Softube Console 1 MkII

The controller is a reassuringly hefty metal
wedge, roughly the size of an old-school
QWERTY keyboard and studded with labelled
rotaries and buttons that automatically map
to the parameters of the three loaded modules,
as well as LEDs indicating every knob position
and button selection, and ‘approximate’ LED
ladder meters for input/output levels and
Shape/Compressor gain changes.
1 of a kind
The Console 1 worklow goes like this: load the
plugin onto every track, auxiliary and bus in
your DAW to build a virtual mixing console – a
full 4000 E, a hybrid 4000/9000, or whatever
you like and can aford; hop between channels
with the 20 Select Track buttons (Page buttons
shift up and down in banks of 20) to take control
of their channel strips; and use the controller’s
Volume and Pan knobs, and Mute and Solo
buttons to govern basic mix functions via the
plugins rather than your DAW’s mixer. The idea,
ultimately, is to leave your DAW mixer set at its
defaults and mix entirely via the controller.
Visualisation of the speciic parameters for
the selected channel strip and its modules is
handled by the pop-up On-Screen Display (OSD),
which mirrors the hardware layout but names
each knob to exactly match its assigned module
control, and provides more accurate metering
than the LEDs and a spectral analyser in the EQ
section. Being so big (although it can be shrunk
down to just a meter bridge) and taking
precedence over all other windows, the OSD is
ideally positioned on a second monitor. Hitting
the Display On/Of button to open and close it
soon becomes second nature for those not
so-equipped, however.
While all major DAWs are able to send track
names to the OSD, so you always know which
mixer channel you’re working on, only two of
them – Cakewalk Sonar and PreSonus Studio
One – feature full “Integrated DAW Control”,
communicating track selection to and from the
hardware, as opposed to keeping DAW and
Console 1 track selection completely separate.
More importantly, they also send Pan, Send
(using Shift to modify the Drive, Character and
Pan knobs), Mute and Solo control data directly
to the DAW’s mixer rather than the Console 1
plugin. This might seem like a small thing, but
in use, it noticeably enhances the worklow,
making the connection between Console 1 and
those two DAWs feel more symbiotic than it does
with all others. Support for Integrated DAW
Control is down to DAW developers (several of
whom are working on it, we’re told), so while
the lack of it for most deinitely stings, we can’t
blame Softube.
Take control
Console 1 is every bit as powerful and brilliantly
realised as we reported in our original review,
genuinely enabling full mixing capability in
software without mouse input, using a knock-
out library of components and strips. Of course,
the spell is temporarily broken whenever you
need to adjust a non-Console 1 plugin – a
frequent occurrence in most projects, naturally
– but there’s no way around that.
We loved Console 1 last time we looked at it,
and with a £280 price drop, that ever-expanding
library and awesome UAD integration, we love it
even more now. Even if you never add to the
base SL4000E strip that comes with it, it’s worth
every penny, combining superb sound with a
thrilling hands-on worklow, and being much
easier to use than you probably think.
Web www.softube.com
Verdict
For Much better price
Stunning SSL 4000E channel strip
UAD integration
Excellent build quality
Bus-powered
Against Doesn’t ofer full
communication with every DAW
Limited UAD parameters in some cases
The refreshed Console 1 comes in at
a great price, still sounds magniicent
and works beautifully, and adds tightly
integrated support for UAD plugins
9/10
Alternatively
Mackie Control Universal Pro
122 » 9/10 » £999
Take total control of your DAW
with this veteran controller
UA SSL 4000 E Channel Strip
224 » 8/10 » £229
Excellent E Series
emulation for UAD systems
Console 1 (MkI and II) now supports
UAD plugins, but not in the way you
might be thinking. No, sadly, It hasn’t
become the irst third-party option for
hosting Universal Audio’s fabulous
DSP-powered emulations; rather, it’s
now capable of loading a fair few of
them into the Shape, Equalizer and
Compressor sections, assuming you
have the means to run them in the irst
place – ie, a UAD or Apollo system.
Console 1 support needs to be
designed into UAD plugins, so the list
isn’t totally comprehensive as yet, but
there’s already a lot in there, including
Pultec, Harrison and API EQs, and
Fairchild and Teletronix compressors.
There are no full channel strips, though,
primarily – we assume – because most
of the plugins that could be rolled into
full strips lack a suitable candidate for
the Shape section.
The number of accessible parameters
is limited by the number of rotaries on
the controller, so decisions have been
made as to what you can use; and with
no way to load the full plugin GUIs, you
can’t even get at the unsupported
controls with your mouse. The EQ curve
doesn’t appear for UAD plugins, either.
None of this, however, detracts too much
from the intoxicating coolness of being
able to build, save and operate custom
UAD/Softube channel strips.
Universal appeal
The On-Screen Display shows the loaded strip’s parameters,
positionally matched to the hardware’s physical controls
Three UAD plugin modules running in Console 1. In this case, all their parameters are available
“Even if you never add
to the base SL4000E
strip that comes with it,
it’s worth every penny”
September 2017 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 89
softube console 1 mkii / reviews <
CMU246.rev_console1mkII.indd 89 6/27/17 3:19 PM