Ii. t – Slate Digital The Virtual Console Collection User Manual
Page 5

5
Slate Digital Virtual Console Collection
In order to precisely reproduce the dynamic nonlinear characteristics of the analog
desks, Slate Digital CTO Fabrice Gabriel has developed innovative new analog modeling
techniques	
  that	
  combine	
  circuit	
  path	
  modeling	
  with	
  actual	
  hardware	
  response	
  testing.	
  
The	
  result	
  is	
  a	
  digital	
  plugin	
  that	
  recreates	
  the	
  analog	
  properties	
  of	
  the	
  consoles	
  in	
  an	
  
extremely realistic fashion.
ANALOG
VS
.
DIGITAL MIXING
Despite the digital revolution in the pro audio industry, many of today’s top albums are
still mixed on analog consoles. When we asked some of the world’s top mixers why they
still preferred to mix into an analog console rather than have the ease of digital mixing,
the	
  responses	
  we	
  received	
  were	
  universal.	
  
“Mixing	
  into	
  an	
  analog	
  desk	
  just	
  sounds	
  better.	
  Everything	
  sits	
  better	
  in	
  the	
  mix,	
  there	
  is	
  
more weight to the bottom, and the overall sound is more three dimensional,” says
Grammy	
  award	
  winning	
  producer	
  and	
  mixer	
  Jay	
  Baumgardner.	
  
After	
   hearing	
   this	
   same	
   answer	
   from	
   so	
   many	
   mixers,	
   our	
   first	
   assumption	
   was	
   that	
  
there must be something “wrong” with the summing of a digital mixer. So, we built
several digital mixers so that we could test them. We also ran some tests through analog
consoles	
  in	
  order	
  to	
  test	
  hardware	
  summing.	
  	
  	
  
The	
  result	
  was	
  surprising.	
  What	
  we	
  found	
  was	
  that	
  there	
  was	
  absolutely	
  nothing	
  wrong	
  
with digital summing. In fact, it was fairly straightforward math. The problem was in the
analog summing. In all cases of analog summing, we noticed that the analog circuits
imparted nonlinear artifacts to the audio such as harmonic distortion, noise, crosstalk,
and	
   component	
   saturation.	
   However,	
   we	
   soon	
   realized	
   that	
   these	
   nonlinear	
   artifacts	
  
produced	
  a	
  sound	
  that	
  was	
  sonically	
  pleasing.	
  
The	
  Virtual	
  Console	
  Collection	
  plugins	
  recreate	
  these	
  analog	
  nonlinearities,	
  giving	
  your	
  
DAW the classic “vibe” of the real desks. You may notice that when using the Virtual
Console Collection, your mixes take on a subtle enhancement in punch, glue, and
dimension.	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
II.
T
HE
V
IRTUAL
C
ONSOLE
C
OLLECTION
The Slate Digital Virtual Console Collection reproduces the sound of classic recording
consoles using a dual plugin package, consisting of the Virtual Channel and the Virtual
Mixbuss. Each plugin allows you to choose from five modeled consoles.
