SSL UF8 DAW Controller
- 8 Touch-sensitive 100 mm motorized faders
- 8 + 1 Rotary control with push function
- 8 TFT LCD color displays
- Illuminated RGB “Soft Feel” button
SSL UF8 Review
For home recording engineers—especially those used to working entirely in the box—the UF8 is an ideal and scalable entry point into a ‘console’ style workflow. It offers all the visible and tactile advantages of mixing with fader banks and rotary dials, and you can easily link multiple units together as your mixing needs grow.
For seasoned professionals, the UF8 is a wonderfully portable fader solution for location and post-production work. It’s perfect for handling dialogue or quickly putting together desk mixes in the box. The intuitive navigation and display, combined with the unit’s portability and stability, make it your new best friend for small-scale mixing tasks or minimalist studio setups.
Installing the SSL 360° software is quick and easy, and the tutorials for connecting with different DAWs are thorough—available in both PDF and video formats for a straightforward setup. Currently, the UF8 works seamlessly with Pro Tools, Logic Pro X, Cubase, Nuendo, Ableton Live, and Presonus Studio One. Other DAWs can likely be integrated as well, since the UF8 uses Mackie Control and HUI MIDI protocols. SSL also promises that more integration templates are on the way.
A standout feature of the SSL 360° utility is its support for multiple control format ‘Layers’. You can set up to three layers for different DAW applications and easily switch between them at the touch of a button.
For a little extra SSL flair, the UF8 comes with two full-licensed plugins from the SSL Native collection: Vocalstrip 2 and Drumstrip. These highly regarded vocal (also excellent for speech and voice-over work) and percussion production tools give you a range of professional, high-quality processors perfect for music, audio, and post-production tasks.
As with all SSL products, the UF8’s build quality is truly ready for the field, featuring a sturdy metal enclosure. The unit includes high-quality motorized faders, rotary encoders, and durable soft key buttons throughout.
High-resolution LCD TFT screens grace the machine, displaying key information that is specific to each track, along with stage, pan, and track name. With quick USB connectivity, you can easily connect the UF8 to almost any device you can imagine.
The UF8’s large rotary knob, known as the Channel Encoder, offers a range of functions depending on what you’re focused on.
You can use it to scroll through tracks one by one as usual, scrub through a track with the playback head in navigation mode, move a specific clip using nudge mode, and adjust certain parameters in focus mode.
These multiple uses of the encoders provide even more intuitive ways to get the most out of your software when using this controller.
If eight faders aren’t enough, SSL allows you to chain up to four units together for a classic 32-channel SSL experience, giving each channel its own dedicated fader.
Chaining four UF8 units together allows each one to have its own unique set of assignable buttons, resulting in an enormous number of possibilities—especially when mixing your track in just a couple of passes. Alternatively, you can use a single UF8 and scroll between different channels in your track with the click of a button, watching the motorized faders snap perfectly into place.
Dedicated plugin buttons let you select a plugin on any channel and use the endless rotary encoders to adjust parameters, all without touching your mouse.
If the encoders aren’t precise enough for your needs, simply hovering over a parameter in your DAW activates the Channel encoder’s focus mode. This allows you to use it like a mouse scroll wheel for fine-tuning adjustments.
Switching between windows in your DAW is a breeze thanks to the default quick keys on the UF8. Using the send and swap buttons, you can instantly snap your sends to the faders, switch between pre and post-fader, and flip back to your mix within seconds.
If anyone ever wondered how SSL would adapt from classic large-format consoles to the compact world of modern DAW workflows, the answer is: remarkably well.
The UF8 strikes a perfect balance between being a premium (yet accessible) desktop fader option and a scalable professional workhorse, making it a more than justifiable investment for engineers on either side of the fence.
- Up to 4 UF8 can be cascaded via USB (32 faders maximum)
- Control of up to 3 different DAWs at the same time
- DAW communication: HUI / MCU
- Multifunctional, rasterised master encoder for navigation
- Track banking and mouse-wheel emulation
- 43 Individually assignable buttons for frequently used shortcuts / macros (5 x 8 plus 3 quick keys)
- Programming via SSL 360° software for Mac and PC
- Dimensions (W x H x D): 431 x 62.7 x 266 mm
- Includes Vocalstrip 2 and Drumstrip plug-ins (download after registration)
- Includes external power supply
Why You Need the SSL UF8
If you’re looking for something new to enhance your music production, this could be just what you need. We’ve highlighted what we believe are the most important details about this unit, so you can decide if it’s the right choice for you.
Conclusion
The UF8 is undoubtedly a top-tier control surface, and you’d expect nothing less from SSL. The MIDI-over-USB functionality is fast and responsive, the faders are silky-smooth, quick, and chatter-free, and it integrates seamlessly with the DAWs we tested it with. In particular, it works exceptionally well with Cubase.
We haven’t come across a controller that lets us set aside the mouse or trackball entirely, but the UF8 comes closer than any other we’ve tried. If you have any questions about this unit, please let us know in the comment section below or reach out to SSL customer service.
