Solid State Logic’s System T S400 provides an extra pair of hands on the Roland Kaiser Die Arena Tour 2025

Oxford, UK, 22 December, 2025 — Celebrating a career now entering its sixth decade, Roland Kaiser has been packing out venues since his debut single in 1974. This summer, the iconic German Schlager singer embarked on his Die Arena Tournee across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, with a 17-piece band and full support from SSL’s System T S400 console. With every aspect of performance dynamically automated to timecode from the first beat to the final note, the tour broke new ground, and according to FOH Engineer Johannes Meiser, the implementation “opened up completely new worlds in live audio.”

With the prospect of 30 arena dates, multiple open-air events, and headline slots at the long-running Kaisermania in Dresden, Meiser approached SSL’s German partner Audio Pro through tour supplier “Der Kohl GmbH” with a vision of using System T’s comprehensive dynamic automation to bring order to the presentation.

“Every parameter across the entire show was automated against timecode, from the start of the show until the very last note,” says Meiser, who has been working with Kaiser as FOH engineer for 15 years. “We have a large band of 17 musicians and a lot going on musically. Dynamic automation gave us the ability to reproduce everything perfectly.

“Having so many more options to highlight specific details in the mix and System T’s ability to change multiple parameters at the same time made my job much easier. It's like having more hands! From faders to EQs and inserts, everything could be finely tuned to each song and System T made it so easy to dynamically send individual notes to special effects or panoramic situations.”

The show was a huge undertaking. With a total of 104 inputs and running at 96k, Meiser paired a Tempest Engine with a 32-fader S400 surface, with connectivity provided across an installation-friendly Dante network. The entire show was prepared offline using Tempest Control App (TCA) software and an SSL TCM1 was used to convert linear timecode (LTC) to MIDI timecode (MTC).

“At first, we received comments that System T is a broadcast console and not suitable for touring,” adds Meiser. “But a combination of factors meant System T was especially well-suited for the tour; the fantastic sound, dynamic automation, and excellent support from the Audio Pro and SSL teams were all convincing factors for us.

“We went straight from the arena dates to deliver another 20 or so open-air shows, and after 50 shows in all kinds of temperature and humidity conditions I can report that we did not have a single problem! System T made it possible to work in even more detail without losing focus and thus gave our audience a new sound experience. It worked so well that we will be touring with it for the foreseeable future.”

After 50 years and over 90 million records sold, SSL's Director of International Sales Philippe Guerinet is delighted that System T is bringing brand new experiences to Kaiser’s legion of fans.

“Our customers are continually pushing the boundaries of sound, and while Roland Kaiser is already well aware of SSL’s heritage in the studio, it is exactly this kind of flexible interpretation of the console’s feature set that makes System T’s adoption across a range of disciplines so exciting,” he says.