Soundcraft SI Impact Digital Mixing Console

With it's LCD touchscreen and full array of colourful buttons, knobs and faders, some people might be fooled into thinking that the Soundcraft SI Impact is a flightdeck spaceship console from a 90's blockbuster film!

Apart from looking pretty awesome, the this 40 input mixer has got some unique new designs that make navigating a fully featured digital console easier than ever.

Everything at your Fingertips

Back in the analogue days, a mixing console was a completely tactile experience, where all the controls that you needed were laid out in front of you. If you wanted to add some EQ, you could just reach for the dedicated control and "BAM", it was done.

When the digital era took over, there were some obvious benefits. Yet, suddenly many of the useful functions were hidden behind endless menus and engineers have been lusting for that instantaneous control experience ever since; often resorting to the more expensive "analogue classics" to get the streamlined workflow they are looking for.

The SI Impact shows the world how a digital mixing console should work!

With enough audio processing power to fill over 300 rack units, The SI Impact is certainly not short on features

Yet with a touch screen control, digital 'scribble strips', and a full set of motorised faders and rotary encoders work with the all new FaderGlow illumination technology and tOTEM system to make navigation quick and super easy.

tOTEM- One Touch Easy Mixing

Soundcraft's One touch easy mixing makes mixing on the fly lightning quick. Essentially you get a number of easy to reach buttons on the console itself that allow you to jump to a variety of different layers, mixes, effects and matrix setups in an instant.

The motorised faders jump into position for that particular setup, and you can fix your settings for that particular song, monitor mix or aux bus.

There's also a dedicated Channel strip effects section with one-knob-one-function control. You get a high pass filter, Gate, Compression, Parametric EQ,Delay from industry standards DBX and Lexicon on each channel. You can also apply these to each mix bus, along with a graphic EQ that you can control using the flying faders.

In-Built Lexicon Hardware Effects

In addition to a fantastic Channel strip section, the SI Impact has a full genuine Lexicon Hardware effects unit. No software modelling in sight, this effects unit is the real deal!

Add rich and crisp effects with 4  processors allowing you to stack effects onto each and every track or mix bus. Choose from 29 reverbs, delays, modulation effects and pitch effects using the simple touch screen menu.

Navigate with FaderGlow

With so many great features only a touch away, it may seem like the SI impact would be hard to navigate. But thanks to FaderGlow, you'll always know where you are in the mix and what you're tweaking.

As well as a main LCD screen and LCD channel displays, all of the buttons and encoders are fitted with LED lights to give you visual cues on what is affecting your mix

Yet that is not all. On the SI Impact, The flying faders are also fitted with LED strip lights that let you know what you are currently tweaking in the mix.

Each colour means a different parameter. Here's a list of what they mean-

• Yellow- Pre Fade
• Green- Post Fade
• Cyan- FX Send/Return
• Orange- Matrix
• Blue- VCA Master
• Red- Graphic EQ
• White- Linked Channels

Mix Live or in the Studio

The SI Impact has a built in audio interface so that you can also use it as a full featured studio mixer for your recordings. You don't have to fiddle with plugins, as you can use all the channel strip controls in your mix, just like the studio consoles of old!

This is a fully featured digital console, but with the favoured hands on "analogue workflow" that engineers strive for!

Here's what Soundcraft say about the SI Impact

The Si Impact draws on Soundcraft’s more than 40 years of excellence in live sound mixing, combining the latest digital innovations together with its unrivalled sound quality. The Si Impact is designed to be as simple as an analog mixer, but with radical workflow enhancements and DSP power that make it a perfect tool for the stage and the recording studio.

The 40-input Soundcraft Si Impact offers powerful live sound digital mixing with ViSi iPad® control and built-in Stagebox connectivity for I/O expansion. In addition to its live sound components, the Si Impact has a 32-in/32-out USB recording and playback interface that provides easy multitrack recording and playback directly from a DAW. Right out of the box, you get a free download of Ableton Live 9 Lite.

The fully motorised faders come equipped with Soundcraft® FaderGlow illumination technology and LCD channel displays or ‘scribble strips’ for visual feedback and easy operation.

The Si Impact provides 32 mic/line inputs, 40 DSP input channels (32 mono inputs and four stereo channels/returns) and 31 output busses (all with full DSP processing and GEQ) with 20 sub-groups aux busses and four mono/stereo matrix busses. Eight XLR/quarter-inch combi-jacks are available for line inputs and instruments, while a 4-band fully parametric EQ is available for each channel and bus. The Si Impact also offers studio grade effects and dynamics from Soundcraft’s sister companies BSS, Lexicon and dbx.

The Si Impact supports up to eight VCA masters and eight Mute groups, plus 26 motorised input faders and LR/Mono (fully motorised with four fully customisable fader layers). The console also features a 5-inch colour touchscreen display for easy access to show setup, patching, FX, and security.

And, of course, the Si Impact features the legendary British sound of Soundcraft!

“The Si Impact is the first of its kind in that it truly combines analog workflow with digital flexibility at a lower price than ever before,” said Sean Karpowicz, Product Manager, Soundcraft.

“Most importantly, the Si Impact features the absolute best sound quality of any product in its category, on par with consoles many times larger and costlier. And thanks to the USB interface, it’s equally at home in the studio or on the road.”

Key Features

• 32 Mic Inputs
• 8 XLR/1/4" Combi-jacks for line inputs and instruments
• 40 DSP input channels (32 mono inputs and 4 stereo channels/returns)
• 31 Output busses (All with full DSP processing and GEQ)
• 4-band Fully Parametric EQ on each channel and bus
• 8 VCAs + 8 Mute groups
• 26 motorised faders (24 input + LR/Mono)
• 4 fully customisable Fader Layers
• Built-in Stagebox Connectivity
• 5" touchscreen display
• Multi-Colour LCD Channel Displays on each input fader
• 4 studio-grade Lexicon Effects engines and dedicated FX busses
• BSS Graphic Equalisers on every bus
• 20 sub-group / aux busses
• 4 mono/stereo matrix busses
• 32x32 USB audio interface for multi-track recording and playback