Soundcraft Si Expression 2 - Professional Digital Console

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

The Si Expression 2 features 24 recallable mic preamps (16 on the Si Expression 1 and 32 on the Si Expression 3), plus 4 line inputs, 4 internal stereo effects returns, AES input, and a 64x64 expansion slot that provides more than enough capacity to use each of the 66 input channels with processing. Each input channel has dedicated processing: high-pass filter, input delay, gate, compressor, and four-band EQ. All of this is kept under control thanks to a comprehensive automation system complemented by four mute groups and FaderGlow™, so you’ll never get lost.

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 virtually any configuration in between, while the 4 matrix mixes can be mono or stereo as needed. These buses and matrices are complemented by four additional buses dedicated to the internal Lexicon FX processors, in addition to the Left, Right, and Center buses. Each mix bus features a compressor, 4-band EQ, BSS graphic EQ, and delay, always available. Output connectivity is extensive: all models feature 16 balanced line outputs, a headphone monitor output, AES output, and, of course, the 64x64 option slot.

To complement the channel and bus processing, all Si Expression consoles feature four Lexicon MX400-based stereo effects processors, 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, EQ, filters, delays, and GEQs remain available no matter what you do.

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 Soundcraft or Studer stagebox for expanded I/O power and flexibility. Adding a stagebox to an Si Expression actually increases the number of channels you can mix simultaneously, not just the number of available inputs. 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 boast legendary audio quality thanks to 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

• 24 (16 on Si Expression 1, 32 on Si Expression 3) mono microphone inputs
• 4 line inputs
• 66 inputs to mix
• 1 ViSi Connect™ option card slot for 64x64 I/O expansion
• Freely assignable faders and routes
• Pre/Post selection per input and per bus
• AES input and output
• Global mode encoders
• Soundcraft FaderGlow™
• GEQ on each bus
• 20 subgroups / auxiliary 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

Si Expression 2 Highlights

• Massive mixing capacity – 66 inputs to mix on a small-format 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 layer pages to suit your needs, or add/insert faders to accommodate an additional microphone not listed in the routing.

• 1 Control = 1 Function: With each control dedicated to a specific function, you'll never have to "stack" controls or navigate between screens. This allows you to label the Si Performer's controls on the surface just like you would on an analog console.

• TOTEM™ (The One Touch Easy Mix): Press a single key to mix to an AUX, FX, or Matrix bus; the surface and monitoring instantly reconfigure to allow mixing to the selected bus from the faders.

• Soundcraft FaderGlow™: Illuminates fader slots based on their function, with clearly defined colors for FX, Stereo, Linked Mono, GEQ, Aux Postfader, Aux Prefader—you’ll never get lost 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 just certain elements, 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 the microphone gain control from affecting the direct output levels, perfect when 2 consoles share a stagebox or when recording channel direct outputs.

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

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

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

• Function Focus: When a control is moved or the SELect key is pressed, the display shows information about the channel, identifying the absolute value of the controls, the channel name, number, etc.

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