Never used the Aurus but where I rent my studiospace there is a Euphonix CS2000 in another studio and I´ve used it from time to time. That´s the only Euphonix I´ve used and it´s pretty much the same as CS3000 (CS3000 has moving faders, otherwise they´re the same if the CS2000 is completely upgraded). The system 5 is digital and thereby a completely different story.

My experience of the CS2000 is pleasant. It does not really have a sound which some may consider a good thing, some a bad. It´s very Hi-fi-sounding. Very clean but at the same time it´s rich in a way that only properly built analog can be. You can hear that there´s plenty of headroom (as should be) and that the freq.response is extended. It really gives you the whole picture. And as you would expect from an expensive console, it sounds smooth and open. Ok, so it has a sound.

The brilliant thing about the CS2000 and CS3000 is that they´re digitally controlled analog (which I´m sure you know). That means total recall that really works, automation on everything, assignable everything and so on. It´s extremely flexible, sometimes to the point of confusion. Perfect for a studio with many users and uses, since you can make your own template and you´re ready to go in no time. Very slick indeed. The patchbay has a lot of ins and outs which means great flexibility but can be very confusing for a first time user. I make no secret of it, you need to learn this console before you can fully enjoy it. As with any gear.

The CS2000/3000 eq is somewhat neutral sounding but does the job very well. Seems very well designed and artifact-free. Works very well and you can even change the frequencies to notes. If you know that the low G in the guitar is rumbling, it´s easy to find. Kind of.

The CS2000/3000 compressor/gate/limiter is in my opinion very good. Works for most any material and I´ve gotten great results all the way. The console at my neighbouring studio has 48 dynamics. They´re very useful.

It has brilliant routing options as I mentioned and you can use them creatively. You can for example use the channel dynamics (if you have them) in parallel on the same fader ! All it takes is a little patching and it can sum the channel and the compressor to the channel fader isntead of just putting them in serial. Also works with an outboard comp, now how cool is that ? It has "spare" summing amps if you need to sum, say, mixbuses 1 and 2 "outside the desk" (again, parallel processing) and if you have the cube, that can give you tons of aux sends etc.. you´re in 5.1-land. The designers of this desk are obviously very bright people, it´s impressive what it can do.

Another cool thing is that the "desk" is just a remote. No signal passes through it. That means no scratchy pots, no broken switches and very low maintenance bills. That also means no heat radiating from the console as long as you´re smart enough to place the "tower" (the analog electronics) in a well ventilated/cooled machine room.

The approach of working on it is somewhat similar to working on a digital console. Select a channel and the display and the "fat channel" is where you tweak/see whats going on. Takes a little getting used to but I can honestly say that it´s a fabulous console. Famous Euphonix users include former Cheiron-studios so the early Britney and BSB-stuff might be mixed on a CS2000. Trevor Horn had one aswell but I have no idea which albums were mixed on it, if there were any mixes done on it. You can also search the web for studios that have Euphonix desks and then find records that were mixed there. That might give you a clue of the sound, but then again depending on the production they will all sound completely different anyway...

Hope this helps, Good luck !

Marcus! Thanks for such a great reply!
Maybe I should have been more detailed in my question. So... We decided that our studio should be (almost) completely digital. There was (and is) a big Neve VR Legend console, but it's in a very bad condition. So we thought it wouldn't be a great idea to repair it.
Actually we want to choose between Euphonics System 5 and Aurus, and both consoles are digital. It's ok with Euphonics since it's positioned on the market as a studio console. But Aurus with Nexus audio network is a great thing too. The one thing that confuses me is that Aurus is positioned as a console for film/broadcasting, and the buyers of it are radios, tv- and broadcasting centers. Although there's an idea to build a Nexus network with Euphonics console, but I don't think it'd be cost effective.

No problem ! Can´t help you with the digital ones, never used them. And you´re probably right about the VR, in bad shape it can be a nightmare..

I've mixed and tracked on a System 5... The ergonomics of it are decent- not great, but not horrible either. Automation is quite good (there is a great "tree" format of building mixes where you can choose whether you like something or not and branch off new versions without harming the old) and the digital mixing sound is great as well. The routing is what you would expect.

The part that sucks are the mic preamps. They get blown easily if you are in a facility where you will have a lot of people coming in and out and patching- perhaps when phantom is on. They are also EXTREMELY noisy. I have only had to denoise mixes a few times- every time that has happened, it was tracked on a System 5.

Got a demo of the Studer Vista (at NAMM so take it for what it is worth). Pretty hip board- loved the layout of it. If I had to install a high-end large format digital console, I'd sersiously look at that one as well.

--Ben

We´ve had a S5 in our studio but the owner has now decided to go all analog so I just installed a vintage Neve instead.
That´s why our S5 now is for sale, feel free to contact me on listan@maratone.se
(I appologise if I´m not allowed to write about selling stuff here (new member))

Moscow International House of Music have a S5 maybe you can ask them..

best

/Tomas

- ilya
Even though Studer Vista is a great thing, it must be more expensive that others. I believe that Aurus/Nexus is a perfect universal mixing tool. Both Aurus and S5 are in the same price range. Since your studio is located in Europe, a mixing console produced there might be a practical choice in terms of maintenance/upgrades.