Edinburgh's Hard Rock Café presents some unique challenges. This small multi-purpose venue is occupied by 150 restaurant diners one moment and by 200 standing indie rock fans the next. AV Company Simon Kennedy Lights chose the Soundcraft Vi4 live digital sound console for the venue, which played host to a performance by million-selling artist Sandi Thom broadcast on STV in June.

When asked how the Vi series compares with other digital consoles on the market, SKL's Sales manager, Stephen Pattison explains, "It just doesn't. It's better. One of the big things for me was the user interface. I've never put an engineer in front of it who couldn't use it immediately. Sonically it really stacks up and every engineer I ever put it out to comments on how good it sounds. We do work for the Hard Rock Café up here and when you're going into an environment like that, which is essentially a restaurant that's being turned into a venue for the evening, size matters. The Vi4 has everything we require and it does it with a slightly smaller footprint." 

The Vi series remains a versatile option - especially when you consider than five months earlier, SKL were using three Vi6 consoles at Resurrection 07, one of the largest Christian events in the UK attended by over 8,000 people. So it really is a case of all things great and small when it comes to Vi series installations by SKL. The Easter event included performances from a 100 strong choir and 50 piece orchestra with professional and amateur musicians flocking to the event from all over Scotland. Stephen Pattison reveals, "I had three Vi6s, one doing monitors, one running the front of house and another one making a 64-track recording." As such, the Vi6s were an essential part of the D&B Q1, Q7, B2 and Q-SUB loudspeaker setup at Scotland's largest exhibition venue and showground, the Royal Highland Centre at Ingliston. Stephen adds, "We use them all over the place in everything we do from corporate conferences to theatre and bits of rock and roll. I really couldn't commend Harman enough for their support."

But there's still one console SKL can't wait to start using. Having recently purchased the Soundcraft Series 5 analogue console from Harman, Stephen reveals, "The Series 5, in my opinion, is one of the best analogue consoles that's ever been made. I like the look and feel of it, it's easy to use and it sounds great. I think it's a stunning product and a thing of beauty!"