My two latest EP:s were summed, mixed and mastered on an SSL SiX with a Chase Bliss CXM 1978 on the master. Only.
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Hi-Z just makes the hum louder. I’m starting to think the Six just doesn’t like my MS-20. If I use a TRS cable half way plugged into the phones output to one of the mono channels it sounds a little better. I haven’t tried the OB-6 yet, but hoping for better sounding results from that…will probably use a stereo channel though.
I’m having a blast using the stereo cue sends/aux inputs for fx. I have my Bam verb in 1 and Enjoy Reminder Delay in 2.
Have you tried different cables? Possibly a bad cable, or there’s a short or something.
Is it the MS-20 Mini? I remember reading people complaining about the MS-20 Mini being noisy.
I see in your first post that TRS cables work, so maybe just use those? I had a similar issue once with a synth and an interface. The synth had unbalanced outputs that were noisy, but when I tried balanced TRS cables, it cleared most of the noise up, and sounded fine. I’m not sure if that is best way to work things, but it did that trick that time.
Also, do you have a DI box around to test with running an unbalanced into that, and then into the channel?
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I think it would be hard to be blown away with something recorded and posted here unless someone takes the time to perform a true A/B test. Considering what can be processed in the daw, i just dont think anything would be suitably audible from hearing our mixes.
But in person, over my loudspeakers or in headphones, vocals (for example) sound soooo good, the compressor is excellent at doing its job. Preamps just seem crystal clear.
The routing alone could be a selling point for some (ok maybe not for $1500).
But if you bought one from a place with a good return policy, i’d say no way you return it. Its way better than a run of the mill mixer. Do we see many of these used? I dont pay attention. But i get scared when i think about my sound without it haha. For real:).
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Just to get my thinking right (and before I read the manual).
The fold back method sets something up akin to a post fader send, right?
(with the insert being pre-fader, presumably)
Only reason I ask is that I always assumed with post fader sends, you set the effect to 100% wet and then apply the effect via the mixer.
It sounds like it might work a little differently here, unless I’m mistaken.
(forgive my limited mixing jargon knowledge, my experience has only ever been with the Mackie VLZ802, or else sending my machines directly into a pedal!)
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Foldbacks can be pre or post fader, there’s a button for that. You’d have your effects fully wet otherwise your dry signal would be doubled up. There’s a nob for each stereo in extension volume. There’s also nobs for how much of the signal you send to the Foldbacks.
Think that makes sense. Haven’t had a coffee yet though……
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Of course there is.
Buttons and knobs for everything, that’s great to know thanks.
Enjoy your coffee 
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Thanks! Yeah I tried multiple cables that I know are working. It’s a new MS-20 FS and it features both v1 and v2 filter settings. In filter v1 there is the common audible noise bleed and is separate from the hum I’m experiencing.
Using a TRS cable seems like a temporary fix as I have to use the phones jack plugged in half way. If I use TRS from main output the signal is very low.
I don’t have a DI box, but I’ve read elsewhere that could be a solution…or a transformer. There’s a 3 page thread on this topic on MW that I was hoping would be informative, but unfortunately devolves into some strange pissing contest so it’s difficult to read.
With some careful gain staging and EQing I can live with this for now.
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Yeah, a real DI would probably do the trick. The Radials I have used were passive, and have transformers which help block noise. They also have a ground lift switch that also helps reduce noise. I think that is a common feature on DI’s
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I got one. It’s dope. It’s a no brainer.
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My Behringer MS1 is noisy as fuck when i turned it on. I dont know if the Six is the Reason or the unit itself…
Have anyone similar issues? I use a Balanced male jack to female XLR. I do not have these issues with other synths.
You plugged it into the XLR mic input?
Use the 1/4inch input instead, select line, don’t engage hi-z.
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Dear SSL Six veterans,
My mixer arrived today and I was very pleased.
Pleased with how it fit on my compact desk, pleased with how straightforward the manual was, and how fuss free it was to set up the simple send / return fx loop I’ve been asking questions about.
I have so far only been playing with the Lyra through my Mood and H9 for reverb.
Lovely crisp sound and I’ve enjoyed experimenting with the compressor, but perhaps not the best setup for exploring its capability spectrum.
Not Six specific, but one thing that became immediately obvious was how much my ears have become attuned towards working directly into pedals and into a mixer without a loop. The lo-fi static crunchiness I used to hear with the lower resolution on the Mood’s clock was practically filtered out. I’m sure there’s a way around this (use as an insert effect?) but it was more a case of appreciating different qualities of the pedal, not so in your face.
Anyway, my main reason for writing was to get a bit more clarity on the controls for a regular post fader send. Sorry to be obsessing around this particular area, but now I have the mixer in front of me a couple of questions have arisen (even after reading the manual):
As suggested, I have a foldback output going into my effects and back into ext 1.
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Am I right in thinking that the cue level on the channel strip acts as an aux send and that the foldback level knob is something like a return?
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I also noticed that the Ext 1 knob in the Mon Source section altered the level of the effect, but I wasn’t sure in what fashion (in addition to the foldback level knob also altering the effect level). Any pointers?
I’m generally someone who gets something and twiddles to find things out what does what, and perhaps I shouldn’t be so academic about it all, but my left brain wants to know and have things in order.
Edit: I just had another play and it seems I had my wires crossed (ahem).
The foldback knob alters the foldback level before it goes through the effect and the Ext 1 knob alters the processed signal. So there are 2 levels to play with before the effects and one after. Something like that anyway. I guess I’ll need to read the manual again when I’m not so tired…
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@Dava you’re right on with your edit:
- channel cue knobs control the level to each cue
- foldback level knobs control the send to the foldback output
- the ext 1/2 knobs control the input gain of the external inputs
So for your setup, the channel cue knobs control each channel send, the foldback level controls the overall send, and the external level controls the return. This is pretty convenient! But the SiX is even more flexible … the buttons in that foldback section determine what is sent to that output. By default, it is the stereo cue source but it could be the external inputs or the talkback mic. You can also use the cues as headphone mixes.
I think some of the best pages in the manual are the example setups. Understand each one of those completely, referring to the appropriate part of the manual when you get confused, and you’ll understand this mixer well
I’m not sure why the Mood sounds different. I don’t think it’s necessarily because any frequencies are being filtered out. If you want to try to replicate your old setup, you can set the sends to be pre-fader (by disengaging the button in the foldback section) and then mute the input channel of the Lyra and only listen to the wet signal. Play with your gain-staging using the above facilities and it should sound as before.
Another tip: nothing stopping you from returning your effects through the stereo channels if they’re open. Then you can send the Mood to the H9 or vice versa. Be careful to avoid (or tame) any feedback loops
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This one I didn’t realize. You learn something new every day with this mixer.
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Great stuff, so individual sends, an overall foldback send + an external level return.
Crystal clear, thank you!
I’ll try the Mood pre-fader sometime and also using the stereo channel returns too.
Nice to explore the possibilities.
Thanks again, so helpful to get some clarity.
damn i just found out about this here
wow
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last week I got my digitakt and digitone playing together for the first time, experimenting with a rather simple pattern. I set them both to the SSL six (DN 1-2, DT 3-4), along with an old (and totally fuzzy) mixer that I found at my grandpa’s as an external input. I improvised with the machines, saturating the signal with the mixer. It was amazingly fun - the SSL itself was probably the main element of the jam, and I felt that it expanded very much the sonic possibilities at hand. I have had it for a while, but it was the first time that I set it to this kind of dub mix. It’s a game changer to live performances! and it sounds so, so good.
If anyone wants to check it out, here is the stream (I don’t have twitch premium so it expires in about 10 days). it came out as ambient/downtempo/lo-fi-ish
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So 2 chains totalling 6 pedals was a nice idea but I think I need to take a leaf out of @circuitghost’s book and scale it back a bit.
Found myself in a soup of signals and headscratching 
Especially since I’m still acclimatising to the 3 Moogs together!
You live and you learn…
Continuing with my apparent obsession with routing effects.
I ran a single TRS from one of the foldbacks into my particle, and a single TRS back into an Ext. input. Not sure if that’s kosher or not (the particle only takes a single TRS for stereo in and the El Cap only takes a single TRS out, but given the processing in between, I wasn’t quite sure if that effected the stereo signal or not.
I feel a bit like I’ve gone from driving a Smart Car to a Ferrari overnight
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It help that I know shit about mixing I just can’t go too complex cause I wouldn’t know how, when it comes to these things
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