Focusrite Green vs. Platinum

[Bill@WelcomeHome]

Originally Posted by FilmNMusicman

Wondering if anyone knows if these are the same design or different...There is a Green Channel for stupid cheap, I'd buy it for the hell of it. Thing is that I owned a Platinum Trakmaster (when I was foolish), and it sounded just terrible to me.

Anyone know if the Green stuff is worth a try??

The Green was their entry level compared to Red and Blue back in the day. The line did not last long, it was replaced by the platinum at way cheaper pricing. The reviews on the green gear was always good, at their price range they
hit a target of the time... small studios like mine that wanted a taste of what Focusrite could do.

I had the mic preamp and channel strip, both good products -in their day-. I have not heard one in forever, so i don't know how they would stack up today. I still have the quad compressor, haven't even powered it up for years. It's not even in my rack.

There was a small group of DIYers who were duplicating some of the products, so there must be some value to them.

I also tried the Platinum stuff. I had the channel strip and the instrument preamp. I liked the pre, but neither piece was made well.

[microwave]

I still have the green channel strip, though I don't use it much anymore. Compared to the platinum units its on a different level. No particular character and perhaps a bit boring but clean and detailed. The eq is good and the compressor does a good job for transparent level riding when tracking. Sadly my version does not have a line level input. I never sold it because they change hands for way less than they are worth in practical terms...

[FilmNMusicman]

Thanks guys.....I really should just not buy anymor pres, you end up collecting them at some point lok

[homestudioguy]

Originally Posted by FilmNMusicman

Thanks guys.....I really should just not buy anymor pres, you end up collecting them at some point lok

I wouldnt go that far.
But then again, I don't know what pres you have.
In any case, maybe it's time to start saving $$$ for ones that you WILL keep and use forever!

Focusrite ISA One for $499ish, new, might be one in the lower end.
Uses a Neve designed transformer based Pre.
The Grace m101 is a tad bit more $$$, new.
Chameleon Labs makes Nice Pre EQ in the $700 range (7602MkII).
The more you spend, generally, the better they sound.
Of course, there many sound "flavors" to choose from too!
B

[dkelley]

, always a fun topic.

I know it isn't just me who feels that the green series are very good but VERY neutral/forgettable preamps. extremely well made, discrete, but designed to be a forgettable and high performance part of your signal chain. no specific sound of it's own.

The platinum preamps are based upon them. The older (non-"pro" platinum models) imho have inferior preamp sections that don't sound as good. The platinum pro series, contrary to most "pro" labeled series, is actually superior in terms of sound quality and internal component design imho.

The cheap trackmaster pro is quite a decent peramp - not great build quality, but actually quite good sounding imho and certainly very high performance (low noise, low distortion, etc). the priciest platinum pro preamps (Voicemaster or whatever the name is) actually has a slightly more elaborate circuit design in the pre section that really impresses me. It's VASTLY superior in it's circuit design to most affordable preamps, specially so those that are in affordable channel strips.

It sounds virtually identical to the green strip I used for a while. I think both are very good and anyone complaining about them on gearslutz is likely to be comparing them against high end preamps, not against similarly priced preamps/strips, since compared to much of the competition they truly are superior products.

the platinum series got a bad rap early on, too bad. the pro versions, even with their less interesting control schemes (they lost features when they went "pro"), are certainly good enough for serious studio recording.

I'm not the only person who has found a trackmaster PRO or voicemaster PRO strip to be a valuable strip to have lying around as sometimes it's just the sound you want with a specific mic and specific singer.

I would pick up a green strip if it's cheap - you can't go wrong.

But it doesn't have a sound, where some other focusrite devices (isa, red, etc) have strong tones of their own, good ones at that.

Keeping in mind that the very expensive focusrite liquid channel uses a mic preamp that is based upon that of the voicemaster, although of course with the addition of a super expensive fancy custom made audio input transformer, I think you get an idea of how well it's made, how well it performs, and now neutral it sounds (as required by the modelling stages that come next in the liquid channel strip).

Now those who dumped the non-pro platinum stuff - having read more about it I finally picked one up myself and agree - it doesn't sound nearly as good as the "pro" platinum stuff. Odd since the pro versions cost the same or less than the non pro... but you can check the circuits and see the differences - the subtle improvements they made to the preamps to improve the sound really make a difference.
Cheers
Don

[homestudioguy]

Originally Posted by dkelley

, always a fun topic.

The cheap trackmaster pro is quite a decent preamp - not great build quality, but actually quite good sounding imho and certainly very high performance (low noise, low distortion, etc). the priciest platinum pro preamps (Voicemaster or whatever the name is) actually has a slightly more elaborate circuit design in the pre section that really impresses me. It's VASTLY superior in it's circuit design to most affordable preamps, specially so those that are in affordable channel strips. I'm not the only person who has found a trackmaster PRO or voicemaster PRO strip to be a valuable strip to have lying around as sometimes it's just the sound you want with a specific mic and specific singer. I would pick up a green strip if it's cheap - you can't go wrong. Cheers
Don

There was a period of time that the Platinum Voice Master Pro was advertised as having the same pre as the ISA Range.

There were a number of reviewers that really liked the TrakMaster Pro Pre and some that REALLY liked the compression circuit in it.

[sessionatstudiom]

I had the green pre amp for a while. I quite liked it. It was not a Neve nor was it the upper end unit. But compared to the Mackie 8 bus consoles, Soundtracs, Soundcraft Ghost etc... It was a great addition. It was better than those consoles that I was using at the time. Had a bit of character but was mostly clean. I used mine for all kinds of things until I got a few other pres. But it would end up being used from time to time also.

If it is cheap enough you can't go wrong. Minus the ugly faceplate IMHO. They perform well and are an improvement to many of the devices made.

Just a few thoughts.

Mike

[FilmNMusicman]

Maybe my ears were just bad...

Or maybe my NT1A + Trakmaster was a terrible match.

When I A/B'd it against my other preamps. Eureka, MPA GOLD, VXP it always sounded thin and shrill up top. I loved it when it was my only one, I guess it just got left in the dust.

The Green Range is definitely nothing pretty to put in a rack. Is $200 for the channel strip worth it or would I be overpaying?

I mean, I could just save the money and get my Distressor like I've been planning to do.

[dutchkash]

In my old studio the owners had both a trakmaster and a red pair in the rack. After some experimentation, I found the reds quite usable (though certainly without "color") and stopped using the trakmaster completely. The room next store had a green - sounded just like the trakmaster. Usable, but just so. If I owned, I would sell green.

[dkelley]

Originally Posted by FilmNMusicman

Maybe my ears were just bad...

Or maybe my NT1A + Trakmaster was a terrible match.

When I A/B'd it against my other preamps. Eureka, MPA GOLD, VXP it always sounded thin and shrill up top. I loved it when it was my only one, I guess it just got left in the dust.

The Green Range is definitely nothing pretty to put in a rack. Is $200 for the channel strip worth it or would I be overpaying?

I mean, I could just save the money and get my Distressor like I've been planning to do.

despite the post above this one, I would JUMP at a green strip for $200.

compared to the competition for $200.... well you're doing REALLY well.

and as I pointed out, I've learned that there is a notable difference in sound quality between the trackmaster and the trackmaster PRO. the PRO sounds MUCH MUCH better.

and the voice master pro is truly an excellent device in every way.

again - not vibey devices, but very very good all the same.

I do recommend walking by the platinum non-pro models though.

and of course many will dislike truly neutral and uber clean devices like the green and platinum pro preamps. that's understandable. I don't like grace much either, but that's a LOT more cash than the focusrite models and sounds similar imho.

And yes, the opto compressor in the pro line sounds wonderful, I used to love it on vocals during tracking with it just hitting lightly. There aren't a lot of controls for the compressor so you have to understand gain staging to get the most out of it.

But we're all engineers (or wanna-bes) here, so learning gain staging is a worthwhile past time.

[ljefe]

I've used the Green dual mic pre and the EQ and I don't like the sound of either. I always felt they made anything run through them sound anemic, small.

You think you got a great vocal take? Did it send shivers up the back of your neck? Listen back to that track you just captured with that Green preamp and you'll think, "meh", every time.

[dkelley]

Originally Posted by ljefe

I've used the Green dual mic pre and the EQ and I don't like the sound of either. I always felt they made anything run through them sound anemic, small.

You think you got a great vocal take? Did it send shivers up the back of your neck? Listen back to that track you just captured with that Green preamp and you'll think, "meh", every time.

I've never found it small sounding, however I've certainly heard other preamps that make things sound bigger than life, however, which the green (and platinum) won't give you.

Possibly that's what we're talking about here.

Or maybe just differences in how we hear. I've captured some amazing vocal takes with platinum gear - and with some much more sought after preamps. I've also captured some terrible ones with all of those. I've had shivers from vocal takes when using all of them, too.

I would NEVER give the credit for getting shivers up the back of my neck to ANY mic preamp.

There are probably some preamps that might impede that feeling a bit, but it takes a pretty bad piece of gear to take away that kind of magic. From my experience, Focusrite green and platinum aren't in the crappy category that can take away neck shivers from a great vocal take.

[Ben Gordon]

I've used the greens on and off for years and they are totally fine. They don't sound bad at all. The Platinum one I tried once sounded fine too. Focusrite gets way too bashed around here IMO. It is good stuff for little dough. I actually used the Green's a lot for backing vocals, I liked that the image size was small...fit right into place..AND....you could really pull things back volume wise and still hear the backing sections. I use the uber cheap JOEMeek vc6q in the same way. Let the more expensive pre's record the 'main' and up front parts....

[Ben Gordon]

I've used the greens on and off for years and they are totally fine. They don't sound bad at all. The Platinum one I tried once sounded fine too. Focusrite gets way too bashed around here IMO. It is good stuff for little dough. I actually used the Green's a lot for backing vocals, I liked that the image size was small...fit right into place..AND....you could really pull things back volume wise and still hear the backing sections. I use the uber cheap JOEMeek vc6q in the same way. Let the more expensive pre's record the 'main' and up front parts....