DiGiCo SD10 Digital Console Review

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.

8/28/11

I finished my first showpro class LCD this week and it was a great start to the "real" classes. LCD reinforced and open my mind when it comes to lighting in general, design and technical aspects. It broadened my perspective when looking at not only show lighting but lighting in all aspects in life and what kind of mood it creates. I had a great time and cannot wait to continue these awesome classes.

Piano Light - 8/27/11

The piano has a light on it and my brother was playing the piano. There are french doors behind the piano and the sun was setting in the background. The light though was lighting the keys of the piano and the dark wood. It cast a shadow against his face and while he was playing the piano the whole entire setting and mood was beautiful. I should have taken a picture.

3D Projectors - 8/26/11

I went to see a movie in 3D which I already hate 3D. The movie theater was a chain so it wasn't a crappy one but the image was completely off. The image looked blurry and it was hard to look at it. They were using 2 projectors to make the image 3D and what happened was the second projector was off with the first one and the image was further apart from the other. Finally they fixed the projector and the image was alright. I still don't like 3D and will never.

Lighting - 8/25/11

Heat lighting still amazes me and being from NJ there wasn't much heat lighting at all. However, the amount colors in the sky from the lightning are truly crazy. The purples, pinks, and blues that were from the lightning are unique and I haven't seen anything like that.

Light in Mediums - 8/24/11

I was swimming in the pool today and I was underwater it was great watching the light being refracted through the water. The light was being diffused into the bottom of the pool by and the rays you could somewhat see how they were being refracted.

Sleeping Moon Lighting -8/23/11

I was finishing up my LCD project and I found this really neat coffee shop on Aloma called Sleeping Moon. It is a really unique coffee shop. There is great artwork and very "chill" music being played. What tops it off is the lighting and the control of the sunlight. The windows are diffusion so you cannot see through and there are curtains that block some of the sunlight. Then there is these hanging light bulbs that give it a European rustic look. The ceiling lights are very dim and the whole entire atmosphere is a really calming place that makes you feel comfortable enough to either have a serious conversation, work on a project or just relax and have some coffee. Anyways its a really cool place and the lighting is one of the key aspects that makes it unique.

Today was Awesome! - 8/22/11

Today we had our first lab in live 1 and it was awesome to finally be in there. We really focused on the lighting rig itself with bringing in the truss and then bringing it out with proper call outs and safety practices. Even though there wasn't much lighting I did notice something kinda cool. When the rig was being brought it the work light that was blocked by the truss and the fixtures on it became more and more visible when being brought brought in. This made the l top of the truss become lit more than the bottom and gave it a "massive like" feeling. Regardless it was really cool.

Bored - 8/21/11

I am very bored at the moment and am trying to think of what I can write about. The only thing I can think of is nothing except for describing my environment around me at the moment. To my front the laptop with its backlight display is bright along with the blue glow of the television. Along with that is the light behing me which is making my front shadow dark. It is a dim light in the room which brings out shadows in the dark leather furniture and other decor. The mood is calming and relaxing.

8/20/11 - Family Gathering

Some extended family is here visiting and we all had a very nice dinner. My father went to set the lighting in the house and I thought it was funny he was setting different intensities of light throughout the house to set the mood. It was really interesting for someone with no lighting experience to do it. However, it wasn't very good so I went and changed some of it.

LAB - 8/19/11

In lab today we saw how white balancing to different color temperatures can change the way the camera "looks" at colors and represents them when displayed onscreen. It is amazing how when not balanced properly either due to the LD or the camera op it can completely misrepresent what is live. I wonder if this could also be a biological thing with other animals and they see colors differently than us humans.

8/18/11

I really have nothing to report as a huge light event that happened today however, There is a really cool light that my brother has in his bedroom which he bought. The light is just a blue nightlight but it is LED and its pretty cool and adds to that cool mood to the room.

Stage Collapse - 8/17/11

We have all seen the stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair. RIP to those who passed away. However, I have to say that when watching the video of the collapse if you see the sky and the light surrounding the event it is very very telling. The clouds are are completely black but sunlight is shinning in the distance which outlines them. The whole mood of the scene is just freaky, eerie and very sinister. It is a terrible thing that happened and the way the light from the sun and the mood of the sky it made it even worse.

Mood Lighting - 8/16/11

In a car that I was in it had interior mood lighting. The colors actually changed based on the speed of the car and the type of music you had playing at the time. When you were going slow the car was a cool color with deep purples and blues the moment you start to go fast by acceleration the car changes colors to orange, yellow and red. All the lights are throughout the interior of the car in the trim, around the floorboards, in the dashboard. It was really cool and it responded to the actions of the driver. The music also had the option of changing the colors based on the type of song and to even go with the tempo however, I find that distracting.

Crazy Shadows on the Road 8/15/11

I was riding my motorcycle home from lab tonight and while I was on the highway I noticed that every time I passed a street light my shadow would appear ahead of me as I was going away from the light. It was really cool and I am going to try and post a video of it hopefully sometime this week. Anyways it was kinda creepy with the color of the light being this orange glow and then my shadow right ahead of me (As I am going highway speeds).

Sunday - 8/14/11

Today I did an experiment with my brothers. They always play ps3 in their bedroom. I wanted to see if light would affect their playing. So I played around with making it completely dark (except for the TV light). Then I tried making it as bright as possible by opening up the shades, turning on all the lights including desk lamps and making sure it was focused at him. Then I tried playing around with making the lighting dim and then only keeping the blue light he had in the corner of the room.

What I found as that he played better in the dark or dim lighting including the blue only light. I think the reason behind this was the fact that light didn't change his mood however changed his sight. Meaning that he could see the screen better in the dark verses the washed out screen when all the lights were on.

LEDS! - 8/13/11

So I have LED blinkers on my motorcycle and the front left one went out. I love these blinkers because they're bright as hell which is good so hopefully cars will see me. These blinkers look like cat eyes though with a yellow and orange color when blinking. When you see the blinkers on coming at you in the dark it looks kinda intimidating along with the rest of the bike.

Anyways all I had to do was fix the connection of the wire to the blinker and it lives!

Car Headlights Suck - 8/12/11

I was on my motorcycle today and the car behind me had those HID headlights and they were right in the annoying spot of my mirrors that if I looked into it, it would "blind" me. Anyways they were that color yellow and it was really annoying. It started to get me more and more pissed off and I had to change lanes. I was wondering if that HID yellow color at that intensity could bring out a "pissed off reaction" by another person like mine.

NO LIGHT!?!? - 8/11/10

Today I spent almost all of my day in my bedroom with the shades closed and the lights off studying and sleeping. It was a "chill" day but I didnt have much to do and wanted to catch up on sleep. There was much light and I actually put up more curtains to block the light so it was almost completely dark which was nice for a change.

JEEP! - 8/10/11

So I was on break from lab today and was looking at the headlights of my jeep. I noticed that the lamp was very weren't as bright as other headlamps on vehicles I have seen. Also the reflectors are huge compared to other cars and trucks and give it a unique shape almost like a Source 4 Par. I just wanted to make that observation...