At Solid State Logic‘s headquarters in Oxford, England, sits a customized 48-channel Odyssey console built as a demonstration model — a curved ProStation center section flanked by 25-degree wings, a split meter bridge holding a central video screen, and enough real estate to remind anyone who walks in why large-format analog consoles still command a room. It’s also the clearest picture yet of Solid State Logic’s newest console, and the console answers a question analog studios have been asking for years: is it possible to get DAW-level session recall out of a board that’s genuinely, fully analog?
Odyssey is SSL’s answer. It looks and operates like a classic large-format analog console, but built around a patented technology SSL calls Active Analogue — circuitry that keeps every signal path in the analog domain while giving each control network-level precision and instant recall.
Earlier generations of digitally controlled analog consoles asked engineers to trade something to get recall: audio quality, ergonomics, power draw, or workflow speed. Odyssey’s Active Analogue processing is built to close that gap. The analog circuits are digitally controlled to a resolution of hundredths of a dB and individual hertz, so when a session is recalled, EQ curves, dynamics settings, and levels return with enough precision that engineers won’t hear the difference between a live setting and a recalled one. The display simplifies that to tenths of a dB for usability, but the recall accuracy underneath is finer than that.
For a studio juggling multiple clients or projects, that means a session can be saved, torn down, and rebuilt exactly as it was — in less time than it takes to reload a DAW session — without sacrificing the sound of a hands-on analog signal path.
Because the audio itself never touches a converter, Odyssey sidesteps the usual digital console concerns: no latency to work around during tracking, no clipping or sample-rate ceiling to manage, no sync issues between console and DAW. For engineers who track through analog specifically to avoid those headaches, that’s the whole point of the console.
Odyssey’s channel design follows the in-line, twin-path layout SSL veterans will recognize — separate record and monitor paths, each with independent input gain, output level, and a movable insert point. A few features worth knowing about:
Odyssey’s automation system, called O-Motion, uses a DAW plug-in to move control data back and forth between the console and the session. Fader moves and processing changes made on the console are recorded into the DAW’s own automation lanes or playlists, where they can be edited the same way audio or MIDI automation would be — including copying moves between sections of a song. The same automation format is shared with SSL’s Oracle console, which keeps projects portable between the two.
Session prep doesn’t have to happen at the console, either. The companion O-Control application suite — O-Setup, O-Session, and O-Verview — runs independently of the hardware, so a session can be built, labeled, and configured before anyone sits down at the desk. For a busy studio, that’s time back in the room instead of time spent on setup.
Odyssey ships in three standard frame sizes — 24+8, 32+8, and 48+8 faders — with custom frame configurations available for studios that need something in between or beyond. Each surface pairs with remotely located 13U processing racks, which can be floor-mounted, rack-mounted, or tucked under the console itself, keeping existing studio wiring intact during an install.
On the mixing side, a single console and one 24-channel processing rack can already handle up to 48 paths, with 16 stereo sub-mixes and a full stereo main bus. Add up to three more channel racks and that grows to 192 paths across four buses, ten aux sends, and sixteen track buses — with remote monitor control that extends to third-party immersive formats like Dolby Atmos for studios building out object-based mixing.
Custom console builds go further still: curved or straight ProStation center sections, additional 15- or 25-degree wings, 19-inch rack bays for outboard gear, producer’s table sections, and pole-mounted monitor or screen arms. The demonstration console at SSL’s Oxford HQ uses several of these options together, which gives a sense of just how configurable a frame can get.
A large analog console isn’t usually the first place people look for energy savings, but Odyssey’s power supply is designed to sleep when the surface goes untouched, dropping to roughly 100 watts — about what a light bulb draws. The processing racks are actively cooled but built to stay under an NR25 noise floor, which matters in any control room where the console shares space with monitoring.
Odyssey and SSL’s Oracle console share full project compatibility, which gives studios running both consoles — or considering a second room — a clear path to move sessions between them. The sonic character draws on SSL’s current console circuitry, including the PureDrive harmonic technology and the driven-bus design SSL introduced with Origin, so the tonal signature carries forward rather than resetting with each new platform.
Whether Odyssey or another console is the right fit depends heavily on a studio’s workflow, room size, and how it splits time between tracking and mixing — the kind of decision worth talking through rather than guessing at from a spec sheet.
If your studio is weighing a large-format analog console and wants to talk through frame sizes, rack placement, or custom configuration options,
we’d love to help you think it through.
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