At the 125th AES convention in San Francisco, we took a quick look at the new Si3 digital mixing console from Soundcraft, and were impressed by how understated this board's design is. While other new products may have easily grabbed exhibit-floor attention with multitudinous features, bells and whistles, the Si3's biggest selling point is ease-of-use.

While "simplicity" may not be a head-turning feature at a crowded convention like AES, the Si3's innovative design deserves some attention: it provides 64 channels of I/O, 24 bus outs, dbx and Lexicon dynamics and effects processing -- and it houses all this in one chassis.