Industry leader Solid State Logic enters the home recording studio market with 2 new “class leading” audio interfaces.
In this post we compare the SSL2 vs SSL2+ based on price, and technical specifications.
SSL is well known for their high end – high price analogue studio gear such as the SSL Series Bus Compressors, and Mixing Consoles that will set you back tens of thousands. Gear that us bedroom producers can only dream of one day owning.
This might all change with the new SSL2 and SSL2 + audio interfaces. These puppies contain all the SSL wizardry under the hood including Legacy 4K analogue enhancement, high-end studio quality monitoring and a neat little SSL Production Pack software bundle, all at an affordable price point.
SSL2 vs SSL2+ – Price & Specifications
SSL2
- 2-Inputs / 2-Outputs
- 2 SSL mic preamps
- Legacy 4K analogue colour enhancement
- 1 x Headphone output
- 24-bit / 192 kHz AD/DA AKM Converters
- Balanced outputs
- USB 2.0 powered
RRP: $229
SSL2+
- 2-Inputs / 4-Outputs
- MIDI in/out
- 2 SSL mic preamps
- Legacy 4K analogue colour enhancement
- 2 x Headphone outputs
- 24-bit / 192 kHz AD/DA AKM Converters
- Balanced outputs
- Additional unbalanced outputs for DJ mixers
- USB 2.0 powered
RRP: $279
The SSL 4K Analogue Enhancement
This is where the real power of these little interfaces comes in to play.
If you’ve been in the game for a while you most probably would have at some point heard someone talking fondly about SSL consoles.
You probably would have heard two facts:
- They are expensive – In particular the SSL 4k or 4000 series console can go for around £15-20k
- They have highly desirable unique sonic characteristics – The way the desks were designed and built caused a bright, subtle harmonic distortion to be applied to the audio signal running through it. The result was that it transformed boring, dull sounds in to something bright, warm and unique.
The high price point of these consoles meant that not every average Joe could achieve this sound, which in turn added to the exclusivity and desirability of it.
The Legacy 4K button on the SSL2 and SSL2+ takes the audio input signal and applies these warm and bright sonic characteristics to it, breathing life into otherwise lifeless sounds. And you get this plus a whole lot more for just a few hundred dollars.
These are strong claims to make and I can’t wait to test this feature out for myself to see just how good they sound.
Hear it in action with this live recording of Katie Nicholas’ track ‘Chemistry’.
Mic Preamps
The SSL2 and SSL2+ come with two class-leading mic preamps. A combination of Integrated Circuits and discrete low-noise transistors. This results in exceptional noise performance (-130.5 db EIN) and a massive 62dB gain range.
SSL Production Pack at a glance
Both the SSL2 and SSL2+ come with a jaw dropping suite of tools they call The SSL Production Pack.
Whats inside?
- SSL Native™ Vocalstrip 2 & Drumstrip plug-ins + a 6 month trial of the complete suite
- Avid®Pro Tools® | First + an exclusive SSL collection of 23 AAX plug-ins including the Classic Compressor Bundle: BF-2A, BF-3A, Purple Audio MC77, Fairchild 660 and Fairchild 670.
- Ableton®Live Lite™
- Native Instruments® Hybrid Keys & Komplete Start
- 1.5GB Samples from Loopcloud®
Whats a bit disappointing is you only get the Classic Compressor Bundle in AAX format (for ProTools). If they also came in VST, this purchase would have been a no-brainer for me.
Conclusion
It’s really hard to draw a solid conclusion without actually using one myself, but the sales pitch is extremely compelling. If they walk the talk then I truly believe these interfaces will become the new standard go to in the under $300 bracket.
If you are producer who literally never records vocals or instruments live then I don’t really see any huge benefit in using these over other brands in the same price bracket.
If you do however record instruments and vocals then it would seem pretty crazy to me not to consider these as a first option.
At the time of writing they are only available on pre-order from Sweetwater but I will update this post when they are available.
