Soundscape SSHDR1+

If you don't fancy struggling to get a 'PC plus soundcard' hard disk recording setup working reliably, you might be interested in a system where pre‑configured external hardware shoulders all the complex processing, while your PC just stays in charge. Martin Walker explores the Soundscape solution.

Soundscape's SSHDR1+ is a digital recording package comprising a hardware unit and a software front end, which runs on a Windows 95 or NT‑compatible PC, and provides a full‑screen editing environment that can run alongside your existing MIDI sequencer. The system offers 12‑track playback from its internal hard disk drive, along with digital mixing, editing and real‑time effects.

Normally, the biggest problem with using PCs for hard disk recording is that the audio circuitry sits on a soundcard in the PC's case alongside video cards, hard disk controllers, and sundry other add‑on expansion cards. Exposed to all these sources of potential interference, it is hardly surprising that when you turn up the output of the soundcard, you can hear assorted hisses, hums and whistles, along with occasional ticking noises in time with processor or hard disk activity. PCs were just never designed with audio in mind, although the latest soundcards have far better performance than their predecessors (for more on this, see the article on soundcards.html).

Wouldn't it be lovely to use the PC to do what it does best — provide a large‑screen editing environment, and access to industry‑standard MIDI sequencing packages — but use a much higher quality box for the audio part of your work? Soundscape went one further than this with their SSHDR1: rather than rely on a high‑performance PC with a fast hard disk drive, they incorporated a hard drive into a box of their own, which also contains the necessary digital I/O hardware and DSP power to handle the audio processing. This neatly avoids the potential problems of sending two‑way streams of high‑speed multitrack audio data down a cable, and expecting the PC to ferry it to an internal hard disk that already holds thousands of other files. Soundscape's approach also means that the PC itself can be far less powerful, since it doesn't require a fast internal hard drive, fast access to another external drive or tons of on‑board DSP to do the signal processing; all it has to cope with is system management; sending out occasional commands, and then putting its feet up until the next change is required.

Soundscape first introduced its SSHDR1 back in 1993 (see Brian Heywood's review in the September issue in that year), and since then it has gone from strength to strength. There are now nearly 5000 owners worldwide, and unlike the PC which controls it, the Soundscape system has an enviable reputation for reliability — in most cases, even if the PC crashes and needs rebooting, Soundscape will happily carry on playing or recording by itself, oblivious to the chaos at the other end of the cables. One of the reasons that so many people have stuck with it is its potential for expansion, and whenever new hardware features or operating systems have been announced, there has always been an upgrade path for existing users. Given that so many other hi‑tech music products are quietly dropped after a couple of years when the new model is introduced, this is a refreshing change in attitude.

New Features

The new SSHDR1+ system features new version 2.0 front‑end software, and the same basic hardware unit and ISA PC interface card as the original SSHDR1, but this is not just a software upgrade, as the hardware unit has an additional engine under its bonnet; the SSAC1 plug‑in accelerator card, which comes as standard with all new SSHDR1+ systems (the original, accelerator‑less SSHDR1 remains on sale alongside the new '+' system, and owners of the original SSHDR1 can buy the SSAC1 card and version 2.0 software separately, to bring their systems up to the spec of the SSHDR1+). The SSAC1 adds a huge amount of extra DSP power to the Soundscape system, together with a further potential eight channels of digital inputs and outputs in the form of a TDIF (Tascam Digital InterFace) socket. Once you have an SSHDR1+, you can easily daisy‑chain further hardware units, up to a maximum of 16. The multiple units can then be locked together with sample accuracy, giving a potential 192 playback channels. You certainly couldn't attempt this using any internal PC alternative.

In reaching version 2.0, Soundscape's front‑end software has been completely rewritten to take advantage of the SSAC1 accelerator. Version 2.0 is now 32‑bit, and for the first time, this means that Windows 95 is required (version 1.18, the most recent update of the previous software, will still run under Windows 3.1 if required). The main advantage of the new hardware/software combination is that you get four additional playback channels in software, bringing the total to 12, even though the SSHDR1+'s hardware unit retains the two analogue inputs and four analogue outputs of the original SSHDR1 (the 12 software playback channels are mixed down into four before being sent through the analogue outputs). If you want all 12 outputs to emerge from separate analogue sockets, you will need Soundscape's new SS8IO1 box (see the separate 'I/O Heaven' panel elsewhere in this article). The only caveat is that the hard drive you choose to fit into the Soundscape hardware (it's supplied without a disk drive) will need to be fast enough for all of this extra activity — an up‑to‑date list of approved drives can be supplied by Soundscape and their dealers.

For owners of the original system, the SSAC1 and v2.00 software bundle forms a cost‑effective upgrade (see the 'Pricing' box elsewhere in this article), especially considering the power of its on‑board DSP. Future software releases from third‑party vendors will also use the extra DSP power to provide more real‑time effects. No wonder users keep on upgrading!

Connecting It Up

The SSHDR1+ hardware provides unbalanced phono connectors, which can be switched between ‑10 and +4 levels with a small toggle switch on the rear panel. These will connect in much the same way as most 'prosumer' DAT machines, as well as ADAT recorders. There is a so‑called Pro version of the SSHDR1+, which features both balanced XLR inputs and outputs, but this comes at an extra £250 (standard SSHDR1+ systems can be upgraded to Pro versions with XLRs by Soundscape and many of their dealers). Digital connections are taken care of by a co‑axial S/PDIF input (2 channels), and a pair of S/PDIF outputs (4 channels in total), all using phono co‑axial sockets, although these are not the same as audio phonos, since they must use 75Ω digital cables for reliable results. To complete the array of rear‑panel connectors, there are a trio of MIDI sockets (In, Out and Thru) for sync duty, and three more digital sockets. The one labelled 'To' Host connects to the ISA PC interface card, while the so‑called Expansion Port is for future purposes (Soundscape plan a time‑division multiplex buss‑driven expansion chassis for release next year, which should offer both extra DSP processing power and extra I/O facilities, and will connect via this socket). Finally, located on the SSAC1 accelerator card, there is the TDIF connector, which allows the system to communicate digitally with the outside world.

The PC interface card, which fits in any ISA slot inside your PC, seems to be the same as in the original Soundscape, and so pre‑dates plug and play. It only needs a single I/O address to be set using the jumper switches on the card, and the default 250h (hex) value has been chosen wisely, as it is unlikely to conflict with anything else — there was certainly nothing here in my machine. There are no IRQ or DMA settings to make, so the PC hardware end of things is blissfully simple. Once the card is in place, a single ribbon cable connects the SSHDR1+ and the PC.

Thankfully, although there is a cooling fan within the Soundscape hardware's case, it is very quiet (it made less noise than my PC, which has low‑noise fans). In addition, most of what little noise there is emerges from the side‑intake grille, so once bolted into a rack, the unit should be quieter still.

v2.0 Software

The new Version 2.0 front‑end software is strictly for Windows 95 and NT only, so anyone still running the older version 1.18 with Windows 3.1 will have to install the Windows 95 operating system if they wish to upgrade. The entire program can fit on a single high‑density floppy disk, so it is quite feasible to download an upgrade from Soundscape's comprehensive web site (see URL details at the end of this review). My initial impressions were of a well‑designed screen interface, with clear button graphics, and more menu options than you can shake a stick at. One of the downsides of producing a 'lean' program is that Help files tend to be the first to go — in the version of the software that I received there was no Help file at all. Many people find context‑sensitive help even more useful, since you get an immediate explanation of a particular feature, without having to wade through the documentation. Still, as they always say, if all else fails, read the manual. Sadly, the v2.0 manual was not finished at the time of this review, so I had to rely on preliminary v2.0 release notes, and a manual for version 1.18, which did make initial exploration rather more long‑winded than expected. The version 2.0 software employs a new hard disk file format, but a software utility (SSCONVERT.EXE) is provided to convert v1.18 files into the equivalent 12‑track v2.0 equivalents, so anyone upgrading should find the process relatively painless. The v2.0 software will also read DAT backups produced with v1.18 software.

In essence, the main Arrange page follows the part‑based approach familiar from many other MIDI + Audio applications, with all the cutting, moving and pasting operations that you would expect. The v2.0 software now supports multiple hardware units in one Arrange window, which is a huge improvement. It also features a filing system that more closely resembles the Windows 95 Explorer, with longer, 64‑character filenames. Since the program is designed to be totally flexible, it can be configured to suit the user. Left and right mouse button presses can each be assigned to specific functions by clicking on the row of toolbar buttons near the top of the screen, and holding down the Alt key with the mouse buttons allows two further functions to be assigned, so that any four can be quickly accessed, without your mouse ever having to move from the main Arrange page. The toolbar itself (there can be up to nine of these) is also customisable — there's a Customise Tool page, which I also found to be a useful substitute for ToolTips (those little text boxes that appear if you hover over a particular button), as clicking on any of the buttons on this page gives a short description of its function. Overall, user‑definable software is loved by long‑term users, as they can adapt its operation to their own way of working. New users may initially find the flexibility slightly more confusing, but should see the benefits as they become more familiar with the package.

The Mixer

The most significant change in the new software is the v2.0 mixer. Even if the Arrange page shows lots of parts, and you press the Play button, no sound will be heard until a mixer has been Opened, (much as with 'real' hardware!). Two mixer display sizes are provided: on an 800 x 600 resolution screen, 'Full' will show a maximum of eight channels at a time, and 'Small' displays a narrower version of each channel, increasing the viewable total to 13. Although a couple of examples are provided to get you started, you can have as many mixer setups as you like, saving and loading them to your PC's hard disk. Each extra channel, EQ, send or return, meter or effect will take a certain amount of the system's DSP resources to operate, but since you can mute elements, you don't have to restrict yourself to 100% DSP power when you design your mixer — just mute any channels that you don't need at the time, to ensure that the running overhead never exceeds 100%.

You can create a new channel by selecting the Record tool, and then clicking on any blank spot in your Mixer page. All combinations from Mono In/Mono Out, up to Stereo In/Stereo Out are available, including Mono In/Mono to Stereo Out (to pan a mono signal onto a stereo buss), and Mono In/Stereo Out (to use stereo treatments such as reverb). Possible input sources include the two analogue inputs, and the eight TDIF digital ones. Outputs include the four analogue ones, and eight TDIF digital ones (these examples give the quoted maximum of 10 inputs and 12 outputs per unit).

The SSAC1 accelerator also provides 16 internal audio busses (per hardware unit in your system, that is) for routing. These busses are available singly (buss 1 to 16, for mono channels) or as eight pairs for stereo use (buss 1‑2, buss 3‑4, and so on up to buss 15‑16). You can choose the input and output routing of any channel using the Loudspeaker tool, and routing is always from top to bottom in a channel.

The other available tools for mixer use include Mute (switching out a complete channel will reduce the DSP overhead, whilst leaving your custom layout unaltered), Move (for transferring individual channels to other positions in your mixer), and Delete. This is a wonderfully flexible page, and since the mixer is completely separate from the arrangement, you can load and save them as you wish. By the way, if you get a message saying 'Mixer elements cannot overlap!', this simply means that the Mixer window needs vertically enlarging in order to fit the desired element where you want to place it (it took me some time to cotton on to this). Strangely, although the mixer window can be scrolled horizontally on a channel‑by‑channel basis, there is no vertical scroll, so if you want a whole stack of EQ and effects patched into some channels, it would seem a better idea to create several connected channels side by side. The basic EQ block is a 2‑band parametric, but of course if you need more control for a particular channel, you just slap in more EQ blocks.

Various optional DSP‑based effects can also be made available to the mixer. Soundscape themselves offer the so‑called Audio Toolbox option, which currently contains a chorus/flanger and a compressor/limiter/gate/expander (a phase‑shifter is due to follow soon, with a delay coming after that). The eventual plan is for all the Toolbox effects to be shipped in a disabled form with the SSHDR1+ system when purchased. On paying the Toolbox price (£235), Soundscape will send you a password to enable the effects. At the time of this review, my system only included the chorus/flanger, but the compressor/limiter/gate/expander should be shipping with new SSHDR1+ systems by the time you read this. Anyone who already has an SSHDR1+ who has paid for the Toolbox and received a password will be sent the newer effects free of charge as the Toolbox grows. There's also a third‑party, real‑time reverb now available from a company called Wave Mechanics, and a so‑called Time Module from Soundscape themselves (as the name suggests, this handles time‑stretching). Sadly, I didn't get a chance to play with either of these last two, but the potential for expansion of the processing options via third‑party software is an interesting one, and another plus point for the system.

Once you discard the notion of a default mixer, more flexible ways of working begin to pop into your head. For a start, as you progress through a mixdown, you could save in‑progress mixer snapshots as you go, so that you can backtrack if things go wrong. You could work on different remixes by creating a set of mixers, with different effects and levels, while accessing the same bank of musical tracks. For monitoring either inputs or outputs, you could even create a 12‑band spectrum analyser, by sending a single buss to 12 channels and setting the EQs accordingly. The possibilities are endless. According to Soundscape, the next step is to implement full MIDI mixer automation in a future software release — they are aiming for January 1998.

Conclusions

The Soundscape system already has an enviable reputation where it counts — among its existing users. Owners of the original SSHDR1 system are already upgrading in droves to the Plus version — it was several months before the review model finally appeared, simply because units were going out of the door as fast as Soundscape could make them!

When the original SSHDR1 unit appeared in 1993, internal PC soundcard audio was a bit of a joke by comparison, but Soundscape have more competition this time round. Some people might think that £3200 (not including the hard drive) is expensive, compared to building a similar‑spec system into a PC using the latest multi‑channel soundcards. However, the total cost of such a system is still more than many people suspect, especially once you budget for digital I/O and comparable‑quality converters in an external box. To duplicate the power of the new DSP accelerator card, your PC will also need to use one of the fastest processors available, or have other DSP capability built into its soundcard, which further bumps up the price.

The big problem with the DIY 'PC, soundcard, MIDI + Audio software' approach is the potential for system incompatibilities, unbalanced performance, or just plain poor audio quality. Some PC soundcards are released with huge promises, but purchasers are often still waiting for reliable drivers six months later. On the other hand, the integrated MIDI + Audio software solution is attractive, since there is no juggling of two screen displays, and no need to set up any sync between two applications. Even here, however, Soundscape can compete — the SSHDR1+ I/O and recording hardware is now supported as an option from within both Cakewalk Pro Audio and Logic Audio, so you could use one of these pieces of software as your integrated MIDI + Audio front‑end if you wish, while still recording via the external Soundscape hardware (see the 'Alternative Approaches' box).

Overall, Soundscape's SSHDR1+ is a mature and expandable system, which will appeal to many musicians looking for a primarily audio recording system, with the huge advantages of a large‑screen display. I suspect that many musicians now wish that they had taken the Soundscape route after embarking on the often long and tortuous path of the 'DIY' PC‑based hard disk recording system. If you want an open‑ended system with a professional audio spec, which does not require detailed knowledge of full‑duplex soundcard drivers, IRQs, and DMAs, and which is guaranteed to work now (not when the next version of the drivers appear!), then Soundscape should prove very attractive to you.