The SSL UF1 is built to the same high standard as the UF8 and UC1 control surfaces. The chassis is a sturdy metal construction, with a brushed aluminium panel. The backlit soft keys, solid V-pots, precise 100mm motorised fader and the weighted metal jog wheel all feel great to use when controlling your DAW.
UF1's connections can be found in the recess of the back panel. There you'll find the power input, USB-C to connect to your computer, USB-A as a host for other USB devices and 2x foot-switch inputs with customisable function via the SSL 360 app.
As with the UF8 and UC1, the UF1 comes with attachable foot stands that bolt onto the underside of the unit. These help to position the UF1 with a better viewing angle when placed on a desktop. You can mount the feet in quite a few different positions for different heights, and the rubber feet screw into the legs, allowing for finer adjustment on slightly less even surfaces.
The dimensions and viewing angles have been carefully matched to the UC1 & UF8, ensuring they align when placed side-by-side to create one seamless work surface.
The UF1 features a large 4.3" high definition screen above the transport controls, as well a smaller screen above the channel fader (much like the ones you find on UF8). It displays key information, including channel levels, pan controls, plugin information and more. This allows the person at the controls an overview of whats going on in their DAW project alongside tactile controls. The larger of the 2 screens can also be used to display the new SSL Meters Plugin, which we'll cover in greater depth a bit later.
The UF1 has a single 100mm motorised fader, primarily for controlling channel levels in your DAW. The fader is fast, smooth and responsive. This makes it a great tool for writing in automation by hand, as opposed to drawing it in with a mouse and keyboard.
It can be used in 'flip' mode to control sends, pans, and plugin parameters. The 'Master' button allows you to take control of the master fader, applicable with DAWs such as Logic which have a separate master fader.
UF1 has 5 V-Pots or ‘Virtual Pots’ - 4 below the screen and 1 above the fader. They can be used for a lot of different functions in General DAW mode, such as pans, sends, plugin controls etc. When in Fader Mode, they can be used to control the track levels in banks of 4 channels.
The V-Pots also link to the SSL Meter Plugin functions, and control the SSL Native Channel strip plugins when in the SSL Plugin Layer is active.
UF1 has a full set of transport controls and jog wheel which provides you with complete navigational control of your DAW. Dedicated buttons for Play, Stop, Fast Forward, Rewind and Record have been added to this controller by popular demand.
Above the main transport there’s also a secondary set of smaller buttons. Their function defaults to preset DAW layer controls such as mixer views, cycle on/off and metronome. They are also fully customisable through the SSL 360 app for other DAW commands or Keyboard Shortcuts. When pressing and holding shift, they become automation controls – read, write, latch etc.
The jog wheel is a similar to what you'd find on the now discontinued 'Nucleus 2' controller, as well as other SSL consoles. It provides quick and intuitive timeline scrolling. With the scrub button active, you can scan backwards and forwards in smaller increments, for more precise tracking through sections of the project. Handy when you’re dropping in overdubs or making edits.
The UF1 has 4 soft keys positioned above the main display. There are 10 banks of preset and user definable functions associated with these buttons. Using the SSL 360 app, you can configure all 40 of these assignments to suit your needs.
The UF1 comes with the new SSL Meter plugin included (available to purchase separately as well). The large screen can be used to display the plugin interface in real time. This means you can always keep an eye on the metering for your mix without having to look up at your screen and interrupt your work by opening the plugin window.
The display for the SSL Meter plugin is split into 3 different views on UF1. It first loads up with a True-peak & RMS meter, with a Lissajous scope for stereo image and phase coherence. In the second view, it has analogue VU & PPM meters for those used to console style metering. The third view is a Real Time Analyser to monitor frequency bands across the entire spectrum of your mix.
UF1 is part of the SSL 360 ecosystem, along with UC1, UF8, Native Channelstrip 2 and Native Bus Compressor 2 plugins. The SSL 360 has been updated with a dedicated tab for UF1, from which you can configure the DAW layers and customise the soft key & footswitch functions. You can also apply the SSL Plugin layer to UF1 which gives you dedicated controls over the Channelstrip and Bus Compressor plugins.
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