pres on Focusrite interfaces?

[permanent hearing damage]

curious about the quality of these - especially scarlett vs claret - though I assume either would probably be perfectly serviceable for what I need it to do: would be for some remote recording work for podcasting via USB.

just need 3 inputs - one for the mc and a pair for the audience. been using a sytek 4 channel pre and a native instruments komplete 6 interface with a tascam hard disk recorder as backup. i just figure the sytek is probably overkill and i could just get a single unit (hopefully rackmountable) to replace the sytek and the NI interface and pocket the $$. I have a million external pres (mostly 500 series) so no real need for other purposes.

[Magnetic Services]

I haven't used Focusrite, but I think their whole thing is putting really good preamps in affordable interfaces! At least, I remember the first few models making a splash because of that.

[Dok]

I have a Clarett 8Pre that's perfectly serviceable and has the extra "Air" function that can be useful. I usually use outboard pres for most recordings as well but a Clarett would be fine for what you're describing, I think. The only thing that I don't like is that you need to further step up to the 8PreX to get polarity and HPF switches on the front panel, otherwise you can just do that in the DAW.

[crow]

I've used a bunch of the various scarlett interfaces for remote use and in my secondary setup. I think they're adequate enough that I've never had any desire to A/B them with my Lynx Auroras or nicer mic preamps. They sound clean, and they've never given me any trouble. I'm confident that any of the Scarlett line will serve you well for your purpose. I'd say the only drawback one might run into is that the pres don't have a ton of gain. Most mics are fine through them, but to use an Sm7 or some ribbon mics you'd want an additional preamp.

[numberthirty]

One aspect of the bigger picture that might be worth a mention...

I believe Sytek might be out of business. From the looks of this thread, at least some of the folks in this thread might even know about it.

viewtopic.php?t=89480

Probably worth accounting for that the Sytek might be tough to go back and buy again if you should regret letting it go.

[Nick Sevilla]

I have mixed a few things that were recorded with these, at least gen 1 and gen 2.

The recordings were clean, so no complaints.

I imagine the new gen 3 will be as good.

I might get one soon.

I always want clean mic pres on these types of units.

[vvv]

Most mics are fine through them, but to use an Sm7 or some ribbon mics you'd want an additional preamp.

Cloudlifters and the like work well ( I use Cathedral Pipes).

[crow]

I should add that if you go with a Scarlett, the 2nd generation is a great value, since their value decreased when the 3rd gen came out. I have not owned a unit with the "air" buttons, and I didn't try them out when I used one briefly at a client's house. If I'm not listening on a system I know well, I wanna play it safe with the initial audio capture. There are so many ways to get flavor aftwerward!

The results I've gotten with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation Scarletts have all been adequate enough that I have had no desire to figure out if one is better than the others.

[darjama]

When I had a gen1 scarlett I rarely used the pres unless I was running out of tracks, they were decent but not ready for prime time. With the clarett pre4 usb I'm perfectly happy using the preamps on most anything (with the cathedral pipes signal booster where needed), with or without the 'air' setting.

[alexdingley]

Claret 8pre is super stable / clean / simple... I use it on ALL of my remote recordings. Whether it's a comedy album down at the punchline or helium, or a podcast recording in the burbs... it's been great on ALL of those types of recordings. It's also been solid on intimate music recordings. If you wanna hear it on a female vocal w/ piano, you can check this Spotify link