If you have been paying attention to the world of digital consoles you have likely noticed that a plethora of new products and capabilities are being announced at breakneck speed. As digital console technology has matured and the associated costs of those technologies have decreased, we have seen an explosion in the small-format digital console market. One of the latest entrees into this market space is Digico, who recently released its small-format S21 digital console.
The S21 (list price: from $6,995) is a potent little console that has 40 “flexi” inputs, 16 “flexi” aux/subgroup busses, L/R Main outs, a 10x8 matrix, and is capable of running at 96 kHz. The console, true to form for Digico, is loaded with quite a variety of interconnect options and contains some advanced features not generally found in a console in this price bracket. It was surprising to find features on this desk such as gain tracking, digital tube emulation, and touch-sensitive controls.
Initial Impressions
At first glance, the S21 shows a sleek appearance that grabs you with its two prominent touch screen displays that seem appropriate for a Digico product. Closer examination reveals a solidly built chassis that is lightweight, sturdy, and curiously keeps the number of knobs and buttons to a minimum. Console lighting is provided by well-designed backlighting and perfectly placed overhead lights that are stealthily hidden in the bezel, all of which work together to provide plenty of low light visibility without resorting to the all too familiar gooseneck lights that end up being more nuisance than assistance.
Firing up the console shows that the screens are well laid out and present a plethora of information at a glance that tells you exactly what you want to know without confusing you. It is obvious that Digico has spent a great deal of time thinking through their channel strip presentation for the S21. Most all functionality of the console is accessed through the touch screens with the physical knobs performing functions that change based upon where you are in the screen menus. In fact, the only controls that have dedicated functions are the ones on the lower control surface that are used for basic functions such as mute, select, snapshot scrolling, etc.
"Interconnectivity on the S21 offers a huge range of options that will meet the needs of most operators."
After running audio through the console it quickly becomes apparent that Digico was intent on bringing a truly, professional-sounding console to the playing field. While it would seem reasonable for a manufacturer to let the audio or processing capability slide in order to make the price point of this category, it's obvious that Digico was unwilling to do so. This console has the power to provide full functionality without tradeoff. For example, the “flexi” portion of “flexi inputs” and “flexi buses” allows a user to select mono or stereo operation for each individual input or bus without having to consider the implications to the processing capability of the desk. That alone can be a huge benefit in church organizations that see a wide variety of technical savvy from volunteers and operators.
As with other consoles in this segment, each input has dedicated processing for high-pass filtering, parametric EQ, and dynamics. Unlike other consoles, however, the S21 allows for dual inserts for each channel, with one being pre-processing and the other being post-processing. Furthermore, the S21 provides for up to four multi-band compressors for use on four user-selected inputs or buses (without taking up effects slots) and also provides side chaining for built-in compressors, gates, and duckers. Why doesn't every console have a ducker? Digico got this one right.
One interesting feature of this console is a tube amp emulation capability that allows you to digitally emulate a tube amp with controls for both drive and bias. By going direct into the console with a Strat we were able to use the tube emulation and the built-in delay unit to create a very credible guitar tone that could pass muster at any church service. It doesn't take much effort to think of other uses for such a capability in a musical presentation, such as creating grungy vocals or a crunchy bass tone.
The console has the quasi-standard “virtual fx rack” that supports up to eight different effects units simultaneously. While the current options are primarily limited to verbs and a delay unit, they sound great and have presence and clarity that is what you would expect of a higher-end console.
Forward-thinking Features
Interconnectivity on the S21 offers a huge range of options that will meet the needs of most operators. The two option card slots allow the console to support Dante, MADI (on both BNC and Ethernet), ADC in/DAC out, as well as AES. This allows the S21 to be integrated into most any environment, including those using a Digico D-Rack and those that include the larger siblings in the Digico lineup. Additionally, the console itself has support for two AES connections (in/out) as well as word clock I/O, GPI/O (not yet implemented in the current firmware release), and UB-MADI.
The integration of UB-MADI is another area where Digico has been progressive with the S21's processing and connectivity capabilities. The UB-MADI port is the result of Digico integrating its USB-to-MADI bridge directly into the hardware of the S21. This allows direct multitrack recording and playback from/to the S21 though a simple USB connection (after having installed freely available drivers on your computer). This is sure to be a very attractive feature for churches that need virtual sound check capability. With UB-MADI the S21 will support virtual sound check without the need for an option card to interconnect with other audio protocols such as Dante or native MADI.
While Digico has knocked the ball out of the park with the sound and processing power of the S21, it should be noted that we often found ourselves comparing the feature set and usability to larger Digico consoles, some of which cost more than 10 times the price of the S21. This is entirely unfair—similar to comparing a Ford Mustang with a Ferrari. Still, there are areas where the S21 could be better. Among our concerns, we found the touch screens sometimes required multiple attempts before recognizing a command, the ability to create and recall presets for channel strips and scene snapshots is not straightforward, and an offline editor is not yet available.
Considering that digital audio consoles are in fact computers, Digico responded to our findings by saying numerous features have yet to be added, and others are being revised and updated with future updates of firmware—one of which arrived while we were reviewing the unit, and another is scheduled to be available before you read this.
Ultimately, the S21 is a great sounding console at a fantastic price point for churches that have smaller needs and smaller budgets. It's a solid platform that will allow Digico to compete for a new segment of customers in a wider swath of the church market.
List Price: from $6,995
