surfaces but heres a conversation starter ;-)

I see you have your point of view, coming from where you're coming from, and I thank you for taking an open position, but I created this thread to discuss the UC1 and the plugins it controls, and your points are mainly on the UF8 it seems to me.

And that is where our angles of view part from the very beginning. I don't have a UF8 and never tried it. I use the old Command|8 together w/UC1 to give me as much control as I can without screen and mouse. That's what I've been dreaming of, and this is the closest I've come. With UC1 and the SSL channelstrip across the mix I have the direct feel, muscle-memory, speed and flow of mixing w/PT that I haven't experienced since before the age of DAWs. Direct channelstrip control on every channel, and levels, pan, sends, transport and other plugins on the Command|8.

The dedicated character of the controller to the SSL plugins is uniqe and it's what makes it works so good. You can have umpteen pages of control on your universial controllers, I doubt that people use them much. It's easier to grab the mouse.

It must be said; UC1 might suit one's workflow or it might not. Nowadays, I'm mainly having fun mixing old recordings from back when I had a studio, so pure mixing, and it's pure gold. With a more creative dynamic type of work, you'd probably find that you need the screen/mouse method more.

[JGM]

Originally Posted by Ben Jenssen

I see you have your point of view, coming from where you're coming from, and I thank you for taking an open position, but I created this thread to discuss the UC1 and the plugins it controls, and your points are mainly on the UF8 it seems to me.

And that is where our angles of view part from the very beginning. I don't have a UF8 and never tried it. I use the old Command|8 together w/UC1 to give me as much control as I can without screen and mouse. That's what I've been dreaming of, and this is the closest I've come. With UC1 and the SSL channelstrip across the mix I have the direct feel, muscle-memory, speed and flow of mixing w/PT that I haven't experienced since before the age of DAWs. Direct channelstrip control on every channel, and levels, pan, sends, transport and other plugins on the Command|8.

The dedicated character of the controller to the SSL plugins is uniqe and it's what makes it works so good. You can have umpteen pages of control on your universial controllers, I doubt that people use them much. It's easier to grab the mouse.

It must be said; UC1 might suit one's workflow or it might not. Nowadays, I'm mainly having fun mixing old recordings from back when I had a studio, so pure mixing, and it's pure gold. With a more creative dynamic type of work, you'd probably find that you need the screen/mouse method more.

Sorry if I missed it, but what version of PT are you running?
Great insights BTW. You have me checking Reverb for Command 8s. lol

[Ben Jenssen]

Originally Posted by JGM

Sorry if I missed it, but what version of PT are you running?
Great insights BTW. You have me checking Reverb for Command 8s. lol

2020.11.
I'm kinda new to the C8 myself. I bought it a couple of years ago because it was so cheap. Not using it much, but seeing that it seems to work very solidly on PT10 aswell as 2020. It's just made for PT, and using midi for control, it seems that that's the factor that makes it so reliable across versions. Then I discovered that the UC1 and C8 combo really put me in a position to mix off screen/mouse, I've gotten more into it, and I love it.

[JGM]

Originally Posted by Ben Jenssen

2020.11.
I'm kinda new to the C8 myself. I bought it a couple of years ago because it was so cheap. Not using it much, but seeing that it seems to work very solidly on PT10 aswell as 2020. It's just made for PT, and using midi for control, it seems that that's the factor that makes it so reliable across versions. Then I discovered that the UC1 and C8 combo really put me in a position to mix off screen/mouse, I've gotten more into it, and I love it.

Thanks for response.
I wonder if it will be the same with the latest version of PT?

[Ben Jenssen]

Originally Posted by JGM

Thanks for response.
I wonder if it will be the same with the latest version of PT?

I'm certain it works. I think it's more work for Avid to take the code out of Pro Tools than to leave it in, and there would have to be a specific reason to do it. MIDI LIVES!
At least until MIDI 2.0, the Command|8 will work. With PT as it does w/other DAWs. Because it speaks MIDI.