An amazing unit for recording drums and vocals, the liquid pres which emulate some high end mic pre's sound beautiful.

Focusrite Liquid Saffire 56 FireWire Audio Interface at a Glance:

• Liquid Technology puts famous preamplifiers on your first two channels
• A staggering amount of I/O - 28-in/28-out - with six more Focusrite preamps
• Saffire Mix Control 18x16 DSP Mixer/Router
• Two separate headphone busses let you create two independent headphone mixes
• Easy monitoring solutions built into the software, for fast setup times
• Dedicated stereo monitor mix outputs with special "Anti-thump" circuit
• Front-panel 5-LED metering
• Handy loopback function lets you route audio between applications
• Includes a suite of Focusrite VST/AU plug-ins

Liquid Technology puts famous preamplifiers on your first two channels
Focusrite has achieved long-term fame for their revered microphone preamplifiers - and most recently they've emerged as a different kind of leader with the Liquid technology. With their innovative Convolution DSP Liquid modeling method - which marries the analog and digital worlds - Focusrite has been able to create tremendous models of famous pieces of outboard gear. The Liquid Saffire 56 is their first FireWire audio interface to feature this technology - and it effectively builds 10 famous, highly sought-after preamplifiers right into your interface, on the first two channels. Using the included software, you can dial in the perfect tone using models based on gear from Avalon, Focusrite, HELIOS, Manley, Milenia, Neve, Pultec, Telefunken, and Universal Audio. All those flavors give you a tremendous palette to select from, as you work to choose the perfect preamplifier for each source.

A staggering amount of I/O - 28-in/28-out - with six more Focusrite preamps
Apart from the Focusrite Liquid Saffire 56's impressive Liquid technology, Focusrite astounds again with the I/O count on this FireWire audio interface. With it, you get a total of eight microphone preamplifiers, with individual line inputs on each channel and two hi-Z instrument inputs on the front panel for channels three and four. What's more, every single channel offers individually selectable 48V phantom power and a highpass filter. Phase is available on channels five and six and a pad is available on channels 3 and 4. Flip over to the rear panel, and you've got S/PDIF I/O, two banks of ADAT optical I/O (S/MUX-capable), two FireWire ports, MIDI I/O, word clock I/O, and a total of 10 line outputs. All in all, this gives you a ton of flexibility if you're just starting out - and a serious amount of room for expansion.

Saffire Mix Control 18x16 DSP Mixer/Router
Not only does the Focusrite Liquid Saffire 56 pack in an incredible onslaught of I/O, but you also have a ton of control over what goes where - without taking a processing hit. Using the Saffire Mix Control 18x16 DSP Mixer/Router, you can control any input to any output - including streams from the DAW. This makes it handy to create special monitor mixes, or to creatively route combinations of tracks into a piece of outboard gear - whatever you want. All of it is simple to do, just call up the easily navigable Mix Control panel and you're on your way.

Two separate headphone busses let you create two independent headphone mixes
The front panel offers two headphone jacks with independent level controls, so you and your recording partner can each have your own 'phones connected, with no need for an external headphone amplifier - but the Focusrite Liquid Saffire 56 doesn't stop there. Using its Saffire Mix Control 18x16 DSP Mixer/Router, you can route any combination of inputs - or DAW feeds - to either headphone output - and you can dial in just the right amount of the level. That means, you can track with a completely separate headphone mix than your bandmate - by only making a few tweaks within the easy software control panel.

Easy monitoring solutions built into the software, for fast setup times
The onboard DSP mixer provides a ton of possibilities for your workflow - but Focusrite also gave the Liquid Saffire 56 the tools to make setting up a breeze. Built into the Saffire Mix Control 18x16 DSP Mixer/Router software are quick "Monitoring" setups, so you can quickly switch between monitors - muting tracks where appropriate - switch to a mono mix, or create special tracking and mixing mixes.

Dedicated stereo monitor mix outputs with special "Anti-thump" circuit
Onboard the Focusrite Liquid Saffire 56 are two special outputs designed for your main monitors. The output features Focusrite's "Anti-thump" circuit, automatically protecting your monitors from any unexpected spike. The outputs feature a front-panel volume knob and a dim/mute switch.

Front-panel 5-LED metering
The Liquid Saffire 56's segment LEDs put you in touch with the levels of your analog inputs. And, there are also status-ok LED indicators for your banks of ADAT and S/PDIF as well as your IDI and FireWire connections.

Handy loopback function lets you route audio between applications
The Focusrite Liquid Saffire 56 features a useful "loopback" function, which lets you route audio between applications and stream them into your DAW, with no loss of quality. You can, for example, pull a section from a song you have in iTunes, without having to import the file.