Interface suggestions!

[Brandon SmithParticipant]

Hey guys,

Looking to step up my interface from the Presonus unit that I'm currently using and wanted to hear your advice.

I started leaning towards the Scarlett 18i20 2nd gen from Focusrite, but have pushed myself to the Clarett 8 PreX due to the preamps, thunderbolt connectivity, etc. I'm fond of being able to expand it with an OctoPre for more expansive drum miking.

I've heard good things about the Apollo stuff, but am not terribly familiar with it.

An Apogee Symphony is going to be a bit out of my range.

Thanks for your thoughts and suggestions!

Brandon

[Chris SweetParticipant]

I would ask first and foremost if you need 8 preamps? I've been down the same road and I've concluded that unless I'm cutting drums (and it would take so much more than an 8 channel interface to get good drums) why bother with that many channels?

I've gone the apollo twin duo route. The fidelity is awesome, and it gets you into the world of UAD which is where some of the best stuff is happening with plugins. It'll definitely help you get better tools to do the job.

If you ever needed more channels you can expand the apollo with the optical input and still keep it as the brain of your operation. But in my experience, I'm usually using programmed drums, or cutting drums somewhere I can get them done right. The apollo twin is perfect for overdubs afterward.

[Brandon SmithParticipant]

Thanks so much for your reply, Chris!

I am tracking drums quite often, so the need for 8 ins is definitely there. Update: I ended up getting a great deal on a demo Clarett 8PreX from Sweetwater for a good price, so I jumped on it and have been happy so far. I have an Avalon 737 pre for vocals, but have honestly been very happy with the Focusrite interface preamps.

[Chris SweetParticipant]

Awesome man! Clarett looks like a step up from the Scarlett stuff so good buy. Cheers!

[Magnus HallinParticipant]

Have you yet pulled the trigger? I'm very curious about the 8PreX myself and would very much like to hear if you bought it and what your thoughts are? 🙂

Edit: Sorry. Read your post like a donkey on speed. A few months into the Clarett.. how do you like it? 🙂

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by Magnus Hallin.

[Brandon SmithParticipant]

Hey Magnus,

I did indeed pull the trigger, but didn't have a great experience. For what it's worth, I love Focusrite and think the Clarett would've been great, but it was incompatible with my 2015 iMac 5k 27" retina. They had been working on a fix for months and didn't have any idea when they'd have it resolved. I ended up returning it and upgrading to the UAD Apollo 8p, which is absolutely amazing. While almost 3 times the price, I feel confident that this was a worthwhile investment.

Hope this helps!

Brandon

[Magnus HallinParticipant]

Thank you Brandon! It's actually those two I'm thinking about. Leaning a bit towards the UAD but I'm gonna let it brew for a while though 🙂

[Tony Corona OronaParticipant]

I have a UAD apollo 8 quad and love it! The UAD plugins are amazing! So much in fact, that the quad isn't enough for all the lovely plugins I want to use on the dense tracks Warren gives us. For that reason, I am purchasing the the UAD 4-710d and grabbing the FREE UAD quad core dsp accelerator-$1000 value-for extra processing power. They are running this deal until the end of the month. I will probably just sell the 4-710d because I already have one. The tone blending on the unit is great and makes the preamps very versatile-highly recommended.

Cheers,

TC

[Mario MaslikParticipant]

Guys, thank you for your posts here. It's very valuable to read your suggestions. I'm on the same intersection to decide between Apollo Twin or Clarett
The converters quality on both, are these two comparable? Is there any audible difference in terms of quality?
Thank you

[Walker KoldplayParticipant]

I bought the Lynx Aurora 16 used off Reverb last year and really love it. I am a drummer, so I need the channel count. This was a big step up from my Allen and Heath ZED R16, which was not bad in my humble opinion.

[Michael HordorwichParticipant]

I agree tony, i have 2 uad apollo 8p's and a 4-710d and they are are amazing! I'm new here so i know your post is old but i'm lookng around and trying to meet all you great people here! Already having a great time here and look forward to learning and sharing! Keep rocking, Sincerely, michael

[chris massaParticipant]

Convertor quality is tough. I'm sure that todays $1000 interfaces have a higher level. Then we go to $1500-2000.
$2500 to 5000. I started with Echo Mia from Tape, then Layla, motu 2408 and 24io. Then Avid HD 96/192io then Apogee Symphony.

Also did a Black Lion Mod on my MBox Pro 3 in there somewhere. I can say that along the way I could hear improvements' to quality and details. I think get what you can afford, so that you can get a good to better quality speaker or heaphones. So many things to buy.

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