User Manual

SiX User Guide
Small is beautiful...
SiX may be small, but it is very serious. What follows are some of the key elements that make it a professional product for the
highest quality audio applications.
Fully balanced inputs and outputs
All of SiX’s inputs and outputs are fully balanced (with the exception of the Phones output). This means professional equipment
with balanced connections can be properly interfaced allowing longer cable lengths without noise/hum pick-up penalties and the
best signal to noise performance from the whole signal chain.
Short is beautiful…
To provide the purest audio signal paths, SiX has several features not normally found on small footprint mixing consoles e.g. the
channel processing is switched, allowing it to be removed from the signal path if it’s not being used. Also, the Insert Sends are
always active, meaning that the purest path from Mic Pre to DAW is achieved by using the Insert Send as a direct channel output,
with the Dynamics and EQ switched out of circuit. This is one example of how SiX’s versatile signal ow can be used. It’s denitely
worth taking some time to understand the SiX block diagram and reading the examples later in this manual. We hope you’ll really
unlock the versatility of the console when discovering the many signal paths that are available and the multiple ways they can be
used.
Meter scales and response
The upper LED meter points on SiX’s main meters have been carefully chosen. The console is designed with a huge +27 dBu
headroom and the meters have dened segments for +24 dBu and +18 dBu, this is to match the two most common 0 dB Full Scale
(dBFS) alignment standards, i.e. European/EBU at 0 dBFS=+18 dBu and the US/SMPTE standard at 0 dBFS=+24 dBu ensuring
optimum performance for converters and proper gain structure throughout the signal chain. The meters in SiX have been designed
with a fast ‘peak’ response (rise time to 60% Full Scale Deection approx 1 ms @ 1 kHz) and a slower release time to give the ability
to meter fast peaks while still being able to show useful signal levels.
Power and power management
You will have noticed that SiX is powered by an external power supply with a locking connector. This signicantly helps the design
and performance of SiX. It moves the power supply's electromagnetic interference away from the SuperAnalogue circuits inside
SiX. This allows us to design the internal electronics to have a bandwidth as wide as possible and thus deliver the great phase
and transient response SSL large format console users have come to expect in a very small footprint package. Another thoughtful
design feature for an analogue console is how the power rails are ramped on power-up to minimise thumps on monitor and
headphone outputs.