Focusrite Clarett+ 8Pre Studio-Grade 18-in/20-out Audio Interface for Established Producers —Eight High-Performance, Low-Noise, Low-Distortion Mic Preamps Capture Audio with Precise Clarity

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Unfortunately my primary role for it is high gain applications like distant ambient and room mics that need a lot of juice. Further configuration is via the elegant Focusrite Control app (for PC, Mac and iOS devices), which provides remote access to some relay‑switched preamp settings (line/instrument mode on channels 1‑2, and the Air EQ on all channels), as well as configuring the internal signal routing between the USB channels and the physical inputs and outputs to create monitor mixes, selecting the internal sample rate, and so forth. The earlier Saffire and Scarlett interfaces were no slouches in this respect, offering a dynamic range of 109dB for the analogue inputs and 108dB for the outputs, but the Claretts leave these figures in the dust.

These boast all-analogue Air - augmented with relay control and impedance switching - delivering recordings with low noise, low distortion and high headroom. speaker system connected to outputs 1–6 — but there’s no provision to set up talkback, nor any way of switching between two sets of speakers. Incredibly low A-D converter distortion lets you capture signals with more clarity, for greater transparency and sonic accuracy. There are also separate front–panel jack sockets for instrument connections, though these still share the same channels as the first pair of mic/line inputs. What’s perhaps most remarkable about Focusrite Control is, in the nicest possible way, how little there is to see.offer two and four mic preamps respectively, plus monitor control features, MIDI In and Out, and four line outputs.

I have a Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 3rd gen, and I don't find an issue with gain unless you are using something that needs a ton of gain like an re-20. Clarett 8Pre offers the latest Thunderbolt technology to ensure interface latency of under 1ms, the lowest latency of any interface using Core Audio/ASIO drivers. I haven't got a broad experience with other units but to me it seems straight and accurate, uncoloured.Focusrite have also designed a new mic preamp circuit for the Clarett range, the most notable feature of which is the Air option. ADAT optical input - Expand your interface to make the most of ADAT-compatible outboard equipment such as the Clarett OctoPre, with eight channels of digital expandability. There is no provision at all for processing audio signals within Focusrite Control, so no equalisation, dynamics, or delay/reverb effects are available.