On Tuesday April 21st our friends at Alchemea hosted the third Pro Tools Expert event, offering a chance for people to get hands on with Softube’s excellent Console One plug-in/controller combo.

I’ve been lucky enough to use the Console One and it is much misunderstood. I’ve heard criticisms that it is a “one trick pony”. I’d prefer to describe it as tightly focussed and if you like the idea of mixing through a large SSL but your budget runs to three rather than five figures then this is the product for you. At MusikMesse this year Softube announced a free update with tweaks to the UI including a much requested FFT analyser which can be displayed in the EQ window. The consensus among the team is that if you are looking at the plug-in UI for significant periods of time you are probably missing the point of this system. There were heavy hints that further developments in terms of the models available for the Console One are in development so watch this space.

When Russ originally reviewed the Console One back in March last year he said....

The Console 1 is not a control surface; it’s the closest thing to having an analogue mixer, without all the downsides. I didn’t understand the Console 1 before, but now I do and I love it, it offers the person who wants to mix on a large format console, but can’t afford the money, the space or the electricity bill, a new way of doing that.

Having used the Console One I can confirm Russ’ observation that after using it for a little while you stop looking at the screen altogether and rely solely on the visual feedback from the Console One hardware. The 4000 model overdrives beautifully, the transient processor labelled as “punch” is a hidden gem and if you prefer your mixes super clean there is a 9000 model available too. 

The event itself was enthusiastically attended by many friends of the blog, after a brief but comprehensive demo from Bryn Wildish from MSL Professional, Softube’s UK distributor, attendees were invited into Alchemea’s (luxuriously appointed) cinema room to get hands on with the Console One, mixing a session from our own James Ivey.  As with all of these events the free bar was the star of the evening and the opportunity for the majority of the PTE team to meet up face to face and enjoy some very audio-centric conversations with members of the community was enormous fun.

The next PTE event is at Alchemea on May 13th hosting Sontronics microphones. Book early to avoid disappointment.