| SD7 NEWS - March 08 | |
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ANOTHER FIRST FOR SOUND HIRE AS DEAL SEALED FOR DIGICO SD7 |
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After a five-year development period, which included countless discussions, technical debates and painstaking research by a dedicated, inspired team with open minds, not to mention a great deal of work with leading live sound engineers and hire companies, at PLASA last year DiGiCo once again showed the way ahead for live digital audio with the launch of its brand new SD7 ‘concept’ console. Since then, the concept has progressed so quickly that in less than six months it has become a reality and the company is now proud to announce that the first production SD7 has been sold - to the same company that bought the very first DiGiCo console of all. Surrey-based Sound Hire saw the DiGiCo D5 on its launch at PLASA in 2002 and, as the company’s Richard Indeed, the company was aware of the D5 before its launch, as DiGiCo had sought the input of leading live sound engineers and hire companies regarding what they felt a cutting edge, live digital console needed - a highly successful policy which continues to this day. And, with further DiGiCo consoles subsequently added to its inventory, Sound Hire has stayed with the company ever since. “As well as having remarkable power and flexibility in a much smaller overall package than other digital consoles, the D5’s user interface has everything you could want to go seamlessly through the transition from analogue to digital,” says Richard. “Of course it’s familiar now, but six years ago it was really groundbreaking. And I believe that the SD7 is a similarly major evolution in live sound.” The heart of that evolution - indeed revolution - is DiGiCo’s exclusive all-new Stealth digital processing® mixing and routing engine. Based on the latest incarnation of Field Programmable Gate Array technology, known as Super FPGA, it is a core component of the SD7’s quantum leap in console design. And with three of the latest generation Tiger SHARCs’® effects and control processors on board, the SD7 has a staggering eight times the overall processing power of a D5 Live. With 256 Processing Paths at 96kHz, or 128 at 192kHz, connected via 448 simultaneous optical and 224 MADI connections, + 48 integrated I/Os with 128 busses plus 32 matrix busses and 32 x 32 band Graphic Equalisers, the SD7 offers virtually limitless flexibility to build the biggest and most complex shows. Remarkably, it packs all this power into just four chips, giving dramatically increased efficiency, while the freed space has allowed two complete engines to be accommodated in the worksurface itself. In addition, the open platform design permits third party licensees to develop plug-in effects to complement the built in library of studio quality effects. All of these advances (and more) that the SD7 offers meant that Sound Hire was more than happy to score another ‘first’ with DiGiCo. “Knowing the pedigree of the company and the people they are, I had no doubt that the quality and innovation of the SD7 would be superb,” says Richard Liénard. “They’ve built on the success of the D5 and provided many more facilities but, at the same time, not gone totally away from it. It will be really straightforward for existing DiGiCo users to learn the SD7. It’s more user-friendly than any other digital console and is also more straightforward for two engineers to use, if required.” He continues, “We now have complete redundancy with two onboard engines, which is a big leap forward, and with the extra power under the bonnet there is huge potential for future upgrades. That’s very important when you’re buying a really top class product like the SD7, because it’s a major investment and the upgrade path ensures its ‘earning life’ will be as long as possible.” “As they demonstrated with the D5 upgrades, we can say ‘It would be nice if the console did this’ and it can be changed to achieve that. It says a lot about DiGiCo as a company and the way they listen to their users.” As well as being designed with future upgrades in mind, a major advantage offered by DiGiCo is that the SD7 is seamlessly compatible with existing products. The arrival of the SD7 does not render DiGiCo’s D series unwanted or obsolete. As communication between the company’s consoles is via Opticore and MADI, the SD7 seamlessly integrates into any existing DiGiCo system, whatever the application - be it performing, FOH, monitors, recording or live to air - giving the DiGiCo product line a definite competitive edge. Although tours will no doubt be queuing up to use the SD7, Richard sensibly doesn’t want to rush it straight out of Sound Hire’s door. “We need to evaluate it thoroughly and are very happy to do that,” he says. “Before it goes out on shows we’ll be giving feedback to DiGiCo from having it here.” However, the SD7 is no stranger to the concert hall. It has already been out as the orchestra console on the stage production of Jeff Wayne’s War Of The Worlds. However, one suspects that Richard is really looking forward to getting up close and personal with the desk. “After 30 years in the industry, it’s rare to get excited about equipment,” he says. “But I will be excited about the SD7 for quite a while yet. Not only is it incredibly powerful, flexible and sounds superb, but it looks great. “You look at it and go ‘Yes! It’s pretty obvious what everything does, it’s laid out exactly as it should be and I can mix a show just like that.’ But then you realise that you can get to know it better and an almost limitless amount of power is at your fingertips. It’s an all-round winner.” Richard concludes, “DiGiCo is a great company, they’re nice people and extremely good at what they do. The best part of it is that we feel like we’re working with them, rather than being ‘just a customer’. As a hire company, we know what sound engineers need from a digital console and they won’t have to know what’s ‘under the bonnet’ to harness the SD7’s power. But, if they do, their lives will get very interesting indeed.”
Press Contacts: Sarah James at Gasoline Media
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