Yesterday and today, Soundcraft had an open house demo session here in NYC for their new Vi6 digital console, inviting anybody interested to swing by the rehearsal studio room they’d annexed for a couple days to get the grand tour of the console and play on it a bit.
When I was in Vegas for LDI, I did have a chance to get a quick overview of the console and ask some questions, but didn’t really have the time or focus for a full top to bottom session. So, this evening, I headed over and spent a good hour or so talking with Soundcraft’s national marketing manager Tom Der and learning the ins and outs of the Vi6.
I took lots of notes, and some pictures on my Treo, so over the next week or so I’ll sit down and write them up to give you a much more detailed preview of the console, both in its current “early adopter” state and in what’s coming up as the software is finalized over the next few months.
For the short tease version, though, once the full software for it is available, I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised on almost all fronts, and I really think this could be a very viable digital console, not only for the concert market (some of the early adopters include recent Scissor Sisters and Barenaked Ladies tours), but for the theatre market as well.
–A