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I wonder why this forum isn't full of complaints about this or does this happen to no one else?!
 SLSeriesIII 24: Imagine an ordinary live mix with 16 channels going to the MAIN MIX. All 16 faders are at 0 dB. Press the mix button 'FX A', where in this very moment 4 faders (for example channels 8 to 11) are at -6dB sending signal to the first FX engine. Now you have to pull these four faders down to -inf, because the following section needs to be drier. You use 4 fingers of your right hand to pull the faders down and because you need to be quick, you use your left hand shortly after to switch back to the MAIN MIX and do another edit. Unfortunately when you press MAIN MIX, your right hand was still on faders 8 to 11...  What happens next is that your faders 8 to 11 (that are supposed to be and of course remain at 0dB in the MAIN MIX) stay at their -inf-position because the faders didn't move up again. Now imagine that you don't immediately realize your mistake and on one of those faders is the lead vocal...  This also "works" the other way around: Have your fingers at the 0dB faders (from MAIN MIX) and switch to a monitor mix (e.g. AUX 1) that originally only had just one fader up a tiny bit. You are now blasting the singers ears with noise that isn't supposed to be in that monitor. Embarrassing, distracting for the musicians and sometimes even dangerous for the performer/s and audience! This happens to me all the time and the only workaround at the moment seems to be to work with one hand tied behind my back. This is extremely annoying and needs to be fixed ASAP! There should be a short period after switching to another mix layer, where the faders should force to move into their former position and give the user a chance to move his/her hand out of the way. When switching between tracks, even on my good old Frontier Alphatrack controller the motor fader returns to the respective channel's volume setting when the finger goes off the fader. The way it is now with the SLIII Series, touched faders just don't move at all when switching between layers  |
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When the first mixer with motorized faders (the CS18AI) was introduced, PreSonus strongly promoted the feature "touch-sensitive motorized faders". This means that whenever a fader is touched/moved, this will override any stored setting and the faders will never "fight" against their physical position (a finger moving or holding it). In this case you can really say: It's not a bug, it's a feature...!
 The CS18AI had a clever solution to avoid accidents when mixing live. It was possible to "lock" the four main mix layers (up to 64 input channels) and delegate changes in the FX and flexmixes to the 16 encoders right below the LED meters. You could care for main mix and one selected FX/aux mix simultaneously. I don't think the Series III consoles have that feature, at least I haven't read about this anywhere. I would not await from PreSonus to change the "touch-sensitive" feature. It's a technical approach they have chosen and it is up to the user to create a workflow based on this feature. Remember that you're not dealing with the mixer solely, but also with UC Surface with its four display modes. The display modes were not developed for visual control only, they also make individual workflows possible. Changing four faders in the FX A layer can be done on the console, but I think UC Surface in "Sends" mode and FX A selected can handle the task much better. It's a good idea to avoid situations, which can lead to "accidents" in a mix, but it's an even better idea to keep your mix on ONE LAYER (or two on a SL 16...). If you need to control more than the input faders, the "User Fader Layer" will give you several options. Moving the FX A send fader to reduce reverb in the mix might also be an option... |
wahlerstudios wroteIt's not a bug, it's a feature...! I know you were being sarcastic but how could this be a feature?!? Why would anyone want to inherit a fader's position on one layer when switching to another?! Isn't it that what the layers are about - to keep fader positions separate and at the same time the number of controls at a minimum? It's also not about touching especially four fingers/faders - this can happen with any number of faders that can't move when switching mixes. It was just one example out of many possible scenarios which actually happened to me the other night when mixing a live show. None of the digital consoles nor DAW controllers with touch-sensitive faders that I've dealt with worked this way. If you switch to another track, bank, mix or layer, you usually you have to let go a previously touched fader, then it jumps back to its respective position in that layer and only then you are able to move/edit it again. We are talking about a software controlled system here. Software can be changed - much easier than any completed hardware device ever could - and I think it would be irresponsible of Presonus to just ignore this issue. Or has further development of the SL3 series ceased already? Heck, if someone really uses this as a helpful feature within their workflow, the fix I'm asking for could even be made optional. No offense, but I find it rather unprofessional, when this very forum's site admin thanks a user for his post that is defending a potentially dangerous design flaw in one of their products. It's like advertising a car without any seat belts and on the other hand advice the drivers to always use them...  |
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I was not at all sarcastic. I tried to write an answer to what you have descibed - as I was able to understand it. English is not my mothertongue, so maybe I understood something wrong or I couldn't express myself correctly. Also I don't own a Series III console, just a CS18AI. I suppose the machines work similar, but I never had the chance for further "investigations" and I don't know how other mixers handle the situation when a fader stays touched.
All I wanted to say is that you need to lift your fingers when changing layers. Otherwise the faders will "transfer" their postion to the next layer as soon as the values are recognized. The CS18AI shows the fader values in the upper right corner of the display. |
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I had my first full live gig with the SL16III this past week. While switching from aux mixes to mains I had the same problem.
So I had to learn to keep my right hand up while I am switching layers. Every new piece of gear presents its own challenge. A good carpenter does not blame his tools  |
deanspy wroteA good carpenter does not blame his tools I'm glad I'm not the only one running into this problem. If someone is to blame here at all it's Presonus, if they decide not to fix this issue. |
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