FOH engineer Christian Ruppel reports: "In a nutshell the PRO6 makes my job a whole lot easier. It is a networked audio system. For a production like Afrika! Afrika! that has one considerable advantage: it lets me shift signal paths effortlessly from A to B. In large venues that is particularly helpful."
Another plus in Ruppel's view are the freely configurable POP groups: "Here it's just a case of assembling the relevant inputs. For each song, for example, I've created a separate POP group composed of all the most important inputs: the bass and snare from the drum set, say, plus the bass, guitar, keyboard and soloists. Then, each time I call up the scene, the relevant faders are directly there on the interface. You no longer need to jump to a particular layer, which simplifies things considerably."
The decision in favour of the PRO6 was taken at the last minute. "Before making a purchase, we scoured the market and tested all the serious contenders," says Ruppel. "In fact, we had already made a decision when our attention was drawn to a newcomer: the PRO6. At first, I was somewhat sceptical as to whether 16 faders would suffice. Now I know I can nearly always manage with 12, and I know, too, that the PRO6 is far superior to all the other desks we tested."
(Jim Evans)
