Livetrack L-20

[mkok]

Hi

I am new on here after purchasing the l-20. I was just wondering if there is anyone else on here with one?

I thought I would give my impressions of the new L-20 from Zoom. I didn't buy it as a audio interface for Cubase. I really just wanted it for recording bands on location. My Normal mixing desk was the Yamaha n12. Anyway I hooked it up to my PC and loaded the driver not really expecting too much (Mine is an old 1st generation i7 clocked from 3.2 to 4 with 18Gig memory) I was pleasantly surprised to find I can get the buffers down to 64 Samples and can play SD3 drum VST without any perceivable latency. I also tried playing back the cubase test project and could play this back faultlessly at 96. I've done a lot of testing with it and it really is a good audio interface as well as live recorder to SD card. What is good is that it records to wav so projects can be brought into Cubase when I bring it home. In Cubase it shows up as 16 mono tracks and 2 stereo tracks. Sound quality is really good as well.

After trying this for a week. I sold my n12 as there seemed no point in having two desks when I can use this one to cover both purposes. Also the selling price of a n12 was getting lower due to the lack of firewire these days.

I hope they keep up with driver updates as I see a few post with problems on the R8/16/24 units

[mkok]

Does anyone know if firmware version 1.02 has the same features as version 2 for the l-12? I can get effects on the monitor outs so my guess is yes although you have to put effects on the main first for it to work

[mkok]

Just an update. I have the Bluetooth adapter and the iPad app works great. Also the class compliant mode works on the iPad

[Jim_Fogle]

Welcome to the forum. Thank you for reporting on your experience with the L-20 so far. It is an interesting looking device and, being new, I'm sure there is a lot of interest in how well it matches expectations.

It reads like you have a good feel of when is the optimum time to sell older equipment. Do you plan to offer your audio services to bands and be their front of house engineer or do you expect to record by connecting to the bands mixer?

When you connect the L-20 to your Windows computer as an audio interface does Cubase see all channels or just the stereo output?

[mkok]

Hi Jim.

My main intention was to offer recording first but that may well be front of house as well depending on what is required. I actually haven’t done any serious recording yet although I am due to next week but not using a pa, only headphones.

In Cubase it is great. You see all the 16 channels as well as two stereo. Most of my work has been on cubase and the l-20 has performed well.

Cheers

Mark

[Jim_Fogle]

I tend to think connecting the main output to a power amplifier with speakers or to a set of powered speakers would be ideal depending on the venue and crowd size.

Having the capability to record the whole band individually while manning the board during rehearsal or shows would seem to be a valuable feature to bands.

[mkok]

I did a location recording with a friend last week. Only 4 inputs but was able to test out a lot of features and try the eq and effects for a quick mix. This week I’m doing a full band so should be interesting.

You can pull the files off to a computer either from the SD card or using the l20 as a card reader. What I also found is if you set the channels to play you see the input into your DAW. So you can just record the whole piece directly into the DAW from the l20. That worked out the best way for me since the track hadn’t been recorded to a click.