In recent years, affordable audio production systems have split to form two distinct camps. In one, a common desktop computer handles all the recording, editing, mixing, and "sweetening" chores. Thanks to the ever-increasing power of processors and software, these studio-in-a-computer systems can replace a whole control room full of recorders, mixers, synthesizers, samplers, sequencers, effects units, and other gizmos. All you need is a computer, the right software, and audio interface hardware.
The other option pursues an all-in-one solution as well, but does so with specialized hardware instead of a computer. These digital audio workstations (DAW) often look like an audio mixer with real faders and knobs, plenty of jacks and connectors, and a built-in display. What you can't see under the hood on most of these systems is a disk-based recorder, mixer automation, MIDI sequencer, digital effects and more. While there's a fair amount of software at work inside these machines, you can't mix-and-match programs from different companies like you can with a computer-based system. Nor can you surf the Internet.
The Tascam SX-1 Digital Audio Workstation (List Price: $5999) comes along and blurs the lines.
Hip Hybrid
As much a computer-based system as it is a standalone digital audio workstation,
the heart of the SX-1 is a PC computer, complete with Ethernet port, keyboard
and mouse ports, a VGA monitor output and a host of familiar-looking connectors
and slots on its back panel. Instead of running a standard Windows or Mac operating
system (OS), the SX-1 runs the Be OS. Be was written from the start for digital
audio and video.
Connected to the computer is a hardware-based 40- input digital mixer, 16-track hard disk recorder (HDR), 17 motorized faders, buttons and knobs galore, a full complement of analog and digital I/O, transport controls and an LCD screen. The hardware systems wrapped around the SX-1's computer draw heavily from Tascam's DM-24 digital mixer and MX-2424 hard-disk recorder.
You can use all the features of the SX-1 with just its LCD display, but you'd be crazy to do so. For about $150, you can plug in a basic VGA monitor and really bring the Tascam to life. The VGA displays and interface feel just like any Mac or Windows software; grab the supplied mouse and keyboard, and you'll feel like you're using a desktop computer -- with a ridiculous amount of audio production power, that is. The SX-1's digital mixer offers 40 channels total, each with three-band EQ and a dedicated dynamics processor for compression, limiting, or expansion. Thirty-two of these inputs can access the SX-1's eight assignable insert points. Route an insert point to an analog I/O pair, and you can insert your favorite analog effect into any mixer channel. Output busses include stereo main, stereo cue, solo, eight subgroup busses and six aux sends.
All this mixing and recording potential is of little use if your signals can't go anywhere. Getting signals into the SX-1 is the responsibility of its 16 analog inputs, each having an XLR mic input, 1/4-inch line input, and analog insert point. You can enable phantom power on all these inputs, switchable in banks of four. Other inputs and outputs include eight channels of ADAT LightPipe I/O (digital, with sync connector), two stereo S/PDIF digital I/O, analog stereo I/O, and four aux outputs.
In addition to the standard I/O, the SX-1 has three available slots to hold expansion cards. These cards are the same as those in Tascam's DM-24 digital mixer, and include TDIF digital, ADAT LightPipe digital, AES/EBU digital, and analog audio. Each card offers eight channels of I/O at a cost of around $200. The beauty of having all these inputs, outputs, tracks, and channels in the digital realm is the complete flexibility in routing. The SX-1's digital patchbay allows you to connect anything almost anywhere. Whether you need a hard drive track to go straight to an aux output or the talkback mic to feed bus 7, odds are the SX-1 will let you make the connection. The SX-1 is also well equipped when it comes to monitoring. Switchable outputs are provided for two sets of control room monitors ("Small" and "Large"), a pair of tracking room monitors, and two sets of headphones. These outputs can tap numerous different signals in the SX-1, from the cue mix to the aux busses to the stereo digital input.
Other amenities and features of the SX-1 are simply too numerous to list here. Highlights include video time code sync and Sony P2 VCR control, three surround mixing modes, SCSI port for external drives, sidechain connector to add an external DM-24 mixer, internal CD-R drive, USB ports, and more.
The Softer Side
As with a traditional computer-based system, the SX- 1's software really
defines what it is and what it can do. The SX-1's interface is organized
into numerous major areas such as tracks, routing, effects and more. Many of
these areas divide further into individual screens, each accessible by clicking
on a named tab. Most of the user's time will be spent in the track area,
where up to 999 audio or MIDI tracks sit on a timeline. You can freely move
and zoom around the timeline, viewing an audio waveform display of each audio
track or small "piano roll" representation of each MIDI track.
The bottom of the track display offers a close-up view of a single track, with
tabs for various ways of looking at and manipulating that track's data.
The SX-1 sticks with the familiar editing paradigm, in which you can define, move, copy and otherwise tweak sections of audio or MIDI data with the mouse. Audio editing tools include destructive and nondestructive operations, with an unlimited undo system allowing you to revert back from an errant edit. MIDI operations include non-destructive quantize, "smart" transpose, and a wealth of other functions. Notable is the SX-1's MIDI HyperSelect function, which allows you to select events based on up to 10 fully configurable rules. You can then perform editing operations on the selected events.
Mixer screens offer everything from a detailed view of an individual channel to a broad overview of 16 channels at once. And while nine of these overview screens are pre-set, seven are user-configurable to include virtually any input, output or MIDI track on the SX-1. Keyboard shortcuts allow you to jump instantly to any of the mixer screens.
Routing screens let you see, name and connect the SX-1's many inputs and outputs. Tabs bring up specific areas such as HDR routing, mixer routing, effects routing and more. Many of these screens go on to offer a pull-down menu for selecting a specific bank of inputs and outputs. The SX-1's routing system is deep, and a person can explore these screens for some time without reaching the bottom.
The SX-1's automation screens reveal another area of impressive flexibility and power. Much like the track display, the automation screens show waveform and automation data on a timeline. You can change automation data by moving events with the mouse, drawing curves or adjusting individual automation events. There are precious few things you can't automate on the SX-1. Automation goes beyond the usual fare (fader levels, pan, effects sends) to offer control over such details as channel insert on/off, track delay, whether the EQ is placed before or after the dynamics section, and more.
The system's automated, touch-sensitive faders offer numerous write, trim and revert modes. Feel and function of the SX-1's mixer surface is excellent, and the moving faders are smooth and responsive to the touch. You'll never feel like you're fighting with a fader for control when using the SX-1's automation. In addition to the dynamics and EQ on each channel of the SX-1's mixer, the system offers four more effects units. These effects are provided by the computer's CPU, and can be freely assigned to busses or individual inserts. Currently available is a smattering of Tascam-created effects: several dynamics algorithms, distortion, enhancer, a suite of modulation effects and pitch shift. This list of effects can, and likely will, grow.
Tascam wisely teamed up with some heavyweights to port their effects to the SX-1, including TC Electronic and Antares. The TC SX-1 Reverb is lush and dense, just as one would expect from TC Electronic. Antares provides their mic modeling effect, allowing you to effectively change the mic used for recording afterthe- fact. Less useful is the speaker modeler, which lets you hear your final mix on a range of different speakers. Because of the processing demands of these third-party algorithms, you can only place two of each into the SX-1's four effects "quadrants."
Impressions
From the moment it's first fired up, the SX-1 all but oozes audio-wrangling
power. And when the faders start moving and the meters jumping, it's
all the more apparent that the SX-1 is no mere toy. The SX- 1's size
alone places it in a different league than the average mini-studio--it's
nearly 38 inches wide, 30 inches deep and just shy of 90 pounds in weight.
New SX-1 owners will want to make plenty of room for the unit, and invite a
friend to help with the lifting chores.
The folks at Tascam obviously understood that a product with this level of complexity requires a comprehensive, well-written manual. The SX-1's manual does a very good job of explaining the basic features and functions of the system. The SX-1's Quick Start Guide and Reference Manual add up to about an inch of documentation; they could have easily been four inches. The Tascam cries out for a third manual to really explore more advanced features and topics. The look and layout of the SX-1 was clearly given much thought, and controls generally appear where you'd expect. There are many buttons to learn, however, and several do double duty with the SHIFT key to access even more functions. Most of the buttons bear black labels on a dark gray background, and the lack of contrast makes them a bit challenging to read in low light.
Sonically, the SX-1 is in the professional league. Internal processing is ultra-clean, and the Tascam benefits from very nice-sounding preamps and converters on the front end. Effects are very good overall, and I really liked the sound of the mixer's dedicated dynamics and EQ sections. The TC Reverb is excellent--it's too bad the SX-1 will run just two at once. Recording on the SX-1 is currently limited to 48 kHz sampling at 24 bits; future software updates will include high-resolution recording modes (88.2 kHz and 96 kHz).
Though it's been in development for several years, the SX-1 is still a relatively new product. As such, its software has its fair share of bugs and omissions. I experienced some erratic control knobs, disappearing signals and a handful of other minor glitches. In some cases, reloading an effect (the "Mic Modeler," for example) restored the signal path. In one instance, no amount of tweaking or re-routing would restore a silenced bass track--only a full reboot did the trick. To its credit, the SX-1 never once crashed or locked up during the test period. Nor did any audio get corrupted or damaged.
There are several things I'd put on my wish list for the SX-1, and I have a hunch these items are already on Tascam's. For example, you can't name locate points or see them on the timeline. The "Take Browser" doesn't let you hear the clips before placing them on the timeline. The routable Tascam compressor effects have no gain reduction metering. Several items (SX-1 preferences, for example) are available only on the LCD, not on the VGA. Though the SX-1's meters are lush with fast-response, averaging and peak indicators, they lack crucial dB markings. Finally, a more intuitive routing interface would alleviate much potential confusion.
The beauty of the computer-based system is that software updates and improvements are just a CD-ROM away. Tascam seems committed to improving the SX-1, and one software update (version 1.1) has already mailed. It's worth noting that not long after Tascam chose the Be operating system, Be liquidated and was purchased by Palm. Palm then stopped all development on Be, so it's doubtful the SX-1 will ever have an OS upgrade. Will this threaten the future of the SX-1? Not likely.
Though its software is a step behind its hardware, the SX-1 is an impressive piece of work. It has a flexible and powerful mixing/automation system, excellent I/O, and enough jacks and ports to interface with a wide range of different equipment. Thanks to the computer at its heart, it also the potential for unlimited growth in its software.
Will it go to Church?
The real question is whether the SX-1 is appropriate for houses of worship.
The answer is a resounding "yes." The SX-1 has much of the flexibility
of a computer-based system without the challenges of assembling, configuring
and maintaining the various hardware and software elements. The SX-1 is truly
plug-and-play. And with its extensive video synchronization and surround sound
features, it will work well for churches looking to purchase (or tie into)
a video production system.
The main challenge with the SX-1 is the learning curve. There are so many features, functions, menus, and screens that it can be rather intimidating at first. Audio professionals will get up to speed relatively quickly, but folks unfamiliar with audio production will likely find the SX-1 to be overwhelming.
If you have the technical know-how at your disposal, however, the SX-1 is a truly impressive all-in-one audio solution.
Kurt Gibson is a regular contributor to Church Production Magazine.
