Soundcraft Vi6 StdPlus Digital Console Complete System

The Vi6 series is heralded as the first in a wide range of digital consoles to come from Soundcraft over the next two years. The Vi6 console has been designed using the proven reliability of Studer's Vistaª and On-Air 3000 series of consoles, and, more importantly perhaps, uses a derivation of the Vistonicsª user interface (Vistonicsª II) to allow the engineer to operate the desk intuitively. Vistonics II uses the same type of touch-screen colour TFT monitor with integral rotary controls and switches mounted on the glass to provide a "where you look is where you control" user interface.

With more than 30 years in the business, no-one knows more about live sound mixing than Soundcraft. In our opinion, there's simply no point in presenting the live sound engineer with the undeniable power and flexibility of digital audio technology if all that power is locked away in an ill- conceived and inaccessible mixer that confuses the operator and impedes workflow. That's why our first digital live sound console puts the engineer at the heart of the process, just like our analogue mixers do. The product of a development team that combines unrivalled Soundcraft live sound know- how with the impressive digital audio expertise of our sister company Studer, the Soundcraft Vi6 is a third generation digital live sound console which abandons the layering and assignability concepts of earlier designs in favour of a system that's altogether more intuitive.

The Vi6 system consists of three components : a compact control surface, the local rack with the SCore Live processing engine, and a stagebox which connects conveniently to the local rack via Cat5 or Cat7 cable, with fibre optic interfacing available as an option. The 32 fader control surface delivers simultaneous mixing of 64 mono inputs into 35 outputs, with 24 insert send/return pairs assignable to any of the input or output channels. All input channels can have direct outputs in addition to their internal routing to 32 Group/Aux/Matrix busses, and the main LCR and LR busses.

Sound quality is assured by a combination of ultra-low noise mic amp designs and Studer advanced 40-bit floating point digital audio processing. The Vistonics II channel strip display functions both as a overview of all the current settings for 8 channels per screen, and as the access point for immediate hands-on control of any of those settings. Simply touching the screen in one of the six vertically stacked touch zones immediately opens out that part of the strip onto the 16 real knobs and switches mounted directly on the lower part of the display, allowing immediate, tactile, analog style control.

Local rack I/O includes 16 analog line inputs, 3 mic/line inputs, 1 talkback mic input, 8 pairs of AES/EBU inputs, 64 ch optical MADI in, 16 analog line outputs, 8 pairs of AES/EBU outputs, 3 LCR local monitor A line outputs, 2 LR local monitor B line outputs, TB line output, and 64 ch optical MADI out. Stagebox I/O includes 64 analog mic/line inputs (w/remote gain control, 48V and pre A-D 100Hz HPF), 32 analog line outputs. Optional AES/EBU input and output cards are available for the stagebox.


Max number of simultaneous mixing channels :
64 mono inputs into 35 Outputs. Pairs of mono inputs can be linked to create stereo channels.

Insert points :
24 insert send/return pairs can be configured (using available I/O) and assigned to any of the 64 inputs or 35 output channels.

Direct Outputs :
All 64 input channels can have direct outputs in addition to their internal bus routing, assuming sufficient I/O is available (eg optical MADI card).

Busses :
32 Grp/Aux/Matrix, plus main LCR Mix and LR Solo busses (maximum of 16 matrix outputs can be configured).


Connectivity :
Connection from local rack to stagebox: Standard fit: Cat5 or Cat7 cable, with Amphenol RJF connectors. Optional: Fibre Optical interface card (additional cost).

Max distance, local rack to stagebox: 80m using flexible reel-mounted Cat5 cable, 130m using Cat7 permanent installation cable.

GPIO facility: There are 16 GPIO contact closure inputs and outputs on the local rack, and 8 inputs and outputs on the stagebox.

MIDI: There is 1 MIDI In and 2 MIDI Outs on the rear of the control surface.

Miscellaneous :
Controls for Mute Group (x 4) and VCA Group (x 16) assignment. Controls for assignment of Vistonics rows to bus sends (when channel parameters are not selected to Vistonics).
Snapshot automation controls.
Talkback controls.
Controls for Monitor Output level, phones level and Solo Trim and blend level


Dimensions & Weights :

Vi6 Control Surface without flight case
H(12.8") x W (68.6") x D (28.5")             Weight 139 lbs

Local Rack   H (17.5") x W (19”) x D (15") Weight 55 lbs
Stagebox     H (14.0") x W (19”) x D (15") Weight 35 lbs



Vi6 Control Surface WITH flight case
H(37.8") x W (71.7") x D (19.3")                  Weight 286 lbs

Local Rack  H (37.4") x W (23.6") x D (26.4") Weight 159 lbs
Stagebox    H (34.3") x W (23.6") x D (21.3") Weight 124 lbs