CoolCat
Well-known member
I grabbed a Focusrite Platinum Voicemaster today. $80...1998 ish...
After reading 100 posts or so, the positives the negatives, the beginners and the ones comparing it to a Focusrite Red, it was all interesting. My favorite poster was one who bashed this unit severely & repeatedly, and in the end hadnt ever tried it.
But many years have gone by in HR land and this somewhat "bastard child" of the family of Focusrite was only $80, in minnt condition I might add...at least visually. This unit was used in a studio voiceover environment, and it was used for years I was told, but no problems to speak of. The person just going to software and not so much need for hardware these days was mentioned.
So of course after grabbing the unit, and driving off, the first stop light was to flip it over, to see the underside... Made in England...cool. The seller gained some credibility. Focusrite is supposed to be made in England.
First noticed in this world of plastic gear, the Focusrite Platinum Voicemaster, is all metal. nice.
Also noticed is the paint and knobs are in perfect condition and smooth to the feel, 12 yrs later-ish.
A $1500 Focusrite with plastic cheap flimsy knobs were noticed at GC, I was amazed(let down) how cheap the knobs felt and the crooked pot-stem intrigued me for a bit. Then I noticed all the pots on the unit felt cheap and flimsy.
This Platinum Voicemaster the pots feel solid, smooth and made with some kind of rubber material like you should find on a $1500 unit. strange, yes?
anyway, I'm going to plug in the $80 version of this bastard, and compare sounds to my plastic $70 UX2 with software LA2A with Vintage Pre-Amps/EQ's....
I noticed they had a Focusrite Platinum Voicemaster in the rack at the big studio I had the pleasure to visit today also, amongs the real LA2A's and numerous Distressors and SSL 4000 etc..et.. that kind of made me smile, a psychology thing I guess when you see the pro's owning the same bastard unit.
After reading 100 posts or so, the positives the negatives, the beginners and the ones comparing it to a Focusrite Red, it was all interesting. My favorite poster was one who bashed this unit severely & repeatedly, and in the end hadnt ever tried it.
But many years have gone by in HR land and this somewhat "bastard child" of the family of Focusrite was only $80, in minnt condition I might add...at least visually. This unit was used in a studio voiceover environment, and it was used for years I was told, but no problems to speak of. The person just going to software and not so much need for hardware these days was mentioned.
So of course after grabbing the unit, and driving off, the first stop light was to flip it over, to see the underside... Made in England...cool. The seller gained some credibility. Focusrite is supposed to be made in England.
First noticed in this world of plastic gear, the Focusrite Platinum Voicemaster, is all metal. nice.
Also noticed is the paint and knobs are in perfect condition and smooth to the feel, 12 yrs later-ish.
A $1500 Focusrite with plastic cheap flimsy knobs were noticed at GC, I was amazed(let down) how cheap the knobs felt and the crooked pot-stem intrigued me for a bit. Then I noticed all the pots on the unit felt cheap and flimsy.
This Platinum Voicemaster the pots feel solid, smooth and made with some kind of rubber material like you should find on a $1500 unit. strange, yes?
anyway, I'm going to plug in the $80 version of this bastard, and compare sounds to my plastic $70 UX2 with software LA2A with Vintage Pre-Amps/EQ's....
I noticed they had a Focusrite Platinum Voicemaster in the rack at the big studio I had the pleasure to visit today also, amongs the real LA2A's and numerous Distressors and SSL 4000 etc..et.. that kind of made me smile, a psychology thing I guess when you see the pro's owning the same bastard unit.