I will add though, that the primary function of the BiG SiX is great summing and EQs and compression in hardware. Don’t buy it as a audio interface. It works flawlessly as an audio interface for me, but the routing is more limited. There is no “outs” for example, the audio coming in over USB routes to channels, but those channels do not have direct outs, so you can’t really send it somewhere else in the system. The exception is the 4 mono channels that have insert sends, and routing the Ext 1 and/or 2 to St Cue 1 and/or 2, so there’s 8 channels out to the rest of your system.
I would recommend everyone looking at this as getting it for mixing and summing duties, and then enjoy the audio interface capabilities of it as an additional benefit.
Yep, understood! However, the main draw of the B6 would be to have both analog mixing/monitoring and DAW recording at the same time. I don’t understand why they made the sum to mono at the inputs and not at the panning stage - would be the same result for monitoring while still having two separate outputs into the DAW. Big oversight imo.
Maybe I’m missing what you exactly mean but in a DAW you can simply choose to use a stereo in as dual mono.
Edit: ah I see what you mean now. I don’t think it would be so easy to implement that though as post eq the two channels could be slightly different so summing to mono post eq could introduce phasing issues I recon.
Did you get this sorted in the end? (USB 9/10 issue)
yes and no - 9/10 issue occurs when using usb-c to usb-c but not usb-c to standard usb, been using the latter with no issues. I tried different brands of cable too and the same problem occurred. SSL couldn’t explain it either.
Strange! No one else having this issue?
For anyone interested in buying one and questioning the internal kit being fitted from the factory, or not:
Got one from GAK in the UK 14th July 2022, came with a small green sticker (not blue!) on the box by the serial number and also on the underside of the unit by the serial number.
Oddly, when I supplied my serial number asking SSL if they could confirm if this unit had the kit already fitted, they asked for place of sale, sale date and referenced a Blue sticker…… so I’m not sure they have a list of serials that are fixed. And the stickers seem to now be green…. Anyway, they told me this one had been fixed when they saw the images and had sales dates etc.
Andertons have had one in stock for ages. I had seen GAK go out to stock for a while and then when they became available again, I thought id take my chances.
Yeah, but if I would be running two identical mono signals I might as well just plug in one of them (in which case the B6 would als revert to mono). I hardly see the use case for summing to mono with a subsequent stereo signal being sent to the DAW. The only use case I can think of is if you have let‘s say two Snares from two different drum machines (in which case you can‘t sum the two signals to mono beforehand) and you want to combine them in the mixing stage and pan both of them simultaneously in the stereo field.
Nice, what‘s your feedback? And do you have the USB 9/10 problem as well?
Hey
Early days yet for me… I’ve had a Six before but sold it to get two audio interfaces so I could recording a few devices at once on separate tracks in Ableton (the lack of individual outs on the Six was the only reason I sold it)
Just tried 9/10 - seem to work fine on USB c-c Mac osx
Anyway, sounds crazy good and the hybrid setup suits me to a T! So fast to record into DAW and then one button and now thats all at my fingertips to adjust EQ, ad FX etc… Really like the setup.
Edit. My only thought is I wish they had added another two digital channels for the master - so you don’t have to sacrifice 15/16
Is anyone using Sonarworks with their BiG SiX??
I can’t wrap my head around how you’d use the calibration profile SoundID Reference plug-in in Ableton and the routing of a hybrid mixer like this. Maybe I’m not using the right monitoring setup when I’m sending tracks back to the BS from Ableton.
I’ve used Sonarworks with BigSix, and also 2 other interfaces in the past. I’ve set them all up fairly similarly, Sound ID goes at the end of your master track. On BigSix I use 15/16 out on master track in Ableton. The manual gives a good example of how to set things up on a Mac. Much like the “Little” Six, the BigSix manual has a lot of useful info, especially USB routing, and analog routing is concerned.
Has anyone successfully aggregated another usb interface with their B6 to gain further i/o? Considering buying a UAD volt to try this out.
My apologies as I know this topic has been touch on, but what output would you guys recommend using to send to my MPC Live 2’s input for sampling/recording? Any suggestions and workflow tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Also, prior to getting the B6 I’d be using an Apollo 8xP. Has anyone integrated the B6 into a setup with the Apollo 8xP or has the B6 simply replaced it for you? It sounds like using one or the other as an aggregated device will create a lot of potential for latency, which I can’t deal with, so I’m just trying to decide if I need to move the Apollo 8xP out of the studio or not.
Thanks!
I’m using this combo and utilizing Bus B to send to the MPC Live 2 input. That way I can freely choose which input to route there (except Ext1/2).
I have my Bus B going to one of these
Then I can send that audio to my 1010, SP404 or SP303 for sampling.
Also run the Main outs so I can manually switch the cables into the Hosa and then send stuff out to sampler with the FX
Get the B6 and try aggregating both devices and please report back. I’d really love to know whether the latency will be an issue 
If it is, then you can always sell the UAD after, if it works you will have a killer setup!
I’m routing the main outputs of the big six to my mpc live 2, that way I have access to the bus compressor, the stuff I have on the main insert, etc, when I am sampling.
Back to the mono switch. I am on vacation far from my B6: when the mono applied do the pan continue to work (with of course the same value) or the 2 mono channel are centered whatever the position of the pan ?
Just checked and the balance works normally, with panning of the mono signal from left to right