Hey question, I've had the SSL2 for quite awhile, upgraded from the Focurite solo gen 2 I think. Curious if you think it's worth upgrading from SSL2 to Scarlett 2i2 Gen 4. I'm kind of a tech person, just love upgrading sometimes even when it's not a huge change, use it for youtube and recording. Would love the added gain, though I do have a cloud lifter. Great video BTW
If you already own a cloud lifter there's really no reason that you're going to need the extra gain, I can definitely hear that the preamp is a little smoother and cleaner on the 4th generation focusrite, You're probably not going to hear the difference unless you're listening on studio monitors or monitor headphones. They did add some really cool software to the 2i2 fourth gen where it tells you how much gain you're at and it now has a monitor mix on the software so you can make your microphone or the game audio louder or quieter in your headphones and that won't affect the regular recording I mean if you have the SSL 2 plus you already know how the monitor mix works The regular SSL2 doesn't have that I don't think. But when I turn the game knob up on the PC software it'll tell me how many decibels of gain the mat so for example on one of my condenser mics I know I said it to exactly 32 decibels again and on my SM7B I think I'm putting it on 55 decibels again so next time I grab that mic and use it I know exactly what gain setting to put it on so there's definitely some pretty interesting advantages on the software for the new 4th generation 2i2. I don't even bother to use the controls or the knobs on the unit itself now I just open the software and do everything on the software because you can just dial it into exactly where you want it. But when it comes to a upgrade in sound quality you'll probably hear a difference on proper studio monitors but you probably won't notice much of a difference if you're listening on your home stereo or through a basic set of headphones or something I do have a small issue with the 4th generation where sometimes if I'm playing a game and I close the game the headphone amp starts making this ticking sound and then I have to unplug it and then plug it back in and then it stops, so that's the one drawback on the 4th gen so I'm actually planning on making another video about this talking about all the new features they recently added on the last couple of updates and talking about the issue with the clicking but I would say that happens to me maybe 1 to 3 times per week but it's always the same game when I close the game down maybe one out of every tenor and went out of every 20 times the headphone amp starts to act up I'm sure they'll eventually get that fixed but I've never had anything like that happen on the SSL
as far as i can tell i have never had a drive issue with the scarlett interfaces on windows 10 or windows 11, but yes good drivers are also important. if i had noticed any issues with the drives i would mention it but so far so good and same width 3rd gen i have had for years
@@dannylightning-audio-reviews Exactly, I didn't mean Focusrite has bad drivers. In fact I used model 212 v1.0 many, many years without any problems. But every now and then we read well made reviews about new interfaces with serious problems with the drivers. When a customer is creating a shortlist of potential interfaces it is good idea to think about this potential risk.
I've never really thought about drivers when it comes to this company I mean I know some interfaces of whatever have driver issues but I guess I would just kind of assume that they're probably using the same drivers as the old interfaces but maybe they're not, I never really thought about that but that's a very good point, this company seems to have their drivers in order but yeah I just definitely something to think about
Those are balanced TRS line inputs, the manual says it can accept balanced or unbalanced TSR plugs but it doesn't necessarily say whether or not it bypasses the preamps but that is where you would plug an external preamp in, on most interfaces those will bypass the preamp so I would assume they bypass the preamps on this but the instruction manual doesn't actually say, maybe shoot focus right a email just to be sure, can't hurt to double check but generally those inputs will bypass the preamps on most audio interfaces but unfortunately the manual doesn't seem to cover that. I did see a video Sweetwater was doing that showed how to hook up a external preamp to your 4x4 and he said that those line inputs would bypass the preamp, so I would assume that guy knows what he's talking about but again the user manual doesn't seem to state that unfortunately I don't know why not you would think it would let you know if it did I know on the third gen those inputs completely bypassed the preamps, so I don't see why it would be any different on this phone but I would double check with them just to be safe
After some extra thinking: If you plugged in aux power to the other 5V port on the 4th gen, it's going to be powered on until you unplug the cable from your Scarlett or the charger/PSU from your wall.
You would think so but when I go into the power management there's an option to turn off the USB ports when the computer is turned off but when the computer goes to sleep there's no option to turn that off so it depends on the BIOS if your computer unfortunately mine doesn't give you the option to turn the stuff off when it's sleeping all I want the computer is powered off but I've already looked into it been through all the BIOS and my motherboard just doesn't have that option I think I even contact Asus about it and they're like no that option doesn't exist on your motherboard. Thank you but unfortunately that won't fix my problem, I wish it would but I appreciate you trying to help but there's a lot of items that actually do go to sleep on their own when the computer goes to sleep including my third generation focus right but for some reason this one doesn't I was hoping it would I hate having to unplug the things for me please see you all the time and eventually that's going to work out the Jack I mean I guess I could get a little USB hub or something
This one didn't come with a little 5 volt power adapter, it's also bus powered so when I just plug it into the computer the computer power is it, I'm not sure how that would work if it came with the little power adapter I think the four i-4 comes with it but this one does not
@@dannylightning-audio-reviews Yes, the 2i2 does NOT come with an extra adapter (I have received my 2i2 unit yesterday). But you can hook up even a 5V phone charger to the USB-C AUX port on the back of the unit (I think the charger must be capable of providing 3 Amps and 5 Volts). I thought maybe this is what you did with your unit, because as long as there is external power plugged into the AUX port, the 2i2 won't turn off when you power off your PC. Extra note - I believe it was Julian Krause, who measured the self-noise of the 2i2 Gen 4 and the result was that when you attach the the extra AUX power to the unit, it raises the self-noise by 2-3 dB. So you have to be careful what 5V power source you choose as your extra power for this unit. On an even different note - I have switched to the 2i2 myself from SSL 2 (the non-plus version) and I like the 4th Gen a lot! Also, the Air Mode 2 sounds good on my voice. I have a rather higher-than-average timbre for a guy and not a lot of lower-registers presence. The extra presence that Air Mode 2 brings to my voice does not make me sound boomy, which I like a lot. Thirdly, massive THANK YOU for a very informative and well put together video. Keep up the great work, Danny!
What's interesting about air mode number 2, what is doing is it's boosting the highs and the base and then it's really reducing a bunch of the mid-range frequencies and I think that's why it's sounding hollow and sibilant so if it works for you awesome but for me I think it sounds terrible it sounds very sibilant and hollow when I use that now the first air mode I've actually been using that on my S7 being I don't have to EQ the sm7b anymore, I used to always do a two decibel cut on a couple of mid frequencies that didn't sound good and I used to always boost the highs by good 456 decibels but this interface doesn't seem to have those extra mids that I don't like and the high-end boost is perfect for my estimate but every time I turn on that second air mode it just doesn't sound good so hopefully they'll make some more presets maybe if they did that without the drastic EQ adjustment but for me it doesn't sound good but everybody's microphone and voice and room is different Now when it comes to the power adapter I'm not even sure if I have one that would safely power it, I'm not going to risk it, I don't see any way to turn off the bus power which I think he would probably need to do if you were running the adapter because you probably don't want the computer and the power adapter powering at the same time so I don't know I've never really had an interface that did both normally either the computer power or it plugged into the wall but I've never seen one with both LOL so I don't know how that works honestly... But I really loving this camera I really wish they would have gave us some monitor mix and it'd be nice at the software had a little number of gain like I made on the other video I just put out a couple days ago that way we could like oh yeah this night your phone needs to be said at 78 or this one needs to be set at 53 and you can just kind of write down each microphone's game and hey if you have perfect levels every time.
I'll just keep my 1st gen 18i8... I record myself, don't make money recording other people, and...I bet this is the situation of 90% of Scarletts owners. Ok, it's a great upgrade, but...I don't need it. What I really need? Use two pairs of monitors playing different audio sources at the same time. A driver to run two scarletts in Windows.
You can run more than one audio interface but I've never tried running two of the exact same interface so I'm not really sure how that would work out, if your current interface is giving recording quality that you're happy with, there's definitely no need to upgrade. .
Thank you, No one's ever seemed to be interested in that type of thing on my channel before so I've never really thought much about it but, I have the gain on the NT1 I set right about 12 o'clock and the gain on the sm7b is just under 3 o'clock, I shoot for the peak on my normal speaking voice to be about -15db and if it goes a little patch that everyone's awhile so be it but that's a very nice level for recording. The gain knobs on the new focus right don't actually have any markings to show you how much gain you're at but if you open the focusrite control 2 software you can see exactly how much gain you're at. But it's really nice to be able to adjust the gain from the unit or from the PC software, I wasn't sure I was going to like the way they don't have any indication markers on the knobs but I actually don't mind since I can use the software to see where it's at which also gives me the option to adjust it from the software so I don't know I was kind of like oh I don't know about that part but I actually like it
@@dannylightning-audio-reviews , Thanks! I'm an old man, so I'm from the days when everyone expected the sweet spot of gain to be somewhere between 11:00 and 1:00. 3:00 for a dynamic microphone isn't bad. Again, Thanks!
@@robbehr8806 you're welcome, the sm7b requires more gain then your average microphone, if I get out the SSL or the 3rd generation Scarlet you're basically a 5 a clock where you're basically giving it' all of those are interface has, most of the other interface is probably give you like 56 to 60 to decimals and gain to wear this has 70 on the preamp so that little bit of extra is very nice
@@dannylightning-audio-reviews ; I've got a Heil PR-40, which is a dynamic microphone with higher output, compared to the Shure. I've also got a FET-Head pre-amp, which is essential with all of my current interfaces, in order to keep the interface's noise level down.
Hey! I have been considering between buying the normal SSL2 and the Scarlett Gen 4 and I plan to run it with a sm7b and also a goxlr mixer, which do you think is the better option as I intend to use this setup for all sorts of things from talking, recording videos, streaming and recording vocals for my music? Also will there be any trouble chaining the microphone to both the SSL2/Scarelett and then the goxlr before going to the PC?
The full size Go XlR and the Go XLR mini, These are both a mixer and audio interface which should be all you need, either one can provide about 72db of gain which is more than enough to power your sm7b so you wont need a seperate interface. so you probably wont need a seperate interface..
So the Gen 4 now has a really nice features like a monitor mix, you can turn the gain of your microphone up and down on the unit or on the software, the Gen 4 to i2 has better preamps. They're cleaner and more powerful. So if you're using a dynamic microphone I think the Gen 4 would be better if you're using a condenser that doesn't require a lot of gain I think anybody would be happy with either but you're getting a lot more bills and whistles that are really nice on the Gen 4 and cleaner preamps I mean most people would probably never noticed the audio quality difference unless they're on some really good headphones or studio monitors but if you're listening on the right thing you can hear the difference. I'm sure there's a lot of people who will just go out and buy a gen 3 and be like hey perfect, if you don't need any bells and whistles and you don't need the extra amount of gain on the new preamps the Gen 3 is fine so it just depends on if you want all the bills and whistles and the better preamps but honestly I would be perfectly happy using either one but I like the bells and whistles I get with the Gen 4 software
I recently bought a Scarlett 2i2 3rd gen... Since I can still return it, do you think it's worth buying the new 4th gen one? I also have a Behringer UMC204hd, and although it has more connections than the Focusrite, I have compared them and I notice that the sound I get when recording acoustic guitar with a condenser mic is a little more muffled on the Behringer, while with the Scarlett it has a little more clarity and brightness (with the AIR button off), it seems to capture more detail, it is subtle, by the way, the guitar sounds more organic and beautiful. Also, the recording with the Behringer has a little more low frequency noise. (In terms of latency, with a buffer size of 64, I have almost the same in both, it is little but when playing a virtual piano I do not fully enjoy it). That's why until now I was determined to stay with the Focusrite - it was very cheap with the studio pack - but of course, now that the 4th gen has just been released it makes me angry, although at the moment it’s very expensive, so now I have considered returning the 3rd gen Scarlett to get the new one, and wait to see if prices drop, or maybe an SSL2+ which looks very nice for recording guitars (although I think it has more latency). Any advice on whether or not to keep the 3rd gen Focusrite, or return it and go for the 4th gen or the SSL2+?
There's absolutely nothing wrong with a third gen Scarlet solo as long as you don't need to hook up more than one microphone, I've never really had a latency issue with anybody with your face and if your buffer size is too small you might start getting clicks and pops and it doesn't allow enough time for the audio to get from the unit to the PC or whatever which can cause some problems I think most people use a buffer of something like 128 some people may be up to 500 to give it a little bit more time I mean if you plug an instrument or a microphone into the interface and you're listening to it through the headphones that are plugged into the interface I don't really ever have enough delay that I can tell a difference on any interface so if you're hearing it too much delay which it sounds like you are I'm not really sure why that might be happening, now if you were to buy a fourth generation focus right I would at least go with the 2i2 because it has better preamps than the solo, I haven't actually heard the 4th generation solo so I'm not sure how it sounds compared to the third generation but I do find the fourth generation to I too with the higher end preamps does sound a little bit cleaner, every once in awhile I have a weird issue where I start hearing some distortion when I close a game that I was playing and then I have to unplug it and plug it back in which I never had with the third generation so it does seem like there might be a couple of little glitches on the new 4th generation that I'm just starting to notice With Vanessa cell too you're going to have more than one microphone input you'll get the monitor mix knob which is super nice and the audio quality between the solo and the SSL is extremely similar, But if you're having some sort of latency issues I don't really know how you have it set up or what all you're running so it's a little hard to tell why that might be I think on the focus right website they have a article about how to set up your Windows computer for audio recording where they tell you to go into the power options and do this and go here and do that so that might be something you want to look into, but honestly the only reason I decided to get something other than my solo was because I wanted something that hooked up more than one microphone, the reason I ended up with the fourth generation to i2 is everybody was raving about the preamps and I said you know I got to try this out and see if I can get some better sound quality and there wasn't improvement, your average person would probably never know what's the difference but somebody listening on a good studio monitors or headphones who's really paying attention might But I think the only reason you should think about getting something better than the third generation solo would be more microphone inputs, if you truly don't need or will never need more microphone inputs it's a great little interface, I'm actually keeping my third generation for what I want to like in a guitar or something that way I don't have to change the game settings for my microphone or anything like that I can just plug that little guy in and record some guitar and not have to mess with I readjusting everything after I'm done so I don't know it's really up to you but if you think you might need more than one microphone at some time it might be worth getting something different if not I think you're okay it's a great little unit
Thank you very much for the answer. I already have the Scarlett 2i2 3rd gen which in fact has two mic inputs. My doubt was about keeping this unit or return it and buy the 2i2 4th gen instead (because I can still return it), but I don't know if the higher cost worth it (or having a look at the SSL2+). Regarding my latency issues, I already read the article on Focusrite website you mentioned; when I run latencymoon the result is ok, so I don't know what the problem is, I'll investigate more!
@@jseraguI'm sorry but for some reason I thought you said you bought the Scarlett solo 3rd generation I guess I misread that. The to i2 fourth-generation has premiums with 69 gain instead of what was the old 56 I think, if you're using a gain hungry microphone with the fourth-generation you won't have to turn the game up to ninety or ninety-five percent for a really gain hungry mic, I feel that the preamps in the 4th generation are a little bit cleaner a little bit more transparent, everything sounds just a little bit tighter. Of course that's listening on quality monitors I mean if I put in the cheap set of headphones I don't really hear that much of a difference. I recently had a couple of weird things happened with my 4th generation where I would have a certain program open and soon as I close the program my audio sound at the store yet and I had to unplug the interface and plug it back in, that's happened four times now and the last two times I realized hey it was the same program that cause it both times so it does not seem to like the ldplayer gaming emulator, it did not mess up the recording at all that played back just fine, it was only what I heard through the headphones so I think that's some sort of software or driver incompatibility. And it's always been the same program every time so. If you are a voice actor or for some reason have to have the cleanest recordings possible, I do notice a bit of a difference on the 4th gen but some people might not be able to hear it I guess depends on how good your ears are trained and like I said how good your headphones are. If you're running something like a Shure sm7b that requires a huge amount of game it might be beneficial if you're worried about getting a tiny bit of primp noise from the high-gain and you don't want to run a cloudlifter, I have never ran a cloud left her with my sm7b and I don't hear any noticeable preamp noise 3rd gen, yeah really got to crank the volume up allowed to notice that it's there so it doesn't really affect what I do. The third-generation to i2 is very nice and it does give you professional salty recordings, the 4th generation sounds noticeably smoother but probably won't make it huge impact unless you're one of those super picky people. If you said I'm going to give you one of these for free which one do you want I would say give me the 4th gen, if my microphone was super gain hungry and I was worried about pre-op noise I would say give me the 4th generation. If my microphone wasn't super gain hungry and I didn't care that much about pre-op noise I would say will either one will work just fine so hopefully that helps you decide Sorry I'd probably go into too much detail, and I talk into the phone so sometimes it types out to i2 wrong and certain things and I went back to edit it but it's giving me problems so sorry about the misspelling
They just updated the firmware today so I'm hoping that maybe fixes the annoying issue I'm having occasionally, not really sure,, I was just recording with my third generation solo today and it's definitely a nice little interface. So whichever way you decide to go either one will give you great sound quality.
The second air mode on the Scarlett 2i2 4th gen w/ the shure sm7b was surprisingly a huge success in my opinion. To my ears I heard a somewhat dampened dynamic rock microphone turn into a bright (almost condenser) sounding microphone but without capturing an entire room of noise and loads of unecessary sibillance. I currently have a shure sm7b and a Rhode NTK condenser microphone both running out of a presonus 96/Logic Pro/Macbook M1 silicone (16GB Ram) . The Shure sm7b w/ Scarlett 2i2 4th gen interface would clean up my setup and possibly even allow me to say goodbye to the cloud lifter and condenser microphone altogether.
It definitely sounds like you enjoy that mood which is great, your voice your microphone and your room acoustics can all play a part in that but we kind of figured out what it's doing... So it's adding harmonic distortion or saturation whatever you want to call it which gives kind of gives it that old school tube or transistor type of sound and it's boosting the highs it's boosting the lows and it's dropping the midst way down like it drops the mids by several decibels so it kind of gives you that v-shaped EQ curve which for something is that might actually work pretty well. Now for a speaking voice if you're just like a UA-camr or somebody talking into the microphone I don't think I like what that's doing I mean maybe for music or something else it might be kind of cool but I don't like it for a speaking voice. Thought never really crossed my mind that hey maybe for singing or something else it would be a cool sound. I'm glad that you're enjoying that setting, I hope eventually they add a couple more air modes maybe one that doesn't quite have his drastic of an EQ curve to it
@@dannylightning-audio-reviews Thank you for sharing your findings! Knowing the function of the harmonic air button opens many doors to use it as a vocal double/bus channel effect. Thanks to your explanation of its actual function I now have a much deeper understanding and has given me some ideas for use. As of now, my plan is to use it as an additional (post grunge type-vocal) rock saturation effect to bus off my main vocal channel. I believe that the harmonic setting mixed with the shure sm7bs tweakable eq sliders (on the bottom of the microphone) will make for some clean, “straight from the source”, saturation. However, that air button may surprise me in the worst way when I finally hear it in person. But even if that’s the case, this interface is a huge upgrade from my PreSonus 96 and am beyond excited for all the other features and benefits the “4th gen” has to offer.
The way I look at it is I would rather not really have any major EQ changes, I love the idea of the harmonic distortion being added if you're going for that nice saturation sound but I would love to be able to use that without the EQ being change majorly that way I can always throw an EQ on it and change it myself if I want to. But it can't hurt to try it out on some recordings, test it with and without the second air mode and see which one you like better I mean for some things that might work but I would rather record with nothing and then make all changes to the original later because once you push that button what it gives you is what it gives you and you can't really undo that when you're editing. But yeah for some things that may work awesome I just hope they decide to give us a couple more air modes sometime down the line
@@dannylightning-audio-reviews It just so happens I received the 2i2 4th gen a day ago and have had the chance to test it out a few times. In my opinion, the second air mode produced some cool sounding doubles, but it isn't as spectacular as I originally thought it may be. I think your right in saying that since it was pre-eq'd it lacks malleability and is less versatile then the other settings. However, something I did really like is that it does bring my voice forward in the mix if I use it correctly (especially if used w/ Sound-Toys little alter boy plugin). I agree that having a few more air modes would be a great addition to future interfaces. Also, was there sometime of resource/video/article/app that helped you come to the conclusion that the second air mode had a v-shaped eq?
im glad your liking the air mode, that is awesome, They have updated the unit a few times so unless something changed on one of the last few updates, i can't remember which mid frequencies were lowered exactly but... if you have a eq with a spectrum analyzer if you know how to read it you can get a good idea from that, you have to do a recording with air mode on and off and look at the difference, or if you have something like plugin doctor or silular things, you can see what plugins are doing, i had a friend who has some of those analyzer plugins check it out to confirm, i think he rain it on plugin doctor if i remember correclty @adamlindall3208
Is there an alternative to adjust things without the Monitor mix? Like is it solvable/managable or it makes it much less efficient to get around things etc
you can turn down the main volume on the computer. or if you have headphones on just remember to turn down the volume on the scarlet before playing any audio in your pc, maybe they can do a firmware update some day giving the software a monitor mix, it would help out a lot but most interfaces don't give you a monitor mix knob for some reason. i think they really should..
What the other guy said LOL but yeah I hope they can kind of put that into the software at least cuz it really sucks not having a monitor mix but for some reason most interfaces don't seem to add that
Hello, I'm thinking about buying an SSL2 because of the monitor mix, which is important to me. My question is: does SSL2 turn off when the computer (in my case a 21'' iMac) goes to sleep? Indeed I have tried a scartett 2i2 3rd gen and it turns off. For me it is an important aspect, because I leave the iMac on for 24 hours, and I don't want the card to be working, nor have to plug/unplug the USB cable. I will appreciate your help. Thank you
Hey, so the SSL is a great unit and the monitor mix is amazing but every time you're done using it you actually have to pull the USB cable out of the back of it and then plug it back in, it does not go to sleep on the computer goes to sleep, it looks like the majority of these interfaces do not go to sleep, now my Scarlet solo third generation did and I recently got a 4th generation Scarlet which I thought would do the same but it does not, it seems like the majority of the interface is these days either come with a power button that you have to physically turn on and off or you just have to unplug the USBC from the back of the unit and then plug it back in it seems like there's very few of them that go to sleep which sucks
@@dannylightning-audio-reviewsWow, I liked it because it has all the connectors behind, and so you can't see any cables (including the headphone cable). But of course, if you do have to separate it from the wall every time to remove the USB cable, it is very annoying. I don't like the Scarlett because you can see all the cables in the front so... I don't know! Maybe the Audient id14? Is there any other? Thanks a lot!!
there are a lot of interfaces, i don't have a list of which ones will go to sleep when the pc goes to sleep, this seems like something they should all do but so far from what i have seen a lot of them don't, @@shangrila64
Focusrite says these are the same headphone amplifiers that they put in their crazy expensive high-end interfaces that are designed for professional recording studios, I would probably assume that they should be fine and going by the specs I would think it would be okay but I don't own a set of high impedance headphones to test it out, it looks good on paper but without actually being able to do a physical test I don't really want to speculate and give you an answer without being able to test it out and know for sure. My headphones run at 70 ohms and if you turn the volume up all the way when listening to your voice and then you play something on your computer, if you have the computer at full volume it will blow your ears out so want to set a 70 of them headphones it is extremely loud now of course how loud your voice is coming back through depends on how high you have the game turned up on the interface cuz generally you record kind of quiet and then boost in post so normally your voice is coming in a little bit lower or a lot lower than the rest of the audio which is why I really think they need to add monitor mixes on to these things but I'm rambling, I apologize but without being able to test it I just can't say for sure, maybe I should look into getting instead of high impedance headphones at some point but at the moment I just don't have any, I apologize
3rd gen can hurt your hearing with 250 ohm headphones, they are really loud, i have 2i2 3rd gen and 250 ohm headphones, after recording one hour on almost max gain i have ringing in ears and ears usually recover for few days.
Hey this is great! I am looking to upgrade my ssl2+ mainly for more inputs but also a more transparent preamp for my voice/narrations. I love how Focusrite upgraded the preamps and converters and they do sound less "colored" than the ssl but I'm not a fan of the gain encoder knobs as I really appreciate eyeballing/verifying my gain settings periodically. Not sure if that is a dealbreaker yet for me on the 4i4 I am considering
These are some of the most transparent preamps i have heard in a budget friendly unit, i feel ike its not coloring the sound at all, i hear what your saying about the gain knob, im currently uploading a new video about this very subject, if they can add a number system to the software it would be a huge improvement. this one simple thing it will be such a huge improvement for setting your gain. i hope i can get them to think about doing this.. video will be up here in a few.
The SSL is a very nice unit camera I think I have OCD cuz I probably hear imperfections most people never do tell me there's just something in the mids that I don't hear on the focus right it just sounds cleaner more pure more transparent. I imagine most people would probably never even notice but I use these audio interfaces 7 days a week and I'm on them several hours a day because I have this channel and two gaming channels so these things got a lot of use, twice recently the phantom power button malfunction on my SSL where I'm sitting there talking doing a recording and all the sudden I looked down because I see these lights blinking and I noticed my microphone stops working so it's like the button thought somebody was pressing it even though they weren't so I got it on a can to compress air and spray the buttons with it and it hasn't happened since but I'm a little worried it's going to start having some problems I mean I've had it for a few years, I think, that's how it feels at least. I've been very happy with the SSL overall, but due to the possible problem I said I need a backup and hey this thing's brand new it just came out I'd like to see what happens if I get a brand new item and make some videos about it let's see if they get any extra views LOL, I really would have liked to have got something with four microphone inputs but spending like five or six hundred bucks yeah I don't know that's a bit out of my price range most of the time, the new Scarlets affordable compared to a lot of these things plus it's got really high-end preamps and digital converters so I said you know I need to try this out. I'm not saying that the SSL is bad and I'm not saying anybody should run out and replace it because the SSL is going to be more than good enough for most people. And that company generally makes things that are extremely reliable so even though mines seems like it's developing a problem most people's probably won't anytime soon I mean they're a super good company that makes really high-end stuff but right now if you want to sell things you got to come out with something that's a little bit above and beyond , road came out with those new podcasting units that have all the bills and whistles and fancy stuff and the 70 decibel preamps that are unbelievably clean but those things are freaking expensive too, you got UA offering units with a watered down built-in 1176 analog compressor, but I think we're going to be seeing some pretty interesting interfaces and streaming equipment coming out in the near future because everybody's going to have to really outdo each other to get the sales I think, technologies come a long way
The ssl is trash the converters are weak plus the 4k is pure distortion trash ive own one and a presonus studio68 and a focusrite 2i4 2nd gen and went back straught to my presonus68 because the ssl isnt release and radio.ready
I think the SSL is a nice unit, it adds a certain bid frequency that I don't prefer so there is a little bit of coloration, now the 4K button on the SSL units I don't care for it but I've been using the SSL unit for probably what two years now I'm guessing it Powers my sm7b just fine but I do like the Scarlet better it sounds more transparent I just missed the mix now at the SSL has but I think the SSL has pretty decent preamps
@@bighousemusic628 there have been many tests for people have ran audio in and back out of the SSL preamp hundreds of times with with no distortion, the focus right does much worse when talking about converters
If you got an interface which is function properly and you're happy with the sound of it then there is absolutely no reason to upgrade, that's how I look at it if you need a second one for some reason or yours goes bad or something then bam, this is a good choice. Honestly in most interfaces these days sound very nice. This one doesn't seem the color of the sound to where most of them do but you know what, the third generation scarlettes the SSL the UA audios I mean any of those newer interfaces sound very good so yeah no reason to upgrade unless you actually need to, I've been wanting a second interface with two microphones for a little while now can I kind of got a weird setup with what I do when the gaming channels and the audio channel and whatnot so I think I'm going to start using this for my main one and probably use the SSL for the secondary, keep the solo for the backup LOL you need to have some backups I guess lol
Sound quality isn’t the only reason to upgrade or not. Better pre-amps and the ability to set the gain where I keeps from clipping is great for a non-pro like myself.
that feature is pretty nice.. i really wish they would start adding limiters to these interfaces, the safe feature on this is cool but it just turns you down and does not turn you back up from what i can tell. its cool but man i wish they added limithers ath would just squish down the really loud parts and than your back to normal once it saves you from clipping. but bottom line is record a bit on the quiet side, boost to the correct volume in the video or audio editing softwire@@trentgilliam5192
There are differences in the way of the sound but it's kind of subtle, some of these things do have way more features than others, like for example if you get a Scarlet solo that is the bare bottoms there's one headphone jack you can hook up one microphone there's no MIDI, no bills and whistles so it really boils down to features more than sound quality I would say on most of these interfaces these days now I think the fourth generation Scarlett has a very clean sounding preamp I think most of these color the sound at least a little bit that one sounds a little more natural to me but I think you have to be listening on some really good headphones to hear that
I have both and there is a definite difference in sound. But these amateurs are so stuck on sound without looking at extra features that the 4th gen brings.
Like I was saying on the video by the time you upload it to UA-cam, and you two compresses at the same space it does kind of degrade the audio quality, what I notice is these new preamps on the 4th generation Scarlet don't seem to color the sound at all like the SSL it adds a little something to the little mids, the old third generation adds a little something to the low end, I feel like I'm getting a completely flat frequency response with no coloration which makes it sound cleaner on the new 4th generation preamps, now if you're listening on a set of studio monitors it's pretty apparent at least to me, I got in the audio when I was about 14 and then when I was in my twenties I did a lot of stuff with recording and music and your ears kind of learn to hear a lot of differences and things that a lot of people don't really notice but there's also a little bit of UA-cam downgrading the audio a bit, but to me there's a pretty noticeable difference has to not really hearing any coloration at all on the new 4th generation interface., Now I want to play it back on my home stereo I can't really hear the difference but when I listen on some monitor headphones I can definitely hear it even on UA-cam but they all sound very very good I just feel that this new generation is an improvement
Hey Thanks. i currently have 70 ohm headphones and at full volume it will bust your ears when playing audio on the pc, my voice is more than loud enough as long as i have the mic gain at a decent level. if your running say 200 ohm headphones, i don't have any to test so i don't want to give out answers based on speculation, the specs look great on paper but without being able to physically test it i can't say for sure, but with the 70 ohm headphones its defiantly doing the job @@AnzaSengani
They definitely all have a little bit different sound, I tried to get them as close to the same Valium as possible, even a slight difference in valium can make something appear to sound a little bit better so that's something to keep in mind when watching comparisons is you could have two exact recordings with everything exactly the same except for one is just a little bit louder and the human ear will normally find the louder one the sound better so I do my best to match the volumes on these things but they do all have their own specific sounds for the most part they're pretty similar but there are some slight differences but a little EQ work noise make something sound Fuller as well but I think any of these modern interfaces are a pretty good choice overall but I do like this fourth generation Scarlet a lot
There's definitely a difference, it's a little harder to hear once uploaded to UA-cam because UA-cam kind of squishes audio quality a little bit and it also depends on how good the headphones you're listening to are but for example the SSL I can definitely hear it coloring the sounds a little bit adds a little something to the mids to where this one has a really neutral or transparent sound I don't hear any coloration. But I can definitely hear a pretty significant difference on an original recording when listening on a very detailed set of studio monitor headphones. Now if I'm watching on my TV or playing it back through my home stereo or a cheap set headphones yeah I can't really tell too much but my studio monitors you actually can so yeah I mean the average person might not ever notice but I noticed LOL and I am stupid picky about things so I don't know, I like the extra gain and transparency on these preamps
That Avid is a very nice interface but without having them both to compare i can't tell you which one is going to give you the best sound quality, the avid is definitely better in a lot of ways, when its comes to features, inputs, outputs and a lot of other stuff its gonna be the winner but i dont have one to see how it sounds, if your old avid interface is working properly and your happy with the results your all good with the avid, if your feel its not giving you the recording quality you want you could always try out a new scarlet 4th gen if you don't need all the extra bells and whistles the avid gives you and if its not better, you can probably send it back. but if that avid is working and sound good i would just stick with that @@ernieg
I definitely wouldn't say anything by SSL is trash, maybe you got a lemon or something but they make nice stuff, they've been making world class recording boards for years and years and years and years
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If your interested in picking one up you can get one here amzn.to/3R4l8X2
Hey question, I've had the SSL2 for quite awhile, upgraded from the Focurite solo gen 2 I think. Curious if you think it's worth upgrading from SSL2 to Scarlett 2i2 Gen 4. I'm kind of a tech person, just love upgrading sometimes even when it's not a huge change, use it for youtube and recording. Would love the added gain, though I do have a cloud lifter. Great video BTW
If you already own a cloud lifter there's really no reason that you're going to need the extra gain, I can definitely hear that the preamp is a little smoother and cleaner on the 4th generation focusrite, You're probably not going to hear the difference unless you're listening on studio monitors or monitor headphones. They did add some really cool software to the 2i2 fourth gen where it tells you how much gain you're at and it now has a monitor mix on the software so you can make your microphone or the game audio louder or quieter in your headphones and that won't affect the regular recording I mean if you have the SSL 2 plus you already know how the monitor mix works The regular SSL2 doesn't have that I don't think. But when I turn the game knob up on the PC software it'll tell me how many decibels of gain the mat so for example on one of my condenser mics I know I said it to exactly 32 decibels again and on my SM7B I think I'm putting it on 55 decibels again so next time I grab that mic and use it I know exactly what gain setting to put it on so there's definitely some pretty interesting advantages on the software for the new 4th generation 2i2. I don't even bother to use the controls or the knobs on the unit itself now I just open the software and do everything on the software because you can just dial it into exactly where you want it.
But when it comes to a upgrade in sound quality you'll probably hear a difference on proper studio monitors but you probably won't notice much of a difference if you're listening on your home stereo or through a basic set of headphones or something
I do have a small issue with the 4th generation where sometimes if I'm playing a game and I close the game the headphone amp starts making this ticking sound and then I have to unplug it and then plug it back in and then it stops, so that's the one drawback on the 4th gen so I'm actually planning on making another video about this talking about all the new features they recently added on the last couple of updates and talking about the issue with the clicking but I would say that happens to me maybe 1 to 3 times per week but it's always the same game when I close the game down maybe one out of every tenor and went out of every 20 times the headphone amp starts to act up I'm sure they'll eventually get that fixed but I've never had anything like that happen on the SSL
Solid and bugless driver is far more important factor than very small differences in sound or color ever can be.
as far as i can tell i have never had a drive issue with the scarlett interfaces on windows 10 or windows 11, but yes good drivers are also important. if i had noticed any issues with the drives i would mention it but so far so good and same width 3rd gen i have had for years
@@dannylightning-audio-reviews Exactly, I didn't mean Focusrite has bad drivers. In fact I used model 212 v1.0 many, many years without any problems. But every now and then we read well made reviews about new interfaces with serious problems with the drivers. When a customer is creating a shortlist of potential interfaces it is good idea to think about this potential risk.
I've never really thought about drivers when it comes to this company I mean I know some interfaces of whatever have driver issues but I guess I would just kind of assume that they're probably using the same drivers as the old interfaces but maybe they're not, I never really thought about that but that's a very good point, this company seems to have their drivers in order but yeah I just definitely something to think about
Great review: Question, 2023 4i4 Focusrite 4th Generation Scarlett Line inserts on the rear (3-4) 100% bypass the preamps?
Those are balanced TRS line inputs, the manual says it can accept balanced or unbalanced TSR plugs but it doesn't necessarily say whether or not it bypasses the preamps but that is where you would plug an external preamp in, on most interfaces those will bypass the preamp so I would assume they bypass the preamps on this but the instruction manual doesn't actually say, maybe shoot focus right a email just to be sure, can't hurt to double check but generally those inputs will bypass the preamps on most audio interfaces but unfortunately the manual doesn't seem to cover that. I did see a video Sweetwater was doing that showed how to hook up a external preamp to your 4x4 and he said that those line inputs would bypass the preamp, so I would assume that guy knows what he's talking about but again the user manual doesn't seem to state that unfortunately I don't know why not you would think it would let you know if it did
I know on the third gen those inputs completely bypassed the preamps, so I don't see why it would be any different on this phone but I would double check with them just to be safe
Very informative and thorough. Keep it up 👍🏼
That "My computer is going to sleep and my interface does not" can be solved by changing the power management settings in your motherboard's BIOS.
After some extra thinking: If you plugged in aux power to the other 5V port on the 4th gen, it's going to be powered on until you unplug the cable from your Scarlett or the charger/PSU from your wall.
You would think so but when I go into the power management there's an option to turn off the USB ports when the computer is turned off but when the computer goes to sleep there's no option to turn that off so it depends on the BIOS if your computer unfortunately mine doesn't give you the option to turn the stuff off when it's sleeping all I want the computer is powered off but I've already looked into it been through all the BIOS and my motherboard just doesn't have that option I think I even contact Asus about it and they're like no that option doesn't exist on your motherboard. Thank you but unfortunately that won't fix my problem, I wish it would but I appreciate you trying to help but there's a lot of items that actually do go to sleep on their own when the computer goes to sleep including my third generation focus right but for some reason this one doesn't I was hoping it would I hate having to unplug the things for me please see you all the time and eventually that's going to work out the Jack I mean I guess I could get a little USB hub or something
This one didn't come with a little 5 volt power adapter, it's also bus powered so when I just plug it into the computer the computer power is it, I'm not sure how that would work if it came with the little power adapter I think the four i-4 comes with it but this one does not
@@dannylightning-audio-reviews Yes, the 2i2 does NOT come with an extra adapter (I have received my 2i2 unit yesterday). But you can hook up even a 5V phone charger to the USB-C AUX port on the back of the unit (I think the charger must be capable of providing 3 Amps and 5 Volts). I thought maybe this is what you did with your unit, because as long as there is external power plugged into the AUX port, the 2i2 won't turn off when you power off your PC.
Extra note - I believe it was Julian Krause, who measured the self-noise of the 2i2 Gen 4 and the result was that when you attach the the extra AUX power to the unit, it raises the self-noise by 2-3 dB. So you have to be careful what 5V power source you choose as your extra power for this unit.
On an even different note - I have switched to the 2i2 myself from SSL 2 (the non-plus version) and I like the 4th Gen a lot! Also, the Air Mode 2 sounds good on my voice. I have a rather higher-than-average timbre for a guy and not a lot of lower-registers presence. The extra presence that Air Mode 2 brings to my voice does not make me sound boomy, which I like a lot.
Thirdly, massive THANK YOU for a very informative and well put together video. Keep up the great work, Danny!
What's interesting about air mode number 2, what is doing is it's boosting the highs and the base and then it's really reducing a bunch of the mid-range frequencies and I think that's why it's sounding hollow and sibilant so if it works for you awesome but for me I think it sounds terrible it sounds very sibilant and hollow when I use that now the first air mode I've actually been using that on my S7 being I don't have to EQ the sm7b anymore, I used to always do a two decibel cut on a couple of mid frequencies that didn't sound good and I used to always boost the highs by good 456 decibels but this interface doesn't seem to have those extra mids that I don't like and the high-end boost is perfect for my estimate but every time I turn on that second air mode it just doesn't sound good so hopefully they'll make some more presets maybe if they did that without the drastic EQ adjustment but for me it doesn't sound good but everybody's microphone and voice and room is different
Now when it comes to the power adapter I'm not even sure if I have one that would safely power it, I'm not going to risk it, I don't see any way to turn off the bus power which I think he would probably need to do if you were running the adapter because you probably don't want the computer and the power adapter powering at the same time so I don't know I've never really had an interface that did both normally either the computer power or it plugged into the wall but I've never seen one with both LOL so I don't know how that works honestly... But I really loving this camera I really wish they would have gave us some monitor mix and it'd be nice at the software had a little number of gain like I made on the other video I just put out a couple days ago that way we could like oh yeah this night your phone needs to be said at 78 or this one needs to be set at 53 and you can just kind of write down each microphone's game and hey if you have perfect levels every time.
I'll just keep my 1st gen 18i8...
I record myself, don't make money recording other people, and...I bet this is the situation of 90% of Scarletts owners.
Ok, it's a great upgrade, but...I don't need it.
What I really need?
Use two pairs of monitors playing different audio sources at the same time.
A driver to run two scarletts in Windows.
You can run more than one audio interface but I've never tried running two of the exact same interface so I'm not really sure how that would work out, if your current interface is giving recording quality that you're happy with, there's definitely no need to upgrade. .
Nice video! Maybe in a future video, show us the volume settings for the various microphones.
Thank you, No one's ever seemed to be interested in that type of thing on my channel before so I've never really thought much about it but, I have the gain on the NT1 I set right about 12 o'clock and the gain on the sm7b is just under 3 o'clock, I shoot for the peak on my normal speaking voice to be about -15db and if it goes a little patch that everyone's awhile so be it but that's a very nice level for recording. The gain knobs on the new focus right don't actually have any markings to show you how much gain you're at but if you open the focusrite control 2 software you can see exactly how much gain you're at. But it's really nice to be able to adjust the gain from the unit or from the PC software, I wasn't sure I was going to like the way they don't have any indication markers on the knobs but I actually don't mind since I can use the software to see where it's at which also gives me the option to adjust it from the software so I don't know I was kind of like oh I don't know about that part but I actually like it
@@dannylightning-audio-reviews , Thanks! I'm an old man, so I'm from the days when everyone expected the sweet spot of gain to be somewhere between 11:00 and 1:00. 3:00 for a dynamic microphone isn't bad. Again, Thanks!
@@robbehr8806 you're welcome, the sm7b requires more gain then your average microphone, if I get out the SSL or the 3rd generation Scarlet you're basically a 5 a clock where you're basically giving it' all of those are interface has, most of the other interface is probably give you like 56 to 60 to decimals and gain to wear this has 70 on the preamp so that little bit of extra is very nice
@@dannylightning-audio-reviews ; I've got a Heil PR-40, which is a dynamic microphone with higher output, compared to the Shure. I've also got a FET-Head pre-amp, which is essential with all of my current interfaces, in order to keep the interface's noise level down.
Hey! I have been considering between buying the normal SSL2 and the Scarlett Gen 4 and I plan to run it with a sm7b and also a goxlr mixer, which do you think is the better option as I intend to use this setup for all sorts of things from talking, recording videos, streaming and recording vocals for my music? Also will there be any trouble chaining the microphone to both the SSL2/Scarelett and then the goxlr before going to the PC?
The full size Go XlR and the Go XLR mini, These are both a mixer and audio interface which should be all you need, either one can provide about 72db of gain which is more than enough to power your sm7b so you wont need a seperate interface. so you probably wont need a seperate interface..
That 2nd air mode is. More suited for snare drums etc. I would imagine.
it looks like it scoops the mids quite a bit, im just not a fan of it..
If you have to choose one between gen 3rd or 4th, which one you would choose ?
So the Gen 4 now has a really nice features like a monitor mix, you can turn the gain of your microphone up and down on the unit or on the software, the Gen 4 to i2 has better preamps. They're cleaner and more powerful. So if you're using a dynamic microphone I think the Gen 4 would be better if you're using a condenser that doesn't require a lot of gain I think anybody would be happy with either but you're getting a lot more bills and whistles that are really nice on the Gen 4 and cleaner preamps I mean most people would probably never noticed the audio quality difference unless they're on some really good headphones or studio monitors but if you're listening on the right thing you can hear the difference. I'm sure there's a lot of people who will just go out and buy a gen 3 and be like hey perfect, if you don't need any bells and whistles and you don't need the extra amount of gain on the new preamps the Gen 3 is fine so it just depends on if you want all the bills and whistles and the better preamps but honestly I would be perfectly happy using either one but I like the bells and whistles I get with the Gen 4 software
I recently bought a Scarlett 2i2 3rd gen... Since I can still return it, do you think it's worth buying the new 4th gen one?
I also have a Behringer UMC204hd, and although it has more connections than the Focusrite, I have compared them and I notice that the sound I get when recording acoustic guitar with a condenser mic is a little more muffled on the Behringer, while with the Scarlett it has a little more clarity and brightness (with the AIR button off), it seems to capture more detail, it is subtle, by the way, the guitar sounds more organic and beautiful. Also, the recording with the Behringer has a little more low frequency noise.
(In terms of latency, with a buffer size of 64, I have almost the same in both, it is little but when playing a virtual piano I do not fully enjoy it).
That's why until now I was determined to stay with the Focusrite - it was very cheap with the studio pack - but of course, now that the 4th gen has just been released it makes me angry, although at the moment it’s very expensive, so now I have considered returning the 3rd gen Scarlett to get the new one, and wait to see if prices drop, or maybe an SSL2+ which looks very nice for recording guitars (although I think it has more latency).
Any advice on whether or not to keep the 3rd gen Focusrite, or return it and go for the 4th gen or the SSL2+?
There's absolutely nothing wrong with a third gen Scarlet solo as long as you don't need to hook up more than one microphone, I've never really had a latency issue with anybody with your face and if your buffer size is too small you might start getting clicks and pops and it doesn't allow enough time for the audio to get from the unit to the PC or whatever which can cause some problems I think most people use a buffer of something like 128 some people may be up to 500 to give it a little bit more time I mean if you plug an instrument or a microphone into the interface and you're listening to it through the headphones that are plugged into the interface I don't really ever have enough delay that I can tell a difference on any interface so if you're hearing it too much delay which it sounds like you are I'm not really sure why that might be happening, now if you were to buy a fourth generation focus right I would at least go with the 2i2 because it has better preamps than the solo, I haven't actually heard the 4th generation solo so I'm not sure how it sounds compared to the third generation but I do find the fourth generation to I too with the higher end preamps does sound a little bit cleaner, every once in awhile I have a weird issue where I start hearing some distortion when I close a game that I was playing and then I have to unplug it and plug it back in which I never had with the third generation so it does seem like there might be a couple of little glitches on the new 4th generation that I'm just starting to notice
With Vanessa cell too you're going to have more than one microphone input you'll get the monitor mix knob which is super nice and the audio quality between the solo and the SSL is extremely similar,
But if you're having some sort of latency issues I don't really know how you have it set up or what all you're running so it's a little hard to tell why that might be I think on the focus right website they have a article about how to set up your Windows computer for audio recording where they tell you to go into the power options and do this and go here and do that so that might be something you want to look into, but honestly the only reason I decided to get something other than my solo was because I wanted something that hooked up more than one microphone, the reason I ended up with the fourth generation to i2 is everybody was raving about the preamps and I said you know I got to try this out and see if I can get some better sound quality and there wasn't improvement, your average person would probably never know what's the difference but somebody listening on a good studio monitors or headphones who's really paying attention might
But I think the only reason you should think about getting something better than the third generation solo would be more microphone inputs, if you truly don't need or will never need more microphone inputs it's a great little interface, I'm actually keeping my third generation for what I want to like in a guitar or something that way I don't have to change the game settings for my microphone or anything like that I can just plug that little guy in and record some guitar and not have to mess with I readjusting everything after I'm done so I don't know it's really up to you but if you think you might need more than one microphone at some time it might be worth getting something different if not I think you're okay it's a great little unit
Thank you very much for the answer. I already have the Scarlett 2i2 3rd gen which in fact has two mic inputs. My doubt was about keeping this unit or return it and buy the 2i2 4th gen instead (because I can still return it), but I don't know if the higher cost worth it (or having a look at the SSL2+).
Regarding my latency issues, I already read the article on Focusrite website you mentioned; when I run latencymoon the result is ok, so I don't know what the problem is, I'll investigate more!
@@jseraguI'm sorry but for some reason I thought you said you bought the Scarlett solo 3rd generation I guess I misread that. The to i2 fourth-generation has premiums with 69 gain instead of what was the old 56 I think, if you're using a gain hungry microphone with the fourth-generation you won't have to turn the game up to ninety or ninety-five percent for a really gain hungry mic, I feel that the preamps in the 4th generation are a little bit cleaner a little bit more transparent, everything sounds just a little bit tighter. Of course that's listening on quality monitors I mean if I put in the cheap set of headphones I don't really hear that much of a difference. I recently had a couple of weird things happened with my 4th generation where I would have a certain program open and soon as I close the program my audio sound at the store yet and I had to unplug the interface and plug it back in, that's happened four times now and the last two times I realized hey it was the same program that cause it both times so it does not seem to like the ldplayer gaming emulator, it did not mess up the recording at all that played back just fine, it was only what I heard through the headphones so I think that's some sort of software or driver incompatibility. And it's always been the same program every time so.
If you are a voice actor or for some reason have to have the cleanest recordings possible, I do notice a bit of a difference on the 4th gen but some people might not be able to hear it I guess depends on how good your ears are trained and like I said how good your headphones are.
If you're running something like a Shure sm7b that requires a huge amount of game it might be beneficial if you're worried about getting a tiny bit of primp noise from the high-gain and you don't want to run a cloudlifter, I have never ran a cloud left her with my sm7b and I don't hear any noticeable preamp noise 3rd gen, yeah really got to crank the volume up allowed to notice that it's there so it doesn't really affect what I do.
The third-generation to i2 is very nice and it does give you professional salty recordings, the 4th generation sounds noticeably smoother but probably won't make it huge impact unless you're one of those super picky people.
If you said I'm going to give you one of these for free which one do you want I would say give me the 4th gen, if my microphone was super gain hungry and I was worried about pre-op noise I would say give me the 4th generation. If my microphone wasn't super gain hungry and I didn't care that much about pre-op noise I would say will either one will work just fine so hopefully that helps you decide
Sorry I'd probably go into too much detail, and I talk into the phone so sometimes it types out to i2 wrong and certain things and I went back to edit it but it's giving me problems so sorry about the misspelling
Thanks! That was very useful
They just updated the firmware today so I'm hoping that maybe fixes the annoying issue I'm having occasionally, not really sure,, I was just recording with my third generation solo today and it's definitely a nice little interface. So whichever way you decide to go either one will give you great sound quality.
The second air mode on the Scarlett 2i2 4th gen w/ the shure sm7b was surprisingly a huge success in my opinion. To my ears I heard a somewhat dampened dynamic rock microphone turn into a bright (almost condenser) sounding microphone but without capturing an entire room of noise and loads of unecessary sibillance. I currently have a shure sm7b and a Rhode NTK condenser microphone both running out of a presonus 96/Logic Pro/Macbook M1 silicone (16GB Ram) . The Shure sm7b w/ Scarlett 2i2 4th gen interface would clean up my setup and possibly even allow me to say goodbye to the cloud lifter and condenser microphone altogether.
It definitely sounds like you enjoy that mood which is great, your voice your microphone and your room acoustics can all play a part in that but we kind of figured out what it's doing... So it's adding harmonic distortion or saturation whatever you want to call it which gives kind of gives it that old school tube or transistor type of sound and it's boosting the highs it's boosting the lows and it's dropping the midst way down like it drops the mids by several decibels so it kind of gives you that v-shaped EQ curve which for something is that might actually work pretty well. Now for a speaking voice if you're just like a UA-camr or somebody talking into the microphone I don't think I like what that's doing I mean maybe for music or something else it might be kind of cool but I don't like it for a speaking voice. Thought never really crossed my mind that hey maybe for singing or something else it would be a cool sound. I'm glad that you're enjoying that setting, I hope eventually they add a couple more air modes maybe one that doesn't quite have his drastic of an EQ curve to it
@@dannylightning-audio-reviews Thank you for sharing your findings!
Knowing the function of the harmonic air button opens many doors to use it as a vocal double/bus channel effect. Thanks to your explanation of its actual function I now have a much deeper understanding and has given me some ideas for use. As of now, my plan is to use it as an additional (post grunge type-vocal) rock saturation effect to bus off my main vocal channel. I believe that the harmonic setting mixed with the shure sm7bs tweakable eq sliders (on the bottom of the microphone) will make for some clean, “straight from the source”, saturation. However, that air button may surprise me in the worst way when I finally hear it in person. But even if that’s the case, this interface is a huge upgrade from my PreSonus 96 and am beyond excited for all the other features and benefits the “4th gen” has to offer.
The way I look at it is I would rather not really have any major EQ changes, I love the idea of the harmonic distortion being added if you're going for that nice saturation sound but I would love to be able to use that without the EQ being change majorly that way I can always throw an EQ on it and change it myself if I want to. But it can't hurt to try it out on some recordings, test it with and without the second air mode and see which one you like better I mean for some things that might work but I would rather record with nothing and then make all changes to the original later because once you push that button what it gives you is what it gives you and you can't really undo that when you're editing. But yeah for some things that may work awesome I just hope they decide to give us a couple more air modes sometime down the line
@@dannylightning-audio-reviews
It just so happens I received the 2i2 4th gen a day ago and have had the chance to test it out a few times. In my opinion, the second air mode produced some cool sounding doubles, but it isn't as spectacular as I originally thought it may be. I think your right in saying that since it was pre-eq'd it lacks malleability and is less versatile then the other settings. However, something I did really like is that it does bring my voice forward in the mix if I use it correctly (especially if used w/ Sound-Toys little alter boy plugin). I agree that having a few more air modes would be a great addition to future interfaces.
Also, was there sometime of resource/video/article/app that helped you come to the conclusion that the second air mode had a v-shaped eq?
im glad your liking the air mode, that is awesome, They have updated the unit a few times so unless something changed on one of the last few updates, i can't remember which mid frequencies were lowered exactly but... if you have a eq with a spectrum analyzer if you know how to read it you can get a good idea from that, you have to do a recording with air mode on and off and look at the difference, or if you have something like plugin doctor or silular things, you can see what plugins are doing, i had a friend who has some of those analyzer plugins check it out to confirm, i think he rain it on plugin doctor if i remember correclty @adamlindall3208
Is there an alternative to adjust things without the Monitor mix? Like is it solvable/managable or it makes it much less efficient to get around things etc
you can turn down the main volume on the computer. or if you have headphones on just remember to turn down the volume on the scarlet before playing any audio in your pc, maybe they can do a firmware update some day giving the software a monitor mix, it would help out a lot but most interfaces don't give you a monitor mix knob for some reason. i think they really should..
What the other guy said LOL but yeah I hope they can kind of put that into the software at least cuz it really sucks not having a monitor mix but for some reason most interfaces don't seem to add that
Hello, I'm thinking about buying an SSL2 because of the monitor mix, which is important to me.
My question is: does SSL2 turn off when the computer (in my case a 21'' iMac) goes to sleep?
Indeed I have tried a scartett 2i2 3rd gen and it turns off.
For me it is an important aspect, because I leave the iMac on for 24 hours, and I don't want the card to be working, nor have to plug/unplug the USB cable.
I will appreciate your help. Thank you
Hey, so the SSL is a great unit and the monitor mix is amazing but every time you're done using it you actually have to pull the USB cable out of the back of it and then plug it back in, it does not go to sleep on the computer goes to sleep, it looks like the majority of these interfaces do not go to sleep, now my Scarlet solo third generation did and I recently got a 4th generation Scarlet which I thought would do the same but it does not, it seems like the majority of the interface is these days either come with a power button that you have to physically turn on and off or you just have to unplug the USBC from the back of the unit and then plug it back in it seems like there's very few of them that go to sleep which sucks
@@dannylightning-audio-reviewsWow, I liked it because it has all the connectors behind, and so you can't see any cables (including the headphone cable). But of course, if you do have to separate it from the wall every time to remove the USB cable, it is very annoying. I don't like the Scarlett because you can see all the cables in the front so... I don't know! Maybe the Audient id14? Is there any other? Thanks a lot!!
there are a lot of interfaces, i don't have a list of which ones will go to sleep when the pc goes to sleep, this seems like something they should all do but so far from what i have seen a lot of them don't, @@shangrila64
Would the 4i4 4th gen be able to power 250 ohm headphones? Do you feel that the 3d gen was adequately able to power headphones with this impedance?
Focusrite says these are the same headphone amplifiers that they put in their crazy expensive high-end interfaces that are designed for professional recording studios, I would probably assume that they should be fine and going by the specs I would think it would be okay but I don't own a set of high impedance headphones to test it out, it looks good on paper but without actually being able to do a physical test I don't really want to speculate and give you an answer without being able to test it out and know for sure. My headphones run at 70 ohms and if you turn the volume up all the way when listening to your voice and then you play something on your computer, if you have the computer at full volume it will blow your ears out so want to set a 70 of them headphones it is extremely loud now of course how loud your voice is coming back through depends on how high you have the game turned up on the interface cuz generally you record kind of quiet and then boost in post so normally your voice is coming in a little bit lower or a lot lower than the rest of the audio which is why I really think they need to add monitor mixes on to these things but I'm rambling, I apologize but without being able to test it I just can't say for sure, maybe I should look into getting instead of high impedance headphones at some point but at the moment I just don't have any, I apologize
3rd gen can hurt your hearing with 250 ohm headphones, they are really loud, i have 2i2 3rd gen and 250 ohm headphones, after recording one hour on almost max gain i have ringing in ears and ears usually recover for few days.
Hey this is great! I am looking to upgrade my ssl2+ mainly for more inputs but also a more transparent preamp for my voice/narrations. I love how Focusrite upgraded the preamps and converters and they do sound less "colored" than the ssl but I'm not a fan of the gain encoder knobs as I really appreciate eyeballing/verifying my gain settings periodically. Not sure if that is a dealbreaker yet for me on the 4i4 I am considering
These are some of the most transparent preamps i have heard in a budget friendly unit, i feel ike its not coloring the sound at all, i hear what your saying about the gain knob, im currently uploading a new video about this very subject, if they can add a number system to the software it would be a huge improvement. this one simple thing it will be such a huge improvement for setting your gain. i hope i can get them to think about doing this.. video will be up here in a few.
Nice reviews but gotta stay with my SSL2 since I just bought it and it is perfectly tuned to my RE27 n/d. And the monitor mix.
The SSL is a very nice unit camera I think I have OCD cuz I probably hear imperfections most people never do tell me there's just something in the mids that I don't hear on the focus right it just sounds cleaner more pure more transparent. I imagine most people would probably never even notice but I use these audio interfaces 7 days a week and I'm on them several hours a day because I have this channel and two gaming channels so these things got a lot of use, twice recently the phantom power button malfunction on my SSL where I'm sitting there talking doing a recording and all the sudden I looked down because I see these lights blinking and I noticed my microphone stops working so it's like the button thought somebody was pressing it even though they weren't so I got it on a can to compress air and spray the buttons with it and it hasn't happened since but I'm a little worried it's going to start having some problems I mean I've had it for a few years, I think, that's how it feels at least. I've been very happy with the SSL overall, but due to the possible problem I said I need a backup and hey this thing's brand new it just came out I'd like to see what happens if I get a brand new item and make some videos about it let's see if they get any extra views LOL, I really would have liked to have got something with four microphone inputs but spending like five or six hundred bucks yeah I don't know that's a bit out of my price range most of the time, the new Scarlets affordable compared to a lot of these things plus it's got really high-end preamps and digital converters so I said you know I need to try this out. I'm not saying that the SSL is bad and I'm not saying anybody should run out and replace it because the SSL is going to be more than good enough for most people. And that company generally makes things that are extremely reliable so even though mines seems like it's developing a problem most people's probably won't anytime soon I mean they're a super good company that makes really high-end stuff but right now if you want to sell things you got to come out with something that's a little bit above and beyond , road came out with those new podcasting units that have all the bills and whistles and fancy stuff and the 70 decibel preamps that are unbelievably clean but those things are freaking expensive too, you got UA offering units with a watered down built-in 1176 analog compressor, but I think we're going to be seeing some pretty interesting interfaces and streaming equipment coming out in the near future because everybody's going to have to really outdo each other to get the sales I think, technologies come a long way
The ssl is trash the converters are weak plus the 4k is pure distortion trash ive own one and a presonus studio68 and a focusrite 2i4 2nd gen and went back straught to my presonus68 because the ssl isnt release and radio.ready
I think the SSL is a nice unit, it adds a certain bid frequency that I don't prefer so there is a little bit of coloration, now the 4K button on the SSL units I don't care for it but I've been using the SSL unit for probably what two years now I'm guessing it Powers my sm7b just fine but I do like the Scarlet better it sounds more transparent I just missed the mix now at the SSL has but I think the SSL has pretty decent preamps
@@bighousemusic628 there have been many tests for people have ran audio in and back out of the SSL preamp hundreds of times with with no distortion, the focus right does much worse when talking about converters
I still don’t hear a reason quality wise to upgrade to the 4th gen
If you got an interface which is function properly and you're happy with the sound of it then there is absolutely no reason to upgrade, that's how I look at it if you need a second one for some reason or yours goes bad or something then bam, this is a good choice. Honestly in most interfaces these days sound very nice. This one doesn't seem the color of the sound to where most of them do but you know what, the third generation scarlettes the SSL the UA audios I mean any of those newer interfaces sound very good so yeah no reason to upgrade unless you actually need to, I've been wanting a second interface with two microphones for a little while now can I kind of got a weird setup with what I do when the gaming channels and the audio channel and whatnot so I think I'm going to start using this for my main one and probably use the SSL for the secondary, keep the solo for the backup LOL you need to have some backups I guess lol
Sound quality isn’t the only reason to upgrade or not. Better pre-amps and the ability to set the gain where I keeps from clipping is great for a non-pro like myself.
that feature is pretty nice.. i really wish they would start adding limiters to these interfaces, the safe feature on this is cool but it just turns you down and does not turn you back up from what i can tell. its cool but man i wish they added limithers ath would just squish down the really loud parts and than your back to normal once it saves you from clipping. but bottom line is record a bit on the quiet side, boost to the correct volume in the video or audio editing softwire@@trentgilliam5192
no difference - no point in overpaying
There are differences in the way of the sound but it's kind of subtle, some of these things do have way more features than others, like for example if you get a Scarlet solo that is the bare bottoms there's one headphone jack you can hook up one microphone there's no MIDI, no bills and whistles so it really boils down to features more than sound quality I would say on most of these interfaces these days now I think the fourth generation Scarlett has a very clean sounding preamp I think most of these color the sound at least a little bit that one sounds a little more natural to me but I think you have to be listening on some really good headphones to hear that
I have both and there is a definite difference in sound. But these amateurs are so stuck on sound without looking at extra features that the 4th gen brings.
It’s barely a difference
Like I was saying on the video by the time you upload it to UA-cam, and you two compresses at the same space it does kind of degrade the audio quality, what I notice is these new preamps on the 4th generation Scarlet don't seem to color the sound at all like the SSL it adds a little something to the little mids, the old third generation adds a little something to the low end, I feel like I'm getting a completely flat frequency response with no coloration which makes it sound cleaner on the new 4th generation preamps, now if you're listening on a set of studio monitors it's pretty apparent at least to me, I got in the audio when I was about 14 and then when I was in my twenties I did a lot of stuff with recording and music and your ears kind of learn to hear a lot of differences and things that a lot of people don't really notice but there's also a little bit of UA-cam downgrading the audio a bit, but to me there's a pretty noticeable difference has to not really hearing any coloration at all on the new 4th generation interface., Now I want to play it back on my home stereo I can't really hear the difference but when I listen on some monitor headphones I can definitely hear it even on UA-cam but they all sound very very good I just feel that this new generation is an improvement
@@dannylightning-audio-reviews with your personal opinion do you think it's worth upgrading to the 4th gen solo or just go sofu the clarett
@@dannylightning-audio-reviews hi, new sub, what impedance headphones do you think the 4th gen can power at highest? Very informative video man 👍🏾
Hey Thanks. i currently have 70 ohm headphones and at full volume it will bust your ears when playing audio on the pc, my voice is more than loud enough as long as i have the mic gain at a decent level. if your running say 200 ohm headphones, i don't have any to test so i don't want to give out answers based on speculation, the specs look great on paper but without being able to physically test it i can't say for sure, but with the 70 ohm headphones its defiantly doing the job @@AnzaSengani
@@dannylightning-audio-reviews 👍🏾 thanks for the reply.
4th generation sounds fuller
They definitely all have a little bit different sound, I tried to get them as close to the same Valium as possible, even a slight difference in valium can make something appear to sound a little bit better so that's something to keep in mind when watching comparisons is you could have two exact recordings with everything exactly the same except for one is just a little bit louder and the human ear will normally find the louder one the sound better so I do my best to match the volumes on these things but they do all have their own specific sounds for the most part they're pretty similar but there are some slight differences but a little EQ work noise make something sound Fuller as well but I think any of these modern interfaces are a pretty good choice overall but I do like this fourth generation Scarlet a lot
Sounds the same. Marketing 😂
There's definitely a difference, it's a little harder to hear once uploaded to UA-cam because UA-cam kind of squishes audio quality a little bit and it also depends on how good the headphones you're listening to are but for example the SSL I can definitely hear it coloring the sounds a little bit adds a little something to the mids to where this one has a really neutral or transparent sound I don't hear any coloration. But I can definitely hear a pretty significant difference on an original recording when listening on a very detailed set of studio monitor headphones. Now if I'm watching on my TV or playing it back through my home stereo or a cheap set headphones yeah I can't really tell too much but my studio monitors you actually can so yeah I mean the average person might not ever notice but I noticed LOL and I am stupid picky about things so I don't know, I like the extra gain and transparency on these preamps
@@dannylightning-audio-reviews do you think that is now better than my old avid 8x8x8 HD Converter ?
That Avid is a very nice interface but without having them both to compare i can't tell you which one is going to give you the best sound quality, the avid is definitely better in a lot of ways, when its comes to features, inputs, outputs and a lot of other stuff its gonna be the winner but i dont have one to see how it sounds, if your old avid interface is working properly and your happy with the results your all good with the avid, if your feel its not giving you the recording quality you want you could always try out a new scarlet 4th gen if you don't need all the extra bells and whistles the avid gives you and if its not better, you can probably send it back. but if that avid is working and sound good i would just stick with that @@ernieg
ssl trash
I definitely wouldn't say anything by SSL is trash, maybe you got a lemon or something but they make nice stuff, they've been making world class recording boards for years and years and years and years