Solid State Logic .. SSL Big SiX

Can anyone confirm if the big six works as an interface when connected to an mpc live ii in standalone mode?

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I donā€™t know if my desk has developed more gremlins but is it normal behaviour for the first four mono channel gain trim pots not to do anything when returning audio back from the DAW when the ā€˜from usbā€™ buttons are engaged?

My stereo gain trims have an effect when I turn them up, just the first four mono ones are not allowing me to adjust input gain. I canā€™t say I noticed this before, wondering if this is yet another issue that has developed since the retrofit. If anyone can please confirm I would be grateful. cheers

That is how it should beā€¦ I think the manual specifically mentions it and also take a look at the signal flow diagram in the very back. USB enters after gain pots on mono channels, before trim pots on stereo channels. Dont know why they did it this way, but they did.

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ok cool! glad itā€™s not an issue, seems like a strange quirk to me.

FYI I updated my B6 today, officially SSL are dropping it tomorrow. havenā€™t had much time with my desk yet, but it still has that usb 9/10 return issue when using usb c to usb c.

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well, fwiw, thereā€™re directly opposite cases: I knew about the problem, and the uniqueness of the big6 was so evident that I didnā€™t give a damn about how they would had handled this

still: ofc, itā€™s mismanaged and ofc, the problem shouldnā€™t have even emerged. customers should push SSL for public explanations and excuses.

still a brilliant product at this price, peerless

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Yeah, it was working for me when I tried, but with tons of dropouts. That was back when I first received it and I havenā€™t revisited.

edit: I can try and delve in more this weekend and see if the upcoming firmware has any effect.

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Thanks. I already have a live II on the way, I was just trying to figure out how I was going to fit it into my setup and what cables I needed to solder up. Sounding like it it might be a no go to just connect it via usb then.

Iā€™ll still report back regardless as I was pretty keen on using this as a method for sampling all my synths. It would be really great if the firmware resolved what I was experiencing. Like maybe it was somehow related to the DC offset or something? Might be far reaching on that one though.

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Well sounds great, please keep me updated!

This is normal behaviour and a clever compromise. It is very unlikely to use the mono channels to monitor usb. On the other hand, running the signal through a preamp again is rarely desirable.
In contrary, the stereo channel is not driven by a powerfull preamp and more likely to be used to monitor computer sound.
The big six is full of limitations, but every time I think about it I find the design compromise very clever. There are still one or two choices that I donā€™t understand why, for example the feeding of the USB 13/14 through the B-bus.

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I donā€™t know if this has been posted here yet, but the new firmware for the Big Six is out:

Release Notes

This release contains optimisations/bug fixes for the AD/DA converters as follows:

ā€¢ Adjusted DC-Blocking Filter to ADC channels to improve noise performance.

ā€¢ Resolved polarity inversion on ADC Chans 5-12.

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I tried several times to run the firmware updater (Macbook Pro M1 Max, Mac OS 12.3.1) ā€“ with the original USB C cable and other ones. It never worked. Itā€™s still on fw 1.07.

Interesting. I havenā€™t had a chance to try yet, but I will chime in when I do.

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I think somebody on gearspace said they had to update the windows driver first maybe?

edit: And that picture is clearly a Mac window. Never mindā€¦ long day.

edit2: Wow, itā€™s like my brain didnā€™t register anything about your postā€¦ now that I reread itā€¦ Iā€™m in full on idiot mode.

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So I donā€™t want to annoy you. it works for me. Maybe itā€™s your operating system vesrion? Or switch off the computer and console and try again. do you use a usb hub? if so, maybe connect directly

i am on Mac OS Monterey 12.4

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Thanks. Any feedback might be helpful, so why would this annoy me? :slight_smile:

I switched everything off several times. Perhaps the installer is not compatible to the latest Mac OS.
I didnā€™t use a hub and tried several short USB C to C cables including the original one.

I submitted a support ticket to SSL. Perhaps I can borrow a windows notebook from a friend on the weekendā€¦

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try usb-c to regular sized usb cable. Iā€™ve discovered there are lots of gremlins with usb-c to usb-c

my update didnā€™t finish with a ā€œcompletedā€ message. couldnā€™t reopen device.
however on connecting again it reads the fw as v01.18

You may reset your PRAM and SMC. Working with tons of USB devices myself and a reset can solve all sorts of issues that way.

Just note that not all instructions on the SMC reset are correct. This one is:
SMC Reset