SSL X-Patch Insert Hardware Like Plug-ins

[work2do]

Software-controlled hardware processing integration. Inserts hardware processors into production workflow just like plug-ins

• Browser software controls routing and set up
• Ethernet connection to Mac or PC host computer
• Two different router operating modes
• 16 x 16 pure analogue routing matrix
• Rear panel audio connection via 4 x 25 way D-Sub’s
• Front Panel Combi XLR inputs and XLR outputs
for channels 1 & 2
• SSL SuperAnalogue™ truly transparent audio
performance
• MIDI connectivity enables use of Programmable
Foot controllers
• +4dB and -10dB operating levels facilitate use of
guitar pedals etc.

[farhadkd]

This is indeed wonderful if they price it right!!! thumbsup

[LeeStoker]

Cool Kinda like Cubendo does now? Which is why I love me some Cubase.

[matt thomas]

Originally Posted by LeeStoker

Cool Kinda like Cubendo does now? Which is why I love me some Cubase.

well no, cos this is all analog.

Does this mean it only works for 8 channels, abd 8 peices of outboard (depending on configuration)? I mean you need to get the channels in and out of it, plus the ins and outs of the outboard, so the 16 ins and outs of the unit get used twice as fast as you might think.

But the one inbuilt in the matrix is effective for 16 pieces of outboard?

or am I misunderstanding?

matt

[tsvisser]

Looks pretty good. Bases are pretty well covered with control via IP and MIDI, but it would have been nice to see RS232 or 485 too. The IP control, is it only web based, or can you send it switching commands via a simple
telnet or telnet like socket?

[delcosmos]

Finally!

I asked for this 2 years ago at an SSL dinner in San Francisco, thank you SSL... I LOVE YOU!

delcosmos.

[SonOfSteven]

Very Cool, More convenient than plugging and unpluging cables on my patchbay to route my gear.

[jamwerks]

Mega cool !!

Wouldn't it now be nice to patch in recallable outboard (cough, cough, X Logic racks), like plugin's from the DAW.

[jamwerks]

And I could also see SSL passing on the X-Logic modules and recall rack.

Just do a 3 space version of X-Patch that contains 8 Channels of SSL analoge comps and EQ! No need for costly knobs on the unit, all controled, patched in, and recalled via the software controler. Kind of like having a modular SSL board, 8 channels at a time.

Then do an open format allowing other manufactures (alla 500 series) to build recallable modules.

Now back to your regularily scheduled program...

[Whitecat]

Absolutely 100% sold on this if it works even roughly as advertised. What a great idea.

[dreamteampro]

Outstanding!

Combine it with a few chosen pieces of outboard,X-desk for DAW summing,Hi-end converters,new Lexicon PCM Native Bundle,add Duende's,UAD's,and you got yourself one helluva desktop studio...

[B-San]

Oh man oh man ... this sounds good!!

[spicemix]

Originally Posted by matt thomas

well no, cos this is all analog.

Does this mean it only works for 8 channels, abd 8 peices of outboard (depending on configuration)? I mean you need to get the channels in and out of it, plus the ins and outs of the outboard, so the 16 ins and outs of the unit get used twice as fast as you might think.

But the one inbuilt in the matrix is effective for 16 pieces of outboard?

or am I misunderstanding?

matt

Right if you want to run your converters in and out on either side then you will need two chassis for 16 channels. You can have up to six chassis per control software. But if you are willing to hook your converters directly to some gear (that will always be at the start or end of a chain) then you can get more out of one chassis, at some cost of flexibility.

I wonder if they will merge this with alphalink conversion and let you have MADI in, MADI out, and all your dynamic patch points analog between them. It would save you cable swaps or conversion generations and give you faster recall.

I just have everything normalled to hardware inserts (i.e. standard DAC and ADC channels on either end of one or two unit chains) and don't need these units particularly although it is a nice idea. Poor studio assistants out of another task!

[TheSweetener]

I'll just repeat my post from the matrix thread. Seems to be the better place.

Are there any plans for a closer integration in the SSL mixer (in MX4 or Mixpander)?
This product just screams for MX4/MP integration!
Otherwise you force people to save your DAW project + the SSL mixer file + another one for the routing, which would be lame of course.

[TheSweetener]

.....and!

Is the routing / recall software stand alone only?
Or can you load the complete X-patch setup as a dummy VST plugin in your DAW?

I'm just trying to avoid loading several files to recall a project!

As we say in German "knapp vorbei ist auch daneben" without DAW (and SSL mixer) integration, this product is just half as powerful!

[DONNX]

So will this replace the traditional patch bay?

[matt thomas]

Originally Posted by DONNX

So will this replace the traditional patch bay?

If you have a very small traditional patchbay. I LOVE the idea of this, but it sounds far too small to be useful, unless there is some way of hooking up more than one.

I too spoke to SSL about it a while ago (I'm sure many people did), and my suggestion was that it had a minimum of double as many inserts, as well as a way to hook multiple units together so that you can insert any piece of outboard to any channel. (obviously this second request is not an easy one)

I'm still considering the matrix console if there was a matrix with 24 or even 32 channels I would take it I was hoping this new unit would matrix-ise the 900, but it does not seem to be that..

matt

[hisbluness]

It sounds interesting, but how is this better than the status quo of, lets say, cubase?

You can hook up your hardware to your interface ins/out and label each input/output and use them as inserts on each channel as you like. Using latency compensation this works pretty flawlessly. I can hook up as much hardware as I want (only limited by my interface I/O).

How is this better? Maybe Im missing the main point....

Educate me

[TheSweetener]

Originally Posted by hisbluness

It sounds interesting, but how is this better than the status quo of, lets say, cubase?

You can hook up your hardware to your interface ins/out and label each input/output and use them as inserts on each channel as you like. Using latency compensation this works pretty flawlessly. I can hook up as much hardware as I want (only limited by my interface I/O).

How is this better? Maybe Im missing the main point....

Educate me

In Cubase you can't built a chain of different hardware units with the push of a button. All the analog patching has still to be done on some sort of patchbay.

Also X-Patch can be used for recording chains (including mic pres) which is a lot more than Cubendos External Effects.

[hisbluness]

Ah you got me there. Right, I forgot about chaining units. And I wasnt thinking of using it in a recording environment.

I see, I see. Then its indeed interesting

thanks

[delcosmos]

Originally Posted by matt thomas

If you have a very small traditional patchbay. I LOVE the idea of this, but it sounds far too small to be useful, unless there is some way of hooking up more than one.

I too spoke to SSL about it a while ago (I'm sure many people did), and my suggestion was that it had a minimum of double as many inserts, as well as a way to hook multiple units together so that you can insert any piece of outboard to any channel. (obviously this second request is not an easy one)

I'm still considering the matrix console if there was a matrix with 24 or even 32 channels I would take it I was hoping this new unit would matrix-ise the 900, but it does not seem to be that..

matt

What I asked, (and I'm sure a lot of people too), was that I felt unfair that a $21k dls matrix had this system and a Duality console doesn't, so I remember then in San Francisco 2 years ago, there was like 50 or 60 Duality and AWS owners in that dinner, and the SSL designers and executives allowed us to make petitions and wish lists, mine was this, an automated patch bay for our Dualitys.

The system can handle 6 patchbays together, that's what I pretend to get for my mix rig.

Best regards.

delcosmos.

[matt thomas]

Originally Posted by hisbluness

Ah you got me there. Right, I forgot about chaining units. And I wasnt thinking of using it in a recording environment.

I see, I see. Then its indeed interesting

thanks

I was thinking it would be more used in analog mixing, for inserting outboard into the path of an analog mixer

Basically anywhere you would use a traditional patchbay

matt

[hisbluness]

I had mixing in mind too, but not analog

As someone already stated, this might be fun when used in a DAW environment, as long as the delay compensation will work (more a matter of how the host will handle this, I guess). If its originally intended to help Duality owners I really doubt that it will be in the budget of a DAW based studio, but we will see.

[jamwerks]

It would be interesting to see what a generic connection scheme for one X-Patch might be.
If I understand correctly, this is 16 in & 16 out. So 8 i/o to the converters & 8 i/o to FX (8 mono comps, or 4 stereo bus comps for example)?

Cascading 2 units wouldn't seem to be functional. So an X-Patch 32 might be in the makings.

Let's hope that the pricing doesn't suddenly make it seem less interesting !!

[salomonander]

...now if this thing could also split signals...

[The MPCist]

Great product! Can't wait to try it out.

I also second having an ability to split signals if that is possible...

[TheSweetener]

ooops. I though it was 16 in/out + 16 insert points like on a console.

[spicemix]

Originally Posted by TheSweetener

In Cubase you can't built a chain of different hardware units with the push of a button. All the analog patching has still to be done on some sort of patchbay.

If you are willing to have multiple generations of conversion, along with the latency increase that entails, you can go ahead and have multiple hardware inserts (at least in Logic) in a row at the click of a button (load a channel strip configuration with the proper i/o plugins). This would let you chain multiple items flexibly out in the analog domain where there is no latency or conversion generation.

Conversion is getting so good that 5 generations are hard to distinguish from one when gain structure is proper...and we don't know what the underlying switching mechanism is for the X-Patch. If it's sealed gold relays (very expensive, and you will be able to tell from the clicking noise) then the sound will be perfect, but my memory of the Matrix is that it's some sort of FET thing that does introduce some signal degradation. Which could be a wash with converter generations in practice...

Being able to mult is critical to me for tracking as I cue analog...if it can mult, then a 96 point version of these would replace my manual system certainly...though I would have to hear what the mechanism does to the sound. My 192 point manual system cost $250 and is sonically transparent.

[jindrich]

A patchbay is such a simple and yet complex thing. It allows to connect all sort of devices in almost infinite ways, as long as one has enough patchcords.

But lets remember a studio patchbay has A LOT of points. For instance, just to connect the insert points from a 24chm mixer to, say, 16 pieces of outboard, no less than 80 patch points are needed.


The X-Patch will surely be a great product, but it only connects 16 sources to 16 destinations. That will cover for instance the inserts of a 8ch mixer (like the X-Desk) with 8 outboard devices. Or with two X-Patch units, you could connect a 16 ch mixer (its insert points) to 16 devices, but you won't be able to put any of those devices into the same chain (say insert send>comp>eq>insert return). To do such a thing, or to connect 24 insert points to 16 devices, you'll need a bunch of cascaded X-Patches, and the routing would be a total mess.

Therefore I fail to see the point of the X-Patch with just 16+16 points. Home studios (which have fewer things) won't be that interested in them, and for bigger setups it doesn't have enough points. A 32+32 (essentially what the Matrix has, because it connects 16 devices to 16 insert points) would have certainly been more expensive, but much more functional in the end, and would have made easier to cascade between units.

I've been drawing some diagrams this afternoon, and I couldnt find a way to connect 24 insert points with 24 outboard devices other than using ...SIX of the X-Patches, so that any of the 24 chs of a mixer could access any of the 24 outboard pieces. And that's all straight, without even allowing chains among those 24 devices (like a comp into an EQ). You'd need NINE X-Patches for that.

I don't know what to think, maybe there's something I havent considered or done properly...

[DSpec1]

This appears to be perfect for my project studio!!

My worry is the pricing.