AudioMedia - March 2009 - (Page 44) FOCUSRITE LIQUIDMIX HD TDM Pro Tools Plug-in Focusrite’s well-engineered convolution-based plug-in suite is easy on the ears and the processor, says RICH TOZZOLI. have to admit that the only thing that kept me from running Focusrite’s Liquid Mix hardware in my studio was that you needed a slot-precious FireWire cable to run it. Well, scratch that problem: Liquid Mix HD is a new TDM plug-in for Pro Tools|HD users that provides up to modern and classic EQ and compressor emulations. There are no cables needed with this bad boy – just install and play. I To run Liquid Mix HD, you’ll need (of course) Pro Tools (V . or higher), a minimum of GB of memory, and an iLok key. At a minimum, you’ll also need Windows XP SP or OSX Mac . . operating systems, and a Pro Tools Accel DSP card. The plug-in will run at sample rates up to kHz with a totally respectable latency of samples at all rates. Since I downloaded the basic installation software, a separate install of the emulation files was necessary. The R equirements “That’s a serious amount of power considering how good these things sound. While I didn’t use nearly that many, I found they barely put a dent into my cards – always a welcome thing on large, DSP intensive mixes.” THE REVIEWER RICH TOZZOLI is a producer, composer, sound designer, and the Software Editor for Pro Audio Review. www.richtozzoli.com Like the aforementioned Liquid Mix , LiquidMix HD uses a technology called ‘Dynamic Convolution’ to generate the included emulations. Unlike the technique of simply modelling a sound, this actually samples the behaviour of audio within each unit at multiple levels, settings, and frequencies. Out of this mound of data emerges an ‘accurate’ emulation of each of the included analogue processors. These are available to be called up as a plug-in insert with each instance (stereo or mono), providing one compressor and one equaliser each. I t ’s a Convolution Thing The emulations provided upon installation are broken down into compressors and EQs. Additional library installs are available for free on Focusrite’s website, with an expanding selection forthcoming. The emulations are selected on the GUI by using the dropdown menu available above each graph. While you’re never exactly sure what models they are, the cryptic codes such as Class A : Brit ’s, Brit Desk , Danish Classic Tube, etc, do provide clues (except for Focusrite’s own clearly labelled Red , ISA , and Green Channel Strip). The first thing I did was to scan through them all on the same piece of audio material, to hear the impact of each and get a feel for it. The same dropdown selection applies for the EQ, except that here you can choose to load All Bands or those associated with the original model. The compressor provides the standard controls, as well as additional knobs (Freq, Gain, Q) that become available when the Sidechain monitor switch is selected. Also, when Sidechain is active, another box appears offering EQ types (Low Shelf, Band Pass, High Shelf ) and the EQ Graph will display a green line to indicate your settings. There is an Input Level meter with associated Gain knob on the left side, and a Gain Reduction meter (down to - dB) for the Compressor aside the Compression Graph. In the middle sits a Mid Meter that shows the level of the signal directly after the Compressor, before the EQ. However, when the Compressor Post EQ switch is active, it will display the signal directly after the EQ, What ’s I nside 44 AUDIO MEDIA MARCH 2009 http://www.richtozzoli.com
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