FOCUSRITE LIQUID MIX
Nov 1, 2006 12:00 PM, BY JASON SCOTT ALEXANDER
Special on-line-only additions to the Focusrite Liquid Mix review:
A dry drum loop begins this sample. Later, it's treated by the Liquid Mix's
60s Class A Buss Compressor (PYE 84 4060 response) and API 559 EQ. That's
followed by the 70s Class A Buss Compressor (Neve 2254 response) and an
Avalon 2055 EQ. Note the wide open airiness with the slower reaction times
of the PYE compressor and the API EQ bands, which gave a nice warm rock tone
to the kick and snare and high-end sizzle.
Click here for the sample
A dry drum loop begins this example, and then it's treated by the Liquid
Mix's SSL FX G384 Buss Compressor with SL4000 E-Series channel EQ.
Click here for the sample
A dry full mix begins this example before the Liquid Mix's Manley SLAM is
applied. This demonstrates a ‘radio ready’ type preset on the highly
aggressive, classic SLAM unit. Extreme limiting and compression.
Click here for the sample
Probably only the most elite mastering engineers have had the opportunity to twiddle the knobs on the innovative Sintefex FX8000 Replicator, which uses patented Dynamic Convolution Technology to sample and subsequently emulate — not merely model — the real-time, user-adjustable sound of classic analog equipment with unrivaled accuracy. Three years ago, Focusrite licensed this technology as the basis of its high-end Liquid Channel processor, which offered music producers unprecedented easy access to a vast emulation library of the world's greatest preamps, compressors and equalizers (the EQs were modeled rather than Dynamic Convolution).
Many awards later, both of these units are still going strong but cost more cheese than the average musician has in the fridge. Also, their limited hardware channels leave us feeling shortchanged in today's high track — count digital audio workstation (DAW) environments. Addressing greedy DAW users, Liquid Mix combines the dynamics of Liquid Channel with new, painstakingly created EQ emulations stuffed into an affordable desktop package that combines powerful DSP, FireWire connectivity and 32-channel operation within a tactile control surface that's meant to integrate with VST, Audio Units and RTAS environments on a Mac or PC.
HAPPY HOUR
Each of Liquid Mix's 32 channels provides EQ and compressor emulations selected from a huge pool of high-quality vintage and modern classics, including some of Focusrite's own legends.
In general, convolution processing requires an awful lot of horsepower — many times more than traditional modeling-based processing. But Dynamic Convolution requires even more. For any given classic processor emulation, Liquid Mix must analyze and apply to the audio the sampled results of a series of audio pulses that originally took place at many different gain settings and across all frequencies. Liquid Mix also allows for complete user adjustment of all control parameters in real time, further taxing the mathematical process. For these reasons, Focusrite uses a 32-bit floating-point processor running at 333 MHz, which the company reports is more powerful than the SHARCs inside the Liquid Channel. Additionally, the latest generation of Texas Instruments' FireWire controller is used to create a lightning-fast round-trip response time of around 2 ms, all at almost zero hit to your computer's CPU. And Liquid Mix reports its exact latency to the host for automatic delay compensation (ADC).
What largely sets Liquid Mix apart from the competition, such as SSL Duende, is that it's the only DSP solution to integrate a control surface as part of the deal. Four screws on the underside release a panel to provide access for installation of an optional DSP expander card. Though the maximum mono plug-in count is 32 (16 stereo) at 44.1/48 kHz, this is quartered at 96 kHz and drops to just two instances (1 stereo) at 192 kHz. Adding the expansion card doubles the track count at higher sampling rates, but FireWire's bandwidth still restricts you to a maximum of 32 plug-ins at 44.1/48 kHz. Liquid Mix ships with a line-lump 12V power supply but can also receive bus power.
MIXOLOGY
The control surface basically mirrors the onscreen graphical user interface (GUI) of the Liquid Mix plug-in with dedicated continuous rotary knobs for compressor threshold, ratio, attack, release and gain positioned in a row horizontally; and EQ gain, frequency and Q adjacently positioned as a vertical strip, switchable for each of seven frequency bands. A push-button rotary knob selects which EQ band to edit and doubles as a general data-entry dial. The 1-by-2-inch graphic LCD shows a reduced-size image of the currently selected EQ band or compression curve from the plug-in. Because communication between the controller and the computer is bidirectional, the LCD and illuminated buttons update in real time to show changes made in the software GUI, and vice versa.
An input trim knob and 12-segment LED meter with Limit indicator allow you to adjust incoming signals, while similar meters are provided for compressor gain reduction, mid-stage level and master EQ output, complete with clipping indicator. The Mid indicator is an extremely handy feature that allows you to monitor levels between the EQ and the compressor sections because it's perceivable that you may overload one with the other; you can reverse the order of these sections as well. In software, meters are shown as stereo signals when appropriate, but the hardware offers only a single summed-channel response for each meter, presumably to save on cost and space. Regardless, the meters are bright and accurately responsive.
The Liquid Mix plug-in looks the same no matter what emulation you select. The compressor section is always located on the left, with the equalizer to the right. If you load a compressor emulation that didn't feature an attack or release setting on the original hardware or an EQ that offered only three bands (not Liquid Mix's seven), then the software grays out these unused controls. Similarly, each emulation stays true to the original equipment's parameter ranges.
Individual EQ bands can be made active or inactive, with the currently selected band appearing in the plug-in graph as a red curve and the composite effect of all EQ bands displayed as a black curve. Cut-switch buttons are provided to disable compressor or EQ sections individually, or you can use the Bypass button to kill the plug-in path entirely. Other utility controls include Sidechain Monitor and a Track Select button to determine which Liquid Mix instance is being addressed by the controller. Save, Load, Compare and Emulation Select buttons let you fully operate Liquid Mix without really needing to touch a mouse.
GETTING TANKED UP
At press time, only a Mac version of the installer was ready (including Intel Macs), though Focusrite hoped to have PC support in place by some time in November. Installation was quick and trouble free on a Power Mac G5 dual 1.8 GHz running OS 10.4.4 and Pro Tools|HD Accel hardware with a 96 I/O as the primary audio interface. I also tested it as a VST in BIAS Peak Pro XT 5 and as Audio Units in Apple Logic Pro 7.2.2.
While VST and Audio Units versions are natively coded, Pro Tools|HD and LE support comes via an invisibly embedded RTAS wrapping process licensed by FXpansion. This Liquid Mix — specific wrapper only works with Pro Tools 7.x; for earlier versions, the full FXpansion VST-to-RTAS wrapper must be purchased from www.fxpansion.com. The Liquid Mix Manager preferences panel allows you to set the sampling rate and maximum number of channel instances of the Liquid Mix plug-in you'll be able to run. That becomes crucial because FireWire devices each reserve their own amount of bandwidth, and sharing Liquid Mix with other devices such as hard drives on the pipeline can be challenging.
I first tried Liquid Mix out in Pro Tools 7.1cs9, where I quickly discovered something wasn’t right with my setup. I heard faint clicks and pops from the RTAS insert and immediately began thinking it may have something to do with my triple-bay Glyph hard drive unit and SSL Duende sharing the G5’s built-in FireWire 400 bus with the Liquid Mix. Lowering the channel count from 32 to 24, 16, eight and eventually a mere two tracks within the manager proved nothing, so I began disconnecting and removing devices one by one from the FireWire chain in search of the culprit. Even with my system stripped, however, the clicking continued.
I reconnected the Glyph drives and tried running Liquid Mix as a VST under BIAS Peak Pro XT 5 and as an Audio Unit under Apple Logic Pro 7.2.2. This time I used the Mac’s built-in audio interface and Core Audio drivers, thinking my troubles might have something to do with the RTAS wrapper. I achieved somewhat decent results, but still not optimal, with clicking beginning to appear at anything greater than 24 channels. Once again, I unplugged the FireWire drives and—low and behold—I could achieve a full 32-mono/16-stereo (or combination thereof) Liquid Mix count without a single click.
Including many emails to Focusrite engineers, I went back to the drawing board in search of a solution to the RTAS problem and the ability for Liquid Mix to work with the Digidesign hardware. We noted the computer’s CPU meter maxing out in both Pro Tools and Logic whenever I was used the Digidesign hardware and DAE/TDM drivers. There would be intermittent periods were no audio would pass through the Liquid Mix plug-in, while at other moments the faint clicking would escalate to full-on digital zippering and other random times Logic would hang up (spinning beachball) completely. Finally, we thought it might be the legacy Digidesign 1622 I/O interface that was chained off the 96 I/O. Sure enough, once disconnected, I could achieve 32 channels of RTAS Liquid Mix in Pro Tools, and even a full 32 channels of Audio Units in Logic Pro via Direct TDM (DTDM) bridging with the DAE driver.
The reason this adventure deserves such lurid detail is that a good number of you may fall upon a similar situation with wild gear combinations. Although Focusrite assured me it is well into finding a solid cause—and hopefully a software solution—to my legacy Digidesign hardware problem, the fact will remain that Liquid Mix consumes a very large portion of the FireWire 400 bandwidth. It is therefore not only recommended, but virtually a prerequisite that Liquid Mix be placed on its own, dedicated FireWire bus—via PCI, PCMCIA or Express Card FireWire adapter—in systems that host even a single other FireWire device such as a hard drive, video drive or other DSP hardware.
TOP-SHELF WARES
Out of the box, you get 20 EQ and 40 compressor emulations, and Focusrite notes that additional emulations and online presets are on the way. Emulations of almost all of the classic British and American hardware range from legendary and rare console channel strip EQ and dynamics sections to outboard workhorses from Drawmer, Tube-Tech, TL Audio, dbx and more.
The modern sound of the Empirical Labs Distressor, Manley SLAM!, Millennia STT1 solid state/tube hybrid and Avalon VT737SP valve channel strip were all captured well, as was the boutique tube essence of a Chiswick Reach (Altec 436 clone) stereo valve compressor. More household-name compressors include 1176LN mono limiting amplifier emulations based on both the original Urei and Universal Audio reissue; Teletronix LA2A silver-face and LA3A black-face with 30 dB setting switched on; Summit Audio TLA100A tube leveling amplifier; Fairchild 670; Joemeek SC2 optical; Manley stereo “variable mu” compressor; and Focusrite's own Classic Red 7, Green Channel strip and Liquid Channel compressors.
The EQ section is equally mouthwatering, with old-time favorites including Neve 1073 and 1058, API 550A and 550B, Pultec EQP-1 and MEQ-5 mid-band tube EQ from the '50s and '60s, Focusrite ISA 115 6-band, SSL E and G series, and Manley Massive Passive. Some exciting surprises include the 5-band Focusrite Platinum Voice Master EQ, a rare 6-band channel EQ section from Amek Angela console and an even rarer Chandler Limited EMI Passive TG Abbey Road desk EQ.
Those unfamiliar with the inherent differences between generations of EQ will likely find this vast collection to be an ear-opening history and technology lesson, while the rest will absolutely flip over the ability to mix and match bands from one emulation to another in Liquid Mix's hybrid EQ mode.
GO WITH THE FLOW
I won't pretend to know what each and every one of these units should sound like from firsthand experience, though I have used many of them. Liquid Mix sounds unmistakably analog, however, with smooth and natural edges that lend themselves well to warming up the DAW environment. And it doesn't take much effort to get the emulations sounding great on tracks. A quick throw of a dial, and you can hear the “iron” placed in your mix. Unlike some plug-in bundles, where one compressor or EQ can sound like another only dressed in different clothing, you can absolutely hear the distinctive characteristics between each of these emulations, which makes the value skyrocket.
With a number of competing DSP-based products out there, Liquid Mix brings several novel ideas to the table. First, the wonderful tactile control surface is unique. Second, these are true-to-life emulations, not merely coders' impressions of what sounds like the real deal. Third, the sonic variety and ability to interchange EQ characteristics isn't found anywhere else. And Liquid Mix's 32 processing channels aren't infringed upon by sharing duties such as reverb, pitch correction or amp emulation. It does one thing very well: provide a consistent count of channel strips and program-grade compression and EQ. It's also an obvious choice for mobile users who can stash it in a laptop bag and be on their way.
With unmatched flexibility, wonderfully nostalgic sound, bundles of power and a cavernous vault of drool-worthy equipment emulations to come, it's pretty safe to say that Focusrite has rewritten the book on how studios of all shapes and sizes will approach gear acquisition.
For audio examples of Liquid Mix and a full explanation of the initial setup concerns, go to remixmag.com.
FOCUSRITE
LIQUID MIX > $1,099.99
Pros: Outstanding sound quality. More sonic choice than any other DSP solution available. Tactile control surface integrally part of the deal. Elegant GUI easy to use.
Cons: Current software yields intermittent-to-unusable RTAS operation on some TDM hardware systems. RTAS is wrapped rather than natively coded. Dedicated FireWire card almost a necessity for optimal use.
Contact: www.focusrite.com
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Mac: G4, G5 or Intel Mac/1 GHz; 256 MB RAM (1 GB recommended); OS 10.3.9 or later; spare FireWire 400 port
PC: Windows XP version coming later this year; compatibility specifications not yet available.
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