Travis Rogers Takes Harman's Soundcraft Vi6 With Return To Forever

While on tour with jazz-fusion group Return To Forever, chief sound engineer Travis Rogers relies on a Harman Soundcraft Vi6 digital console for front-of-house mixing.

Return To Forever, led by pianist Chick Corea, was founded in the 1970s and remains one of the core groups to be involved in the jazz-fusion movement. The band embarked on its current tour in February 2011, with tour dates extending through October 2011.

Rogers, who had previously used various digital consoles, chose the Vi6 for its crystal clear and warm feel. "It's absolutely beautiful!" Rogers stated. "It's by far the best digital console on the market."

Where the biggest complaint of any digital board is that it doesn't have the comfort and intuitive operation of an analog console, Rogers believes the Soundcraft Vi6 is as close as it gets, and all the digital aspects make it the easiest board to use. "It's amazing to have everything fully recallable," Rogers said. "I can save settings on different pages and trust they'll be there when I switch back. I save anything from cues, reverbs, gates, it goes on and on and I still love learning new tricks every day."

The desk is so easy to manage and learn on that in a desperate time of need, the monitor team was able to record using the Vi6 and the MADI interface.

The plugins, although Rogers doesn't use them excessively, are nice to have when needed. "Using the plugins is a breeze. It's amazing how many different sounds you can get out of the console."

One of Rogers' favorite aspects of the desk is the ability to layer the pages according to what is most used for a particular show. For a group with such a dynamic style as Return to Forever, this makes Rogers' day-to-day work much easier. "Out of the box the Vi6 is already amazing and there is so much you can add to it," Rogers added. "The whole desk is easy to navigate through and label, I never have to worry about locating anything."

Overall, the Vi6 gives Rogers the flexibility and confidence to do his job every night without worrying about any surprises from the technology. "Other than 'great job Soundcraft' there isn't much more to say. I love it," he summed up.