Page 40 - The score

Focusrite A review by

MT Aditya

The Scarlett Series

Focusrite, they have by and large taken ownership of the entry an ADAT input. For a similar feature set and quality, the real
level interface market with their Scarlett range of interfaces, competition is at least 1.5 times the price, if not more.
which provide incredible functionality at an unbeatable
price. Then, a few years ago, they successfully incorporated In Use
Audinate’s Dante protocol to create ultra high end ethernet I personally own the Clarett OctoPre, the 8 channel rack mount
based interfaces, with pristine A/D-D/A conversion, which preamp with ADAT connectivity, which has been a great
essentially reimagined connectivity in the modern recording addition to my portable recording rig. They sound incredibly
studio. But this left an entire mid range price point occupied clean, and the Air button gives a beautiful smooth high shelf EQ,
by the likes of the Apogee Duet, The RME Babyface and the UA that I have enjoyed especially on string instruments (acoustic
Apollo Twin. Enter: The Focusrite Clarett series of interfaces. guitar in particular) and Drum Overheads. The transient
Yet again, Focusrite delivered top of the line form, function response is quite smooth. There’s even enough headroom for
and quality at an incredible price. me to drive my high gain requiring ribbon microphones on
quiet sources without worrying about noise. The individual
In its early days, Focusrite, established by the legendary insert points for each preamp, combo 1/4inch-XLR jacks and
Rupert Neve, was commissioned by Sir George Martin to build direct line outputs over D-Sub are a nice touch.
channel strip extensions for the Neve consoles at AIR studios
in London. The resultant preamp, flush with the Rupert Neve The only small drawback for me is that phantom power switch
pedigree was the ISA 110 preamp. Over the years, this evolved isn’t individually assignable per pre-amp but toggles for 4 pre-
into the ISA430 mkII input channel. In signature Rupert Neve amps simultaneously. But with today’s microphones, this isn’t
style, these pre-amps included an “air” switch, that added really an issue.
some sheen to the high end and sweet, silky, open flavour, akin
to the “silk” button available in RND preamps today. Initially introduced with only a thunderbolt option, the Clarett
series now has a new range with combination USB2 - USB-C
This is the channel strip pedigree that has been emulated in connectivity. This is the best connectivity decision I have
the preamps of the Clarett series of interfaces, modelling the seen come from Pro-Audio manufacturers in the recent past.
signature input impedance and clarity of the ISA preamp with The USB-C format has a much improved bandwidth capable
an individual “air” button available for each preamp. of delivering much more power and this means that the new
Clarett range can be bus powered. If however, your system is
The quality of these preamps and converters belie their price not equipped with USB-C, the USB-2 mode will work just as
point. Across the range they have a generous 118dB dynamic
range for the microphone inputs, 116dB for the line inputs and well, with the provided external power adapter.
119dB for the line outputs, with very impressive figures for Focusrite has really done this right, The Clarett series
EIN and THD+ Noise, with a near 10 dB advantage over the of interfaces is a great choice for everyone from amateur
Scarlett range of interfaces. producers looking to step up from their entry level interfaces to
proper recording studios that are looking for a new or interface
In what seems to be a challenge to competitors, the feature
set in the range has to be seen to be believed. Even the most or simply to expand their preamp count. The cherry on top - the
compact of the three interfaces, the Clarett 2Pre provides two Clarett range comes with the Red 2&3 plugin suite, which are
extremely well designed, simply without the marketing push
mic/line/instrument inputs, four line outputs, MIDI I/O and
like other brands. And a nice little after touch, the entire range
38 The Score Magazine comes with 2 year warranty.
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