Turtlerock Forum

So there are a pair of ISA 220 producer packs on ebay and I'm just wondering what people think about them as pre/eq/comps? Price seems good but are they actually worth having?

M

IMO They are nothing special but useable. Not really comparable to the older ISA stuff like the 215, but better than the green bedrock stuff. If they are cheap they could be a handy workhorse type thing, but I've found them to be a bit meh, they don't really bring anything to the table as such.

I have used the ISA 110 eq comp limiting modules for mastering and found them to be very good at what they do. They don't add to the sound but for transparent manipulation of what you have they are great.
I'd say for much of your work with acoustic material they would be a good purchase at the price they are being offered for.

mylesgm wrote:So there are a pair of ISA 220 producer packs on ebay and I'm just wondering what people think about them as pre/eq/comps? Price seems good but are they actually worth having?

M

I had the ISA 110 stereo comps/eq producer pack at one stage. I used it for 2 years. They were like what Chris said. Clean and transparent.
I not sure that Focusrite have lived up to there rep since then.

I played with an ISA220 against a UA LA-610 in a shop a while ago (SM58 and headphones and my voice) when I was interested in getting a decent channel strip - I ended up really wanting the LA-610 because it just sounded so much more special - The ISA220 had a bunch more features and controls and it all worked fine, but it just didn't sound special.

That said - I was looking for something deliberately "coloured" and now I have one in my studio I use my LA-610 as an instrument DI/compressor for synths and drum machines more than anything else...

I suppose the ISA220 will be useful to you for general studio recording chain duties if you feel you're missing some channels. But if you're looking for something special sounding, it could be worth a look at wes's LA-610 he was selling - it's a fair bit cheaper than the ISA220s on ebay, too.
:-)

no-fi wrote: it could be worth a look at wes's LA-610 he was selling

yeah that got sold.

FWIW, i would highly recommend it, BIG sound, nice sound, happy sound. The compressor needs a bit of practice to get right and the meter is too small... but is nice, i like.

it sold fairly cheap because there is a new improved version... but none of the improvements as such are in the audio path... so the original LA-610 is a bit of a bargain i reckon.