To me, this fully justifies Focusrite’s decision to keep their new control–panel utility simple: if you do need to set up complex cue mixes with effects and processing, there’s really no penalty for doing so within your DAW with this sort of low–latency operation available. Decades of analogue circuit design experience, applied around 24-bit/192kHz A-D and D-A conversion, delivers a superior signal path – beating interfaces costing hundreds more. Your Clarett+ comes with Focusrite Control, a brand-new software mixer that makes short work of configuring your monitoring and routing setups. In the manner of much music software these days, it’s a gloomy–looking affair, with lots of grey in evidence — but at the same time, it’s also an exemplary piece of user–interface design. With the free Focusrite iOS Control app, you can adjust the mixes you made with Focusrite Control on the desktop app from your iPad or iPhone.

To my eyes, the 8Pre’s 1U metal front panel is more crimson than claret, but its layout is significantly cleaner and smarter than that of its Saffire or Scarlett predecessors. Oddly though, some pre-amp controls (like the Air button and line/instrument toggling) are on a separate tab in the app, making the experience less immediate.Every new Focusrite Scarlett, Clarett+, and Red interface comes with an unbeatable range of tried-and-tested studio tools from some of the biggest names in the business. Its eight premium preamps are all connected via ‘combi’ XLRs for mic/line inputs, with six on the rear panel and two more on the front panel (which also have high‑impedance JFET instrument input modes).

In terms of I/O and hardware functionality, then, the new Clarett interfaces mostly stick to a tried-and-tested template, and they are none the worse for that. On the other hand, I would also like to know your opinion about the change and the idea I have for what I need. Necessity may be the mother of invention, but a switch to Cirrus Logic converters has also significantly improved Focusrite's Clarett+ audio interfaces. Ten channels of digital connectivity in and out are provided through stereo S/PDIF (RCA‑phono or optical) and ADAT (assuming the ports aren’t being used for S/PDIF).Six-segment LED metering easily shows the signal level of the eight mic/line inputs, two of which are also high-impedance instrument inputs that can record super-hot pickups with no unwanted distortion. The headphone outputs have also gained 3dB more dynamic range and 3dB lower THD, too — all of which means lower noise and more pristine low‑level details in reverb tails and room atmospheres. One notable attraction of the whole range was that even the smallest model could be expanded via ADAT inputs to accept eight additional analogue channels, ideally from the matching Clarett Octopre mic preamp/converter.