16th January 2008
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#1 | | Gear maniac
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 273
Thread Starter  | Things the Liquid Channel taught me
1. If something is too good to be true, it probably isn't
2. Latency is annoying
3. Digital EQ sucks
4. Microphone choice and placement changes sound more than choice of preamp (provided the preamp is "high end")
5. Digital gear depreciates in value quickly
Having said that, the LC is a cool tool for tracking via AES to DAW at the highest sample rate, if only for the convenience of using the on-screen Liquid Control panel.
The LC is also very quiet, its preamp has tons of gain, and the recallable settings are very convenient.
For me, that convenience came at too high a price sonically, and I am much happier with both my Sebtron vmp-4000e and Daking Mic Pre-EQ.
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17th January 2008
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#2 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Jan 2007 Location: Dallas
Posts: 2,093
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I have one on loan right now to test. I find it doesn't work for common applications as well as my other pres. The only time I liked it was when I was experimenting more with odd mics. I've been putting it through the paces for the last week. I find that my LA610 an Germanium outshine it on just about everything. I guess if I had a bunch of money sitting around and wanted to try a different flavor every now and then, it would work. But this is definitely not a "go to" preamp at all. The Nashville setting worked once for a vocalist on a particular song, but my LA610 and Germanium blew it away on EVERYTHING else.
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17th January 2008
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#3 | | member no 666
Joined: Jun 2002 Location: Suffern, NY
Posts: 10,411
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It taught me that H.L. Mencken was a spot on genius!!!
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17th January 2008
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#4 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Aug 2006 Location: Western MA, USA
Posts: 3,435
| Things the Liquid Channel taught me...
That Focusrite can put out a product that is actually worse than the green series.
__________________ Little Studio
"Run to the hills, run for your lives."
-Iron Maiden
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17th January 2008
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#5 | | Gear Guru
Joined: May 2005 Location: Albany, New York
Posts: 10,641
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I wonder if at any time during the design phase, someone looked up, shook their head, and muttered, "Yeah, okay... but..."
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17th January 2008
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#6 | | Gear maniac
Joined: Jul 2007 Location: Lala Land
Posts: 193
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Stitch333  That Focusrite can put out a product that is actually worse than the green series. | Other than noise, bad reliability, cheap parts, bad manufacturing, horrible support and harshness, what was wrong with the green series?
__________________ Quote:
Originally Posted by PreAmpSam Can you make that kick drum sound like a plane crashing into a Twinkie ? | Quote:
Originally Posted by cynic your first mistake was even buying that girl a ring. you know you coulda probably got some nice preamps with that money... | | |
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18th January 2008
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#7 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Jan 2007 Location: Dallas
Posts: 2,093
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Well, after spending more time with this preamp, it's a door stop. It's lifeless. It sucks. Period. Spending $2000 on hookers would sound better than this.
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18th January 2008
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#8 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Feb 2007 Location: Florida
Posts: 690
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the EQ is very unimpressive and doesn't feel natural to use. I use it sparingly.
the compression sounds ok, but again, the feel is a little "off" and I don't know how to describe it.
frankly, i think the mic preamp models are pretty dang good. i think the preamp itself is a pretty good design even in the flat mode, the models are icing on the cake. doing it all over again, i probably would have bought something else, but i don't dislike it and find it very useful, especially when i have time to experiment and try different models. my use of some of the models inspired to buy some of the "real things" to expand my mic pre amps.
i think people just love to bash focusrite. remember, its not the tool, its the user that ultimately decides how good the final product is.
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18th January 2008
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#9 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Oct 2007 Location: Indiana
Posts: 1,298
| Quote:
Originally Posted by gainstages i think people just love to bash focusrite. remember, its not the tool, its the user that ultimately decides how good the final product is. | i was hoping someone would say this.
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19th January 2008
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#10 | | Gear maniac
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 273
Thread Starter | Quote:
Originally Posted by gainstages i think people just love to bash focusrite. remember, its not the tool, its the user that ultimately decides how good the final product is. | Oh, I agree. I think the mistake I made was thinking that the LC could be my diamond go-to main preamp, and it simply isn't up to the task, at least not in my set-up. I even did the LC preamp shootout here in the audio file forum and thought the preamps sounded pretty good as well. Still, for the money, my Daking Mic Pre/EQ and Sebatron vmp-4000e sound more "real" to me...maybe just because they are (and I do like the Focusrite preamp sound on breathy brit-pop vocals).
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19th January 2008
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#11 | | Gear maniac
Joined: Jul 2007 Location: Lala Land
Posts: 193
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I have no time to check through Focusrite's Website, but they should make 8 channels of Liquid Preamps, with built in A/D D/A,ADAT and AES I/O, Clock and a pretty, pretty Digital Interface on the front panel.
Or, they should quit trying to force Liquid(insert keyphrase here) down out throats.
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