the Trident Di-An
I would've had other color pictures, and much better ones too, if my documentation hadn't been "permanently borrowed" !!!

I dont' remember who pioneered the digitally controlled analog console concept in the early 80s : SAJE with the MEMORY (a console designed to handle complex live shows), or TRIDENT (with the DI-AN). For me, the DI-AN (DIgital ANalogue) will long remain the most adapted concole for studio work... at least on paper (otherwise it wouldn't be in this section !).

To fully appreciate all the subtelties of the machine, I highly recommend you read about the differences between a traditional analogue console and a digitally controlled analogue console.

Almost 10 years later, another manufacturer will join the concept, adding a color video monitor and... revelation : the world discovers the EUPHONIX, that many so called journalists will nickname "the first digitally controlled analogue console." How many heart strokes must the owners of TRIDENT (UK) or SAJE (France) have had when reading such bullcrap, especially when it's printed in magazines of your own country !!! We seldom have the chance to brag about a french console, and now that there is one and a damn good one too, there are always idiots in France to believe that it's better as long as it's american or brittish.

Indeed, the Euphonix little red ball representing the VCA gain, gliding on the transfer curve of the compressor, leaving its trajectory according to attack and release times, is very nice to watch... very pedagogical. But to me, a well designed console doesn't need a video screen to be fully efficient. Manufacturers seem to quickly 'compensate' a poorly designed user interface by adding screens all over the place which, of course, impress the stroller in 'pro' audio shows. I don't want to sound like a 'has-been' either, like this famous producer who, in 1979, standing in front of one of the first SSL SL4000 E, quoted what would become one of the most memorable audiovisual citation :

"a console with a TV in it will never be successful" !

More that two decades later, it is still the console you're most liable to find in a studio (the 4000 G being only a variation) !!! I reckon that a screen is indispensable on a console whose user interface hasn't been designed trying to avoid using one ! But video screen = glare. It's almost impossible on a SONY Oxford, a NEVE Capricorn or any other multi-screen console, to visualize them all without a glare problem. Unless you've really studied your control room lighting. Shit ! There goes the ceiling to change the lights, or even more pitiful, the skylight your studio was so proud of. All of that, of course, so you can operate the damn console since without its screens, it is useless !!!

On the DI-An, as I was saying, no video screen.
My oh my ! We won't be able to work on sound with it then ?

The DI-AN's automatic gain setting, for example, remains a unique concept that no other manuafturer, as far as I know, thought would be interesting to implement on their models. The idea is as follows : you've set-up a complex jazz recording session. You've cabled about 30 mikes. You press on ONE BUTTON in the center section. You then ask your musicians to perform the loudest part they intend to play and... as you twiddle your thumbs, each input gain sets itself at 3dB from clipping. Without a video screen ! You're ready to record.  


Input (left) and routeing (right) Pannel. Note the pan settings (bottom) with its two lateral buttons and its pan position display.



EQ pannel with its 4 memories (bottom right)

  Another hefty improvement over ordinary consoles of the time (the eighties !!!) : the EQ pannel offers 4 fully parametric bands, plus two filters, which is already quite interesting. But the icing on the cake is that 4 complete configurations can be memorized (A, B, C & D), to compare, automate, etc...
But there's more. The monitor section, usually deprived of everything on the typical in-line console in those days, has its own EQ pannel, identical in its characteristics !
And if the moitoring mix during a recording sounds great and you want to be sure to get the same sound in the channels for the final mix, a copy function is provided !!!

24 aux sends per channel, 24 aux sends per monitor. In fact, the level of aux send 1 and 13 are joined, and so forth. You still have 12 independant sends per signal path, with 12 others mirroring them !

The pannels can be laid out as you wish on the control surface
(see photo below) which enables you to reach all the controls without leaving your seat.

Finally, the ubiquitous computer keyboard with which you'll name the 512 configurations you can memorize, 128 of these can be used during the same mix, etc. etc... Note the two floppy disk drives on the control surface
(top left).
 


Aux Send
pannel


Top view, with a nice wide-angle photography job considering the size of the beast !

"So why was it a big commercial flop ?"

First of all, it sports "only" 32 group-outs, which isn't really a handicap for most "rock" recording sessions, but could get tricky in jazz or classical sessions. The upcoming of the 48 channel DASH format will encourage manufacturers to implement 48 busses on their consoles.

Faithful to the concept of the console, you couldn't mute two faders at the same time on the very first versions !!! They quickly changed that on the following versions. The advantage of such a design concept is that a few additional lines of computer codes can instantly change the behavior of the console, the manufacturer implementing the most interesting end-user input.

It will also become the most classical lie of all manufacturers : "don't worry, we can update that by software on the next versions !"

But what really caused the lack of success of this jewel, besides a user interface that can seem baffling to the slow witted, were the updating problems (that stupid muting detail, for example) and the on-site installation. There hasn't been a lot sold around the world. Maybe 5 !!! I know there's one at Goodnight L.A. Studios, home of Keith Olsen (Fleetwood Mac, Foreigner, Pat Benatar, Whitesnake, ...) who recently produced Emerson Lake & Palmer's In the Hot Seat, and another one in England, at Paul Travers' Music Room.

There's a fine concept, burried too soon, and unearthed for you by the archeologists of the Jurassic Audio Park.