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Author Topic: Sliders in consoles  (Read 15133 times)

Dan Mortensen

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Re: Sliders in consoles
« Reply #50 on: July 22, 2021, 02:39:25 PM »

Soundcraft Series 1 was created in 1973.
Series 1S in '75, by 1979 they were on to the Series 3.

I got my Series 800 in 1981. It's P&G faders and all the switches were messed up by a fire extinguisher a few months after purchase, but still was my favorite console for another decade...

Art


Wow, I have a very different memory.

I first saw and used a 1 in 1979, and when I went to buy one in the Fall of 1979 they only had 1S's (no 1's), which is what I got. I remember seeing new ads in R/E/P for the S around the time that mine came.

The US importer/distributor was in Kalamazoo, MI, not far from where my parents lived in 1979, and when I went to my folks' at Christmas we drove over to Kalamazoo and visited the importer, who was more than an importer because they seemed to be getting parts from Soundcraft and assembling them there. I met the lady who put them together and saw a 1S in pieces on the bench being built. Note that it was not being repaired, it was being assembled for sale.

Your timeline seems long, but I only know what I experienced at the time.

Interesting.

Edit: This article, from LSI, says that the 1 debuted in 1974 and doesn't give a date for the 1S. The Wikipedia article about Graham Blyth conflates the 1 and 1S and doesn't seem to be much good for finding info. I can't yet find a more detailed history.

Since we are naming our Soundcraft consoles, mine were

1S-20 (still have it)
200-16
200B-32
another 200B-32
200Delta-12
(some 48 channel one that I didn't like, quickly replaced by...
Series Five-46+6 stereo
MH4-48
MH3-32
GB4-16
GB4-32
Monitor Two-48? maybe 40?came in there somewhere. Still have that one because it takes up no floor space. It was used by Lou Reed for a week of rehearsals before a Seattle Bumbershoot.

My son and I on a visit to London made a field trip to the Soundcraft factory and were shown around and taken to lunch by Andy Brown, which was real cool. That was post-Series Five purchase and pre-MH4.

When Soundcraft didn't have a digital board that I could afford 9 of, it was necessary to move to an unexpected manufacturer (spending less for the 9 than for the single MH4) and leave Soundcraft behind. They were and hopefully still are a great bunch of people and I only wish them the best.
« Last Edit: July 22, 2021, 03:10:44 PM by Dan Mortensen »
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Art Welter

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Re: Sliders in consoles
« Reply #51 on: July 22, 2021, 04:19:05 PM »

The Wikipedia article about Graham Blyth[/url] conflates the 1 and 1S and doesn't seem to be much good for finding info. I can't yet find a more detailed history.
Dan,

Though I had seen some 1 and 1S, well before my Series 800 purchase, was not aware of the entire time line till I used the Wikipedia links and the Wayback Machine to locate a "History of Soundcraft Brochure" covering from 1973 to 2000 which is what the picture in post #43 was from.

https://www.kuklorest.com/?t=1512&ap=1438184180372129&r=021d244d08a5f564bbea1f1ef07bcdf4&hp=1&rs

Art
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John L Nobile

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Re: Sliders in consoles
« Reply #52 on: July 22, 2021, 04:43:16 PM »

I remember buying a used 1s around 1978 from Long and McQuade. We had problems with it for a few months. They took it back and put what we paid for it towards a new 1s. I don't remember a newer Soundcrafr being available at the time but back then, my focus was on keyboards.

I remember the problem with those boards was that they looked like they were in a flight case and some people handled them that way. We were our own roadies and were easy on it.
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Dan Mortensen

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Re: Sliders in consoles
« Reply #53 on: July 23, 2021, 02:51:50 AM »

Dan,

Though I had seen some 1 and 1S, well before my Series 800 purchase, was not aware of the entire time line till I used the Wikipedia links and the Wayback Machine to locate a "History of Soundcraft Brochure" covering from 1973 to 2000 which is what the picture in post #43 was from.

https://www.kuklorest.com/?t=1512&ap=1438184180372129&r=021d244d08a5f564bbea1f1ef07bcdf4&hp=1&rs

Art

Thanks, Art, but I get a "This Connection is Not Private. You should close this page" popup when I try to load that page, because the certificate is expired.

I remember buying a used 1s around 1978 from Long and McQuade...

I remember the problem with those boards was that they looked like they were in a flight case and some people handled them that way. We were our own roadies and were easy on it.

The boards "looked like they were in a flight case"? That means it was a console built into an aluminum flight case with the flight case being the exterior chassis of the console (console bolted into flight case)?

That wasn't a 1S, that was a 1. I know that because in 1979 I TRIED to get one that was built that way and was told they didn't sell them that way anymore, and besides, what I really wanted was the 1s not the 1. And it came with a wooden chassis and end cheeks in a padded aluminum road case.

Or so I thought until just now looking for pictures, and finding 1s's that were bolted into aluminum flight cases, as well as some that kind of looked like mine but different geometry on the end cheeks and the arm rest.

Pics of each attached, all found online. No pics of mine.

The 1s in the wooden case is labeled as being from 1979. It appears that we are all correct, that the 1s in the wooden chassis was introduced in 1979 but there were previous versions that had flight case chassis just like the Series 1. They were not for sale in the US, at least, in late 1979. I don't know about before that.

This is definitely a trip down memory lane...
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Gunther Mai

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Re: Sliders in consoles
« Reply #54 on: July 23, 2021, 01:37:30 PM »

My Soundcraft 1S 20Ch Flightcase Version was delivered in January 1977.
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John L Nobile

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Re: Sliders in consoles
« Reply #55 on: July 23, 2021, 02:30:22 PM »

Thanks, Art, but I get a "This Connection is Not Private. You should close this page" popup when I try to load that page, because the certificate is expired.

The boards "looked like they were in a flight case"? That means it was a console built into an aluminum flight case with the flight case being the exterior chassis of the console (console bolted into flight case)?

That wasn't a 1S, that was a 1. I know that because in 1979 I TRIED to get one that was built that way and was told they didn't sell them that way anymore, and besides, what I really wanted was the 1s not the 1. And it came with a wooden chassis and end cheeks in a padded aluminum road case.

Or so I thought until just now looking for pictures, and finding 1s's that were bolted into aluminum flight cases, as well as some that kind of looked like mine but different geometry on the end cheeks and the arm rest.

Pics of each attached, all found online. No pics of mine.

The 1s in the wooden case is labeled as being from 1979. It appears that we are all correct, that the 1s in the wooden chassis was introduced in 1979 but there were previous versions that had flight case chassis just like the Series 1. They were not for sale in the US, at least, in late 1979. I don't know about before that.

This is definitely a trip down memory lane...

I remember my 1s looking like the middle pic. Loved that board. I moved up from a Peavey 9 channel with huge knobs to that.
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Ike Zimbel

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Re: Sliders in consoles
« Reply #56 on: July 23, 2021, 08:48:49 PM »

I remember my 1s looking like the middle pic. Loved that board. I moved up from a Peavey 9 channel with huge knobs to that.
That's the way I remember them, too. There was one at the El Mocombo for years (as well as a lighting console that I built, from around 1983 onwards). I mixed on a lot of different Soundcraft desks, and I've serviced a bunch as well.
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Art Welter

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Re: Sliders in consoles
« Reply #57 on: July 24, 2021, 08:05:57 PM »

I remember my 1s looking like the middle pic. Loved that board. I moved up from a Peavey 9 channel with huge knobs to that.
My board evolution went from the Peavey PA-900 (9 channels, almost the size of a Fender Rhodes piano) to a pair of Tapco 6000 R, then a Mark Winger/Straight Up Systems 18 channel console with Bournes rotary pots throughout, then a pair of Yamaha PM1000s before the Series 800 in 1981.

Here's a photo of it from 1985, a Hanley intercom sitting on top of my custom mahogony doghouse.
200 feet from stage, 16,000 watt PA for approximately 40,000 country fans there to see Merle Haggard, John Anderson, George Strait, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Lee Greenwood, Hank Williams, Jr., Nicolette Larson, Janie Fricke, Charley Pride, The Forester Sisters, Sawyer Brown, Earl Thomas Conley, and local acts like the Back Behind the Barn Boys, Guppie, their sound man took the shot.
The taped up sub # 8 fader was a return for a Biamp 1621 mixer used for effects returns, playback and the announce mic. We generally left the channels all up and killed the sub faders to avoid messing with (dirty) mute switches, hard to see mute LEDs in daylight ;^).

Art
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brian maddox

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Re: Sliders in consoles
« Reply #58 on: July 24, 2021, 11:34:40 PM »

....
Almost forgot I had a Europa for a while. The one that was too long to go across a truck.

Still think this is one of the more epic design fails in Live Audio history. It was really an exceptionally good desk. I believe the Kennedy Center had one out at the millennium stage for a while because I remember mixing on one there. But the fact that it screwed up half a truck pack to bring it on tour killed it. A brilliant example of why you need people who USE your product on your design team.

The fact that all anyone really remembers is that it wouldn't fit into a truck correctly pretty much sums up the problem....  :)
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Riley Casey

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Re: Sliders in consoles
« Reply #59 on: July 25, 2021, 10:03:13 AM »

That and the fact that the decision to put a gate in every channel rather than a compressor was apparently based on the fact that the gate required one less IC in the parts count.  ::) 

The Europa came as part of a package and only went out a few times before it went out the door permanently.


Still think this is one of the more epic design fails in Live Audio history. It was really an exceptionally good desk. I believe the Kennedy Center had one out at the millennium stage for a while because I remember mixing on one there. But the fact that it screwed up half a truck pack to bring it on tour killed it. A brilliant example of why you need people who USE your product on your design team.

The fact that all anyone really remembers is that it wouldn't fit into a truck correctly pretty much sums up the problem....  :)

ProSoundWeb Community

Re: Sliders in consoles
« Reply #59 on: July 25, 2021, 10:03:13 AM »


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