Soundcraft Si Expression 1 - Professional Digital Console

Building on over a decade of digital audio mixing experience, the Soundcraft® Si Expression leverages the latest DSP, component, and manufacturing technologies to deliver the most powerful and cost-effective digital console we’ve ever created. Every console in the range is functionally identical, so your only choice is how many local faders and mic preamps you want. Ranging from the ultra-portable Expression 1 (19" rack-mountable) to the massive Si Expression 3 with its 30+2 faders and 32 mic/line inputs, there’s a model to suit every need.

The Si Expression 1 features 16 recallable mic preamps (24 on the Si Expression 2 and 32 on the Si Expression 3) plus 4 line inputs, 4 internal stereo effects returns, an AES input, and a 64x64 expansion slot, giving you more than enough headroom to use all 66 input channels of processing. Each input channel includes dedicated processing: high-pass filter, input delay, gate, compressor, and four-band EQ. To keep you under control, there’s a comprehensive automation system complemented by four mute groups and FaderGlow™ technology, which lights your way so you never lose your way.

All Si Expression consoles feature buses, output processing, and connectivity to match the versatility of their inputs; the 14 aux/group mixes can be configured as 14 mono, 8 mono + 6 stereo, or almost any combination in between, while the 4 matrix mixes can be mono or stereo as required. These buses and matrices are joined by four more mix buses dedicated to the internal Lexicon FX processors, plus Left, Right, and Center buses. Each mix bus includes a compressor, four-band EQ, BSS graphic EQ, and delay, all available at all times. Output connectivity is comprehensive, with all models featuring 16 balanced line outputs, a headphone monitor output, an AES output, and, of course, the 64x64 option slot.

To complement the channel and bus processing, all Si Expression consoles feature four stereo Lexicon effects processors, based on the MX400, offering a wide variety of sounds, user-adjustable parameters, and dedicated tap-tempo keys. As these are hardware-based effects, using them, even in the most demanding programs, doesn't affect the rest of the processing in any way; all dynamics, EQs, filters, delays, and GEQs remain available regardless of what you're doing.

Flexible onboard I/O and expansion options ensure your Si Expression integrates effortlessly with other system components, utilizing any of the Si Series ViSi Connect™ option cards, including MADI USB Combo, BSS Digital Audio Bus (BLU Link), Dante™, CAT5 or Optical MADI, AVIOM™, CobraNet™, and more. The MADI card, in addition to serving as an interface to multitrack recording systems or plugin systems such as the Soundcraft Realtime Rack™, allows users to connect the Si Expression to any of the Soundcraft or Studer stageboxes for expanded I/O possibilities and flexibility. Adding a stagebox to an Si Expression not only increases the number of available channels, but also the number of channels you can mix simultaneously! It's said that "power is nothing without control," and here the Si Expression excels with a comprehensive yet easy-to-use control surface, incorporating a dedicated control for each parameter, a row of global mode encoders, and a color touchscreen, ensuring quick and easy operation.

As you'd expect from any Soundcraft digital mixer, the features are extensive and include legendary audio quality courtesy of the latest-generation EMMA™ DSP processor—the same DSP platform that has propelled previous Soundcraft Si-series consoles to fame. All this power, combined with reliability, flexibility, and ease of use, puts the Si Expression in a class of its own.

Characteristics

• 16 (24 on Si Expression 2, 32 on Si Expression 3) mono microphone inputs
• 4 line inputs
• 66 inputs to mix
• 1 ViSi Connect™ option card slot for 64x64 digital I/O expansion
• Freely assignable faders and routing
• Pre/Post selection per input and per bus
• AES input and output
• Global mode encoders
• Soundcraft FaderGlow™
• GEQ on each bus
• 20 subgroup/aux buses
• 4 FX buses
• 8 Matriz buses
• LR and C mix buses
• 4 stereo Lexicon effects engines
• Delay in inputs and outputs
• 4 mute groups
• Freely assignable insert loops
• Integration with Harman HiQnet
• Color touchscreen interface

Highlights of the Si Expression 1

• Massive mixing capacity: 66 inputs to mix on a small form factor digital live sound console.

• 1 ViSi Connect™ option card slot for 64x64 digital I/O expansion, including MultiDigital Card (Firewire/USB/ADAT), BSS Digital Audio Bus (BLU Link), Dante™, CAT5 or optical MADI, AVIOM™, CobraNet™ and others.

• Assignable Fader Layers: Customize each of the four fader layers to suit your needs or add/insert faders to accommodate that extra microphone that wasn't in the routing list.

• 1 Control = 1 Function: With each control dedicated to a specific function, there are never any "layers" of controls or screen navigation; this allows the Si Performer's controls to be labeled on the surface just like on an analog mixer.

• TOTEM™ (The One Touch Easy Mix): By pressing a single key to mix to an AUX, FX or Matrix bus, the surface and monitoring are instantly reconfigured to allow immediate mixing to the chosen bus from the faders.

• Soundcraft FaderGlow™: Illuminates fader slots based on function, with clearly defined colors for FX, Stereo, Linked Mono, GEQ, Aux Post-Fader, Aux Pre-Fader—you’ll never be confused again!

• BSS® GEQ: With a BSS GEQ on each bus, you never need to allocate from a limited pool of resources and you'll never "run out" of processing.

• Security Lock: Lock the entire console or only selected items, manage security with user and profile settings.

• Personal Monitoring Interface: When used with the Si BLU link option card, the Si Performer is the perfect companion to the dbx PMC16 personal monitoring system, utilizing Cat5 cabling for simple setup.

• DOGS (Direct Out Gain Stabilizer): Prevents a manual change to a microphone's gain control from affecting the direct output levels, perfect when 2 consoles share a stagebox or when recording the channel's direct outputs.

• Global Mode Controls: A row of rotary controls above each fader can be assigned at the touch of a button to GAIN, PAN, or HPF on all inputs, allowing instant access to key functions.

• Copy & Paste: Copy entire channels, buses, mixes, Lexicon™ effects, a single part like the EQ, or multiple parts like the channel's gate and compressor.

• Instant Access Keys: Dedicated front-panel keys for STORE, RECALL, NEXT, MUTE 1-4, TAP TEMPO, and more, eliminating the need to delve into on-screen menus and context controls.

• Function Focus: Whenever a control is moved or the SELect button is pressed, the display shows information about the channel, indicating the absolute value of the controls, the channel name, its number, etc.

• Everything everywhere: Every channel and bus has a full set of processing, with no need to assign or configure anything.