Solid State Logic Odyssey: The Console Built to End the Analogue vs ITB Debate
Solid State Logic has just unveiled Odyssey, its new flagship large-format console - and it's possibly the biggest and best thing to happen for studios EVER! SSL is calling it a "Future Analogue" console, and after digging through the spec sheet, that's not just marketing fluff. Odyssey is built to solve the one problem that's pushed studios out of analogue and into the box for the last two decades: recall.
SSL Odyssey, 32-channel configuration. Image courtesy of Solid State Logic.
What Is Instant Recall?
Anyone who's tracked or mixed on a proper analogue desk knows the trade-off. You get the depth, the glue, the physicality of real circuitry under your hands, but in exchange, you give up the ability to snap back to exactly where you left a session six months ago. Every knob, every patch, every gain stage has to be written down, photographed, or rebuilt from memory. It's the reason so many studios quietly moved everything in the box, even if they missed the sound.
SSL first tackled this with Instant Recall on its Oracle console, and Odyssey takes that concept much further. Every parameter on the console - gain, EQ, dynamics, routing, fader position - can be stored, recalled, compared, and switched between in seconds. Full console states, not just settings on a single channel. That means you can genuinely run multiple projects through one room and flip between them the way you'd flip between DAW sessions, without touching a single knob by hand.
ActiveAnalogue™: The Tech Making It Possible
The reason Instant Recall works without sacrificing tone is SSL's new ActiveAnalogue™ circuitry. It is true analogue signal path processing, not digital modelling, and every control is driven by ultra-precise digital control voltages, with 16,000-step resolution across every parameter. In practice, that means the engineer is turning a knob that behaves exactly like a traditional SSL pot, but the console is quietly logging the exact position with enough accuracy to recall it perfectly, every time. You get the feel and non-linear character of analogue circuitry, with the repeatability of a plugin preset.
Channel Strip Breakdown
Odyssey's channel strip is based on SSL's classic in-line architecture with separate record and monitor paths per channel, but every stage of it is instantly recallable. Here's what's on each strip:
PureDrive™ microphone preamps with a dedicated Drive control for pushing the input stage into more character when you want it.
Fully analogue channel dynamics: a Compressor/Limiter with signal-dependent Attack, Fast Attack switching, and selectable RMS or Peak sensing, plus a Wet/Dry Mix control for parallel compression right on the channel. The companion Expander/Gate offers Inf:1 gating and 2:1 expansion modes.
Switchable E and G Series EQ: a fully analogue four-band parametric with selectable HF/LF shelf or bell curves and switchable mid-band Q, so you can flip between the bite of E Series and the smoother G Series curve without leaving the channel.
Assignable high-pass and low-pass filters and switchable, movable insert points on both signal paths.
A flexible sidechain that can route from the same channel, an alternate channel, the insert return, or be shaped through the channel's own filters and EQ - useful for de-essing, frequency-dependent compression, and keyed gating.
Motorised dual faders: a 60mm small fader and a 100mm large fader, both automated and recallable.
Mono or stereo operation, with odd/even channel pairs linkable and gain-matched to within a hundredth of a dB for precise stereo imaging.
Odyssey channel strip detail: EQ, dynamics, and dual-fader control. Image courtesy of Solid State Logic.
Mission Control: The Centre Section
The centre section is where Odyssey earns its "no-limits" tagline. It houses 4 Stereo Mix Busses, 16 Track Busses, 10 Aux Busses, 8 Stereo "Flex" Groups, and 3 Stereo Foldback Busses, along with up to 24 VCAs for grouping and managing signal paths across a session.
Bus processing is built in, too. SSL's THE BUS+ (their modern take on the G-Series bus compressor, with LOW THD, Feedback, and "4K" saturation modes) plus Dynamic EQ sit directly in the centre section, fully recallable like everything else. Monitoring is genuinely flexible: multiple speaker sets, external sources, three foldback feeds, and integration with third-party immersive systems like a Dolby Atmos renderer, so spatial mixes can be monitored and controlled from the sweet spot rather than bolted on as an afterthought.
DAW control is native to the surface as well. Each 8-channel bay can be switched between analogue processing and DAW control at the press of a key, and the O-Motion plug-in records console automation moves directly into Pro Tools playlists or Logic Pro automation lanes, so you're editing console automation the same way you'd edit anything else in the box.
Session management runs through SSL's O-Control suite: O-Setup for console configuration, O-Session for saving and loading projects, presets, and snapshots, and O-Overview for a full-console view of fader positions, metering, and cut/solo status — all usable online or offline, on Mac or Windows.
The Odyssey centre section: mix bus control, monitoring, and VCA management in one hub. Image courtesy of Solid State Logic.
Configurations and Pricing
Odyssey is modular from the ground up, scaling from a 24+8 channel system right up to a 96+8 channel monster, in straight, curved "ProStation," or fully custom frame layouts (including double-width centre sections and dedicated producer bays). Standard straight frames come in 24, 32, and 48-channel configurations, with 64, 72, and 96-channel systems available for larger facilities. All the analogue circuitry lives in separate ActiveAnalogue processing racks, typically two to five of them depending on the spec. These can be floor-mounted, rack-mounted, or located in a separate machine room, keeping the console surface itself compact and the room's noise floor below NR25.
As for cost: SSL doesn't publish pricing directly, but retailer listings put the entry-level 24-channel Odyssey system at around $295,000 USD/£225,000*, with larger channel counts and custom configurations priced upward from there. This is very much a flagship facility purchase rather than a project-studio upgrade.
*Prices correct as of product launch date.
The curved ProStation layout wraps the console around the listening position. Image courtesy of Solid State Logic.
Who Is Odyssey Actually For?
Obviously, this is not for the fainthearted or your typical project or home studio installations… we all wish! This is squarely aimed at world-class tracking, mixing, and post facilities. The kind of rooms that need to turn over multiple high-end projects a week without losing a day to console recall. SSL's launch material features early studio partners including Music Garden in Italy and Sunshine Mastering in Austria, and the announcement video features some serious names: Manny Marroquin, Rafa Sardina, Chris Lord-Alge, Tom Lord-Alge, Wez Clarke, Stefano Civetta, and Shelby Logan Warne, who we recently had as a guest on the Working Audio Tools podcast.
Georg Tomandl of Sunshine Mastering summed up the appeal well: "For me, nothing compares to the depth, musicality and confidence of a world-class SSL analogue console. Odyssey gives me the sound, workflow and creative freedom I'm looking for while delivering the flexibility today's artists and producers expect."
My Take
I won’t pretend a £225,000+ console is on my shopping list, but Odyssey matters beyond the handful of studios that will actually own one, because it's a signal of where the top of the industry is heading: analogue tone with none of the recall compromise that pushed so many rooms into the box in the first place. I have been a huge fan of the digitally recallable Wes Audio Ng500 Series analogue hardware for a long time already. I own four racks of the stuff, and I can not say enough good things about the sound and digital integration which results in a seamless workflow. If SSL have got this right, as Wes Audio have, this is the future of pro audio.
The question is - how long will it take for Neve and API to follow suit?
Written By Ed Thorne
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Tags: Solid State Logic · SSL Odyssey · Analogue Console · Recording Studio Gear · Instant Recall
