Review: Avid S1
By Adam Noyes
The Avid S1 is an eight input fader with mixing control and a touch screen interface. The unit looks simple and straight forward, but it is also incredibly capable and powerful.
Based on its fully fledged modular S6 mixing desk, released in 2013, Massachusetts-based industry titans Avid launched its slimmed-down S3 mixing system a year later. With its 16 touch-sensitive faders and 32 rotary encoders with accompanying OLED displays, the S3 has seen about six years of reputable service in project studios around the world. Now hoping to ride that goodwill a few steps further is the S1, Avid’s most diminutive hardware mixing system yet.ADVERTISING
At about half the width of its big brother the S3, the S1 sports just eight faders and encoders. It packs in more power than it may seem though, as each fader, knob and display channel is a duplicate, meaning that as long as you have an efficient system for navigating to target tracks within your DAW, you’ll be able to accomplish as much with the S1 as you would with its more sizeable competitors. This is a big selling point; with today’s working surfaces strewn with keyboards, monitor controllers, hard drives and more, desk real estate has never been so precious.Advertisement
That said, even at a slice of the size of the S3, the S1 is bigger than you might expect, clocking in at 312mm wide and 377mm deep. It carries an impressive presence, more so than the eight-fader Avid Artist Mix that it replaces – and, if you feel the need for more faders, you can fasten up to four S1s together, using the in-built magnets or, for a more sturdy solution, the included link plate.
Stable mates
Like the S3, the S1 uses the EuCon protocol for communication, a stable Ethernet-connected system that provides more bandwidth than MIDI-based controllers such as HUI and thus much more control. To give you an idea of how important the EuCon system is to the workings of the S1: you have to get to page 22 of the S1 manual before you get an overview of the product’s physical surface. Prior to this, the manual’s focus is resolutely on setting up the connection between the S1 and the EuControl app, and providing an understanding of how EuCon governs the S1’s functions and interaction with other control surfaces.
The S1 is designed to be used in partnership with an iPad or Android tablet running the free Avid Control app, as well as in conjunction with the separate EuControl app. There is a ledge on the bridge of the S1 in which to slot your tablet, and aesthetically they go together well. The S1 can be operated without a tablet – you can work effectively using a traditional monitor-and-mouse setup – but the two make a phenomenal team.