Focusrite Scarlett 4th Gen Review (Worth It?)

hey friends welcome my name is Craig here over at producer Hive today we'll be reviewing the new Focus right Scarlet audio interface family we're going to look at all these new features which ones are good which ones not so good also if there's anything that Focus right missed out on there's one thing I can't believe Focus right didn't include on these interfaces and that is well we'll discuss that later in the video so the Scarlet family was launched by Focus right in around 2010 and has sold over 6 million units worldwide these little red boxes have become famous for their ease of use and affordability the only downside in my opinion was the sound quality so let's see if the generation 4 can top the Generation 3 let's put these interfaces through their Paces here are the three

interfaces on the table here let's have a look at all the features of each of them so here we have the Scarlet solo which is the most affordable interface in this range and it features one di input and One mic pre input we have a stereo left and right out and connect over USBC so on the front here you have the gain you also have the input Halos around the input you don't have it on the output you also have an input selector you have a Fant to power and you have an air button which has been redesigned and we'll look at that in a bit more detail next in the range is the

2i2 which I have here I'm actually using the 2i2 to record this video so you can see the input coming in here you see the Halo in action and on this one you can see there's a lot more features there's been a jump up from the solo so the most notable one is this Auto and safe we have an auto Game feature and a safe clipping feature which we will look at in a bit more detail in a minute we have the air input selector also we have the 48 volts and then we just have a select to choose which one we're editing also another nice upgrade from the Generation 3 is on the generation 4 we have the Halo on the output that's on the 2i2 and the 4 I4 not on the solo so have the direct monitoring if we take a look on the back here we have two mic inputs and I love the fact that on the back so this could tuck nicely away on your desk outputs there as well we also have the option to run five volts of power in this is particularly good if you're running two mics with phantom power just improves the stability of the interface

so next one is the 44 with the highest spec within the family of these audio interfaces we have our two mic PR on the front with two Nitric inputs so very good quality there we have the Halo inputs just as on the 2i2 same features on the 2i2 in terms of all the buttons here you've got the output here as well with the output Halo the only thing you don't have which I kind of miss on here is the direct monitoring button which you have on the 2i2 and the solo now I love that button there so I don't know why that's moved there but you can do that within the software that's provided now if we take a look on the back we have the input for power and USBC midiin IO we have four outputs and another two instrument inputs that's two mic PR and two instruments in so if you're looking to record a band this is probably the best option for you within

these three there is an option that fit most musicians out there so you have the solo which would be ideal for say like a singer songwriter you're playing guitar and just one voice then you have a 2 I2 say if you're a keyboard player and a sing a songwriter you've got a few more options you can record in Stereo then if you're all out kind of Semi-Pro up to Pro producer you have the 4 I4 which has more than enough inputs and outputs and recording capabil abilities also as part of the 2i2 and the solo you can get a studio bundle so when I'm thinking about getting an audio interface the most important thing is obviously the sound quality Generation 3 Scarlet's mic Prix sounded okay but that was understandable because of the price they were an entry range interface where I think the biggest upgrade with the generation 4 has been is within the mic PR so now included the same mic PR that are featured in their Flagship red net interfaces now what does that mean so the preamps that are featured on the rednet interfaces are also remote controlled the DC coupled and capacitor free that basically means they sound open transparent and clean the preamps have an impressive 69 DB of gain so that is perfect for the most demanding microphones out there like this one which is the sh sm7b it's a very quiet microphone and requires a lot of gain so there'd be no need for a cloud lifter if you get this interface

so two of the most useful new features on the Focus right Scarlet Generation 4 is auto gain and clip safe so Auto gain listens to how loud your instrument or mic is coming in and automatically sets the optimal gain level this is perfect if you're a beginner and unsure of what sort of volume to record at Focus rights new Auto game will sort that out for you so you can see on my interface here I have an auto button if I simply hold that down this dial will turn blue play or sing your instrument at the loudest you possibly can for 10 seconds and then it sets the gain accordingly so let's try that out so now you should hear me again and it might be a bit louder say you haven't quite sang as loud as you thought you were going to sing that's where this new safe button can come in so this is clips safe this will stop you from clipping your audio when you go into your door how many times have you sang or played your instrument smashing performance thought oh my God I'm never going to be able to do that again go into your door listen to your audio and you hear that click or that Broken Sound oh my God it's clipped with this clip safe mode that eradicates that problem which is very cool so it does this by monitoring your audio it says up to 96,000 times a second and it automatically adjusts the game to prevent clipping so it's like having your own personal little Studio engineer inside this little red box riding the fader just to make sure when you get a little bit excited it's going to pull the fader down so it doesn't overload the input which is fantastic so this was a popular feature on one of focus right's main competitors interfaces which is the Evo range by audience now where I think Focus right

of Mr trick is in this range you can only go up to two mic pre inputs or four inputs in total with the 4 I4 where Evo have got one over on this they have an EVO with eight inputs this is perfect for say if you're working within a studio or if you're a drummer recording multiple input sources and you love this Auto game feature that's where the Focus right has some limitations so something to think about if you're like a professional and like this Auto game feature if you're drummer this interface might not be for you you're limited with the amount of inputs so that may be a feature that's going to come at a later date maybe they're testing the water to see how popular this Auto game feature is and how popular these interfaces are and maybe they release a eight input and eight output version of the Focus right Scarlet who knows maybe a generation five is on the cards so the next feature

that's been impr approved is the air feature so it's not new the air button was on the Generation 3 essentially it was an EQ boost it was a shelf EQ essentially I think and it just raised a bit of presence or treble to your microphone now they still have that option so if we turn it on here you should hear my voice is a bit more trebly now this is great if you're using a microphone like this which is a dynamic mic and one of the characteristics is they don't really have too much top end to them so this can bring out a bit of the sparkle or the presence so what's been improved on the generation 4 is if we press it again it goes orange and it sounds a bit better what's happened now is you got the same EQ boost but now you've got some harmonic saturation as well so you get bit more of a sparkle presence now I really like this I think this is great it really brings out the presence and Sparkle on your voice if using Dynamic mic like this and I think this will sound great also on a condenser mic now another feature that I would have liked to have seen is the ability to dial that in so that would have been a nice feature it's also worth noting that the generation 4 Scarlet 4 I4 is a lot chunkier heavier than the previous version so if we look here at the Generation 3 you can see there's a big size difference now this is pretty much the same size as the 2y2 you can see there but I don't mind this the chunkiness and the heavyness makes it feel a bit more professional and a bit more legit it feels a lot more sturdy but it's understandable as well with all the new features they've packed into it just worth noting on the intro I would talk about the main thing I think is missing from these interfaces and that is Adat so Adat is the ability to add additional IO capabilities to an interface so it's done over an Optical Connection been an amazing feature on the Scarlet 4 I4 you could have plugged in one of the focus rights 8 pre I think it's called OCTA pre another downside to these interfaces is the headphone output here it says on the pre-release that it's been updated they've said they've improved the headphone output but in my opinion it's made it very quiet now for me to be able to hear my voice at an okay level I have to turn it all the way up so even if I turn up max volume it's not too loud to be honest if we have it past 12:00 is almost inaudible it's just what have mentioned that it's quite quiet in comparison to other audio interfaces okay so in conclusion

Generation 4 is a massive Improvement all around from the Generation 3 in my opinion the mic PR are much better a lot more clearer a lot more usable the airband with the new saturation like harmonics feature again is a lot more usable this Auto game feature is very useful for beginners who are sure what gain levels to set so they're definitely worth the money upgrade from the Generation 3 found this video helpful don't forget to like And subscribe really helps us build this Channel and bring more videos like this to you I've been Craig hopefully I see you in a video sometime again soon bye for now