# S1 or S3 for advanced mixing process



## Manaberry (Jun 24, 2020)

Hello guys.


After spending the last 6 months working hard to develop my vision of mixing, I feel terribly limited by my NanoKontrol. I'm able to compose very quickly, but mixing is a pain in the ass without any proper gear. After a week seminar with absolute stunning gear, I felt like it could be a splendid experience to mix, as I started to really go for it. 
I've found a nice used S3.
In order to produce music faster, and in a more professional way, two options remain:

S1, brand new.
S3, $2500, used.


Thanks for your help and if any has experience with one of these, please share


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## Rory (Jun 24, 2020)

If you haven't already read @Gerhard Westphalen's posts in the following thread, you may find them useful: avid-s1-or-artist-mix-vs-persons-faderport-16.94777


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## Manaberry (Jun 24, 2020)

Rory said:


> If you haven't already read @Gerhard Westphalen's posts in the following thread, you may find them useful: avid-s1-or-artist-mix-vs-persons-faderport-16.94777



Oh, this one passed through my net! Thanks


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## Gerhard Westphalen (Jun 24, 2020)

I went from an S3 to an S1. Probably wasn't worth it. S3 feels nicer. The material that covers the unit is sort of rubbery on the S3 and just plasticy on the S1. Would take that over 2 S1's any day. I haven't really missed the 8 extra faders but I also haven't worked on any large sessions lately. I like to have selected track, ref mix, master fader, and stems on my main layout with blank faders between to separate. Obviously not possible on a single "page" with the S1. I now try to get things down to selected track, ref, and 6 stems. 

If you mostly just want the faders like me then the S1 is probably enough for you. I never use it for plugin control or anything like that. Just levels, pan, and sends. Fader flip is great for that. I don't use the S1 with an iPad and find it annoying that the whole stand part of it can't be removed and just takes up space. S3 feels more compact. 

S1 is definitely an upgrade over the Artist Mix so I would avoid an Artist Mix. Higher resolution faders, bigger knobs, and easy VCA spill. 

Having said all of that, Avid currently has my S1 for repair. Originally I've had an issue where the faders always wiggle a little whenever you let go of them which doesn't really affect my work but is annoying to hear the noise they make. Avid confirmed the issue and said it would be fixed with new firmware. I believe that was close to a year ago. Now it's been sent for repair as a fader will often stop working and then when I bank over to a different set of tracks, it "copies" the old fader value onto whatever new track is on that track. Kept ruining my mixes since I'd randomly find tracks had a new fader level until I noticed that it was doing this. Sent them a video showing the issue and they said it had to be sent in for repair. Now they've had it for a month and aren't saying anything. Don't know if other units have this issue as well. 

Feel free to PM any more specific questions you have.


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