All synth parts are Prophet 12 module, sequenced and recorded into the Blackbox. One of the leads, I sliced up from the Prophet samples and recorded into a new sequence directly from the Box. I tend to record 128 bar takes from all my sequences, while live tweaking them to get an ever evolving feel.
Drums are from the Tanzmaus, sampled loops into the Blackbox and the heavier use of fx and ambience are also Prophet samples, resampled into the Blackbox through a Polymoon and a Chase Bliss Mood.
There’s a lot of wiring and rewiring going on when I go through all of this. It’s tedious at time, since my space is so small I have to connect and disconnect stuff, so I’ve sort of made little battle stations of my gear. The Polymoon has all its cables already connected to it, including power adapter, so when I want it, I reach for it from the cabinet and plug it into the Blackbox. Then remove it when I’m done, bring out the Mood instead, and so on. Once track’s ready for summing, I remove the synth and bring out the SiX instead. And so on.
Possibly a newb question - can I run a mono synth through the talkback Mic input? what are the pros/cons? if I need another mono input and I use an XLR connector
@Oblique definitely! Ive only routed a kick from a rytm individual out. The listen mic compressor is cool for squashing a signal…dont know what that migjt be like on a mono synth. Id say pros/cons could only be offered up knowing how you use your SIX.
I use a DI, specifically a Radial JDI.
Be aware though, there’s no internal routing of the TB mic into the main bus, so it’s got to go from one of the cue outs back into one of the aux in’s.
Also, there’s an always on +45dB boost on the TBmic. Even if you could plug a line level jack into it, it’d be explosively loud.
And as you can see in @rhenry vid above, there’s a dozen ways to skin a cat with the six!!!
I’d say that as long as your cable runs aren’t really (really) long, then you’re good to go. The SSL has lots of balanced jacks, but it is tolerant of using unbalanced cables. The tricky part is the master insert is on the DB25 connector, so you might have to figure out a way to turn your balanced connection into an unbalanced one. I’d say give it a shot and see what happens.
So I have the SSL SiX and am loving it. It simply sounds great
The way I use it currently is I hook up 4 or 5 synths at the same time, sequence them all at the same time, and record the track to tape. it pretty simple, the G compressor sounds great, everything is glued together. I get summing and recording at the same time.
I wish though, stereo channels 3-4 /5-6 had a little EQ. Can some one recommend a good way to add EQ?
Should I go the 500 series route and get two EQ modules and figure out a way to insert them? has any one build a 500 series lunch box to compliment their SSL Six? if so what did the routing look like?
If you get an external eq, you don’t need to insert it on the channel, you can simply patch it in series between your synth and the SiX.
Not sure a 500 series is cost effective for just 2 stereo modules, plus it turns on the GAS for more stuff to fill up your frame. It really depends on the kind of EQ you’re after. I’m happy with a stereo Electro Harmonix Overdrive/EQ pedal i just got, but that is a very particular kind of eq. Clean-Classy_SSL-Style eq’s…well those are pricy and I would personally look at plugins if I needed that sort of eq, but that’s just me and my budget.
I’m bumping this post from the dead hoping I can get some help troubleshooting the routing on my SSL SiX routing of the main insert. Like you, I’m running the main insert out into my analog heat. I then run the analog heat outs into the main insert return. As far as I understand, I need to press the “INSERT” button to complete the path to the analog heat. However, when I do that, everything goes silent, and I don’t see anything on the analog heat’s meters. That seems backwards to me. That is, with the “INSERT” button not pressed, the meters on the heat dance. When I activate the insert, the meters go quiet and all sound goes away from my monitors. I hope I explained my issue well. I can’t seem to figure out what’s going on. Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated. I hope I can figure this out.
@cold_fashioned yo! Ok so im with you. In my config with the heat routed as you describe and when i have a source (rev2) going in on ch1 and ch2, if the INSERT button on chs 1 and 2 are not selected, i get audio thru 1&2 and thru heat (as long as INSERT on mains is in/green/on).
When i turn on/green/in INSERT button for each ch1&2 i get no sound. This appears to be a feature that is intended to add versatility to the SiX. It allows-as i imagine it - the ability to have two different per channel sources that could be routed to a daw etc, with one being pre-fade… That is at least how i interpret the manual as it says here. Would you agree?
So, yes, and no. I should have been more specific. I tried it out with a synth coming in on 5/6. When the main insert isnt lit, sound plays, but not affected by heat and I can see the meters moving on the heat (expected). As soon as I press the main insert on/green, all sound goes away and the meters in the heat stop dancing. That seems opposite of what I would expect.
Another question: what input level sensitivity do you have on the heat? I found that I had to turn it up to max to even get the heat’s meters moving halfway. That also doesn’t seem right, since I’m sure the six is pushing out a decent level.
@cold_fashioned ok sorry. So you are referring to INSERT on main bus strip? Duh sam! If so, here’s how its working for me.
With main bus INSERT in/on/green, heat shows signal comjng in and out, and heat is definitely working And doing its thing to the sound. If i switch main bus INSERT button off/out, i still see input on heat in and out but heat is not coloring affecting sound on main six output.
