What do the brothers think of Focusrite ?

PaulBrewer

http://www.mercenary.com/whynofocusrite.html

Them U.S. brothers don't think much of it ....

Here's a pic of the Focusrite modules mentioned in the piece from AIR Studio.

bedbugs

Pretty scathing. Happy enough with my Focusrite stuff. But then again, I'm sure I don't have golden ears...

madtheory

Fletcher is very rude. The Focusrite folk are gentlemen. Furthermore, Fletcher's only a salesman. Not an engineer. So he is ignorant, as is Drew. For example, one of the rebuttals:
"...to suggest surface mount components are fundamentally inferior to conventional through-hole components is simply apocryphal prejudice and there is no rational evidence to justify this."

Maybe Fletcher don't read dem big words so good.

I'm personally not a fan of the "new" ISA, never heard the "original". The Red totally distracts you with its looks. Liquid Mix is cool. d2 plugin is still among the best eqs. Platimum and Octopre are super clean, great with ribbons in particular.

danjokill

Isn't new Focusrite gear different ....... ? The classic ISA 1985ish neve design gear to my understanding is the better sounding stuff (although not proven) ..... i think corners may have been cut to lower production costs on the ISA range. I have never A/B'ed it .......... And dont know to much on the subject but I think that the current line of Focusrite ISA maybe riding this classic name. I have tried a ISA220 and thought it was quite if not very good but sorry to say have no reference against the classic to base it on.

The brand does have some other nice gear ..... I have also used a Red 7 and thought it was super.

Also .... A friend has just got himself a 56 and i set it up. The software is tricky to get your head around (routing wise) but the normal pre's are super and the liquid stuff does sound real.


woops ..... just saw the link at the top!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

fitz

Smacks of a commercial agenda.
Trackmix has one of the ISA channel strips, and I'm sure he'll confirm that it's a bloody good pre.

PaulBrewer

I used to have an ISA 215 years ago which was good, but not mindblowing.
I remember doing an A/B with the Red pre when it came out and it danced all over it's tomato coloured face !

Whilst yer man Fletcher does seem overly vociferous for something as insignificant as recording gear - if he was a real salesman he'd just keep his mouth shut!

That Green and Platinum stuff was proper dirt though .... wasn't it ?

I wonder why companies who have a good rep, which is very difficult to come by, then squander it?

Any thoughts there ?

PaulBrewer

madtheory wrote: »

Fletcher is very rude. The Focusrite folk are gentlemen. Furthermore, Fletcher's only a salesman. Not an engineer. So he is ignorant, as is Drew. For example, one of the rebuttals:
"...to suggest surface mount components are fundamentally inferior to conventional through-hole components is simply apocryphal prejudice and there is no rational evidence to justify this."

Maybe Fletcher don't read dem big words so good.

I'm personally not a fan of the "new" ISA, never heard the "original". The Red totally distracts you with its looks. Liquid Mix is cool. d2 plugin is still among the best eqs. Platimum and Octopre are super clean, great with ribbons in particular.

Indeed he is rude. But is he right?
Must chaps in the biz are gents - that however, has no bearing on the quality of their products.

woodsdenis

I remember using one of their cheap mic pre/compressor/channel strip thingy/
silver box about 7/8 years ago and was surprised how good it was.

I think it was 200/300 euro.

I have never come across a Focusrite product that I would say was terrible.
They seem to be very consistent in producing stuff for all budgets.

PaulBrewer

Ah Denis -

The Focusrite Green was a dog ! .... and that was only if it stayed working !

But I agree I think they do make some good products.
We've installed a load of the original Octopres in RTE and the Liquid Mix was a great idea.

woodsdenis

PaulBrewer wrote: »

Ah Denis -

The Focusrite Green was a dog ! .... and that was only if it stayed working !

But I agree I think they do make some good products.
We've installed a load of the original Octopres in RTE and the Liquid Mix was a great idea.

Bloody hell I just googled that Green thing. On looks alone it should be put in a skip. I do remember seeing them all right but never used them

http://www.focusrite.com/products/platinum/voicemaster_pro/

I think this was the yoke I used, or something similar and it was very good.

Not in the same league as you hi end stuff but FFS for what you get its great.

PaulBrewer

bedbugs wrote: »

Pretty scathing. Happy enough with my Focusrite stuff. But then again, I'm sure I don't have golden ears...

It's not about golden ears Bed - it's just to have something to compare them too.

bedbugs

PaulBrewer wrote: »

It's not about golden ears Bed - it's just to have something to compare them too.

Good point indeed.

trackmixstudio

I have an ISA220 and an ISA828.
They are brilliant pres. They won't drive and saturate like an API or Neve but will give you a very clear punchy recording with very fast transients.
I use the 828 for the the toms and ohs/hats/room mics and API for snare and Phoenix DRS-Q4 for kick(s).

The 220 is good for DIing bass with great eq and optical compressor all in one box.
I like it for clean vocals too.

The selectable impedance on the 828 is very good. If a drummer brings in bright cymbals (eg Sabian AAX) switching to low impedance does a great job of smoothing out the harsh attack without the need for eq. High impedance is cool for toms as it gives a bit more edge to the attack. I have the digital ADAT board on the 828 and the conversion is top class too. All in all the 828 is a great unit and a bargain for 8 pres of this quality with high end converter too.

Mercenary are probably biased against Focusrite because of the import costs and varying exchange rate which affects Focusrite but not American made stuff.
A lot of yankee dealers are too interested in pushing boutique stuff and high quality good value multiple channel stuff isn't as good business as selling great river, thermionic, vintech etc.

When tracking stuff I will always try the DRS, API and Focusrite. The focusrite doesn't usually win against the other 2 but the ISAs are VERY usable and using them would not be a compromise.

madtheory

PaulBrewer wrote: »

Indeed he is rude. But is he right?
Must chaps in the biz are gents - that however, has no bearing on the quality of their products.

Ya, the most successful folk seem to always be "sound" pun intended!

I thought the ISA sounded offensive. Two friends did a recorded blind A/B test with an ISA, a Chilton desk (lovely), Telefunken V70 (or at least, not a 72 but very sexy) a GML (OMG!) a Millenia, and an SSM based pre I forget the name of. The ISA got sold straight away! So maybe Fletcher is right...

But ya, the Octopre is excellent as you say. And as I said, the d2 and Liquid mix are great.

PaulBrewer

Peter in Middlewalk has just bought the GML 2032 mic pre EQ that we had down at the show.

OMG! is his reaction too.

madtheory

Ya, the pre amp is like "Ah, this is what a pre amp is supposed to do!". But if I had to choose from that lot, I'd take the Telefunken. The word for that is sexy. It's also surprisingly "un noisy".

Bluebirdstudios

Hi , I do like the Isa pres but do feel they are a bit flat sounding in comparisons with other pres at that price range - API , Millennia , Buzz audio etc.. They all seem to give a depth of sound that the Isa don't for me. But the real problem for me is Focusrite quality control . I've had ISA 220 , 430mk11, green pres and 828 and guess what all of them needed repair within 18 months. None of the other brands I use had any problems in that time frame. I've only kept the Isa 430mk11 because the flexibility in the routing of dynamics works for me and I really dig the noise gate and EQ on that unit.
- Dec

PaulBrewer

Bluebirdstudios wrote: »

Hi , I do like the Isa pres but do feel they are a bit flat sounding in comparisons with other pres at that price range - API , Millennia , Buzz audio etc.. They all seem to give a depth of sound that the Isa don't for me. But the real problem for me is Focusrite quality control . I've had ISA 220 , 430mk11, green pres and 828 and guess what all of them needed repair within 18 months. None of the other brands I use had any problems in that time frame. I've only kept the Isa 430mk11 because the flexibility in the routing of dynamics works for me and I really dig the noise gate and EQ on that unit.
- Dec

Apparently the Greens were actually made of plasticine and butter ... at least that's what I heard.

DIRTY69

The only focusrite gear i have used i have had some reliability problems with. the liquid mix. plus if you were that way inclined you could have a cracked version of psp vintagewarmer or some sonaksis stuff for free. not that i would ever do that.. hehe