Focusrite VoiceMaster Pro -anyone?

spoimala · Post by **spoimala** » Wed Oct 30, 2002 3:50 am

Any opinions / experiences?

kensuguro · Post by **kensuguro** » Wed Oct 30, 2002 5:08 am

are you talking about the Focusrite Platinum series Voice Master?
Or is there a separate, "pro" version of this..
I use the normal Platinum Voice Master.

People have told me it's a very cold sounding pre-amp. I don't think so, but that could be because I'm not very experienced with anything else. But.. if you spend time with it, it can create lots of different textures, and I personally think it's a very capable device.

Signal path goes:
gain>lowcut>expander>saturator>comp>EQ>de-ess>master volume

The expander works fairly well in my environment. Cuts most unwanted hums and noise. Very smooth operation. Optional gate mode switch. (more extreme results)

Saturator is still somewhat of a mystery to me, but it seems to be a very light overdrive of some sort. 2 knobs: Drive, and Tuning (1khz-7.2khz) I use it almost like an enhancer, to add shimmer to the high ends. Gives it that "breathy" quality. Optional full bandwidth switch which in effect overdrives everything.

Comp is pretty straight forward. Not very hard, almost a little too soft. Fixed ratio I believe. Features a "treble" knob to compensate for loss of percieved treble when using comps. Works OK, but don't use it much. I've never used these, but there are optional fast attack and hard ratio button. Generally, I use the light comp here just to keep things in order, and then try to get creative after I've recorded the material.

EQ section sports 4 knobs:
warmth+tuning (120hz-600hz), presence (fixed), and breath (fixed).
It seems more than just a normal EQ, in that the presence and breath seem to be doing more than just a fixed Q gain.. (sounds like it's a set of tuned filters) Also has an "absence" button that removes strong harmonics, like you get when the singer's throat is very tense. Doesn't work too well as far as I know. It's better to have the singer warm up properly. (or properly trained!) All in all this section is superb in designing just the right timbre for your vocals. Definitely worth extra tweaking time for the right combination. I tweak paramaters in cobination with the saturator section. -> GREAT choruses.

The rest works just as expected... nothing special.
If you're looking for a Pulsar alternative, check out Celmo's X-machine. That one's got everything, PLUS a sub-bass booster for those narrator style voices. (makes it sound like a radio broadcast... meaning, GOOD)

Feel free to ask me about anything in specific. I can also give you some sample material if you need it.

[ This Message was edited by: kensuguro on 2002-10-30 05:08 ]

marcuspocus · Post by **marcuspocus** » Wed Oct 30, 2002 8:41 am

Hi Ken! I got myself the X-Machine last week, and i was playing alot with your presets. Pretty good this device! My thrusty old SM58 sound alot better now!

Very capable device indeed.

kensuguro · Post by **kensuguro** » Wed Oct 30, 2002 9:31 am

cool! I actually made those using my Beta 58a so they should yield similar results for you.

wayne · Post by **wayne** » Wed Oct 30, 2002 10:38 am

exactly how thrusty is your 58, Marcus?

Post by **garyb** » Wed Oct 30, 2002 12:45 pm

man........

spoimala · Post by **spoimala** » Wed Oct 30, 2002 2:30 pm

Ken, yes, there is pro version : http://www.focusrite.com/products/plati ... index.html

I'd prefer having analog compressor and eq before AD and I think this one has it? (Compared to X-machine)

marcuspocus · Post by **marcuspocus** » Wed Oct 30, 2002 3:18 pm

On 2002-10-30 10:38, wayne wrote:
exactly how thrusty is your 58, Marcus?

Ok, ok, you can laught...

How about 'trusted' then?

[ This Message was edited by: marcuspocus on 2002-10-30 15:19 ]

kensuguro · Post by **kensuguro** » Wed Oct 30, 2002 3:25 pm

pro version looks pretty cool to me. Looks expensive though.

marcus-> "my 58 thrusts better than yours." hehe

[ This Message was edited by: kensuguro on 2002-10-30 15:26 ]

spoimala · Post by **spoimala** » Sat Nov 02, 2002 2:20 pm

Expensive? Is 699 euros much for a quality preamp? Or isn't it a quality one?
What would be better for that price?

kensuguro · Post by **kensuguro** » Sat Nov 02, 2002 11:31 pm

oh... I meant it "looked" expensive. Didin't actually have any idea of its actual cost. If it's 600 euro zone, that I think vocal master pro is very good value.