Opinion Focusrite Platinum Series

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zbert

zbert

In the swamps of Jersey
I've been looking at the Track Master or the Penta Pre for my next purchase. It seems both have a lot of features. Both can work as a mic pre or line in w/ compression, etc. Anybody ever use this stuff? Any opinions, comments, reviews would be helpful.
 
I have no direct experience with one, but I've heard some very surprizingly-good stuff done with them by others. So much so that I believe I even asked something to the effect of "What was the signal chain on that?"

I'm kind of turned off by the controls, particularly on the voicemaster, but I would imagine they'd be ideal for the tracking musician as opposed to an engineer/producer . . . seems to be somewhat more musician-friendly in that regard, while an engineer might snub his nose at it.
 
For the homerecorder on a limited budget, it's the best value and sound for the money.
 
I've had the Trackmaster for a few weeks, so am happy to share my views but bear in mind I'm a newbie. I use it for female vox. I'm very pleased with it, and comments on something I posted recently mostly mentioned how good she sounded, so there's a pointer.

I've tried my bass thorugh it and it was absolutely horrible - I couldn't get anything that sounded even vaguely usable.

One thing is that, as already mentioned, its controls are aimed at musicians who just want to get a good sound without doing any technical stuff. So, there are only two compressions ratioes; 3:1 and 6:1 (the latter is selected by pushing a button marked "tight"). There is also a button marked "punch", which apparently restores the loss of definition caused by a fast attack time. (We can guess how it works but the manual doesn't tell you).

The knob marked "compression" is actually used for setting the threshold.

The three band EQ has high and low shelves, (low shelf range being selectable by an instrument / vocal toggle) and a mid-band called "Presence" which boosts at 1500hz. You can switch the EQ to be pre or post compression.

Finally the tube knob adds a bit of warmth which is quite pleasant.

Overall, it strikes me as good value, great for a beginner like me, very useful for live situations, letting you quickly adjust vocal sound to a new venue, but for serious recording by grown ups its compression ratios are too harsh and it offer insufficient control.

Hope that helps

Garry
 
I've got the Focusrite Penta, and it's a great unit IMO. Very fast to work with, due to the preset-function, and still you can tweak the settings if you need. Great sounding micpreamp too, and the tube warmth thing sounds a lot better than expected. Especially on bass guitar.

Recommended.
 
I have a voicemaster pro and love it. I have a grace 101 as my referance preamp, and I like the focusrite pre every bit as much (for different things). I bought the voicemaster for a cd I am recording for my wife. Her voice is smooth and easy listening, for her the voicemaster pre works much better than the grace, or my dbx 386. (The focusrite pre is a little darker, but still ver open and detailed).

(IMO the Rode NT1000 is a great match with this pre)

This unit is very flexible, and like Stefan Elmblad, I like the tube drive on bass (as well as the vintage harmonics at times).

The Penta and trackmaster have the same preamp I believe, so for that alone, I don't think you could go too wrong.
 
eeeew, focusrite platinum. Actually I don't like the reds much either.
 
I picked up the Focusrite Platinum Vocalmaster Pro last weekend. My Blue Tube decided to catch on fire at the end of an important drum track. I watched the smoke as the track was ending.I got the track but the Bluetube is dead. The Focusrite is very good. The preamp is so smooth and even makes an Oktava MK-319 sound great. I am learning to use this unit and really like how smooth it is. I got a deal at GC for $549. I think it is a nice sounding unit at a fair price.
 
So that must have been a smokin track I take it?


Sorry, couldn't resist.


Yeah, the VM Pro is a kick butt product.
 
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