I think it’s something you touched on in your bluebox review (which was awesome BTW). The SiX is cool because it’s all been worked out for you by people who really know their onions. The byproduct of which is that you lose a lot of versatility. If you want to warm your mixes up, it’s great, but the Heat just does so much more, albeit limited to a single stereo i/o.
I guess it’s all a game of choosing your limitations, but I’d always rather go with something that gives me the room to find my own sound within those limitations than have a particular sound (however nice) thrust upon me.
This sounds like I’m down on the SiX, I’m not, I’m just very pro Heat.
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Thanks for your kind words on my review 
Ironically, I left the Heat because even when I used it in clean boost mode and applied very little color, just working mostly the EQ and the envelopes for compression-style fx, I always felt it was there you know, always present. I kind of feel the same with the SiX now, as you say. Especially the bus compressor, it sounds fantastic, but it always sounds fantastic in the same way
I’m missing more than anything else, the subtle variations the Heat added, the slight shifts the LFO’s could apply, setting the envelope to be slightly unpredictable yet not crazy. And the eq was really very efficient in just getting the mix in shape.
All the physical options of the SiX make me feel I don’t use it as much as I should sometimes, but if I think a mix sounds fine in stereo, I don’t want to route it into splits and stuff. Yet, with the options present, I’m like - “I got an SSL board here. And I’m only using ch1 and 2? I’m gonna get arrested for this.”
It’s like you say, you trade one straight forward approach for another.
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My master bus chain these days is Oto Boum (usually with the mix knob around 50/50) into the SSL SiX G-Bus compressor, then I normalize the recorded output, add a limiter and dithering plugin, and I’m done. Very happy with this setup.
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You’re not alone. I do like my SiX setup as well, but it’s hard not to think it’s overkill. I think I’m going to stick with it a few more months, then re-evaluate. My overall gear journey has me leaning towards simplifying, at which point a nice mixer like the SiX might become unnecessary. I guess I’d never know unless I tried it out, so there’s value in that. It does a nice job, that’s for sure.
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I love the RNC, but usually record through it to tame peaks in the most transparent way possible (Really Nice mode). I need to try mixing down through it though, I imagine it has the same benefits.
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another advantage with the AH is to abuse it as some sort of dynamic EQ, but with care
i wish Elektron would take the concept of the AH a bit further, less circuits but with more options
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I don’t own any (worthwhile) hardware compressors, but I usually will use some kind of Vari-Mu compressor on the 2-bus to glue things together. (UAD Manley Varimu, but Klanghelm’s MJUC is also nice and cheap).
Someone mentioned mixing into a compressor and no longer doing that. I agree with that. I’d recommend mixing your elements to a point where you start to feel good about your mix and THEN place the compressor onto your mix bus and continue mixing into the compressor until you are satisfied with it.
I find that the right compressor on the mix bus will glue things together nicely and often can give the mix some subtle but noticeable added energy. Distortion or filtering on the master is a little more iffy in my book, I prefer to add those on track / bus level (unless it’s subtle tape emulation to further glue together a mix).
Th RNC / RNLA are decent value-for-money. I figured at this price range I’m better off with my plugins where needed though. The RNLA adds more character, the RNC is more transparent, in case you’re trying to decide between these two.
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Oh yeah, the SiX is a great kit. But it does feel sometimes like it’s a way for us line input-only people to feel cooler than we really are
I am eyeing the Oto Boum though, there’s one or two telling me that’s a viable option to the Heat depending on what you’re after. I’m mainly after compression and frequency management, eq style, limiting and stuff. But with perhaps more options than a super charged SSL SiX might offer, and with fewer of the options the SiX offers that I’m just to uncool to use.
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how much do you compress? I´m letting the needle on the UAD SSL bearly move … so it´s maybe 0.5 or max 1db (or even less). I feel even when the needle is not moving at all it already does some kind of magic souce to the sound.
But then I heard a comparission between the Succsecor and the UAD SSL and pfff. The hardware sounded much more open on the highs.
Is anyone using this Heritage Succsesor compressor? Or the Warm Audio Bus Comp?
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Aren’t we all! 
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You know I’ll get one if you do. I know you’ll get one if I do 
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what do you mean? to your aux send to apply to spefic channel on your mix board?
thank you
Just ordered the Heritage Successor a few days ago, but looks like they are back ordered until January 
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Agreed
Also the latest update (3.0) of Rough Rider can lead to surprising results… Well sometimes from the dark side
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Oooo no you didn’t 
Looking good, tho. Real good 
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I have my Syntrx on a master bus currently, the internal routing is super flexible so you can do a lot while still taking advantage of it as a mono synth.
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I haven’t looked at this thread in quite a while, but there may be some products listed that catch your eye.
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For people that don’t want to learn sound engeneering but have a decent master, you could check this plugin from Plugin Alliance : bx_masterdesk.
30$ with the code XMAS20-BXMD
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For years I was running everything through the heat, loved the results but after a while I became distracted by the sonic footprint it imparted. Since getting a better laptop which can run OB smoothly i’ve been using it more on busses and as the killer distortion it was born to be!
I really like using the UAD ATR-102, Pultec EQs, and SSL G bus comp on the master once i’ve got a mix going. They are much more transparent and offer a good range of sculpting options to tie everything together.
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