Solid State Logic

Solid State Logic’s large format consoles are
found in most high-end mixing and post
production facilities the world over, and they’re
considered by many to be about the best that
money can buy – although you should note that
you’ll need an awful lot of the stuf if you want to
buy one for your own studio! Those of us with
more modest budgets tend to settle for
recording and mixing in the box, and really, with
modern computing power and circuit-modelled
instruments and plugins, that’s not such a bad
thing sonically.
What it lacks, though, is the hands-on
element, and while high resolution graphic user
interfaces are all well and good, compared to
working on a large format console, poking at
faders and knobs one-at-a-time with your mouse
is a bit like trying to paint your hallway through
your letterbox! DAW controllers are a great way
to bridge this gap, and with their new UF8, SSL
are aiming to bring a slice of their peerless
expertise and enviable cachet to this particular
area of studio technology.
The UF8 is a mid-sized controller, with a
similar footprint to a large laptop. This allows for
a comfortable, uncluttered layout, with plenty of
space given to each of the unit’s eight channel
strips, which include 100mm touch-sensitive
motorised faders, a continuous rotary controller,
Solid State Logic
UF8 £1199
DAW controllers let us take direct control over our projects – can SSL’s
new UF8 bridge the gap between software and hardware?
“Poking at knobs
with your mouse is a
bit like trying to paint
your hallway through
your letterbox”
FADER S
8x super-smooth
100mm touch sensitive
motorised faders
ROTARY
ENCODERS
Parameter name
and value being
controlled on display
CHANNEL
NAVIGATION
Quickly select send/
plugin slots, and
step between pages
of parameters
DISPLAYS
Per-channel high resolution
colour displays provide
detailed visual feedback
CHANNEL SELECTION
Select which tracks are
under fader control,
per-channel or bank
DAW
NAVIGATION
Zoom around with
these buttons
SOFT KEYS
Assign functions to
Soft Keys, with labels
shown on displays
360°
Open and close the SSL 360°
application directly from UF8
SOFT
KEY MODES
One preset and
five user-
definable banks
of Soft Key
assignments
FLIP
Swap the functionality
of faders and
rotary encoders
LAYERS
Configurations are arranged into
layers, which can be switched here
and a high resolution LCD display panel. At a
height of less than 5cm, UF8 is surprisingly
svelte too, and this slimness is enhanced by the
top surface having no raised or angled sections.
If you do want to angle the unit towards you, SSL
have included a pair of clever stands that can be
attached to the underside of the unit in a
number of diferent conigurations so that you
can achieve the desired angle. Alternatively, an
optional kit allows the UF8 to be secured in a
rack, where it occupies 6u of space.
The unit connects to the host computer via
USB2 served from a USBC socket, and there’s
also a secondary USBA socket intended
primarily for daisy-chaining additional UF8s (up
to four can be connected to a single computer),
but you can use this just like any other USB port
on your computer. These USB sockets, along
with the DC power inlet and two footswitch
jacks, are located on a recessed section of the
rear panel. This keeps the connectors nicely
72 / COMPUTER MUSIC / July 2021
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