I'm experience pro who has worked in the industry for over 30 years.

Huh.

Anyway I would never consider buying digital today for some idea in the future. You wait to buy digital until the last second as it is always becoming obsolete and worthless. The MX4 is nowhere near ready for primetime anyway. If you needed its features, you'd buy PTHD instead, and very few shops need PTHD that don't already have it.

My summing mixer is coming in the next 30 days or so. So the future for me is not years away. I think your advice on waiting on the MX4 is a good idea.

Best,
Jamie

The 64 i/o per madi connection goes down to 32 i/o if you go sample rate x2 (which I do). So I can handle 32 i/o at the moment (actually 28: 24x alpha link and 4x behringer ada8k) and I could see that being not enough in the future. I mix more and more OTB and use my DAW as a real-time FX machine as well.

On a simple Q6600 I am able to run my mix + a couple UAD EMT250's, Plate140's and delays at the lowest latency (64 buffersize which gives zero point something input latency and 2 point something output latency + whatever the uad adds which I find negligable). I only expect computers to get more performant in the future and plugins to get more realistic...


I could get used to having 32 tracks i/o + 8-16 FX sends/returns.



Herwig

Well if Avid is unable or unwilling to deliver a decent Pro Tools value next year and nothing better comes along I'd certainly consider buying the Alphalink SX with the XTreme 64 and ditching all my ADAT-based stuff. I have never worked with that package but I've heard good things about it. It certainly seems like the best value going right now in card-based i/o and conversion, and the MADI standard, one hopes, will give it a long lifespan.

Its cool to be able to track with comps and eqs with no latency. Its also cool to be able to set up a totally modular mixer to implement whatever hardware you have. Its also cool to be able to use delay compensation in programs that dont have that.

I love my MX4. Id only like more plugins.

Do any plugs come with the MX4?

Also do you happen to know the Latency between it and the Xtreme 128?

Thanks
Jamie

Found the plugs it comes with!

SSL Channel EQ plug-in - 4 band parametric EQ with E & G Series console characteristics
SSL Channel Dynamics plug-in – the perfect transparent Compressor & Gate/Expander
Stereo Bus Compressor plug-in – the legendary G Series Stereo Bus Compressor
VST2.0 plug-in architecture supports a vast range of third party plug-ins
Includes the SSL Soundscape Audio Toolbox plug-in bundle with; 4 Band Parametric EQ, Filter, Dynamics, Chorus/Flange, MS Decoder & Dither
Support for SSL Soundscape DSP format plug-ins

Say... the MX4 is the ONLY card that comes with the SSL Console correct?

Tom from SSL said "MX4 is a Madi Xtreme with an SSL Console inside."

Jamie

Mixpander has the same Mixer! Even Mixtreme has!

Hello !!
I saw on the Sydec forum that new SSL Editor V6 could be released in February...
SSL/Sydec are working hard on this new Editor, I'm curious about what are gonna be news features... New Plugs too ?

Paul

Interesting news. I hope we get more plugins!

It seems that SSL had already posponed twice the release of this new Editor...
I hope too that new plugs will come and new features, new look...
A MODERN Editor, but still as solid as the actual one
Three years using it with OTB mixing, just as a Tape, it works like a charm with 32 in and 32 out...

Paul, from south of France

Hey there. Sometimes when starting the SSL mixer, I get an error-message:

"MX4/Mixpander unit 1 (SSMAD0) can not be opened!
(The device is not ready. (21))"

This happens very randomly, and until it "fixes itself" I am not able to open the SSL mixer, and then I cant use my other DAWs at all, altough playing music in winamp etc works fine without the SSL mixer open.

Anybody have a tip? Ive allready contacted SSL but they are slow...

Don't hold your breath.

DW

I've got this often as well. No idea what it is. I have 2 shortcuts for the mixer software. If shortcut one does not work then shortcut 2 will or vise-versa. Bug.

DW

Weird, now it suddenly works again. Never know when it will jump out again tough...

I dont know about you, but I would not spend 8k+ on a PT HD system seconds until it becomes obsolete, as PT HD is quickly becoming obsolete now.

Tom,

I think alot of us would like to see a multi-platform flagship SSL DAW, native/non-native, (excluding soundscape) that just beats the hell out of everything available on the market today.