Liquid Mix 16 Price Drop

[Jeremy Lumsden]

Focusrite have just announced a price drop on the Liquid Mix 16. Now just under £200

[EdRyan]

That is VERY good news.

I was looking at them, and couldn't believe how poor value they were when compared to the LM 32. For the sake of £20, you could get the 32 version.

This rectifies the situation. And is an absolute steal !

[modz1]

A good Focusrite 'Liquid' post here..
http://blog.dv247.com/focusrite-liqu...eering-2/1349/

[Wilty]

I've been watching these on eBay and such lately, definitely tempting. I think its something I'd get a lot of use out of too. Now I'm pulled in about 4 directions to spend moeny I don't have. Thanks DV, thanks a pant-load!

[waxxy]

i agree with ed before they were way over priced compared to the 32 version which was only a few pounds more now its 200 pounds thats a much more realistic price and should sell well

[EdRyan]

What is making me giggle are the people still trying to sell them on ebay for £180 upwards. There are some still there at £300 or more.

Quick Q. With the expansion slot, does the unit run to 48 or 64 plugins?

[waxxy]

i read it runs 24 with the expansion but i think that was a type error ..how much is the expansion pack?i also see this is still nearly 300 pounds on lots of other sites lol..

[EdRyan]

That is no type error. I believe it to be correct.

Which then begs the question....is the LM 16 really worth supporting the expander. With the addon card it costs £330 and runs upto a maximum of 24 instances. If you bought the normal LM you'd pay the same but get 32 instances..

The expander doesn't allow more instances to be run (due to running out of Firewire bandwidth). It simply lets them run at higher sample rates. On the LM 32, you can run 16stereo/32mono instances at 44.1 or 48kHz. If you up that to 88.2 or 96kHz, the instance count drops to 4stereo/8mono. with the expander card, it goes back up to 8stereo/16mono.

I would actually appreciate someone from Focusrite coming along and clearing up this. I'm struggling to see the benefit of the Lm 16 supporting the extra memory. Or will it deal with a single 192kHz stereo plugin instance like the LM32. Not that I'd ever go that far, but I'm curious as there aren't any LM 16 specs published on their website.

[waxxy]

if i get one i think ill not bother with the add on ive read it was correct ..the add on really only benifits the higher spec model by giving it more stereo/mono channels but to be honest i think 16 channels will be fine for me and if i ever run out i could always bounce down the tracks..im gutted the deal only started this week i had the money last week and blew it on a meal and buying new clothes..id have rather starved and wore rags for a few weeks lol..hope this deals going on for awhile so i can save up and get it in a few weeks.

[Jeremy Lumsden]

Originally Posted by EdRyan

That is no type error. I believe it to be correct.

Which then begs the question....is the LM 16 really worth supporting the expander. With the addon card it costs £330 and runs upto a maximum of 24 instances. If you bought the normal LM you'd pay the same but get 32 instances..

The expander doesn't allow more instances to be run (due to running out of Firewire bandwidth). It simply lets them run at higher sample rates. On the LM 32, you can run 16stereo/32mono instances at 44.1 or 48kHz. If you up that to 88.2 or 96kHz, the instance count drops to 4stereo/8mono. with the expander card, it goes back up to 8stereo/16mono.

I would actually appreciate someone from Focusrite coming along and clearing up this. I'm struggling to see the benefit of the Lm 16 supporting the extra memory. Or will it deal with a single 192kHz stereo plugin instance like the LM32. Not that I'd ever go that far, but I'm curious as there aren't any LM 16 specs published on their website.

I've brought this post to Focusrite's attention this morning.....

[terminal3]

I would assume it's just so you "have the option." Because the LM32 and 16 are the same boxes, it probably wasn't hard to leave the ability to expand in it as far as design/manufacture are concerned. So if someone buys the 16, but then finds they "just need a few more channels" then they don't have to sell it and go get a 32, they can expand it if they want to.

Yes, fiscally it wouldn't be the best plan to go that route from the get-go, but if you need an LM *now* and you're on a budget you can pick up the 16 for "cheap" and then sometime in the future add the expansion if you absolutely need to.

Either way, the price reduction is welcome and it makes a lot more sense in the lineup now!

[EdRyan]

My post wasn't s'posed to sound whinging or derogatory. I'm just curious as to how much of a boost the expansion card gives the 16 version. It's clear for the normal box, but nothing is said about the 16.

[Semi-D]

anyone had any experience with the liquidmix stuff?

for £200 this seems a steal!
I know the Comps/EQs are based on classics but just how good are they?

I have the Sonnox Essential Native bundle and use the Oxford EQ but find myself Freezing and bouncing down stuff to free up power after 10 or so instances!

so this 'sounds' like it would be very useful to me!

[EdRyan]

They tend to get mixed reviews. Like a lot of software emulators.

The problem is that people get hold of these emulations, and then try to compare the emulations to a unit that they own. They forget that their unit is analogue. As such, every unit will be different. Slightly different components, components from different batches, component and overall unit wear, even things like local voltage affect the performance of analogue kit.

The programs on the Liquid Mix are certainly usable though. Even if they don't sound like the unit you think they should, this is still a good thing. It gives the Liquid Mix an identity of its own imo.