Softube launches Console 1 Fader controller
The device also includes two software-based analogue console emulations.
Softube return with another MIDI controller, adding a sibling to its Console 1 controller. The Console 1 Fader takes a similar approach to controlling workflow in a DAW, this time with fader control, as the name hints. Console 1 Fader comes with two software-based component-modelled analogue console emulations, Tube and Discrete, which offer filtering, saturation and more.
Softube have developed this mixing solution with a sentimental thought in mind: “riding faders is a matter of muscle memory for a lot of us. And for good reason – reaching out and grabbing five or ten different sounds or groups at once, and quickly adjusting, listening, adjusting, listening, balancing…it’s a full-body discipline, and software alone can’t come close”.
The controller sports ten faders, which can be configured to control volume levels, high and low cut filter values, drive and drive character (with emulated desk saturation) and more. The interface then allows for switching which ten channels you can control, catering for whole mixes that boast hundreds of channels. The faders are touch-sensitive and motorised, to provide a “premium and professional feel and feedback”, Softube say, “while the weight powder-coated steel chassis means durability and substance”.
A single knob on the Console 1 Fader offers pan control on every track, but also offers a spatialising tool that can widen or consolidate individual tracks. Layer Mode allows the user to create layers of tracks, to then be adjusted all at once, be it with volume, filter, drive or other parameter.
The Console 1 Fader can be used in conjunction with the original Console 1 channel strip to provide a “complete desk experience”, according to Softube. It’s also compatible with all major DAWs straight out of the box, without having to map MIDI commands.
Softube’s Console 1 Fader is listed at €599, and you can find out more at softube.com