SSL C-300 (2006–2008)
A digital post-production console built for facilities where the machine gets switched on at dawn, banged on for fifteen hours, and has to come back up the next morning without drama.
Overview
The C-300 is a different animal from the music desks that carry the SSL badge. It's a configurable, multi-operator digital production console aimed at film and post facilities. Dialog, effects, music and a dubber stage all share the same surface and the same automation. The C-300 can sit at the center of a room and drive Pro Tools or another workstation over HUI, so a facility doesn't have to choose between the console and the DAW.
Each DSP card provides assignable processing for filters, EQ, dual-format dynamics, insert points and channel delay. A console can hold up to eight of them. The cards can be configured in one of three channel/bus models: Short, with 32 channels feeding all 80 busses; Tall, with 48 channels feeding 56 busses; and Grande, with 64 channels feeding 40 busses. Latency compensation is automatic across all three, and the operator can dynamically choose which of the 80 console-wide busses each DSP card feeds. The result is a smaller, cheaper console that can be re-tasked across different productions without a rebuild.
Multiband filters with selectable 12, 18 and 24 dB-per-octave slopes, four-band parametric EQ, and a compressor plus gate/expander with frequency-conscious side chain can each be switched independently into the channel path. The processing runs on SSL's proprietary 40-bit floating-point algorithms, which SSL pitches as sonic transparency.
Above each channel sits a Channel Information Display. The lower half shows panning profiles, routing, assignments and a signal-processing overview. Bay Master Channel panels in each bay give dedicated routing and processing control for whatever channel or bus is currently selected to that panel. One feature Pro Audio Review singled out collapses a linked or formatted group down to a single fader element, and the remaining on-surface channels shuffle to fill the vacated spaces. A Spill Function then places all channels feeding a bus, or all fader strips assigned to one of the 96 Control Group Master Faders, into a dedicated layout for immediate access.
Monitoring and metering are what a post console has to have. There's a 128-by-8 monitor matrix, 64 PEC/Direct switches, a 32x16 re-recording matrix, and an eight-channel insert array. The 80 mix busses can be assigned to multiple hardware ports in arrays that accommodate 7.1-channel surround. Formatted channels carry linked panning and routing, and pan assignments follow the bus designation. Feed a 5.1-capable bus and the software applies the appropriate LCR, Front/Back, Divergence and level adjustments for the sub. PFL and solo are programmable: the default is a non-destructive AFL, but it can be set as a destructive Solo-In-Place for dealing with channels outside the current field of view. Eighteen auxiliary sends are supported, any channel assignable to any formatted aux bus up to 7.1 in switchable banks of six.
HUI control works over multi-MIDI porting, and the built-in four-machine synchronizer and autolocator handle RS422-capable external transports. TimeFreeze automation is SSL's nonlinear system, descended from the company's pioneering disk-based automation. It can read and write automation data at non-play speeds, which is what slow-motion mixing of complex, sound-aggressive scenes requires. Multiple automation parameters can be manipulated in different modes within a single pass, and cue-by-cue manipulation is available. For multi-operator work, the frame can carry up to three Center Sections. Each has its own meter bridge, TFT touchscreen, monitor control panel, and Automation and Motion Control panel, and each can be located wherever the room's workflow demands.
I/O options include AES and MADI digital formats plus analog line and mic inputs. Templates and a documented user manual ease the initial setup. All system configurations and panel layouts live in Projects saved to and recalled from the Centuri Core's hard drive.
The C-300 isn't a music console and doesn't pretend to be. Pro Audio Review (May 2007, p.53) framed it as a tool for facilities where reliability and instant reset are primary requirements, and where a dedicated surface still beats working entirely in the box. Mix (September 2006, p.1) listed the C300 among large-format consoles offering DAW control. Anyone chasing one today is buying into a closed ecosystem, so condition, completeness of the Centuri Core, and the availability of the I/O cards matter far more than cosmetics.
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