Last year DiGiCo surprised the live sound world by introducing the compact (and very red) SD9 console, bringing Stealth Digital Processing and large touchscreen interface at a lower price-point to the Prolight + Sound (PL+S) show in Frankfurt, Germany.
Now DiGiCo has just unveiled the new SD Ten, distilling the best of their Stealth Digital heritage once again.
Like the previous SD7, SD8, and SD9, the SD-Ten employs Super FPGA Stealth Digital Processing, using an embedded field-programmable gate array for processing channels and Analog Devices SHARC processors for effects and routing, which DiGiCo pioneered for digital mixers, instead of dedicated DSP.
The SD7, with a total of 256 processing channels (inputs and mix buses), remains DiGiCo’s flagship console, while the 60 (mono or stereo) flexi-channel, 48-kHz SD8 is the company’s “gold standard.”
The new SD Ten places between them a 96-kHz, 96-channel, 48-bus plus 16 x 12 output matrix and LCR masters console, taking advantage of the entire SD tradition since its 2007 introduction.
Right At Home
DiGiCo technical director John Stadius is a keen fisherman and regularly code-names new consoles after fish. The SD8 was “barramundi,” the SD9 was the “red snapper” while the new SD Ten is “ghost carp.”
The SD-Ten’s physical layout is nearly identical to the SD8, with its distinctive, centrally-located 15-inch touchscreen.
Below it, the fader deck has three banks of twelve 100-mm touch-sensitive motorized faders, plus a master fader for a total of 37, with each fader accompanied by 20-segment LED metering right beside.
The SD Ten has virtually the same 55- by 32-inch footprint as the SD8, and weighs almost the same. In appearance the SD-Ten has sidepanel extrusions similar to the SD9, employing a charcoal-black anodized, rolled aluminum surface covered with a polycarbonate veneer.
Anyone familiar with any DiGiCo console will be right at home on the SD-Ten, but even those not familiar will be pleasantly surprised with the look and feel of the control surface.
RME’s introduction of the MADIface laptop interface has made 56-channel multi-track recording and playback easy with any DAW platform. Like the SD8, the SD Ten is laid out with a laptop area to the left and keyboard storage area on the right, above a four-layer bank of 10 RGB backlit “Smart Keys” supporting a total of 40 macros.
