USER GUIDE Rev. 1.0 CONTENTS Introduction - Getting Started Hardware Controls Software GUI controls Liquid Mix Manager Applying Compression and EQ within the sequencer Selecting Compressors and EQs Adjusting Compressor settings Free Switch Modifying EQ settings Building a Hybrid (Mixed) EQ Compressor and EQ Emulations Guide Snapshots - saving Liquid Mix settings Restoring settings Troubleshooting IMPORTANT INFORMATION: FOCUSRITE, the FF logo, LIQUID TECHNOLOGY, LIQUID MIX CONTROL, LIQUID MIX and the LIQUID MIX logo are trademarks of Focusrite Audio Engineering Ltd. DYNAMIC CONVOLUTION is a trademark of Sintefex Ltd. All other product names, trademarks, or trade names are the names of their respective owners, which are in no way associated, connected nor affiliated with Focusrite or its LIQUID MIX product and which have not endorsed Focusrite's LIQUID MIX product. These other product names, trademarks, and trade names are used solely to identify and describe the third party products the sonic behaviour of which was studied for the LIQUID MIX product, and to accurately describe the functionality of the Liquid Mix product. The Liquid Mix product is an independently engineered technology which utilises the patented process of Dynamic Convolution to actually measure examples of the sonic impact of original analogue products upon an audio stream, so as to electronically emulate the performance of the original product studied. The result of this process is subjective and may not be perceived by a user as producing the same effects as the original products studied. I N T R O D U CT I O N - G E T T I N G S TA R T E D Thank you for purchasing Liquid Mix. This User Guide provides detailed instructions on how to operate both the hardware control surface and software GUI (Graphical User Interface) of Liquid Mix. Before reading this User Guide it is assumed that you have run the Installer found on the accompanying Resources disc. This will install the Liquid Mix Manager application, the Liquid Mix plug-in software and EQ/Compressor emulations onto your computer. Once done, you can connect the Liquid Mix hardware to your computer using the supplied Firewire cable and begin applying vintage flavours to your mix. Make sure the hardware is connected before booting up the sequencer, otherwise the plug-ins may be made inactive. H A R DWA R E C O N T R O L S 9 1 2 7 8 10 3 4 5 6 11 21 18 12 20 19 17 16 15 14 13 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. Input Meter ­ displays the level of the signal before Liquid Mix processing occurs Gain reduction meter ­ shows the amount of compression taking place Snapshot save/load ­ allows saving and recalling of Liquid Mix settings Emulation select ­ chooses the compressor or EQ emulation (depending on the band/section currently selected) Track select ­ chooses an instance of the Liquid Mix software to control Go Back/Compare ­ returns to the previous menu page or temporarily reverts to saved settings Data encoder ­ rotating scrolls through different values on LCD screen and the EQ bands for editing in default mode, press to select or press and hold then rotate to select empty EQ Bands Shape ­ selects additional EQ options for the selected band, e.g. higher (x 3) frequency setting that may be available on the original unit Mid Meter ­ shows the level of the signal between Compression and EQ stages (after compression without Compressor Post EQ switch active or after EQ with switch active) Output Meter ­ displays the level of the signal after both EQ and compression EQ controls ­ Gain, Frequency and Q EQ Output ­ sets the level of the signal after EQ Bypass ­ bypasses the currently active instance of Liquid Mix EQ/Band On ­ activates the whole EQ or the selected band for the currently active instance of Liquid Mix Compressor On ­ activates the compressor for the currently active instance of Liquid Mix Link ­ links the sidechains with stereo instances of Liquid Mix (active as default) Sidechain Monitor ­ enables listening to the compressor sidechain Compressor controls ­ Threshold, Ratio, Attack, Release, Gain Makeup Compressor Post EQ ­ reverses the order of the processor sections (places the EQ before compression) Free ­ enables unrestricted compressor controls (all dials across full ranges) Input ­ sets the level of the signal before compression and EQ S O F T WA R E G U I C O N T R O L S 1 2 7 16 3 4 5 6 8 13 25 24 15 17 23 22 21 20 19 18 14 9 11 12 10 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. Track name ­ the name written here will appear in the Track select List on the Liquid Mix hardware Compressor ­ displays the currently active compressor emulation, click to choose a different one Active ­ defines the currently selected EQ band EQ ­ displays the currently active EQ emulation, click to choose a different one Snapshot ­ shows the name of the current snapshot if one has been saved, click the disk symbol to load, save or rename a snapshot Clip ­ lights if compression and/or EQ are causing the output signal to overload EQ Graph ­ displays the overall EQ in black and current band shape in red Output meter ­ displays the level of the signal after compression and EQ EQ Output ­ sets the level of the signal after EQ Bypass ­ bypasses this instance of Liquid Mix EQ On ­ activates/deactivates the EQ section (all bands) Band On ­ switches activate/deactivate each of the seven EQ bands EQ controls ­ Gain, Frequency and Q dials for each of the seven bands Shape Names ­ display the shape of each band, click to select additional options when a blue arrow is displayed Mid Meter ­ shows the level of the signal between Compression and EQ stages (after compression without Compressor Post EQ switch active or after EQ with switch active) Compressor Graph ­ displays the compressor shape (threshold and ratio) Compressor controls ­ Threshold, Ratio, Attack, Release, Gain Makeup Compressor On ­ activates the compressor Link ­ links the sidechains with stereo instances of Liquid Mix (active as default) Sidechain Monitor ­ enables listening to the compressor sidechain Compressor Post EQ ­ reverses the order of the processor sections (places the EQ before compression) Free ­ enables unrestricted compressor controls (all dials across full ranges) Input ­ sets the level of the signal before compression and EQ Gain Reduction Meter ­ shows the amount of compression taking place Input Meter ­ displays the level of the signal before Liquid Mix processing occurs A P P LY I N G C O M P R E S S I O N A N D E Q W I T H I N T H E S E Q U E N C E R To apply compression or EQ to a track within the sequencer, an instance of the Liquid Mix software must be activated. The software will appear in your list of VST or AU plug-ins. Open up a mono or stereo Liquid Mix to begin applying vintage textures to your track. The software window will open on screen and (for the first instance) will automatically become active on the Liquid Mix hardware. It is advisable at this stage to name the instance so that you can easily locate it from the Liquid Mix hardware. To do this, click on the Track box in the top left of the software GUI and write an appropriate name, e.g. Vocal, Drums etc. Now, if wishing to control the Liquid Mix on a particular track from the hardware, simply press the Track Select button below the LCD screen and then scroll to the corresponding name in the list using the data encoder, then press the encoder to select. At 44.1/48kHz sample rates, 32 separate mono instances of Liquid Mix can be activated on any tracks. Note that at higher sample rates, this number decreases as listed in the Liquid Mix Specifications. L I Q U I D M I X M A N AG E R The Liquid Mix Manager is an application for changing the core hardware settings. There are three Tabs at the top of the window: · Set up ­ allows the main settings to be viewed/edited · List ­ shows a list of all available compressor and EQ emulations · About ­ provides information about the software, e.g. version number SET UP On the Set Up page, the sample rate that the Liquid Mix processes at can be selected. This should be set to the same value as the sample rate of your sequencer session. Setting a different value will bring up error messages and prevent the unit from functioning correctly. The maximum number of tracks (mono instances of the Liquid Mix software) can also be set within this window. At higher sample rates, some options will disappear, due to the increase in processing requirements and Firewire bandwidth (see the previous section for more details). Once the sample rate or any other settings have been changed, the DO IT option must be clicked for them to take effect. In the upper half of the window, there are options for the Manager such as `Start Minimized', which makes the software minimize automatically when started up. There is also an option for clipping at 0dBFS and one for activating the Expansion card (if one is fitted). Check the relevant boxes to activate. S E L E CT I N G C O M P R E S S O R S A N D E Q S Selecting Compressors and EQs can be done from the software or hardware. SELECTING FROM THE SOFTWARE To select a Compressor emulation from the software window, click on the Comp box in the top left of the window and then choose an emulation from the drop down list. Similarly, to choose an EQ, click on the EQ box on the header bar and select an emulation from the list. If selecting an EQ when all seven bands are empty (e.g. when the software is first opened), the entire EQ emulation can be selected from the main drop down list (without having to go to the sub menu and select All Bands). If selecting when some bands are filled, the sub menu for each EQ must be used. In each EQ sub menu, there are individual bands and an All Bands option. Select an individual band to insert 1 band into the 7-band EQ (into the currently selected band in the software window), and begin building a Hybrid EQ. See the Building a Hybrid (Mixed) EQ section for more details. If a Hybrid (Mixed) EQ has been created and you want to abandon these and simply choose one emulation, click on All Bands within the sub menu for that EQ. SELECTING FROM THE HARDWARE To choose a Compressor from the hardware, Comp must first be selected on the hardware LCD screen. To do this, rotate the Data encoder until Comp is active and the compressor graph and values are displayed on screen. At this point, the Emulation Select button can be pressed. This calls up the list of available compressor emulations on the screen. Rotate and then press the data encoder to select a compressor emulation. To cancel the compressor select, press the Go Back button. To choose a complete EQ emulation (across all bands as required), rotate the data encoder to All in the EQ Band list and then press Emulation Select. The list of available EQ emulations will then appear. Rotate and then press the data encoder to select an EQ emulation. To cancel the EQ select, press the Go Back button. If wanting to build a hybrid (mixed) EQ, rotate the data encoder to a band from one to seven and press the Emulation Select button. The same EQ list will then appear, but selecting from the list this time will result in a sub menu list appearing, which shows the individual bands within each emulation. Rotate and then press the data encoder to select an individual band to start building your hybrid EQ. To abandon your hybrid EQ and simply select a single emulation, select All again, press Emulation Select and choose from the list. Selecting an empty band can be done from the hardware by pressing and holding the data encoder, then rotating to the empty band. Without pressing the encoder, it will only select currently filled bands (those with emulations in) when rotated. Above the Band On switches in the software are a row of boxes labelled Shape. These signify the shape of EQ Band above, such as HMF (High Mid Frequency), but also sometimes allow additional settings to be applied. For example, if the EQ emulation has further options for that band such as a `x 3' switch that multiplies the frequency of the band by three, then a small blue arrow will be shown in the bottom right corner of the box and clicking on it will offer the available options for selection. On the hardware, this can be done by pressing the Shape button with the corresponding EQ Band active. See the Modifying EQ settings section for more details. A DJ U S T I N G C O M P R E S S O R S E T T I N G S Compressor settings can be modified from the hardware or software in identical ways, as the same controls are available on either. To edit using the hardware, make sure the correct track is selected. The name of the currently active track on the hardware (whatever is written in the Track box on that instance of the software, or Plugin Number X if nothing has ...