Focusrite has announced that version 2.0 software for the multi-channel DSP-based EQ and Compression tool, Liquid Mix, is now available as a free download from its website. The software provides some extremely useful improvements and several solutions to popular requests from Liquid Mix users, including enhanced interaction between software and hardware, as well as expanded latency options.

First up is the implementation of a side-chain facility, allowing for de-essing or other frequency-selective compression. Pressing the 'side-chain' button in any of the 32 instances of Liquid Mix activates an eighth EQ band, which appears on the EQ graph within the software window and can be selected as low-, high- or band-pass, alongside frequency, gain and Q settings. This side-chain band can be monitored separately and then sent to the compressor with the touch of a button.

Another key improvement involves the relationship between the Liquid Mix hardware control surface and each of the active software instances. Version 2.0 ensures that the hardware can now follow (as a default setting) whichever instance of the Liquid Mix plug-in is active on the screen.

Liquid Mix version 2.0 also delivers the ability to adjust latency settings. This potentially enables Liquid Mix to be used as a tracking processor, since latency figures have now been reduced by up to 75%. It also allows the user to set a minimum latency from one of 6 options, spanning 264 to 8200 samples and ensuring operation with those DAWs that only offer fixed buffer sizes above 2056 samples (such as Bias Peak, Steinberg WaveLab, Adobe Audition, Sony Sound Forge, Vegas and ACID).

Lastly, the Liquid Mix sample rate settings can now be changed without having to worry about any open instances of the software. When the sample rate is changed, all instances will reconfigure according to the new settings.