Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 USB Audio Interface

Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 USB Audio Interface
Customer Ratings: 4.5 stars
List Price: $249.99
Sale Price: $199.99
Today's Bonus: 20% Off
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  • Two award winning Focusrite microphone pre-amps
  • Dual mic/line instrument inputs on combination XLR/TRS front-panel connectors
  • Precision, quality conversion at up to 24-bit, 96kHz sampling
  • Better than 105dB dynamic range on record and playback
  • Operates solely on bus power

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I am writing this review after having owned & used this interface for about 5 months now on a daily basis. Currently there are 1 each of a 1, 2 and 3 star rating. One 4 star states the unit has flimsy buttons. I am shaking my head and wonder if people have King Kong fingers when they use their stuff. Seeing how so many "take care" of their vehicles and houses it is no surprise that people pull knobs off and junk up their equipment in the same manner.

The fact is this is a great unit. The switches are not flimsy at all unless you drop kick the unit into the wall. Then they are really flimsy. It's actually very solid. There is NO crackling, popping, noisy stuff going on AT all. Not on my setup. So if mine doesn't do it, why do theirs? Good question...if one of us gets it to work with no problems and buttons do not break on it (within reasonable knowledge, not babying it either) then it must be a user issue. No manufacturer can account for the myriad of different systems out there, I get that. But as a consumer of this unit I wonder why I am having a seamless time with this interface and these other people are not. If it had an inherent noise issue wouldn't it crackle and pop for me? If the knobs were flimsy wouldn't they be for me? If the monitor output didn't work wouldn't it not work for me?

They all do, and stellar. Hooked it up to my computer, my DAW read the ASIO drivers no problem and whamo... I am sure some of these users got bad units. But I am also certain it is user lack of knowledge on some of them as well.

In following the Amazon tradition, I will now be blamed by some as being a shill for the manufacturer, having stock in Focusrite or being married to the daughter of the founder. As much as I'd like to at least have the 2nd one (I don't know if the founder has a daughter to be honest) I cannot lay claim to any of these. But there is a 96.367% possibility someone will accuse me of that.

PSYes, you do have to download the drivers from the Focusrite website. I cannot express. I cannot convey. I cannot quite display to you how dang SIMPLE that process is! To say in one reviewers words "it is a pain" was side splittingly painful for me when I think of the future of humanity. How do some people eat? Thought I. How do some walk and talk at the same time? I now take my leave to ponder the meaning and evolution of life...

Buy it...it's great.

Buy Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 USB Audio Interface Now

I have a small home studio that is only used occasionally. I previously had an RME fireface 400 that uses firewire. Well, if you haven't noticed firewire support is dwindling. Windows 7 barely supported it, Windows 8 further removes some 'work arounds' that were needed for audio devices (aka the legacy driver drivers are not signed for use with Windows 8), and I've even seen Apple, who owns firewire, dropping it from their products. That left me without a working device when I switched to Windows 8, and RME tech support has went on a "we hate Windows 8" rampage, and customer service was horrible.

So I replaced it with this unit. It worked instantly once plugged in and drivers installed. Actually the software looked a bit more polished than I expected, and there has been no lockups, buzzes or other issues so common with the RME. The I/O was what I needed; 2 Inputs for Voice over work and Mid-Side recording, and 4 Outputs; 2 balanced outs going to JBL powered monitors, 1 going to a small guitar amp for previously mentioned Mid-Side recording. If you wanted to use external effects, you would probably want 4 Inputs, but other than Mid-Side recording, I have switched to using all software and that was not needed in my case. Latency is reported as 4.875ms at 48k, using Cubase 6.5.

Bottom line, I would have no hesitation working on a project in front of a client (if I still did that) with this device, and that means I trust it to work. I can't say the same for RME.

Read Best Reviews of Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 USB Audio Interface Here

I spent a lot of time deciding which interface to get. I went with this one because of a few reasons.

Focusrite Saffire 6 this was my first choice, but this one only has USB 1.0 which is not future proof and will soon be outdated.

Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 this is 2 in 2 out and it does not have MIDI control. I felt that I might get a MIDI controller one day so this wasn't going to work in the future. But it does have USB 2.0.

Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 found this last minute, includes everything with MIDI Control and USB 2.0. A bit more expensive but exactly what I was looking for. It can also output 4 instead of 2. Recommend Scarlett over Saffire and only recommend this if you need MIDI.

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After previously having a Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6 interface, which I can't recommend...at all, this has made everything so much easier. I've had this for about 3 months...

The set up was simple...simply download the drivers from their website, and follow the instructions that comes with the interface. The sound is crisp. Overall good, not great, but surely at the price point very good. The build is sturdy as well. I've only tried recording guitar a handful of times and it wasn't difficult to set up however I can't truly comment on the tone and everything that goes into recording guitar because I didn't spend much time with it yet.

I'd recommend this for anyone who has a basic set up and just needs a simple interface with good sound that works with out headaches.

(PC, Windows 7, FL Studio)

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I read quite a few reviews on products of this nature and many were negative. Issues connecting, poor performance, on and on. I am glad I let me gut win out on this because I went ahead and ordered the unit and was up and running within 15 minutes. The instructions were easy to follow, I walked through each step as I was told downloaded the drivers, and my complementary additional software and was using the equipment and recording as expected. I paired the Scarlett 2i4 with the Rode NT1-A condenser mic and i love the sound. I would recommend this product to anyone who is looking for this sort of unit.

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