ZOOM Livetrak L-12 - Familiar Design with Impressive Technology

One of the joys of meeting and conversing with our customers in our showroom in Fyshwick, is to hear their stories of the re-discovery of music and audio production. Many of us started with similar equipment, using either portastudios, digital tape, or early DAWS using Atari computers. How fabulous then is it to see the return of a familiar form factor but with all the advantages of current technology and design. The ZOOM Livetrak L-12 fulfils many roles, and is a distant post-modern cousin to the original tape or disk based portable recording devices of the near past.

The Livertrak L-12 can perform the following:

• Record 12 channels (eight mono preamps and two stereo) direct to SD card
• Be used as a live mix console
• Record live shows or rehearsals
• Is a 14 in / 4 out audio interface for your computer
• It can also be used as an interface with your iOS device

ZOOM have worked hard to create their best mic preamps for this model, and many have agreed that so far, the mic preamps on board are excellent. The menu system is intuitive, and familiar to anyone who has used some of ZOOM’s classic portable recorders, like the H4n and H5. With its straightforward groupings and buttons, it is easy to arm, record, playback and overdub tracks. There is compression available on each channel. A send goes to the internal effects engine, which has 13 reverbs and 3 delays. Uniquely, there are up to five individual custom headphone mixes as well. All functions are available then working in 24-bit/96k. Scene setting functionality is present to recall mixer scenes for previous live shows and recordings. Sessions can be mixed down to stereo master, and exported to a USB drive.

If you are in the market for a live mixer, with the L-12, you are also getting a multi-channel audio interface and a standalone recorder as well. It is a perfect device for those re-entering live and recording music again, requiring something familiar in a very digital age, and as well for many musicians and composers who need portability, refined professional audio quality with ease of use.

For more information on the Livetrak L-12, check out our SWAMP page here for more information. In the meantime, here is a comprehensive walk-through overview: