Digico S31 Digital Mixing Console
Digico made a big splash last year with introduction of the S21 digital audio mixing console. Here, for the first time, was a genuine Digico console with an under $10K price. Finally, something that mid-size churches like ours could afford! True, it was physically on the small size compared to its headline-touring siblings, yet nevertheless it offered a boatload of high-end features (more on these later) as well as multi-touch screens significantly larger than those found on most entry-level boards.
This brand new S31, first seen in the US at WFX in mid-September, is basically the same mixing engine underneath. The principal difference is expansion of the hardware control surface to accommodate ten more faders and one more 10-inch touchscreen – a 50% boost on both counts. Is this really big news? Well, for churches like ours, it could end up being the deal-maker. Here's why.
Our church is still getting by with a venerable, British-engineered analog board with 24 mic/line inputs supplemented by a drum sub-mixer. A few years ago, I brought in an entry-level digital mixer to try it out for a few weeks. Compared to our Brit main board alone, it had eight more inputs plus an abundance of built-in dynamics and effects. All very nice.
But on the down side, the total fader count dropped from 31 to 25. That meant mixing in layers. And we also lost the analog advantage of “WYSIATI” – what you see is all there is. With analog, every setting is instantly visible (with proper lighting and my glasses on) without scrolling through multiple screens. Speaking of which, the screen on the entry-level board was disappointingly small.
What's more, that bargain digital board delivered no overall sonic improvements in actual use, and I subjectively preferred the vintage analog EQ. So despite the attractive price, it was no sale. I set my sights on something substantially better.
While we've yet to receive a review unit, on paper, the S31 advances to the top tier of my wish list. I decided I did not want to move backwards in total fader count, and with the S31 at least we hold even. That means I could still set up most traditional and blended services in a single layer, quasi-analog mode to keep it volunteer-friendly. However, I'd have additional mixing banks in reserve for more ambitious productions.
The S31 accommodates simultaneous mixing by two operators: for example, one on vocals and one on instruments. We do that three or four times a year on big productions, and having two dedicated input sections plus a master section for VCAs, sub-groups and or/auxes is just the ticket. Also, adding the third large-format touchscreen gives 50% more status information along with easier access to parameter settings.
Finally, I'm not sure if the Digico's high-end sonic specs will be clearly audible on our aging loudspeaker system, but I strongly suspect the difference would be appreciated when we implement the “racks and stacks” component of my system upgrade proposal.
In sum, if you're already familiar with the performance specs and features the S21, that's pretty much all you need to know. Everything else is largely the same. But as a refresher, here's a capsule rundown of what's under the hood and on the back panel.
The S31 console comes equipped with 24 mic inputs and 12 assignable line outputs, which means it can be a drop-in replacement in many applications (like ours) with no need for a separate stage box. But if you do expand, using the dual DMI ports, you can feed a mixing architecture that supports up to 40 flexi input channels, 16 flexi aux or sub-group buses, a 10 x 8 matrix with full processing, as well as LR master and dual solo buses. A UB MADI interface integrates with DAWs for multichannel recording.
In addition to basic dynamics and EQ on every channel, the S31 comes with a virtual rack of assignable functions that includes four each of dynamic equalizers, DiGiTube tube emulation, and multiband compressors as well as eight multi-effects engines and 16 graphic equalizers.
Quantity is nice, but Digico is known for placing a premium on audio quality. To begin with, all processing front-to-back is at 96 kHz. (I upped from 48 kHz in my home studio DAW last year, and now I will accept nothing less.) The mixing and effects run on FPGA core running in parallel with a new ARM QuadCore RISC processor. Plain English translation: ample power for loads of digital headroom.
The big touchscreens appear easy to use in the default configurations, but you can use Digico's drag, swipe and drop function to move channels and buses to match your custom fader layouts. The multi-touch P-CAP screens also accommodate drag, pinch and spread actions for shaping your parametric EQ curves.
Digico has had a close working relationship with plug-in maker Waves for years, so it's no surprise that the S31 is prepped for Waves integration. You simply plug into SoundGrid via one of the two DMI expansion slots. Other expansion options are analog, MADI, Dante or Calrec's Hydra 2 network.
With all this on board, the S31 still comes in well below $10k (list $9,295), though don't expect heavy discounting. If you want to add the 32 x 16 stage rack, that will push the figure up around $14 K – not cheap, yet unthinkable for a 40-input, three-screen Digico just a couple years back.
So I'm hoping for the best in our next round of budgeting approvals. I know our new lead pastor will be pulling for me. He's 28 years old and looks at our veteran analog board with quizzical bemusement. I think he knows it was designed before he was born.
Bruce Borgerson is head of sound at the First United Methodist Church and proprietor of Strategic & Technical Communications, both in Ashland, Ore.
