Britain has always shown a healthy pre-eminence in the design and manufacture of sound mixing consoles. Far be it from me to wave the stiff and starchy flag of jingoism but, well I mean to say, well done the chaps.

While the likes of Neve and SSL are busy catering to the more glamourous installations of the world, Soundcraft are busy taking good care of the more work-a-day professional 16/24-track market with an ever more refined line of excellent quality/value consoles. Having recently shelled out 3/4 million sovs on a new factory and R&D installation in Boreham Wood the Soundcraft profile is looking ever sleeker, and back orders are apparently running into the £millions.

Having rattled on so obsequiously about the immeasurable worth of all things carrying the Soundcraft stamp, I have to say that on receipt of a review model of the original Series 200 console, back in September 1983, I found the thing to be an adequate, solid mixer, etc, but nothing very exciting. How then does this mark II model, the 200B, differ that it might raise a glimmer of passion in a potential customer's eye?

The Greying of Experience

There is a profound greyness about the 200B that was not there in its unpleasantly brown predecessor. Those familiar with Soundcraft's TS24 in-line console will be acquainted with this new face of regal sobriety, and those less exposed will at once acknowledge the absolute rightness of this cosmetic change. I'm still not sure why a colour scheme that looks so well on larger consoles fails to please when applied to a simpler format. The fact is that this fine new raven hue is to gradually work its way across the face of all Soundcraft mixers in the coming months. The 2400 will probably have gone grey by the time you read this, and the new 800C (imminent successor to the 800B) will never know any other colour.

Another simple but important change is the raking of the control panel. The surface of the 200 ran parallel with the surface upon which it was placed thus limiting visibility of controls and meters. The 200B has a sensibly sloped control panel which, together with its new colour scheme, lends it a new and welcome air of professional sleekness lacking in the older model.

The modular construction of the 200B has been designed for versatility and like its forerunner will find its way into many facets of the industry including PA, multitrack, video, and audio/visual production. It offers four group outputs with eight tape monitor channels and a choice of three frame sizes with room for up to 8, 16 or 24 input channels with the eight channel version being available in 19" rackmounting form. Metering is via four large, illuminated VU's switchable to read group outputs, tape returns, auxiliary sends or the main stereo mix bus. Prices quoted above assume a full complement of input modules although it will suit many users to buy a larger frame size, initially only partially filled with modules, thus allowing for future expansion. In this case the relevant price can be calculated by subtracting £50 per absent module. The PSU is separate and is included in the price.

The input section, then, is fully modular, meaning that by simply removing a couple of screws each channel can be lifted out of the frame allowing easy on-site maintenance or despatch to an outside service agency. The group and master stereo channels are not modular as such in that they share the same surface panel, however the circuitry for each channel resides on its own individual PCB (printed circuit board) which is connected to the rest of the desk by ribbon cables and push-on connectors. Thus by simply removing a few knobs and screws a channel can be easily lifted out, or indeed it could be tested in-place with a simple cable loom. A pleasing compromise.

The Input Channel

The controls on the input channels are very similar to the original 200: an electronically balanced mike input on an XLR connector with a -20dB pad plus a -30dB pad reducing sensitivity to produce a balanced line input on a stereo jack. A single input trim control effects both inputs. The eq section is four-band fixed at the same old centre frequencies of 60Hz, 250Hz, 5kHz and 12kHz and offering ±15dB of gain with wonderfully smooth, centre-detented pots. I can only repeat my original comment concerning the choice of four-band fixed over three-band with sweepable mid: it's all a matter of taste and application. I continue to be a little concerned with the huge gap between 250Hz and 5kHz — what about all those cheap, honky sounding instruments and boxy rooms that cry out for a dip around the 700Hz to 1.4kHz? On the other hand the 200B's controls are very sweet in operation and definitely help to achieve a 'musical' effect without too much effort or consideration. It's interesting that a lower frequency of 60Hz is chosen, presumably in accordance with the US mains frequency (earth hums etc), as opposed to our very own 50Hz national grid. This undoubtedly shows where Soundcraft's larger market is. There is soon to be available an upmarket alternative input module featuring the well established Soundcraft four-band eq section with two sweepable mid bands. For theatre, broadcast and other relevant applications there is also a stereo input module.

The same generous quota of four auxiliary sends can be found on the 200B and it is still possible, via a system of internal push-on links, to set them up in pairs to be: 1) Pre-eq and pre-fade. 2) Post-eq and pre-fade. 3) Post-eq and post-fade. For normal multitrack applications it would be usual to have one pair set as per option '2' for foldback with the other pair as per option '3' for effects sends. However, should you need to record more than four tracks simultaneously, it would be quite feasible to use them all set to option '3' as extra group outputs. Also, for theatre applications, there may be a whole host of destinations in need of feeds for secondary sound systems and thus the flexibility is an important asset.

Below the centre-detented pan pot are the three routing buttons. Note that there are now three of them as opposed to the miserly two found on the 200 which sadly failed to provide a means of routing to the main stereo mix outputs without going via a pair of group outputs. The addition is of quite fundamental importance making it now possible to use the input channels for tape playback monitoring during overdubbing and effectively providing another stereo group facility for PA applications. The three buttons are now marked MIX, 1-2 and 3-4.

About This Concept...

This concept of using input channels for tape playback is very well established and offers the considerable advantages of eq, auxiliary sends and nice long faders rather than rotary level pots. It is also a matter of fact that final mixdowns will be accomplished via the main input channels and thus they will eventually need to receive the outputs of the multitrack. With this in mind it is fairly common practice to have a 'remix' button on each channel which reroutes the tape returns accordingly, or alternatively a less costly and very workable method is to 'normal' (connect via a switching jack socket) a console's tape return sockets with the first or last eight/16 or 24 line input sockets so that unless something is actually plugged into one of the line inputs, it will automatically be receiving the multitrack playback. Soundcraft themselves do this on their larger consoles but inexplicably they have omitted to do it on the 200B. In practise this means that you are forced to reach round the back of the console and replug the tape-return cables for each track you wish to bring up on an input channel, and even if you stick with the monitor section all the way through overdubbing, you will certainly have to replug for mixdown. Although the situation could be alleviated to some degree by the use of a patch bay, it really is madness, and I have little doubt that Soundcraft will be looking at correcting the situation in the future.

If your main intention is that of eight-track work then you would ideally need at least 10 input channels as there are no dedicated effects returns. This means that in order to record effects to multitrack you will need to use a spare channel as a return. This may or may not cause any difficulty, but it will almost certainly cause some considerable inconvenience and repatching. As with all Soundcraft multitrack consoles it is possible to use the subgroups as effects returns to the stereo buss, either on mixdown, or during overdubbing, assuming that by this stage you were using some of the main input channels for tape monitoring. This doesn't solve the problem of recording effects to the multitrack, however, as it only allows effects returns to be routed to the stereo busses and not the group outputs. Bearing in mind that you are very likely to have several effects units in circuit during mixdown, it should come as no surprise that you really need more than eight input channels for eight-track recording, whether you're using Soundcraft equipment or not.

An operationally very quiet channel on/off button (with associated status LED), a mono PFL button and a superbly smooth 100mm fader complete the input channel controls. The PFL button has a single 'PFL On' indicator LED to the right of the board to help avoid those embarrassing moments when you can't understand why nothing's coming through the speakers.

Insert points are available on single stereo jacks (tip send, ring return) on all input channels and the main stereo outputs, although not on the group outputs. The input channel inserts can be used as direct outputs although since they are taken pre-fade, you don't have the benefits of level control or metering at the mixer end, and must rely on the multitrack for such facilities.

The monitor section includes level and pan controls plus auxiliary send one (pre-fade), primarily for foldback. There are four master auxiliary send controls each with an AFL button to check the condition of what you're sending. A tiny electret condenser mike built into the desk feeds a talkback system that can feed either the auxiliary circuits (foldback) or the auxiliaries and the group outputs allowing easy slating (commentary recorded to tape: 'intro take one', etc).

A 1 kHz test tone oscillator is included, which is useful although the addition of 100Hz and 10kHz settings would have been easy and very helpful.

Unlike on its predecessor, the 200B has separate control room monitor outputs, making it possible to control the listening level independently of the level going to the stereo master machine.

Final Word

The 200B is sonically very good indeed, and will be a joy to use assuming that you have enough input channels to suite your multitrack/effects return purposes and that you create a switching/patching system to get the tape returns into the inputs channels easily for overdubbing and mixdown. With those reservations, this console comes highly recommended.

RRP: 8:4 £1,552.50, 16:4 £2,185.00, 24:8 £2,875.00