Recording - September 2012 - 50

B Y PA U L V N U K J R .

Best known for classic recording desks and the renowned ISA and Red Ranges of mic pres, eqs and compressors, England’s Focusrite has also built a solid reputation in the world of audio interfaces.

Focusrite Scarlett 2i2
This month we take a look at Focusrite’s entry-level Scarlett 2i2. As its name implies, the 2i2 is a 2-in/2-out USB 2.0 audio interface. Considering the abundance of inexpensive stereo audio interfaces on the market, what makes the Scarlett 2i2 stand out? Read on! The box and what it does The 2i2 is a desktop unit measuring 7" across, 1.75" tall and 4" deep. Although it weighs in at a scant 1.3 lbs., don’t let its size and lack of poundage fool you. Thanks to its red anodized aluminum unibody enclosure it is both rugged and stylish; I think it’s the best-looking unit in Focusrite’s Saffire and Scarlett product lines.

Topnotch audio from a portable, affordable audio interface
dB of gain, +10 to 55 dB for mic/instrument level and –10 to +35 dB for line level. A backlit ring around each Gain knob glows green when signal is present and red to indicate clipping... and looks cool when tracking in a darkened room. The Monitoring section has a large silver Output knob, a red backlit phantom power button, a direct monitoring switch that routes the input signal directly to the outputs for latency-free monitoring even on older and slower computers, a green LED USB/power indicator and a 1/4" headphone output with its own individual level knob. The rear panel has left and right 1/4" TRS balanced outputs and a USB 2.0 port. Setup and listening tests The 2i2 is about as plugand-play as it gets, with one small caveat: Windows users need to make sure that they have the latest version 2.3 driver released in April 2012! A quick perusal of the internet forums will turn up lots of strange bugs and issues with earlier Windows drivers—all of which this new build eliminates. With the new driver installed, I can attest to zero issues on my Windows 7 PC as well as an older PC running XP. On the Mac side it is equally stable and ran flawlessly and effortlessly on both my 17" MacBook Pro and my 21" quad-core iMac, both running OS X 10.7 Lion. I tested it with Sony ACID, Steinberg Cubase, and Apple GarageBand. It also spent time as my general playback device for everything from iTunes to YouTube; again there were no issues with playback and it sounded great. Tracking I used the 2i2 for some vocal overdubbing, acoustic guitar tracking. and podcasting with a handful of microphones, and I tried out the line inputs with my Moog Voyager and Roland Handsonic electronic drums. Finally I did some direct instrument recording with bass and electric guitar into IK Multimedia’s AmpliTube. In every case the 2i2 performed like a champ; it handles your average condenser microphone with ease and is equally at home with most typical dynamic mics. My only caution would be that its gain is slightly lacking for low-output ribbons and dynamics like Shure’s SM7. This is easily solved by using a line boosting device like a Cloud Microphones CloudLifter (we’ll be reviewing the newest model in an upcoming issue). Sorry to repeat myself, but again, the 2i2 sounded great! The preamps and converters are of the solid, clean and forward variety; while I can’t call them ‘warm’ in the traditional sense, they can’t be called harsh or brittle either. The sound quality on both input and output is fantastic for a device in this price range! All in all I only have one gripe: I found the headphone output fairly quiet, especially for those who want their ears to bleed when tracking. It’s sufficient for listening and playback at sane levels. Conclusions You may have noticed that this unit has no MIDI and no digital I/O. Actually I find that to be a good thing, as instead of tackling multiple functions with mediocre quality all around, the Scarlett 2i2 focuses on (and delivers!) quality recording and playback in a bulletproof package for a really approachable price. By the way, did I mention how nice it sounds? Price: $199.99 ($149.99 street) More from: Focusrite, www.focusrite.com

Moving on from form to function, the 2i2 is a USB bus-powered device (no option for external power) that offers 24bit recording at sample rates of 44.1, 48, 88.2 and 96 kHz. It features a pair of Focusrite microphone preamps with phantom power, a headphone output with individual volume control, and latency-free direct monitoring at the flick of a switch. It is both Mac and Windows friendly and comes bundled with a complimentary copy of Focusrite’s Scarlett plug-in suite (Compressor, EQ, Reverb and Gate). The ins and outs The inputs are combination jacks with a choice of XLR mic inputs or 1/4" inputs that are selectable between unbalanced (TS) instrument and balanced (TRS) line level. Each input’s Gain knob offers 45
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RECORDING September 2012

http://www.focusrite.com

Recording - September 2012

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