A complete musician environment
A player walks in, opens their Rig, joins the other musicians, rehearses with in-ear monitoring, talkback, sheet music, wireless instruments, then records through Cube or System Q analog racks and plays the finished mix through Venue.
00 — Modular musician environment
GIG starts with the musician's personal Rig, moves into Cube or professional System Q racks for recording, gives the software the same editing language as the hardware, then plays the finished mix back through Venue at the levels the artist prefers.
The personal musician workspace: IEMs, wireless guitar, wireless mics, sounds, pedal-board controls, sheet music, playback, and personal mix.
The compact record path for rehearsal, capture, and software-based sessions without the full professional rack system.
The professional path: input cards, preamp cards, dynamics, EQ, output cards, tube color, and tape before conversion.
System Q gives the same channel, dynamics, EQ, aux, timeline, routing, and mix sections a visual editing surface.
When the mix is done, play it back and translate it live at the preferred level relationships.
01 — Rig
Rig is where the session starts. It contains the musician's in-ear monitor mix, wireless guitar input, wireless vocal or instrument mics, sounds, playback, patches, sheet music, talkback, and pedal-board style control. It is the player's instrument interface and personal mix station.
When other musicians plug in, their Rigs join the same session. Players can hear each other, talk to each other, share charts or sheet music, rehearse parts, and keep their own personal monitoring without leaving the creative flow.
02 — Cube
Cube is the fast modular I/O path into GIG. A musician can rehearse, monitor, play back, and record through the software without bringing the full System Q rack system online.
This is the lightweight path for writing, rehearsal, smaller capture, or direct software sessions. It keeps the same musician workflow as the rack system, so a session can start simple and move up to the professional path when the sound needs analog cards, tape, or dedicated output color.
03 — Professional recording path
After rehearsal, the band can leave the simple Cube path and hit the studio-grade analog core. The racks split into input rack and output rack, so the source can be captured through one identity and played back or printed through another.
Both racks are card frames: every slot ships with an analog PCB card, and every card pulls and swaps. The input side is the capture chain: preamp cards, dynamics cards, console EQ cards, tone cards, and tape hit. The output side is the analog playback chain: a 32-to-12 converter returns the mix to 12 analog channels, those channels hit the output cards, and the rack mixes down to the stereo two-bus so monitoring stays analog.
03a — Input and output cards
The rack can carry different recording worlds as swappable cards. Use a model on the way in to shape capture, or use it on the way out to print, monitor, and reference through a different analog identity.
Choose the capture world before tape and conversion: preamp identity, dynamics culture, EQ behavior, tone, and drive.
Choose the playback and print world after the 32-to-12 return: bus identity, master tone, summing color, and Venue handoff.
The same named model can exist as an input card, an output card, or both, depending on whether it is shaping capture or print.
Track through one world, play back through another, then decide what the final reference should feel like.
Card names are illustrative voicings. References identify historic recording worlds and circuit behaviors that inspire each profile, not licensed clones or literal reproductions.
03b — Studer
Studer is where the analog-first path becomes the record path. Input cards feed bias/profile cards, the magnetic converter stage, repro electronics, and the 12-channel A/D path into Console. On playback, the 32-to-12 output converter brings the mix back through 12 analog channels before the stereo two-bus.
04 — Console Software
This is not a separate DAW metaphor sitting beside the hardware. It is the screen version of the System Q console: channel targets, group targets, aux returns, master, preamp, filter, dynamics, EQ, tube, tape, routing, sends, automation, transport, timeline, and monitoring in one shared control language.
A musician can start in Rig, capture through Cube, or record through the System Q racks, then move into this console surface without changing how the signal path is understood. The software follows the same order as the rack: input, tone, dynamics, EQ, tape/tube color, routing, analog return, two-bus, reference, and Venue playback.
The current build uses target banks for CH / GRP / AUX / MST. Each target exposes the active stage grid, so the operator can move from channel capture to group shaping, aux effects, master output, and the 32-to-12 analog return path without leaving the same visual and tactile system.
The source enters here. Mic Pre handles the first electrical decisions: gain staging, 48V, polarity, high-pass, low-pass, and cleanup before the rest of the strip touches the sound.
TBE · LPF · 48V · PHS · HPF
Harmonics adds identity after the preamp: second, third, fifth, and higher-order color for density, analog character, saturation, and source-specific tone.
H1 · H2 · H3 · H4 · H5
The gate stage controls bleed, noise, decay, and spill. It is built for drums, amps, vocals, and any source where the room or noise needs to be shaped before compression.
THR · DEP · ATK · RLS · GAN · FRQ · WDT · BND
Compression is the control and glue stage. It levels vocals, holds bass, pushes drums forward, and gives groups or the mix bus movement without leaving the console view.
THR · RAT · ATK · RLS · GAN · FRQ · WDT · BND
EQ is the main tone-shaping view. Frequency, gain, shape, and band selection stay inside the same polar editor, so the engineer is not jumping between detached plugin windows.
FRQ · GAN · SHP · BND
Transient shaping controls the front edge and body of the sound. It adds punch, trims sustain, focuses attack, or changes impact without rebuilding the chain.
FRQ · ATK · SUT · DRV · BND
Exciter is the clarity and presence stage. It brings air, bite, lift, and detail forward when the source needs to cut through without just turning it up.
FRQ · ATK · SUT · DRV · BND
Tube is the final analog-color stage inside the software path. It adds drive, density, warmth, and source weight before routing, print, analog return, or Venue playback.
FRQ · DRV · BND
05 — Console
Console is the physical command surface once the session moves from musician Rigs into recording, playback, and mix decisions. Its 6‑DOF SpaceMouse-style edit control lets the operator select directionally and turn values without jumping across unrelated knobs, plugin windows, and menus.
It is the shared tactile layer across the whole ecosystem: touch focus, transport, monitoring, faders, and parameter editing in one surface.
06 — Venue
Venue is where the finished mix becomes the playback target. The artist can listen back at the level relationships they prefer, then let Venue translate that balance into the room.
The goal is simple: finish the mix, play it back, hear it at the intended levels, and let the system help carry that reference into live playback.
Walk in with Rig, connect the band, open the session, monitor, talk, and rehearse without building a separate headphone world.
Use Cube and GIG software for the compact path, or route through System Q cards and Studer for the analog-first path.
Play back the finished recording as the shared reference before the mix decisions drift away from the performance.
Console and Venue keep the recorded balance connected to the room, so the live system starts from the finished session.