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Sound Reinforcement - Forums for Live Sound Professionals - Your Displayed Name Must Be Your Real Full Name To Post In The Live Sound Forums => LAB: The Classic Live Audio Board => Topic started by: John T. Cotton on July 11, 2018, 08:02:48 PM

Title: Questions for Soundcraft SI Impact owners/users
Post by: John T. Cotton on July 11, 2018, 08:02:48 PM
I just bought a b-stock Soundcraft SI Impact.  It was a good deal, and it seems like a nice little console for small personal gigs.  I haven't really had my hands on any of the Soundcraft digital consoles.  My regular gigs are mostly Midas or Yamaha.  So I'm hoping any Impact owners could let me know if the things I'm seeing are normal behavior for the console, or potential problems.  It will be a while before I can take it on a gig, so I need to give it a pretty good work out & inspection at home. Never having touched one before, I just don't have any basis for comparison.

Does your Impact run warm?  Mine seems to run fairly warm, across the entire rear of the console.  Not burning hot, but warmer than I would expect.

Main screen "Adjust" encoder- is yours responsive/accurate.  When I change parameters with this encoder, it seems to lag a bit in response, and makes pretty big jumps in value.

Channel LCD- how visible are your channel meters?  Are they easily adjusted through the preferences menu?  I'm having trouble making the channel meters in particular stand out.  Brightness seems to adjust okay through the menu, but contrast seems to jump from minimal to completely blown out with very little finesse in between.

Gain structure:  is -18dBFS nominal on this console?  Setting the oscillator to 0dB and assigning to a buss seems to result in a slightly lower than -18 level.
Title: Re: Questions for Soundcraft SI Impact owners/users
Post by: Will Knight on July 11, 2018, 08:27:10 PM
Sounds like you may need a firmware update.  Have you checked and applied the latest firmware to the desk?  Check the SC site as Ver 2.0 solves a number of issues that surfaced in the early models.  Here’s a link to the SC website for the firmware

https://www.soundcraft.com/en-US/softwares/si-impact-2-0-firmware

I’ve had the Impact for 2 years running and have not experienced any of the issues you’re referring to so far.
 


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Title: Re: Questions for Soundcraft SI Impact owners/users
Post by: John T. Cotton on July 11, 2018, 08:46:49 PM
It's on v2.0 build 004, which seems to be current.  I can try reloading it.

Sounds like you may need a firmware update.  Have you checked and applied the latest firmware to the desk?  Check the SC site as Ver 2.0 solves a number of issues that surfaced in the early models.  Here’s a link to the SC website for the firmware

https://www.soundcraft.com/en-US/softwares/si-impact-2-0-firmware

I’ve had the Impact for 2 years running and have not experienced any of the issues you’re referring to so far.
 
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Title: Re: Questions for Soundcraft SI Impact owners/users
Post by: John T. Cotton on July 11, 2018, 09:17:20 PM
It's on v2.0 build 004, which seems to be current.  I can try reloading it.

I reflashed the firmware, and wiped the internal SD card memory.  The Contrast on the channel LCDs definitely seems out of wack.  It's limited to values between 35-39.  Is that normal?
Title: Re: Questions for Soundcraft SI Impact owners/users
Post by: Will Knight on July 11, 2018, 10:05:47 PM
I reflashed the firmware, and wiped the internal SD card memory.  The Contrast on the channel LCDs definitely seems out of wack.  It's limited to values between 35-39.  Is that normal?

Definitely not normal.  I'll pull my Impact out from Storage tomorrow and run through a series of test on the points you've raised & confirm the results you should be expecting. You mentioned B Stock.  The most common issue that surfaced in early runs of the Impact was a resistor problem at the incoming AC line.  It's a free repair by SC but you'll need to check your unit serial unit with SC Support to confirm it's already been fixed (reason for B Stock) - or needs to be sent in for repairs.

I would also recommend a search here on the forum where the Impact, it's capabilities, etc. has been discussed by members at length.           
Title: Re: Questions for Soundcraft SI Impact owners/users
Post by: Lee Douglas on July 11, 2018, 10:06:59 PM

Does your Impact run warm?  Mine seems to run fairly warm, across the entire rear of the console.  Not burning hot, but warmer than I would expect.

Main screen "Adjust" encoder- is yours responsive/accurate.  When I change parameters with this encoder, it seems to lag a bit in response, and makes pretty big jumps in value.

Channel LCD- how visible are your channel meters?  Are they easily adjusted through the preferences menu?  I'm having trouble making the channel meters in particular stand out.  Brightness seems to adjust okay through the menu, but contrast seems to jump from minimal to completely blown out with very little finesse in between.


Both of mine and the others I've walked up to seem match this description.  It does run a little warmer than I expected it to, but even in quite warm weather it didn't seem to get much warmer.  Just make sure that both front and rear vents are clear and it should be fine.  I haven't noticed anything odd about the encoder(s), but will watch for it next time.  The LCD contrast adjustment is extremely lame and never does adjust to bright and clear to where I would expect it be able to.  It's much better in a dark room, but it's not like they were stuck using old worn out displays from the '80's.  My friend's Vi looks extremely bright and sharp. 
Title: Re: Questions for Soundcraft SI Impact owners/users
Post by: John T. Cotton on July 11, 2018, 10:19:00 PM
Thanks for your help gentlemen.  I have emailed both Soundcraft, and the vendor I got the console from.  I have searched the forum for info in the console, part of what lead to my purchase decision.  I'll update the thread as I learn more.  Hoping I didn't get a lemon, as I've been looking forward to having the console.
 :)
Title: Re: Questions for Soundcraft SI Impact owners/users
Post by: John T. Cotton on July 12, 2018, 08:39:10 AM
Response from Soundcraft:



From:

Subject:
RE: [EXTERNAL] Technical Support

Date:
Thu, 12 Jul 2018 08:58:33 +0000

Hi John,

Both of these things are absolutely normal.

Thanks!

Balázs Sólyomi

Back Office Engineer

 


 

The following was received via the Soundcraft website:

Name: John T. Cotton
Product: Si Impact
Serial: xxxxxxxxxx

Message/Details/More Info, etc...

Is it normal/typical for the channel LCD contrast setting to be limited to values between 35 & 39? Also, is it normal for the console to be notably warm to the touch across the rear/back? Thank you, John T. Cotton
Title: Re: Questions for Soundcraft SI Impact owners/users
Post by: Helge A Bentsen on July 12, 2018, 10:20:22 AM
LCD contrast is weird on these consoles. Feature set is promising, but fails on all the little details. Very «Soundcrafty».

I had one for years, traded it for a M32R when I finally got fed up with it.

Mixing tip: never move your master fader below 0dB, the master bus can’t handle a lot of hot channels going into it and the master meter is post fader. Keep it at 0, send L/R to a matrix and use the matrix fader as level control.
Title: Re: Questions for Soundcraft SI Impact owners/users
Post by: Dave Pluke on July 12, 2018, 10:04:43 PM
I just bought a b-stock Soundcraft SI Impact.

In my experience:

1)  My Si Impact also runs warm.

2)  My Encoder is a bit slow - but not jumpy.  You have to settle into the rhythm of this console.

3)  Haven't run mine in bright daylight conditions.  LED's seem fine inside rooms.

4)  Can't answer that question - sorry.

I, too, was lured by the low price of a B Stock (reportedly, Factory Refurbished) Impact.  The one I received randomly shut off.  At first, I thought it was me being too twitchy on adjustments, but I could just leave it running with music playing through and it would shut off after an hour or so.

Fortunately, I purchased through good, Authorized Soundcraft dealer.  After a fairly long call with Tech Support, a brand new Impact was dispatched - with return shipping label for my B Stock one.

Hope you get things sorted out.  I agree, the M32 is more powerful, but it's also 74% more at MAP new-to-new.

Dave
Title: Re: Questions for Soundcraft SI Impact owners/users
Post by: John T. Cotton on July 12, 2018, 10:58:08 PM
Thanks, Dave.  If you happen to use yours in the next few days, I'd be interested to know if the Channel LCD contrast setting is limited to values between 35 & 39.  Soundcraft says this is normal, so I guess I'll live with it.  I did buy from a reputable vendor so I'm not terribly worried about anything.  I've burned it in for a couple days, with no power failures, display crashes or anything like that. So in that sense, it seems stable.  In one of my regular gigs we have everything from M32 to XL8.  I'm not sure if the M32 is really more powerful or just that the Soundcraft approach is deceivingly simple.  Either way, as you say, at this price point who can complain, especially with the potential to take up to 80 channels to mix.

In my experience:

1)  My Si Impact also runs warm.

2)  My Encoder is a bit slow - but not jumpy.  You have to settle into the rhythm of this console.

3)  Haven't run mine in bright daylight conditions.  LED's seem fine inside rooms.

4)  Can't answer that question - sorry.

I, too, was lured by the low price of a B Stock (reportedly, Factory Refurbished) Impact.  The one I received randomly shut off.  At first, I thought it was me being too twitchy on adjustments, but I could just leave it running with music playing through and it would shut off after an hour or so.

Fortunately, I purchased through good, Authorized Soundcraft dealer.  After a fairly long call with Tech Support, a brand new Impact was dispatched - with return shipping label for my B Stock one.

Hope you get things sorted out.  I agree, the M32 is more powerful, but it's also 74% more at MAP new-to-new.

Dave
Title: Re: Questions for Soundcraft SI Impact owners/users
Post by: Dave Pluke on July 13, 2018, 10:22:24 AM
Thanks, Dave.  If you happen to use yours in the next few days, I'd be interested to know if the Channel LCD contrast setting is limited to values between 35 & 39.  Soundcraft says this is normal, so I guess I'll live with it.

John,

I'd never paid attention to that setting but, yep, 35 to 39 is the adjustable range and, of those, only 36 and 37 are legible, IMHO.

In hindsight, rather than using that strange range, programmers might have been better off with 100, 75, 50, 25 and 0% designations for contrast.  Especially considering they used percentages for the Brightness setting  ::) .

Dave
Title: Re: Questions for Soundcraft SI Impact owners/users
Post by: Michael Lawrence on July 13, 2018, 01:51:50 PM
Thanks, Dave.  If you happen to use yours in the next few days, I'd be interested to know if the Channel LCD contrast setting is limited to values between 35 & 39.  Soundcraft says this is normal, so I guess I'll live with it.  I did buy from a reputable vendor so I'm not terribly worried about anything.  I've burned it in for a couple days, with no power failures, display crashes or anything like that. So in that sense, it seems stable.  In one of my regular gigs we have everything from M32 to XL8.  I'm not sure if the M32 is really more powerful or just that the Soundcraft approach is deceivingly simple.  Either way, as you say, at this price point who can complain, especially with the potential to take up to 80 channels to mix.

John-
Just to add my $0.02, we have an Impact that also runs warm, takes bloody ages to boot, and has the same issue with the scribble strip contrast. Our firmware is current.

As others have said here, the desk "does" what it says it does, but in my opinion it definitely falls short in some "usability" specifics.
Title: Re: Questions for Soundcraft SI Impact owners/users
Post by: Patrick Tracy on July 13, 2018, 02:04:45 PM
I use two of them at work and they both run warm.

[Edit] The ones we have are Expression 1.
Title: Re: Questions for Soundcraft SI Impact owners/users
Post by: John T. Cotton on July 13, 2018, 10:59:44 PM
Thanks, Dave! First confirmation that mine isn't the only one.  I suspect they went back and coded that that way to make up for some limitation in hardware.  Definitely strange.

John,

I'd never paid attention to that setting but, yep, 35 to 39 is the adjustable range and, of those, only 36 and 37 are legible, IMHO.

In hindsight, rather than using that strange range, programmers might have been better off with 100, 75, 50, 25 and 0% designations for contrast.  Especially considering they used percentages for the Brightness setting  ::) .

Dave
Title: Re: Questions for Soundcraft SI Impact owners/users
Post by: Danny J. Avila on July 15, 2018, 08:53:49 PM
...Definitely strange.


The Soundcraft Si compact platform is equipped with the same Power Supply for all models from Expression, Compact and newer ones, located in the bottom left of the desk. In models like Performer and Impact where the additional channels LCD and backlight leds draw a little more current,  Soundcraft installed a 12Vdc fan over the Power Supply to help it dissipate the heat, which could have some struggle to find its way out of the desk frame, mostly with road cases that block the desk lower front grille or has a raised doggie house for cables in the back.

The data lagging/skipping behavior of the rotary encoder may indicate a dirty condition of its internal contacts and is common in some devices using this control type when are stored in humid environment or exposed to condensation/dew during storing or transporting process. This could be easily solved using Electronics Contact Cleaner sprays (trying not to flood the desk with it). A couple of small spray applications very close to the metal axis (knob removed), but not pressing it while rotating should do the trick.

 :)
Title: Re: Questions for Soundcraft SI Impact owners/users
Post by: Ben Easler on July 15, 2018, 09:00:05 PM
I've always thought the rotary on the Impact was quite good but the touch screen seems to require a bit more pressure to get a response compared to the other Si series boards I have used.
Title: Re: Questions for Soundcraft SI Impact owners/users
Post by: Ben Easler on July 15, 2018, 09:04:46 PM
Gain structure:  is -18dBFS nominal on this console?  Setting the oscillator to 0dB and assigning to a buss seems to result in a slightly lower than -18 level.
I believe this is normal. The oscillator at 0 dB should read -18. Or are you concerned it is reading too low you mean? I'll double check on mine.