Solid State Logic SB i16 User manual

SB i16 and SB 8.8
Network I/O
User Guide
Revision: 1.2

SB i16 and SB 8.8 User Guide
2
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SSL and Solid State Logic are ® registered trademarks of Solid State Logic.
SSL®, Solid State Logic®, Total Recall®and Tempest®
are ® registered trademarks of Solid State Logic.
SuperAnalogue™, System T™, Live L100™, Live L200™, Live L300™, Live L350™, Live L500™,
Live L500 Plus™, Live L550™, Blacklight™ and X-Light are ™ trademarks of Solid State Logic.
Dante™ and Audinate™ are trademarks of Audinate Pty Ltd.
etherCON®is a registered trademark of Neutrik AG.
All other product names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners
and are hereby acknowledged.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means,
whether mechanical or electronic, without the written permission of
Solid State Logic, Oxford, OX5 1RU, England.
As research and development is a continual process, Solid State Logic reserves the right to change
the features and specifications described herein without notice or obligation.
Solid State Logic cannot be held responsible for any loss or damage arising directly or indirectly from
any error or omission in this manual.
PLEASE READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS, PAY SPECIAL HEED TO SAFETY WARNINGS.
E&OE
May 2021
Document Revision History
First Version
August 2015
Revision 1.1
Format revision
December 2018
Revision 1.2
Network I/O Controller update
May 2021

SB i16 and SB 8.8 User Guide
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Table of Contents
Introduction 4
Overview 4
Key Features 4
SB i16 and SB 8.8 Front Panel 4
SB i16 and SB 8.8 Rear Panel 4
Status LEDs and User Buttons 5
Channel LEDs 5
Device Reset 5
Brooklyn Reset 5
Hardware Connections 6
Mains Power Connections 6
Dante Connections 6
Audio Inputs and Outputs 6
GPIO 6
SSL Network I/O Controller 7
Installing Network I/O Controller 7
Network Configuration - PC 7
Application Navigation 8
Control View 8
Network View 9
Inputs/Outputs 10
Inputs 10
Focus Window 10
Outputs 11
GPIO 11
Setup 12
Settings View 12
Devices View 13
Ownership 14
Stagebox Ownership 14
Input Ownership 14
Individual Input Ownership 15
Console Routing and Input Ownership 15
GPO Ownership 16
Gain Compensation 17
Compensated Ports 17
Calibration Point 18
Recalibrate Indication 18
Pad 19
Traditional 19
AutoPad 20
Dante Controller 21
Network Config 21
Device Info 21
Appendix A – General Specifications 22
Ventilation 22
Appendix B - Connector Pin Outs 23
XLR Wiring 23
D-Type Multipin Wiring 23
GPIO 24
Appendix C – Performance Specifications 25
Mic/Line Inputs 25
Line Outputs 26
Appendix D – Safety Notices 27
General Safety 27
Installation Notes 27
Power Safety 28
For EU 28
Environmental Declaration 29
RoHS Notice 29
For USA 29
Electromagnetic Compatibility 29
Environmental 29

SB i16 and SB 8.8 User Guide
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Introduction
Overview
SB i16 and SB 8.8 are, respectively, 2U, 16 input and 8 input/8 output SuperAnalogue™ Dante
stageboxes, for all high-quality AoIP applications.
SB i16 and SB 8.8 can be controlled remotely from SSL Live and System T consoles as well as from
SSL’s Network I/O Controller app for PC.
SB i16 and SB 8.8 are ideally suited to studio and stage, featuring redundant power, redundant
ruggedized etherCON Dante connections plus four GPIOs.
Key Features
Interface between studio/stage/recording area and IP audio networks using Dante and
AES67
Redundant PSUs and Dante network connections
8 or 16 SSL SuperAnalogue studio grade preamps
GPIO connectivity - embed tallies across the network
Redundant network extension ports
Clear front panel indication - signal present, phantom power, channel attention
Gain-compensated inputs available to Dante network
Device and parameter ownership assignment to avoid control conflicts
AutoPad - automatically adjusts gain and pad settings to accommodate widest possible
range of input signals
Two-speed ball-bearing fan cooling - sufficiently quiet to place on a studio floor
SB i16 and SB 8.8 Front Panel
SB i16 and SB 8.8 Rear Panel
Signal Level and
48V/Attention LEDs
Latching XLR
I/O Connectors
User Buttons/
LEDs
GP Inputs 1-4
GP Outputs 1-4
Redundant
PSUs
Low Noise
Fans
Network Activity
and Gigabit LEDs
Redundant Network
Audio Connections
(Dante)
Redundant
Network
Extension

SB i16 and SB 8.8 User Guide
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Status LEDs and User Buttons
Channel LEDs
Device Reset
Performing a device reset will clear the SSL device settings. This includes ownership, input and GPIO
states. This does not clear Dante Brooklyn card settings.
Brooklyn Reset
Resetting the Dante Brooklyn card to default settings is performed from Dante Controller. Under the
Device Config tab for a device select Clear Config. This clears the device name, channel labels, IP
address settings, sample rate, latency and existing audio routes. This does not clear SSL Ownership
settings.
Green
- normal operation
Red
- indicates a fault has
occurred, refer to the setup
information window
Green (solid)
- normal operation: processor running
and Dante networks connected
Green (blinking)
- booting/reconfiguring
Red (solid)
- loss of primary network
Red (flashing)
- loss of secondary network
N.B. If both networks are lost the
RUN LED will be solid
red
◂
▸Arrows are for
channel selection
- when
using the arrow buttons,
the attention LED will
flash red on the selected
channel
Green
- normal operation, both
power supplies active
Red
- primary or secondary power
supply inactive
ATT
(Attention) allows a user to ‘push’ attention (for
the already selected channel) to the software control
application for swift identification of inputs or
outputs.
Easily and quickly identify channels of interest between
the studio floor and the control room.
Multiple channels can have Attention active.
Pressing the
ATT button again on the selected channel
will cancel the Attention signal.
If
HOLD and ◂are held for 3 seconds then the primary Dante network
connection will reset to use DHCP
- once released the unit must be
rebooted
If
HOLD and ATT are pressed for 3 seconds this will perform a device
reset
- once released the unit must be rebooted
SIG
analogue signal LEDs
are green above
-40 dBFS
and red at
-0.1 dBFS
(clipping)
48V/ATT indicates phantom power and/or attention depending on
red, green, or flashing combinations as follows:
Red (solid)
– phantom power on
Green (flashing)
– channel attention active
Green and red (flashing)
–
phantom power on and channel attention
active

SB i16 and SB 8.8 User Guide
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Hardware Connections
Mains Power Connections
SB i16 and SB 8.8 include redundant PSUs with IEC C14 inlets. Either supply
can individually power the unit. Ideally these should be connected to separate
power circuits to provide redundancy of incoming AC power.
Dante Connections
SB i16 and SB 8.8 have two redundant sets of network connections.
In Dante Controller it is possible to set Dante ports to switched mode rather than redundant mode.
While this is possible, there is no need to here as the extension ports provide this functionality
without loss of redundancy.
Never connect Primary and Secondary ports to the same single Dante network.
Audio Inputs and Outputs
Electronically balanced mic/line inputs and line outputs on latching XLR-
3 connectors.
See Appendix B for pinout information.
GPIO
4 General Purpose opto-coupled inputs and 4 General Purpose relay outputs
allow embedding and de-embedding of logic signals across the network.
See Appendix B for pinout information.
A pair of LEDs per port provide
network information:
ACT
flashes when there is
network activity
GB
shows Ethernet network
status
Network A ports feature
etherCON ruggedised RJ45
connectors.
Extension
ports are switched ports of the
primary and secondary Dante ports
respectively. They allow direct connection
of a control PC or even another Dante
device.

SB i16 and SB 8.8 User Guide
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SSL Network I/O Controller
Installing Network I/O Controller
When SSL Network I/O is used without an SSL console, configuration and control is achieved using
the SSL Network I/O Controller PC application. This can be downloaded from the SSL website as part
of the Network I/O Stagebox upgrade package or as a standalone installer.
Locate and run the Network I/O Controller installer and follow the on-screen prompts to install the
application.
Application data is stored per Windows user account, allowing each user’s configuration of device
filtering, sorting and application window size to be retained.
Network Configuration - PC
Once Network I/O Controller is installed, connect the Windows PC to the same subnet as the
Network I/O. The SSL Network I/O Controller application uses the network adapters configured in
Dante Controller for communication. Before starting Network I/O Controller first open Dante
Controller and select the network adaptors connected to the Dante network. ‘Use shared Dante
interface’ must be selected to ensure all applications using the Dante network use the correct
adaptors. Subsequent changes to network settings may require Network I/O Controller to be
restarted.
TCP/IP is used to communicate with the unit, so check Windows firewall settings if communications
are not working.
Set the computer to ‘Never Sleep’ to maintain communication.

SB i16 and SB 8.8 User Guide
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Application Navigation
Network I/O Controller is divided between three tabs: Control, Settings and Devices. These are
accessed from the right hand side of the application.
The application can be resized horizontally and vertically to fit the display as desired. Click and drag
from the side or corner of the application to resize. With the Control tab visible, increasing the
window width allows more devices and input metering in the Network View, plus displays more
channels for control in the Detail View. Increasing the window height provides larger metering in
Network View and a longer fader for each input in the Detail View.
When set to full screen on a 1920x1080 display 16 channels are displayed in the Detail View.
Control View
The Control tab is divided into five sections:
The Control view is the main
application window, providing real
-
time control and monitoring of the
connected SSL Network I/O devices.
The
Settings tab provides
access to Dante Domain
Manager
connection settings.
The Devices tab provides tools for
filtering, hiding and sorting the I/O
devices shown in the Control tab.
Network View shows each SSL device on the Dante network. Input meters
are shown for every analogue input.
The D64 is displayed as a narrow
device with n
o input metering. Selecting
a device brings its parameters into
the
Detail View. Selecting an input brings the input into the Focus View.
Large arrows on the far left and right scroll for more devices.
Detail View shows channel
details for the selected
device.
Left/right
navigation controls
scroll
for more channels.
Page Select selects the Detail
V
iew to show inputs, outputs,
or setup options for each
device.
Focus View
shows an
expanded view of the
selected ch
annel.
Navigation switches the in-focus channel and allows for
gain adjustment. These arrows are also mapped to the
PC keyboard.
Control toggles fine (0.1 dB) gain
adjustment and
Alt coarse (3 dB) gain adjustment.
GPIO
View shows the
active status for each GPI
and GPO.

SB i16 and SB 8.8 User Guide
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Network View
Device Name
is set within
Dante
Controller.
A Red Highlight indicates a device that requires operator action:
•A flashing red background indicates a device with a clipping audio channel
•A solid red border highlights a device with an active Attention flag
If the device requiring attention is not already visible in the Network View window, then
the appropriate large scroll arrow will show red to direct you to the appropriate device.
Selected device
is highlighted
with a cyan
outline. Devices and
channels
can be selected from
here or with the scroll arrows.
PSU Tallies
show the
status of PSUs
1 and 2 for
each stagebox.
Greyed out devices marked
Offline
are ‘known’ to the
network but
unreachable,
typically switched off.
Att and Mute tallies show
the status of these
functions for every
stagebox channel.
The Level Meter shows the
real
-time signal level for all
analogue input channels. A
red clipping indicator is also
provided.
Scroll arrows are used
to navigate between
devices. A b
lack arrow
indicates further devices
are available.

SB i16 and SB 8.8 User Guide
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Inputs/Outputs
Select the Inputs or Outputs tab in the Page Select area to view I/O available on the network.
Inputs
Focus Window
Control Status shows whether the viewer has control of the input’s parameters. Each individual
channel has independent ownership.
Rel
in cyan indicates that this input is under the control of the viewer. Press and hold to
relinquish control.
Take
indicates that this input is NOT under the control of the viewer. Press and hold to take
control from the owner.
Own
indicates that this input is not owned by any controller. Press and
hold to take ownership of
this input.
Channel Info shows all
parameters of the channel
at a glance. The
background colour
indicates ownership
status: green for owned
inputs, purple for inputs
owned by another
controller and black for
unowned inputs.
Fader allows for manual level control via the slider,
keyboard arrow keys, or numeric entry by clicking
the text Gain Value box.
Fader Level Bar
is coloured red on microphone input
channels and cyan on line level inputs.
Mute mutes the input or output
channel. The mute state is
stored in volatile memory on the
unit and all channels will reset to
unmuted if the unit is
repowered.
Level Meter shows the
signal level for the
selected channel. A red
clipping indicator is also
provided.
Show Gain toggles the fader into
the Focus Window. Gain can be
controlled via mouse, keyboard, or
numeric entry.
Focus Window displays
the available parameters
for the selected channel.
Selected Channel
is
highlighted in cyan.
Left and Right arrows switch the selected channel.
Up
and Down
arrows adjust the gain for the selected
channel in discrete 1dB steps.
Control toggles fine
(0.1 dB) gain adjustment and
Alt coarse (3 dB) gain
adjustment.
These controls are mapped to the
computer keyboard.
Ownership
window
displays the owner of the
selected channel
.
+48V
toggles the mic preamp
phantom power.
Selecting
Line input will turn off
phantom power.
ATT! (Attention) toggles the hardware front panel
LED for swift identification of inputs or outputs.
Multiple channels can have Attention active.
Attention can be cancelled by pressing the
ATT!
button again on the selected channel or from the
device front panel.
Pad
toggles the -
20 dB mic
preamp pad.
Further information is
given in the
Pad section.
Mic/Line toggles the appropriate
input gain r
ange and impedance
for mic or line level sources.
Mic
inputs have a gain range of
74dB including the pad. The
available range values are
dependent
on the operating level.
Line
level inputs have a gain range
of +20 to
-10 dB.
Limiter
toggles the mic preamp limiter, an
oversampled DSP
-based feed forward limiter which
reduces the mic pre gain as soon as the output
level exceeds a peak average level of
-3dBFS.
Holding Audition
automatically sets the gain
based on the source level.
Channel Label
as entered in Dante Controller.