I am a huge fan of the DiGiCo digital consoles and after reading about the new SD10 Live Digital Console I was once again sold. The physical design of the console is sleek and subtle compared to the showboat the SD7. The appearance to me is simplistic with cutting edge technology. For a quick overview of the features this digital console has 96 channels of input configured in mono or stereo with the capability of 12 flex channels making the total 108. There are 37 physical faders in the surface and the SD10 can buss up to 48 auxes or groups. There are also two solo busses and a 12 VCA control groups. There is 33 Internal FX with DiGiCo’s Stealth Digital Processing and the option to add the Waves bundle with low latency processing. You also have built in local inputs and outputs to go along with optical inputs. You can link up to 5 SD10’s together along optical that share all the inputs from the stage racks. Also you can link two consoles together of a CAT 5 crossover cable to provide 72 channels of control. Over optics you can connect up to 14 D-Racks provided 448 channels. The SD10 is completely compatible with the SD7.
To go deeper into the inputs you can have a total of 108 (including the flex channels) with all the professionally standard options including: Input routing & alternate input, analogue gain of -20 to +60dB, phase normal / reverse, Digital Trim, Delay, a LPF & HPF, 4 Band Parametric or Dynamic EQ (up to 10 flex channels), Compressor, Gate, Mutes, Solo Bussing options, Channel Safe settings. Along with those standard options you can have your EQ/Dyn order as well.
After seeing all these settings, watching the launch video and reading about the console I was sold. However, then I read more. This console actually can act as two. DiGiCo actually added the Broadcast application to the SD10 which provides you with all the capabilities of a DiGiCo broadcast platform making this console versatile for live applications and live for broadcast. However, they didn’t stop there! The console of course comes with full snapshot automation capabilities, redundant outputs on connections and two engines to power the console. User defined macro keys can be configured by the engineer to his or her liking.
The 15” TFT (fully touch screen) in the middle of the console provided more than adequate display of all functions with full precise control, which seems a lot better than other console screens. The options for this console are unlimited and are very flexible for most or all applications.
To be honest I really did not know much about this console and I am glad I was able to do some research on the new product and its functionality and flexibility along with the some of the best design out there. It is a very sleek design and I would not mind at all to be able and get on this piece of gear and see what it can do in person because just from reading the information on the website and other sources it was a tease for me.
I was actually "leafing" through this article the other day and was completely blown away. I think it's (for-lack-of-a-better-term) "sex appeal" doesn't quite rival the SD7, but it's what's under the hood that is completely out of control. I really can't believe you have that many channel controls over 108 inputs. You just can't help but wonder how they make an audio console more powerful than a NASA space shuttle.
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