‘The intention was for the S31 – which is currently in its final stages of development – to perform on some shows in the real world before we announced its arrival to market,’ says DiGiCo MD, James Gordon.

‘But once some pictures arrived online, it didn’t take long for news of the console to go global, with prospective owners requesting more information from Europe, the US, Asia and Latin America. We even saw a picture of a very cleverly Photoshopped S11, which was exciting news for our R&D team who were not aware of its existence.’

The DiGiCo MD is explaining the rescheduled launch of the S31 – a larger version of the S21 with an expanded worksurface. ‘To set the record straight, the S11 is purely wishful thinking, but it may be a good product idea for us to evaluate for the future,’ he says. 

The S31 joins DiGiCo’s S-range, with an expanded worksurface offering ten additional faders for greater control and an additional 10-inch multi-touch screen for faster access and more visual feedback. It offers the same flexibility as the S21, with 24 mic inputs and 12 Line outputs on the rear of the console for straightforward audio connection. There are also two DMI ports as standard, as well as a UB Madi interface for DAW recording. The console is suited to applications where more instant control and feedback are critical to the operator. 

The S31 will start shipping in late September 2016, combined with the v1.3 software recently released on the S21. This is the biggest upgrade for the S21 since its launch, with future updates and upgrades already planned. 

‘This really has proved the power of social media in our touring business,’ Gordon observes. ‘We were in the final stages of testing, having only had the console out for a month, but we got busted almost at the end of the development process. It’s getting much harder to keep secrets, but we still have a few...’

More: www.digico.biz