Focusrite have just announced an update to their highly successful range of Scarlett interfaces. The second generation hardware may pretty much look the same on the outside and the I/O count for the range remains the same, however inside these are new animals.  I/O speed is improved getting round trip latency times down to as low as 2.74ms with Focusrite's fastest USB performance tested at 96kHz on OS 10.11 / Mac Pro with Logic Pro X and buffer size of 32.

There are six interfaces in the range, as well as two studio pack bundles, from the two in, two out, single mic preamp Scarlett Solo up to the rack-mounted 18 in / 20 out Scarlett 18i20. The improvements are clear to see, with new metal gain controls and a new red metal chassis hiding a number of improvements to the product design. The latest Scarlett mic preamp now features a more even gain structure, to help accurately set your levels, and the instrument input has also been completely redesigned with increased headroom so it can handle even seriously hot guitar pick-ups. Focusrite have provided analogue protection circuitry across both the inputs and the outputs, guarding the interfaces against unwanted power surges. The Scarlett range also now supports sample rates up to 192kHz.

Focusrite Scarlett And Pro Tools First

As evidence of the alliance between Focusrite and Avid the Scarlett 2nd generation interfaces will also ship with Avid Pro Tools First. Named Focusrite Creative Pack, the exclusive offering features the free version of the industry-standard Pro Tools software, together with 12 additional plug-ins, including the Eleven Lite for guitar amp emulations and Tape Echo to bring the sound of classic analog delays to mixes. Focusrite and Avid will continue to collaborate closely to ensure that all new Scarlett interfaces are compatible with each new version of Pro Tools, providing the best possible user experience. The joint commitment to testing and the inclusion of the exclusive Pro Tools First Focusrite Creative Pack with every 2nd generation Scarlett interface is an interesting first step for this alliance.  In this multi platform environment Ableton Live Lite, Softube's Time and Tone bundle, the Focusrite Red Plug-In Suite, 2GB of Loopmasters samples are also all included in the bundle.

The bus-powered range of Scarlett 2nd generation interfaces is available immediately, with the Scarlett 6i6, 18i8 and 18i20 following later in June. The Scarlett range is Mac and PC compatible, working across all major DAWs.

Focusrite Scarlett 2nd Generation Prices

• Scarlett Solo: UK – £84.99 / US – $99.99 (Studio Pack: UK – £159.99 / US – $199.99)
• Scarlett 2i2: UK – £114.99 / US – $149.99 (Studio Pack: UK – £189.99 / US – $249.99)
• Scarlett 2i4: UK – £154.99 / US – $199.99
• Scarlett 6i6: UK – £189.99 / US – $249.99
• Scarlett 18i8: UK – £269.99 / US – $349.99
• Scarlett 18i20: UK – £379.99 / US – $499.99

For more information check out the Focusrite website.