Sound Sculpture
Switchblade 16
Product Review
Reprinted in it's entirety by permission from Electronic Musician Magazine,
November 1994
Written by Peter Freeman
The state of the art in programmable audio signal-routing.
For years, musicians and engineers have searched for an effortless and
effective way to coordinate multiple effects devices. Comprehensive switching
systems have been available from elite designers, but they are extremely
expensive. Products such as Uptown Technologies' Flash and the consumer
version of Custom Audio Electronics' near-legendary system help the situation,
but only partly. There remained a need for a high-powered, comprehensive
audio switcher designed for stage and studio.
Enter Sound Sculpture Musical Instrument Products, a company with an
apparently innate understanding of what a high-end switcher should be.
The Colorado-based company's Switchblade-16 provides 16 x 16 audio switching,
with full MIDI control. Any combination of inputs can be routed to any
combination of outputs. Up to 32 matrix connections between inputs and
outputs can be established, so if you assign all sixteen inputs to outputs
1 and 2, you have reached the limit.
The 1U rack-mount box offers lots of surprising features, too, including
control of amplifier channel-switching, input/output naming for easier
programming, and internal sweep LFOs that can be applied to the gain of
any input or output.
A CONCEALED WEAPON
The Switchblade-16 appears simple, with just four front-panel buttons
(Down, Up/Do It, Select, and Mode) and a 40 character by 2-line, backlit
LCD display. Access to the unit's functions is provided via software pages.
The unit's 32 1/4-inch input and output jacks are mounted on the rear
panel, along with MIDI In (with merging) and Out/Thru connectors. (The
latter usually operates in Thru mode and automatically switches to Out
for SysEx dumps.) Four stereo, 1/4-inch jacks connect to eight internal
relays for footswitch-controlled, guitar amp channel switching. A fifth
stereo jack admits a single or dual footswitch for stepping through presets.
THE CUTTING EDGE
The Switchblade has three programming modes: Preset, Setup, and Preset
Manager. In Preset mode, you define connections between inputs and outputs
and set the individual gain of each connection. Setup mode provides housekeeping
functions, for example naming inputs and outputs, defining switching times,
and MIDI SysEx dump and load.
The Preset Manager is a special area of memory that holds up to twenty
banks of ten presets each, which is especially useful for live performance.
You can sequentially step through the presets within a bank, so it's best
to load the presets in the order you want to call them up. When you increment
beyond the last preset in a bank, the Switchblade cycles back to the first
preset, even if you didn't completely fill the bank. A single footswitch
increments to the next preset in the current bank. With a dual footswitch,
the second footswitch increments the bank.
A Review function in the Matrix Programming menu lets you examine all
patches and gains in the current preset. This convenient feature makes
it a snap to keep track of what you're doing while creating a preset.
Another extremely cool programming aid is the ability to set up connections
within the Switchblade by device name, rather than by jack number. Configuring
complex signal paths becomes simple, fast, and highly intuitive, with most
of the process performed in the first two pages of Preset Mode. Select
a source and destination by name, then define the connection's gain, selectable
in 3 dB increments from -42 dB to + 6 dB.
During programming, two asterisks appear on the display if the source
currently selected on the routing page is clipping its input channel. This
box has plenty of headroom; I had to go out of my way to clip it.
Gain also can be controlled with MIDI continuous controllers, or by
a group of four internal LFOs. There are four Autosweep modes: Off, Smooth
Sweep (single LFO), Multi Pan, and One Shot. In Multi Pan, the four LFOs
are applied to the switcher inputs in groups of four: LFO 1 modulates input
1, LFO 2 affects input 2, etc. LFO rates are inversely proportional to
LFO number, with LFO 2 sweeping half as fast as LFO 1, LFO 3 one-third
as fast, and so on. One Shot Sweep is a nonrepeating sweep triggered whenever
a preset is selected that includes this function.
Input 1 includes a preamp to boost low-level sources to line level.
Used with a low-level guitar, the preamp stage proved clean, adding no
perceptible noise.
Achieving fast, smooth transitions between configurations is an issue
in most audio switching devices. Sound Sculpture solved this problem through
intelligent software. When the Switchblade receives a Program Change command,
it examines the current matrix and only switches connections that have
changed, rather than blindly clearing the matrix and starting from scratch.
Switching time is adjustable from 0 ms to 1 second, in 100 ms increments.
In practice, the unit moved smoothly from preset to preset, and I was pleased
by its performance in this regard. The unit is quite clean, too; the only
audible artifacts during switching were caused by my signal processors.
MIDI-CONTROLLED MAYHEM
Switchblade has the most impressive MIDI implementation I've seen in
a device of this type. Besides responding to MIDI Program Change commands,
the Switchblade sends out up to sixteen separate, channelized Program Changes
when a preset is selected, so you can change both the routing configurations
and the programs of your MIDI-controlled effects. Gain for the individual
connections in a Preset can be adjusted by either of two user-defined MIDI
continuous controllers.
The entire contents of the unit's memory can be saved and loaded via
System Exclusive. In addition, you can use SysEx messages to set up the
Switchblade's connection and control matrix. A Clear Matrix command opens
all connections. From there, you build a custom matrix by adding connections
and assigning them to MIDI Control Change (CC) commands, letting you control
both connections and gain from your sequencer. You can even assign two
controllers to a given connection via SysEx.
Since I received the review unit, Sound Sculpture has significantly
extended the MIDI control. Control Changes 0 to 31 now assign a logarithmic
audio taper curve for better resolution at the lower part of your MIDI
controller's travel. This means the level doesn't drop off as quickly as
with a linear curve. CC messages 32 to 63 assign a modified (8-bit, rather
than 7-bit), linear gain curve.
Another SysEx command applies a reverse slope to selected connections
that have been assigned to CC 32 to 63. This, combined with the ability
to assign two controllers to the same connection and the same controller
to multiple connections, enables sophisticated panning and crossfading
effects.
A detailed MIDI implementation chart is provided at the back of the
manual, paving the way for software developers to write Switchblade editor/librarian
programs. I tested the Switchblade in a moderately elaborate guitar rig
containing two reverbs, a delay unit, a distortion box, a phase shifter,
a ring modulator, and one or two other stomp boxes. After connecting these
to the Switchblade and naming the inputs and outputs, I was quickly able
to set up complex series/parallel chains of effects I had been after for
ages.
The whole process was quick and intuitive, and I was soon controlling
the unit (both in terms of patch changes and gain sweeps) via MIDI. It
worked like a charm. I encountered no problems whatsoever while operating
the Switchblade-16, either manually or via MIDI.
A SHARP BLADE
The Switchblade single-handedly solved all the switching and routing
problems I have grappled with in my live setup, and it did so smoothly
and easily. I've been looking for a device like this for a long time. The
amplifier channel-switching options and internal LFOs are icing on a very
attractive cake.
Complaints? The box worked so well that there's little I'd be inclined
to change. My one wish was for more hardware controls on the unit's front
panel to eliminate some of the page jockeying in programming. But once
learned, the process is no big deal. Additional knobs and switches might
also have driven up the already considerable price.
Though not a masterpiece of graphic design, the Switchblade manual told
me all I needed to know. It's short but informative. As it turned out,
the unit's operation was less complex than I had imagined, and the brief
document was adequate.
This is the Rolls Royce of commercial effects switching boxes, with
a price to match. But if you need absolute routing flexibility in your
setup, a large number of inputs and outputs, MIDI control, and programmability,
the Switchblade-16 is the only choice.
EM METERS RATING PRODUCTS FROM 1 TO 5
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FEATURES 4 1/2
EASE OF USE 4
DOCUMENTATION 3
VALUE 3 1/2
Peter Freeman is a freelance bassist/synthesist and composer.
He
has worked with John Cale, Jon Hassell, Chris Spedding, L. Shankar, Sussan
Deihim, and Richard Horowitz.
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