The two-minute reviewer
The two minute reviewer liked it so much he spent 5 minutes!
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Studer enters the digital console field with a baseball bat; no, make that a mace - you know, the nunchuck with a spike-covered steel ball hanging by a steel chain that Roman gladiators used to whack each other with. The 950S profoundly addresses the needs of the music recording, video and film post industries. This is not your father's Studer - beautifully constructed but finicky, overbuilt, odd controls, unhip; no, this beautiful behemoth exhibits deep understanding of the artistry involved with our craft.
The console offers the flexibility to mold it into the surfaces of your needs. This one console is actually dozens – just configure them appropriately. Based on Microsoft’s Windows NT platform, familiar pull-down menus and drag and click options make global commands a snap. Since the console is basically the remote control for a giant calculator, it can store your configuration like it was an "Excel" document.
Would you like your console to be inline like an SSL? Done. How about 16 mono and 8 stereo aux sends?? How about simultaneously?? Fine, sez Studer. Don't like inline? OK, how about a Neve "split" console, with inputs on one side of the console and monitor mix on the other. No? How about the mixdown on one side of the center section, effects returns on the other. Prefer Euphonix?? Not a problem. The Studer 950S puts your sources to the recorder on Layer 1, monitor mix return from the recorder on Layer 2, a video mix on Layer 3 and your surreptitious multi-track directs to the set of DA98s that you have hidden in the equipment room - all without ever revealing the processing muscle required to do it.
Say farewell to the patchbay. No longer do you have to put your glasses up on your forehead and squint at the faded handwriting on the label strips, grimace as the signal crackles intermittently due to corrosion or worn contacts; now you have a grid of what Studer calls "Sources" and "Targets". Just like on a map the Sources are in a line on the left side and the Targets line the bottom – just click the point at which they intersect and the connection is made. You can preset the connections into your "Configuration" or select them as your session progresses. The only need for patchcords is to get analog gear into the Core (Switchcraft had better find another line of work)
Construction is traditional Studer - elegant milled steel; a single computer manages the "snapshots" that instruct the "CORE": 19" racks that accept as many DSP cards as you have - if you run out of processing power, just go get more cards and stuff them in for more (literal) horsepower (the computer immediately recognizes them). The power supplies are the only fan-cooled devices, the rest of the gear runs about room temperature through exceptional engineering. This bodes well for longevity.
By utilizing MADI, cable runs between console, mic pres and "Core" are reduced to multiplexed fiber optics. The mic preamps are remote controlled, so they can live in the studio near the mics.
Let's start:
* 24-bit in and out; 40-bit (!) internal processing FUTURE PROOF
* Windows NT operating system
* Total automation of all functions - pans, eq's, aux sends, moving faders
* Wonderful sounding equalization (20Hz to 20kHz times 4), complete with useful graphic displays
* VSP - virtual surround panning Studer has recognized surround as the new frontier in audio and has invented a panning system that allows the performer to move about the screen and have the audio follow them in a believable fashion.
Historically, pan pots moved the audio left and right without paying attention to the actual position of the artist, if they turned their back to the audience there was no change in tonality; if they sang behind an instrumental solo the two competed for attention. Studer's new VSP is (simply) a diffusion program that allows tonal and spatial adjustments to follow the performer in a believable fashion. It is subtle and magical.
I can imagine other uses for it, too - generating environments around studio recordings to give them a distinct ambience that does not exist; also in transitions from studio to field or even room to room. Very sophisticated software that's easy to use.
* Color schemes on the LCD that reveal information about the files without cluttering the screen
* Up to 240ms delay available on each channel (!)
* Excellent phase/spectrum meter - bright, clear, flexible, prominent
* Talk IFB on each channel - you can communicate with anyone independently by addressing them on their input channel strip's IFB
* Global solo reset - no hunting for the solo that's mysteriously engaged somewhere on the board - just press the reset and they all go away.
* "Look forward" function - delays channels a specific amount, allowing analysis of incoming signals (gates/compressors/limiters will be more effective and less audible).
* Support will be there - the company can analyze the consoles from anywhere in the world over the Internet and make repairs remotely (!)
* Provides support for 27 speakers (!) including stereo, Pro Logic, 5.1, and 7.1 schemes
* On-board speaker control calibration (PEC-Direct)
* Moldable - can be configured to each individuals specifications
* Will remove 4A from being a boutique facility - any 4th floor operator can use it easily
* On/off and PFL/solo lights are extremely dim - studio lights will have to be lowered for operators to view status of these buttons. SERIOUS PROBLEM
* Incomplete eq section - I would call it semi- or quasi-parametric: some bands have only 2 frequencies available between them. NOTE: Studer promises to have more points available by summer '00
* Compressor/limiter attacks that begin with 200 microseconds and go up to 1 millisecond – way too short for most musical instruments.
* Compressor/limiter release times that jump from 500 milliseconds to 1 second – should be steps in between
* Flat top for near field speakers
* Durroughs 4-meter analog meters
* Center section which displays all parameters of a channel at once, complete with second controls - this allows the operator to adjust all parameters of any channel without leaving the sweet spot
Tank-solid steel yet elegant; immensely powerful; great-feeling; great-sounding; generous automation; luxurious features. Each channel has only 4 knobs - switches page down for many, many parameters. Displays are clear and easy to comprehend; graphic displays on the LCD screen augment the windows below each knob, deep processing is hidden behind simple combinations of buttons.
And that's all, folks. Run right out and buy this one. You'll make a mint and be the darling and the envy of your community for years to come.
WARNING: You may prefer death to working on an analog console again. It will make you want to cut your head off when you realize how easily you could solve each problem if you had your 950S.