Focusrite Liquid Saffire 56 - experiences?

[Mudchild]

MIGHT be looking at getting one of these. Seen some reviews and opinions, but still not quite satisfied. It would be very helpful to hear from people using this unit. My specific questions are:

- How is the round-trip latency? Would be using this in conjuction with guitar amp sims, so need to get the latency down to a tight level. I do hear of some people not quite being able to get down to an unnoticeable latency with units like this.

- the Liquid Preamps. Are they really worth it? Does the emulation cut the mustard? I wouldn't be expecting them to be perfect replicas of what they emulate, but I would hope that they are offering sounds that are pleasing, desirable, and which benefit your mixes.

- Anyone expanding these things through ADAT? This working OK for you?

- Any other thoughts? A good unit? Reliable? Worth the cash?

Thanks for any and all input.

Mud

[kingmetal]

I bought a Liquid 56 off ebay for under $500 and replaced my dual-MOTU setup (828MKII and Traveler, FW daisy chained).

- How is the round-trip latency?
I generally run at 128 samples on my rig (Windows XP SP3, AMD Athlon X4 965, 4GB of RAM) and it is extremely stable. Most of my issues center around my Liquid Mix 16 and I will be installing Windows 7 on my main audio rig in the next several weeks in the hopes to alleviate the issues I'm having.

- the Liquid Preamps. Are they really worth it?
Yes. I love them. To my ears they are extremely detailed and the different emulations have fairly drastically different performance characteristics. My one complaint about the Liquid Pres is that they are not extremely high gain but I haven't run into any issues so far. The other 6 pres are fantastic, especially for the money, and even the instrument DIs are good.

- Anyone expanding these things through ADAT? This working OK for you?

I make extensive use of the ADAT busses in my rig because I run everything out to a digital board (Yamaha 01V96). I also 'mult' all my outputs to an Alesis ADAT (blackface) for use as a meter bridge. I've had zero issues with this configuration and the Focusrite Mixcontrol routing mixer is extremely flexible and robust, far more so than Cuemix (MOTU's solution).

- Any other thoughts? A good unit? Reliable? Worth the cash?
I honestly think this is the best deal in town right now. The pre-amps alone have totally changed the quality of my work, the converters are great, the feature set is unmatched and I've been impressed with Focusrite's drivers so far with both my Liquid Saffire 56 and my Saffire Pro 40. I don't know what rig you're running right now, but I'd bet dollars to donuts that the LS56 would be a step up. I was a big MOTU fan until recently -- their driver support has been atrocious lately and they do not appear to be supporting 'legacy' hardware. I honestly couldn't find anything that was nearly as good as the LS56 in terms of features and the only other interface I would consider is a The Steinberg/Yamaha MR816, but I've heard that it has had some teething problems so far.

Personally, I'm drinking heavily of the Liquid Pre cool-aid and will probably buy the Liquid 4Pre sometime in the future.

I have one complaint: the LS56 does not support ASIO direct monitoring. Luckily, I'm able to run at low enough latency where I don't miss it, but it is the only thing I would change about the LS56. Many modern interfaces do not seem to be doing ASIO Direct Monitoring anymore, as it's sort of an underutilized feature as far as I can tell and most people just run interfaces at low latency these days anyway.

[Corey Y]

I'm only a few weeks into using mine. However it's been extremely stable, I haven't had any problems with latency and I've been very impressed with the Liquid Pres. I was all but sold on getting either a MOTU or Ensemble and stopped myself, started from scratch and researched every FW interface I could find and the Liquid Saffire 56 seemed to be the best balance of features (midi connection and separate monitor outs/level control were a tipping point) with the number of positive reviews regarding driver stability, low latency, converter quality and general build quality/customer support, especially at the price point compared to other interfaces. I had a minor grounding issue with running to my power amp and Focusrite customer service got back to me in no time flat, which is a big positive to me.

I can't speak definitively on reliability because it's still new, but I have had zero issues since the first time I hooked it up and turned it on. I haven't used every vintage and high end preamp out there, but the Liquid Pres have distinctive sounds and I've found them useful in the vocal tracking I've done recently. I'm planning on using the ADAT to daisychain units in the future, but no experience with that yet.

Based on my limited experience with it so far, I give it a thumbs up. However, whether or not is has the features you want and find most useful is certainly a very big factor on whether or not YOU will feel the same.

[Mudchild]

Thankyou both for your detailed replies! Very helpful. It's looking good for the 56...

[ThePitz]

Don't have the 56, but I do have the 40. Felt I should chime in and say that the routing software is freaking great. Super easy to send any input to any output or any mix of inputs and daw tracks to any output... The two headphone outs are really great (super easy for recording overdubs - one headphone mix for you and another for the singer/player - no extra equipment.)

Also - i've been using it for just about a year now and have had no stability issues whatsoever.

I recommend this thing to anyone in the market for a firewire interface.

(After re-reading that I feel obligated to say... I do not work for focusrite.)

[kingmetal]

Don't have the 56, but I do have the 40. Felt I should chime in and say that the routing software is freaking great. Super easy to send any input to any output or any mix of inputs and daw tracks to any output... The two headphone outs are really great (super easy for recording overdubs - one headphone mix for you and another for the singer/player - no extra equipment.)

Also - i've been using it for just about a year now and have had no stability issues whatsoever.

I recommend this thing to anyone in the market for a firewire interface.

(After re-reading that I feel obligated to say... I do not work for focusrite.)

The Pro40 is a pretty amazing little interface -- I managed to get mine for $300 somehow (eBay again!) and while it gets relegated to a mobile recording rig that doesn't get used as often as it should, it has been reliable even on my traditionally unreliable laptop.

[kingmetal]

UPDATE:

Got fed up with the state of my audio rig this evening and decided to start testing a Win7 64bit configuration. My initial testing under Cubase 5.5 under Win7 is that I can run the LS56 down to 64 samples more reliably under Win7 64bit than I could at 192 samples under XP. This might be a function of my aging XP installation, or the fact that I didn't realize that Cubase 5.5 had come up, but needless to say I am absolutely floored by this interface. My round-trip tracking latency is a little over 4ms (EDIT: according to Cubase) on a very modest machine. I'll do more testing over the course of the week (I have a session tomorrow but I'm not comfortable dog-fooding this rig with a new client). I'll keep you all posted.

Love this damn interface!

[GMR990]

Any opinions on the Saffire Pro40? I can't stretch to the liquid saffire.

[kingmetal]

Any opinions on the Saffire Pro40? I can't stretch to the liquid saffire.

Sure, just scroll up. I'd be more than happy to answer specific questions if you have them about the Pro40.

[GMR990]

Any opinions on the Saffire Pro40? I can't stretch to the liquid saffire.

Sure, just scroll up. I'd be more than happy to answer specific questions if you have them about the Pro40.

Ah, sorry for asking something that's already been answered, didn't notice it. What's the verdict on the plug-in's you get with the saffire? I've never used focusrite stuff, just waves at the moment

[kingmetal]

Only used the plugins for a minute. Totally usable -- literally the only plugin I use is Focusrite's Liquidmix, which is obviously not included with their interfaces but they know how to make good sounding plugins. Considering that they're free they're excellent.