Clarett vs Scarlett

[Beedster]

On 12/06/2018 at 08:32, Sibob said:

Ultimately, I think that in any given situation, you should buy the best quality interface that your budget allows

 

Word

[sammybee]

I strongly counsel against buying an (expensive) Focusrite interface; I bought a Clarett 4Pre (used) and it blew up after a couple of months use. Whilst you might think thats the luck of the draw, Focusrite support didn't really offer much in the way of support for an (supposedly premium) interface that was only a couple of years old - just the possibility of a (paid for) repair at a 3rd party with no guarantees that even after paying £££ for that it would even be repairable.

[Sibob]

4 minutes ago, sammybee said:

I strongly counsel against buying an (expensive) Focusrite interface; I bought a Clarett 4Pre (used) and it blew up after a couple of months use. Whilst you might think thats the luck of the draw, Focusrite support didn't really offer much in the way of support for an (supposedly premium) interface that was only a couple of years old - just the possibility of a (paid for) repair at a 3rd party with no guarantees that even after paying £££ for that it would even be repairable.

I don’t work for Focusrite anymore, but that’s a fairly standard response in any industry. If you want a warranty repair, buy new (I think Focusrite’s is a pretty solid 3 years), if you’re buying used, you’re sacrificing the warranty for a cheaper price, and you accept the potential for paid repairs. 
I feel like that’s on you. 
 

FWIW, when I left, I believe that Scarlett hardware ‘failures’ within the warranty period (first 3 years of life) were <1%, so any issues on that front is pretty unlucky, with almost all repairs coming in under 1 hour. I wouldn’t have thought Clarett’s are much more than that. 
 

Cheers

Si

[Beedster]

18 minutes ago, sammybee said:

I strongly counsel against buying an (expensive) Focusrite interface; I bought a Clarett 4Pre (used) and it blew up after a couple of months use. Whilst you might think thats the luck of the draw, Focusrite support didn't really offer much in the way of support for an (supposedly premium) interface that was only a couple of years old - just the possibility of a (paid for) repair at a 3rd party with no guarantees that even after paying £££ for that it would even be repairable.

 

On which basis i assume you'd strongly counsel against buying any audio equipment from any manufacturer? 

[sammybee]

16 hours ago, Beedster said:

 

On which basis i assume you'd strongly counsel against buying any audio equipment from any manufacturer? 

 

On the contrary, I've received excellent out of warranty support from other companies... just Focusrite who were particularly poor

[MrDinsdale]

To be honest after doing a bunch of research and chatting to folks, I think I'm going to take a punt with the Motu M4. It ticks all the boxes for me, the side-by-side comparisons ive heard sounded marginally better to my ears and they can be found for a great price.

 

Ive never had any issues with my Scarlett but sucks to hear you had a bad time with the Clarett. 

[Wolfram]

2 hours ago, MrDinsdale said:

To be honest after doing a bunch of research and chatting to folks, I think I'm going to take a punt with the Motu M4. It ticks all the boxes for me, the side-by-side comparisons ive heard sounded marginally better to my ears and they can be found for a great price.

 

Ive never had any issues with my Scarlett but sucks to hear you had a bad time with the Clarett. 

Great choice! - I have the smaller M2 which I take when travelling to use with a laptop. It's performed flawlessly. I really like MOTU's products and have owned several over the years. The MIDI Express 128 running the synths in my studio is nearly 20 years old, and hasn't skipped a beat.

[MrDinsdale]

5 hours ago, Wolfram said:

Great choice! - I have the smaller M2 which I take when travelling to use with a laptop. It's performed flawlessly. I really like MOTU's products and have owned several over the years. The MIDI Express 128 running the synths in my studio is nearly 20 years old, and hasn't skipped a beat.

That's good to hear, Im gonna keep an eye out for good deals and hopefully grab one soon👌

[lowdown]

8 hours ago, MrDinsdale said:

To be honest after doing a bunch of research and chatting to folks, I think I'm going to take a punt with the Motu M4. It ticks all the boxes for me, the side-by-side comparisons ive heard sounded marginally better to my ears and they can be found for a great price.

 

 

I've had my M4 for about five years now and it's great with zero problems. It runs at very low latency as well.

The last driver update was the end of last year. Also, the headphone out has plenty of volume.

[MrDinsdale]

15 hours ago, lowdown said:

 

 

I've had my M4 for about five years now and it's great with zero problems. It runs at very low latency as well.

The last driver update was the end of last year. Also, the headphone out has plenty of volume.

The latency is a big selling point. The latency with my 1st gen Scarlett is fine by itself but when you start piling on NDSP plugins etc any reduction is a big win.

[lowdown]

4 minutes ago, MrDinsdale said:

The latency is a big selling point. The latency with my 1st gen Scarlett is fine by itself but when you start piling on NDSP plugins etc any reduction is a big win.

 

 

The M4 (and probably the M2) certainly works well under strain. There are a couple of check boxes I would recommend ticking, though.

 

 

[MrDinsdale]

6 hours ago, lowdown said:

 

 

The M4 (and probably the M2) certainly works well under strain. There are a couple of check boxes I would recommend ticking, though.

 

 

Just scored one on eBay at a decent price so hopefully should have it in a few days. Need to sort out the wiring on my desk and get everything set up properly ready for it.

 

It'll be nice not having to deal with USB-B cables and just being able to use my existing USB-C cables for pretty much everything 🙌

[lowdown]

46 minutes ago, MrDinsdale said:

Just scored one on eBay at a decent price so hopefully should have it in a few days. Need to sort out the wiring on my desk and get everything set up properly ready for it.

 

It'll be nice not having to deal with USB-B cables and just being able to use my existing USB-C cables for pretty much everything 🙌

 

 

Yes, USB-C cables and the I/O meters on the units are a nice touch:

 

 

[MrDinsdale]

Very nice! My current setup is mostly for work, have my mac mini for personal stuff.

 

Recently had to give up my office for the offsprings new bedroom so been struggling to downsize to about half the space. Finally gave up on dual screens and studio monitors and have had to make do with a more humble setup more fit for the new space:

 

 

Going to make a new desk top once ive got a few other house bits out of the way with some better cable management, some speaker stands and a shelf to house the kvm and interface etc. I really want a way to integrate my midi controller too, perhaps on a sliding tray. Until then it'll do!