Product Reviews

Who better to know what works well in a mix and runs efficiently on a native system than someone who has spent time carefully using and refining the sound and the code behind the tools? Californian producer Bernie Torelli is one such man, and the creative force behind Nomad Factory, whose plug-ins were born in 2001 out of his desire to recreate the warmth of 1960s and 1970s analog hardware in a plug-in format.

The plug-ins in the Liquid Bundle are less about tracking and more about fun things to do with your audio after you've recorded it. As such, it makes a good and inexpensive complement to other Nomad offerings, as well as your sequencers' bundled plug-in set.

The suite consists of six effects: Liquid Compressor II, Liquid Delays II, Liquid Gate II, Liquid Mod II, Liquid Phase II and Liquid Verb II. It seems odd there not being a dedicated Liquid EQ II, although a fair amount of sound shaping is available on individual plug-ins, such

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as Lo- and Hi-cut filters and simple Bass, Middle and Treble controls.

Talking of simple, the interface of each Liquid plug-in is quite ordinary and, on first encounter, seems almost uninspiring in its austerity. However, adjusting any parameter is a straightforward case of clicking on the current numerical setting and dragging your cursor up and down, whereby the setting (and readout) adjusts in real time. Once you get used to this, the no-frills GUI becomes almost a positive aspect of the plug-ins, as your brain is focused purely on the sound rather than being distracted and seduced by graphical photo-realistic recreations of vintage hardware.

There's also a tremendous depth of sonic variety available from what at first glance seems like a limited range of tools and controls. We found that often a little of everything made individual tracks much more enjoyable, much livelier, with a pleasing warmth. Liquid tool did a fine job on all manner of sound sources, including guitars, drums, bass, synths and vocals.

One aspect that did disappoint was the inconsistency of the presets, both in number and in instrument-specific type. One plug-in might have a wide range, while another would have a limited range.

However, this is a very reasonably priced collection of simple and effective mixing tools. There's nothing ground-breaking about any of the Liquid plug-ins, so it's by no means an essential purchase, but it's still a rewarding and refreshingly efficient collection of useful colours for your mixing palette.