The blue input stage and routing screen allows adjustment of mic gain and phantom power, digital trim, high and low-pass filter frequencies and channel delay time. In addition, channel patching, channel naming and stereo pairing are also set up from within this section, using push-button activation of submenus (not shown) which temporarily open on the upper touchscreen.

The four-band fully parametric EQ is graphically displayed with the settings for boost/cut, frequency and Q (bandwidth), with the main screen showing the composite EQ curve. Frequency is displayed in a similar style to a radio tuner scale for easy assimilation, and the HF and LF bands can be switched to shelving EQ. A separate BSS Dynamic EQ section is available via the insert point function.

The green dynamics section contains a Gate with attack, hold and release and sidechain filtering, plus external key facility. The Gate can be replaced with a De-Esser function or can be converted to an externally triggered ducker. The gate open-hold-closed status is shown within the Dynamics block in the upper section of the channel strip. On the bottom row of controls, the full-function Compressor maps gain reduction metering onto the LED meter in the fader area, as well as showing a clear indication of amount of compression set in the graph display in the channel strip above. A separate hard Limiter section is also provided for taming unwanted peaks.

Two areas of the channel strip allow access to 24 or 32 bus send controls (depending on console model), arranged in two pages of 16. The Vi allows the free assignment of each of the busses as an Aux, Group, or Matrix bus, in mono or stereo format. Depending on the type of bus configured, the send controls seen here will be either orange Aux bus sends or Green subgroup routing buttons. In this example, the first 16 busses are all configured as Aux sends. A global shift button (not shown) allows each send to be switched between a variety of pre-fade signal points. As the controls are changed, a summary of the 16 send levels is shown in the Bus sends section of the channel strip above.

The Vi’s freely assignable bus configuration allows each bus to be set up as Aux, Group or Matrix. Here busses 17-24 are set as Group busses, and 25-32 as Matrix. Sends to Matrix busses from channels are empty in this section because these are controlled from the Vi’s matrix mixer section.

The final yellow section of the channel strip controls the Pan, Insert and Direct out functions, with assignments to LR and C master busses. The assignable Insert Point and Direct Output can both be moved to different places within the signal path and a submenu (not shown, but accessed via the ‘+’ button) allows a choice of internal Lexicon FX, BSS DPR901ii™ Dynamic EQ or any external device via the console’s patch system, including Plug-Ins from a Soundcraft® Realtime Rack.

The Vi’s built-in dialogue automixing function, vMIX, can also be assigned from this screen, with up to 16 inputs per automix group.

The BSS DPR901ii was an industry-standard analogue dynamic equaliser used the world over for its capability as a powerful tool for awkward corrective tasks. Whilst this unit has been imitated by many of our competitors, Soundcraft Vi consoles are the only ones to include the official digitally-modelled version of the original BSS unit. The equaliser features 4 parametric bands, with compression/expansion controls and adjustable threshold per band. The crucial above/below threshold mode is included as well as the same threshold and processing signal metering found on the original unit.

All Vi consoles contain either 4 or 8 (according to console model) independent stereo Lexicon multi-FX processors, each providing 14 reverbs, 7 delays and 8 pitch shifting effects. Each unit is assignable to inputs, busses or inserts, and when patched, appears clearly as an additional blue icon in the touchscreen channel or bus strip.

These processors exhibit the world-class reverb clarity and depth that Lexicon is renowned for, and the Vi’s icon-based Vistonics control panels makes editing and tweaking the effects fast and intuitive.