I know this thing has been out for a long time. I am just curious why nobody ever brings it up? I have looked up some threads on here about it and it seems like most people don't like this thing... although I am wondering how much time they spent with it.

I bought one a year ago for about $400 and I think it is an incredible value. It used to cost $1000. A lot of the emulations sound really incredible, but it takes a lot of time to explore them on different sound sources, just like with any plugins! And it's so nice to have a dedicated hardware controller which is really good quality and intuitive.


Here are some reviews:

Mix magazine product review of the Focusrite Liquid Mix DSP-based EQ/Compressor

Focusrite Liquid Mix, Craig Anderton

Electronic Musician's review of Focusrite's Liquid Mix | multichannel FireWire signal processor

Focusrite Liquid Mix

Focusrite Liquid Mix

YouTube - BSSReview:Ep6: Focusrite Liquid Mix


All of these reviews love the Liquid Mix! And now that you can get it for under $500, it is such a steal! I guess I am just confused why people aren't raving about it. It's not like these plugs go out of style...

And no, I don't work for Focusrite....

I've heard that the latency is pretty bad on the LM. Is that true?

-Ben B

Not at all. I'm running Logic and Ableton on a Mac Pro and haven't had any issues at all. I'll have quite a few instances running at the same time, and zero problems.

The buffer size of the liquid mix accounts for a complete 'round trip' of the firewire bus, meaning the latency of the plugin is double that of your soundcards buffer (i.e buffer of 128 samples with your DAW/Soundcard account for 256 sample of latency) which in most instances is less than 15ms, so not much at all. Of course, any DAW with ADC has no problems with latency, and your project doesnt become 'sluggush' in any way.

I use it with Pro Tools MP 8 and have no problem with latency without ADC. I just stick and instance on every track (32 mono) and decide later if i want to actually EQ or compress the track. If i dont, its just acting as the delay compensator just by having in on the track.

In the one review it says that the latency is 2-3ms.

The latency is definitely there but there are work arounds. Good value for the money.

depends how you use it. Cubase has adc so I never notice the delay. I love mine but the MAIN reason as sad as it is.... the GUI. Can be confusing and ininspiring. I can GUARANTEE if they named the units properly (they cant for legal reasons) and had emulation graphics they would be up there with the UAD's and Duende's etc

I've had mine for years. I started having some issues with it before the latest drivers but ever since its back to being my workhorse. I love the emulations on this thing although I still find that I have to resort to using substantially more make up gain then I do on any other plug in or actual compressor.

Still at the end of the day I usually have at least 10 LM compressors going on any project. Lately started using a few EQ's too, although they don't really impress me as much.

I mixed a couple of records solely with LM. I thought the box sounded fine but there were a few issues that made things too difficult so I had to move on to other things (and ultimately buy my entire outboard collection again ;-)). Now, I don't know whether the problems have been solved since then or even if I was the only one having them but here's the list:

1. Between software versions 1 and 2 the thing was buggy as hell. Hanging on its own PCI FW card it still failed to initialize and load properly in sessions way too often.

2. There was a lo end problem with most emulations (they were fine under v1 and them just went BAD when I installed v2). Everything bellow 80-90 HZ would just disappear even with no compression or eq correction taking place. I tried to point it out to Focusrite at AES that year and even followed up on it but they basically ignored me ;-(

3. Lo end and Lo mid eq curves sounded NOTHING what they looked like on GUI which would not be that big of an issue had they not sounded so weird (I don't know, asymmetrical, comb-filtery or something... just not right)

4. I had expected the top end to sound much smoother in a dynamic convolution-based process. It didn't sound all that much better than most of algo eqs out there. It actually reminded me of PSP Vintage Warmer for some reason.

5. Most compressor emulations didn't sound anything like or even exhibit similar behavior to the hardware units they're supposed to emulate which again wouldn't be that big of an issue if I didn't have to scroll through all of them just to find something usable. Coming from analog mixing and having a list of my go-to outboard pieces I found it impossible to replace them even to some degree with anything LM had to offer.

This is my personal experience though. Things might've changed. I would actually be very interested to know what people that have been using it professionally since v1 came out have to say at this point. I'm by no means bashing this unit, just describing my personal experience with it.

My 2 c

that does seem like a major pain in the ass. i guess i have been lucky with it!

bottom line, the emulations for the LA2A, and 1073 EQ sounds DAMN CLOSE to the real thing!!!! I mean really close. I paid $185 for it at a clearance, so WTF?

Why don't people like it? Most likely they've had bad initial experiences with it.
I have only had, so far , good experiences, actually great experiences with it. I wish I could run 2 or 3 at a time, I would sell almost all my outboard gear.

DP

THANK YOU!!! sounds sick, right??

damn... $185?? did you get the 16 or the 32 for that price?

The 16 track version.
I LOVE it.
It is a fantastic tool.

DP

awesome! which leads me to the following:

I have a Focusrite Liquid Mix 32 for sale. please email me if you are interested.

just kidding hehhehheh

They do appear to be discontinued with no direct replacement in sight... wonder what happened, considering the hype (of their own creation as well as in the "media") ... maybe the deal with Sintefex went bad?

yea it is very confusing. really doesnt make sense! maybe they didnt sell that well?

I love the sound, but I hate the dfegad drivers on OS X.

I barely use it due its damned software.

it doesnt work every time or what?

Not too stable. Sometimes one channel doesn't work, sometimes both, and so on.

You can use if you don't use a lot of instances.

THANK YOU FOR THIS THREAD!
I´ve thought about opening the same thread. There are too few threads about this unit.
Would like to hear from other LM User on what genre and instrument they use which emulation and why.
Here are my favorits (so far)


Comperssors:
London/Brti Boutique Tube 1 (CHISWICK REACH) - for Kick, Bass, Akustic Guitars
CopyCat (EMPIRICAL LABS EL8 Distressor): - Bass
Class A1 (Neve 2254/A): -Piano
Brit Desk2 (SSL 4000G) - Mix Bus
Stellar 1 (Universal Audio 1176LN) - Vocals, Drum
Stellar 3 (Urei) - Guitars

EQ Emulations:
BritDesk5 (SSL G-Series) for mostly everything
BritDesk4 (SSL E Series) on Drums/Drum Bus

Mastering
Class A2 (Neve 33609/B): Ratio at 1.5:1 with release at 100 or a little bit more. Not more than 3dB Gain reduction

Yeah, previous version seemed to have buggy EQ's and such...
I've only recently got a LM32 and started right off with v3, with EQ problems fixed and a couple emulation updated, and WOW !

Really, WOW

I've gone straight to the classics I know as outboards (1176, LA2A, 1073, Distressor, etc) and yes, DAMN damn close. Still have to dwelve into unknown territory though.

I do get what the fuss was all about before, but now, seems like DSP heaven.

hehhehheh

im so happy i started this thread!

i will put up some of my settings when i get back in the studio

Here's a question were emulations updated simply by installing V3? Or do you have to trash the old ones and drag the new ones in?

I'll have to check out more of the EQ's, because of the weird lo frequency issues in the past I've always kind of avoided them.

go here: Liquid Mix EQ & Compressor Revolutionary Liquid Multi-channel Firewire Mix Processor

yeah i use more compressors than i do EQs but there are some great EQs in there

MMMmmm. Just dusted mine off again.

I LOVE the 1073 EQ, as well as the ISA115.
I actually think I like the EQ's more than the comps. The Pultec one is also just amazing for adding a little bit of something to make a mix or track shine.
I had a bunch of mastering gigs this summer and the EQ's were incredibly useful and subtle/tasteful. Not to metion the SSL mixBuss comp, OMG, Simply amazing what it does to a mix, truly incredible.

DP

Many problems can be solved by putting it on it's own firewire card (with a good chipset)

sometimes i need to pull the firewire cale out and plug it back in to get it working properly... besides that issue it's some of the best money i've ever spent

Question about stellar1 & 2.
I only adjust the threshold. Is the setting then similar to "all Buttons in"
What is the difference beetween the UA 1176 and the Urei 1176?