Virtual Console Collection

Despite the digital revolution in the audio industry, many of today's top commercial albums are still mixed on analog consoles. Audio engineers rely on analog mixing to provide the nonlinear musical qualities that digital mixing does not produce. "When you mix through an analog desk you get this life and body to the sound that just doesn't happen when you mix inside the workstation. The separation and imaging from the analog summing is very apparent, especially when your track count gets high" remarks mixer Jay Baumgardner (Papa Roach, Evanescence).

Over the past ten years, multiple audio manufacturers have produced simplified analog summing boxes that allow DAW users to get the benefits of analog mixing without having to use a full fledged analog desk. In 2001, Steven Slate made his mark in the analog summing world by commissioning Roll Music Systems to design and manufacture a custom analog summing box that was later named the FOLCROM. The FOLCROM continues to be one of the most popular analog summing boxes on the market, used by mixer Mike Shipley and other top names. Now in 2009, Slate once again stirs up the analog summing world, this time in the digital domain.

The Slate Digital "VIRTUAL CONSOLE COLLECTION" brings the sound of 6 of the world's top analog consoles into your DAW workstation. "Slate Digital CTO Fabrice Gabriel and I studied these consoles inside and out. We meticulously modeled the entire circuit path so that we could recreate every subtle nuance that makes these consoles the legends that they are", says Slate.
The VIRTUAL CONSOLE COLLECTION consists of two plugins, Virtual Channel and Virtual Mixbuss. Each plugin allows the user to choose from one of six modeled consoles. Virtual Channel is applied on individual mixing channels. Virtual Mixbuss goes on the first insert of the master fader. "When using the Virtual Console Collection, your DAW instantly takes on the personality of a real analog mixing desk. The imaging and depth improves, instruments sit better in the frequency spectrum, and mixing becomes easier and more musical. You can even push the DAW faders up to find each mixer's "sweet spot", says Slate.