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Soundscape Explained
Could a Soundscape system be the answer to all your PC audio
dreams... and nightmares?
Many of you will be looking into purchasing (or, indeed, may have purchased) a hard disk system of sorts,
whether Mac or PC-based - some may even be looking at the less well-featured dedicated units.
But as you explore the depths of the advertising, look more closely at the products, and read more in-depth
reviews, you start to realise that many of these boxes, cards, and now USB sound devices will, after installing,
leave your PC or Mac in a state of total exhaustion within six months, requiring a daily enema just to remain on
the internet long enough to download the latest version of your audio/MIDI Nemesis, which you foolishly believe
will finally perform, as the original advertising had stated, as 'the answer to all you audio/MIDI requirements'.
If you think I'm exaggerating, just ask anybody who has tried.
This is the real world of audio/MIDI workstations, and it is from this gloom that several products shine out. One of
these is the Soundscape system. (For those of you who have already read the article in The Mix issue 67 on
Soundscape R.Ed, please forgive any slight repetition.)
The setup
Soundscape produce several pieces of hardware/ software, but all share (with the exception of Mixtreme, of which
there shall be more later) the same basic configuration.
These are SSHDR V1.8, SSHDR Plus, and R.Ed, and the hardware interfaces with almost any Windows-based
PC. CPU speed and RAM are not an issue here, as all audio processing, disk handling and synchronisation is
carried out by the DSP within the SSHDR1 hardware, so is not affected by the type or speed of the PC used.
A host interface card is used to connect the SSHDR to the PC, and each interface card is capable of supporting
two SSHDR units. The cards are ISA type.
You can fit as many host cards as your PC has ISA slots and from each one, additional SSHDR units can be
connected. The SSHDR1 editing software provides a control 'front-end' for the system, with complete control for
all of the SSHDR functions.
As the hard disks and processing take place within the SSHDR, the requirements to run the software are minimal.
SSHDR V1.8 is the simplest of these units and provides eight tracks of audio via four outputs. This system has a
reputation as being virtually bullet-proof, although perhaps a little dull by today's standards.
The more contemporary SSHDR Plus and R.Ed appear, on the surface, to be the same units as V1.8. But on
closer scrutiny, around the back you'll find the inclusion of TDIF sockets, (one on the SSHDR Plus and three on
R.Ed), along with four analogue and four S/PDIF/AES EBU digital outputs, and two analogue and S/PDIF inputs.
Both of these units are dependent upon Soundscape's own front end, and can't run from within any other
programs such as Logic or Cubase.
This at first may seem to be a drawback, but is, in fact, one of the great strengths of these systems, designed as
they are to work as standalone audio recording platforms from the ground up, as opposed to the mutated
MIDI/audio platform that we're used to, but also with the ability to cut, paste and edit in the manner of a
sequencer.
Due to its great stability Soundscape units are able to replace - not supplement - one's existing linear recording
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equipment. There are very few systems one can confidently say this about.
The Arrange Window
Soundscape is designed to run on any Windows-based computer, and is not Mac or SGI-compatible. Soundscape
have based their OS around three basic screens. These are the Arrange Window, the Mixer Window and the
SFile manager.
First, let's look at the Arrange window, as this is where you'll spend most of your time. At the top there are the
usual menus (File, Edit and so on), and below this, the Tool Bar.
There are nine Tool Bars available, and you can place all the editing tools required for a set of specific tasks into it
from a pallet. For example, you can create a Tool Bar with all the tools you need for vocal editing, featuring time-
stretching, pitch correction and vocal alignment, and another bar for track arrangement, or whatever you fancy.
The long and the short of it is that it is extremely flexible.
To the left of this window is the Record Column. This is the area that dictates the position of your recorded
material within the arrangement. And finally, at the bottom of this window is the Transport bar, left and right
locators, and song position and tempo information.
The Mixer Window
The Soundscape Mixer is one of the most flexible pieces of software you are likely to come across.
The concept behind the Mixer is to give the user the ability to construct a mix entirely suited to the project or task
in hand, allowing you to manage the use of your precious DSP resources.
A blank canvas is provided, to which you add your Mixer Columns as and when you need them. These columns
can be configured as mono-to-mono, mono-to-stereo, stereo in and out, or stereo in/four channel out (for
surround).
At the top of each column is the input selector. This can be set to accept audio from any of the SSHDR inputs, as
it is not dependent upon the position or number of the channel selected. This applies to the output as well which,
in the case of R.Ed for instance, you will have the choice of any of the 32 ins and outs available.
But that's not where it stops, for the SSHDR also has 16 internal busses which allow routing from any source to
any other source within the mixer.
After establishing the channels and the inputs and outputs needed, you have to decide whether the column is to
be attached to an audio track or is to act as a subgroup or FX channel. The signal flow through the column
appears the way it does so audio comes in at the top and out at the bottom.
Once that's established, you have the option to insert plug-ins and other items within that channel and these can
be in any order, for example.
At the top you have the input, followed by a peak meter, then a recording block. This is followed by four bands of
parametric EQ, a dynamics plug-in, two FX sends, faders and the output. This enables all the audio from the
recorded track to be played back through the EQ and dynamics, but for the input to that track to be monitored on
the meter prior to the record block.
If you want to add EQ or Dynamics on the input, simply insert a plug-in prior to the record block. Alternatively, if
you're happy with the treatment provided within the channel, you can place a second recording block after the EQ
and dynamics, put it into record, and (for want of a better word) bounce that treatment to the new track.
The flexibility this Mixer allows is at first both bewildering and liberating. You need to get rid of your own
preconceptions as to what a mixer should be.
For example, in R.Ed, you can construct a mixer where tracks 1 to 16 are routed to TDIF outputs 1 to 16, and
tracks 17 to 32 are sub-mixed down to analogue outputs 3 and 4.
Inputs 1 and 2 can be FX sends from an external source into Soundscape's TC Reverb, with a delay returning out
of analogue outputs 1 and 2.
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This still leaves you with one 8-channel TDIF bus free. This can be used to accept routing from an external TDIF
source such as a D88, or one of the many soundcards that use the TDIF buss.
You could even use Soundscape's very own Mixtreme card, thus facilitating a direct audio link between your
MIDI/audio sequencer and Soundscape. The possibilities are almost limitless.
Or alternatively, you could create a simple 32-channel input and output mixer and not bother with the plug-ins at
all - it is entirely up to the user how far to go.
As yet there's no automation for the mixer, although remote control is possible via System Exclusive Control and
there are several units with adaptation such as the JL Cooper CS10.
We have been informed by Soundscape that there will be automation available in the first quarter of 2000, but with
the level of control available within the Arrange and Mix window, you'll rarely feel held back by this limitation.
SFile Manager
Lastly we have the SFile Manager. This is Soundscape's browser and file manager, and from within it you can
keep track of all your precious audio files, mixer files, and so on.
Although simple in appearance, based as it is on a file-and-folder regime, every bit of information necessary to
each file is kept here and, being a closed system, it is almost impossible to lose files.
Absolute zero
In use, you'll spend most time within the Arrange window, where all the editing and recording takes place. Here
the experienced direct-to-disk user will find no surprises.
You'll find the usual cut, paste and copy functions we all know so well, plus a few particularly nice extras. The
audio scrub in Soundscape is remarkably good and very coherent, unlike some systems.
Another notable difference is that Soundscape is one of the few systems to exhibit zero-latency, even when all 28-
tracks are put into record.
In real terms this means, as stated at the beginning, that one can happily replace the linear multitrack recorder
and work directly through the system from start to finish.
A year ago this was a rare thing, but today, with the arrival of products like the new Mackie HDR24, we've see a
radical change in the choices available.
However, few of them offer quite the level of editing flexibility allied to the reliability of the more dedicated
hardware-based units that Soundscape does.
Mixtreme - not just another PCI card
The Mixtreme card is, in concept, totally different to the rest of the Soundscape range in that it is a PCI card
designed to fit into your PC and integrate as any normal soundcard, using standard MME or ASIO drivers.
It features two TDIF connectors and one S/PDIF, providing 16 channels of audio in total (using the S/PDIF
disables channels 15 and 16).
To manipulate the channels, Soundscape have provided us with a version of the SSHDR mixer. It is similar in
essence, although it has a few minor diversions as far as the appearance is concerned.
What is very exiting is that it is fully multi-client in operation. This means it can be accessed by several pieces of
software at the same time.
For example, channels 1 to 8 could be accessed by Logic Audio giving access to Direct X plug-ins, while channels
9 and 10 are available to ReBirth (giving access to all those classic drum and synth sounds) and channels 11 to
16 can be used for Sound Forge and Acid, all of which could, as mentioned earlier, be routed through the TDIF
into an SSHDR unit, or vice-versa.
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All the plug-ins applicable to the SSHDR mix window will also function within Mixtreme thus, in combination,
creating a very familiar environment to work within.
Plug-ins for SoundscapeSoundscape's range of plug-ins is not enormous at the moment, although it is certainly
sufficient for most professional needs. The bias is towards the more workmanlike tools.
Included are:
Wave Mechanics Reverb
Audio Toolbox (chorus/flanger and dynamics processor)
Time Module (time-stretch/compress, pitch-shift and sample rate conversion)
TC Dynamizer
TC Works Reverb
VocALign
Cedar Declick
Dolby Surround Pro-Logic
Several other major developers are about to release their wares on Soundscape but we have been sworn to
secrecy, so cannot divulge more... yet. Watch this space.
More from: Soundscape, Crichton House, Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff Bay, Cardiff, CF16DR Tel: 01222 540333
Fax: 01222 540332
Web: www.soundscape-digital.com
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