Review: Studer Vista 5 Digital Broadcast & Live Mixing Console

Review: Paul Mac

VISTONICS

Talking to Studer’s Stefan Ledergerber, it’s clear that the Vista 5 emphasis is on ergonomics. Studer considers the DSP and the engine – the brains and guts of the system – as a ‘done deal’, meaning, at this level, customers have a right to expect more than enough power and audio quality to perform the job at hand. However, the real X factor is the ergonomics and usability of a digital console. And with that in mind, Studer has devised ‘Vistonics’.

The Studer Vistonics system is, as interfaces go, one of the best. And the accompanying pretty pictures you see here of knobs and buttons magically implanted onto touch-sensitive screens don’t do it justice – you have to actually use a Vista to fully appreciate what Vistonics has to offer.

The most obvious advantages of Vistonics are apparent when you look at the screen. There are 40 touch-sensitive knobs and 40 push-buttons, all mounted on a high-quality, touch-sensitive display. The upshot of this is that a control’s feedback is represented right where the control is – you don’t need to look at a separate screen to see the effect of your twiddling… it’s right there, in full colour. Filters and EQs are red, dynamics controls are green, pans are yellow, and auxiliaries are orange. If a low-cut is in use, you see a useful low-cut graphic; level controls grow a block of colour from the bottom; threshold controls grow a block of colour from the top, and so on.

There is a multi-functional, touch-sensitive area of the screens below the banks of knobs and buttons. For example, this area shows a graphic for each input channel’s EQ curves, dynamics curves, panning, and details of the channel labelling, ganging, and groups. If you touch one of these, the controls for that section spread across the control section above. If you touch two (not necessarily on the same channel), both sets of controls appear. This is part of Studer’s alternative to the ‘fat’ channel, or detail channel, or whatever other terminology you may be used to.

There are additional channel view buttons as well – they’re on the channel itself, labelled ‘Channel’, ‘Misc’ and ‘Bus Asn’. These also trigger exploded views on the control panel. ‘Channel’ includes most things besides EQ and dynamics (mic gain, digital trim, phase, multitrack sends, and so on); ‘Misc’ shows dynamics, EQ, and pan; and ‘Bus Assn’ shows all available buses that the channel could be routed to.

While the console has VCA-style groups, it also implements ‘ganging’, which is simply a method of grouping channels – creating a gang is as simple as holding the Control key and touching the channels. And, once ganged, it’s a case of ‘adjust one, adjust all’, including the routing additions. You can temporarily un-gang for offsetting.

Studer has achieved a simple, intuitive, and powerful interface where the rules of engagement are, almost across the board, consistent. One button press is much like another when it comes to the response of the system, and that is a good thing. The more time you’re compelled to spend thinking about how to operate your machinery, the less time you spend on being creative, and (in the case of the Vista 5’s target market) the more chance you have of not being ‘required’ for the next gig.

DIGITAL VERSATILE DESK

Of the Vista 5’s bays, the only odd one out is the Control bay. You can put it into Follow mode and use it to mirror the input faders, but it is intended as a more permanent access area for outputs. There are 12 faders here, and a full Vistonics screen.

The function of the external display is determined by access buttons for useful groups such as auxiliaries, aux outputs, groups, masters, direct outputs, bus outputs, or user-defined combinations of those. For example, once selected, meters appear beside each knob, so you can see exactly what’s occurring with the whole of the selected bus type or output range – that’s 40 meters and associated level controls at the touch of one button.

Another useful function is executed by a single button called ‘Contribution’. Here the Vistonics screen will show and allow immediate control of all the ‘contributors’ to a selected bus of the master channel you’re working on. In terms of sheer power and speed of operation, this is an extremely potent feature. If you’re working monitors and the drummer’s mix needs changing, one button – the corresponding output – is all you need to instantly access his entire mix.

Studer’s approach to button latching also demonstrates the thought that’s gone into the ergonomics. Virtually every button on the Vista follows a single, simple rule: if you touch it, it latches, if you hold it, it’s momentary – amazingly simple, yet brilliant. For example, the monitor engineer I just referred to can hold the Contribution button down, adjust anything, then let go, knowing that Vistonics will return to the pre-push state. Don’t just think of it as one less button-push, think of it as halving the total number of button pushes.

GET DOWN – SURROUND

Given surround is becoming ever more prominent in the field of broadcast, it’s not surprising that the Vista series has its own take on multichannel audio – most obviously in two areas. The first is the optional Dolby E decoder card (see box out) and, secondly, the sophisticated down mix processing block.

The actual down mix block is configured at the I/O level – with both inputs and outputs available for routing. For setup there’s a down mixer dialogue box.

One option is a straight L/R down mix, and then there is the simple ITU version (left and right rears to left and right fronts at –3dB, and centre channel to both at -3dB), although you can adjust the summing level. The latter is fine for ‘decorrelated’ surrounds, but when there’s a significant amount of correlation, the level required is closer to –6dB – but then any decorrelated aspects of the mix get lost – such as audience mics. For this, Studer offers 90-degree decorrelation of the rears.

Lastly, there’s a process that Studer calls ‘Logic 7 compatible’. In Studer’s process, the decorrelated left and right rears are panned slightly towards the centre to fill in the gap that that can often be left when the centre channel gets binned.

Hats off, then, to Studer for giving the audio engineer more input into the down mix process by offering the chance to tailor the stereo to the material and the mix style.

UNINTERRUPTED VISTAS

Other highlights? There are 32 monitoring outputs on the back of the surface, with parallel digital and analogue outs, and even a 24V power supply so you can plug your chosen master meter directly into the console. There’s an optional surround panning joystick, although surround panning in Vistonics is very good indeed. There are Isolate buttons for the snapshot system that can isolate individual blocks, whole channels, or global blocks (such as all EQs, or all dynamics etc).

I could go on. In fact, the only obvious omission from the current Vista software is DAW control. I imagine the degree to which people actually use console-based DAW control depends on how full and convenient the implementation is. That said, I’d have thought that the Vistonics interface would be ideal for this kind of control – maybe they’re working on it.

In any case, the Vista/Vistonics package is an awesome combination. Anyone with a vague notion of audio engineering could get a show going without looking at the manual – the surface positively invites you to use it. With some consoles, novelty technologies sit unloved and unused, and only come out as a party piece to impress the impressionable. Vistonics puts itself at the core of Vista operations and works beautifully.

Using the Vista 5 is addictive – once you’ve tried it, you’ll be desperate to find something else to use it on.