First look at Focusrite Clarett+ Range with Justin

Focusrite Announce Clarett+ Range 

If you’re anything like me, you’ve spent years of your life accumulating all the necessary (and not so necessary) equipment to make great sounding recordings, all the while with an eye on the horizon in the hopes a shiny new piece of gear will bring it all together for you. More often than not, your audio interface is often taken for granted as a “one size fits all” solution to getting all those input signals into your computer, but for anyone that’s looking to step up their game, it pays to know what your interface is doing.

When first introduced in 2018, the Clarett range put Focusrite at the forefront of the USB audio interface market with some of the best mic preamps in their price range that offered ultra-low noise and distortion, wide dynamic range and Focusrite’s now famous ‘Air’ circuit modelled after their coveted ISA 110 console pre’s. As a long time user of the Clarett4pre, and having run everything from vocals to melodica through it on a number of projects from commercial releases to demo’s, I can attest to the amazing quality of the original Clarett. I thought it was going to be the last home studio interface I’d ever need.

Fast forward to 2021 and Focusrite have kept with their “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach with the announcement of the Clarett+ range. While it’s development was ultimately driven by a redesign of circuits and converters due to a factory fire at AKM Japan in October last year, externally, the Clarett+ has stayed the same for the most part. The same solid build, same I/O and channel configurations, great feeling rotary controls, a sleek brushed aluminium face plate and the classic Red 2 and Red 3 plug-in suite. Internally, we now have USB-C connectivity, independent A-D and D-A converters, increased dynamic range on line and headphone outputs, improved THD (total harmonic distortion) across the board and this time including Brainworx’s bx_console Focusrite SC plug-in for adding even more analogue-type flavour into your mixes.

For first-gen Clarett owners, the Clarett+ might not be enough to prompt a cross-grade, but if you’ve been considering upgrading your audio interface or increasing your I/O count at, Clarett+ might just be that shiny new piece of gear that’s definitely worth accumulating.

Check out the Range Here

Justin - HiTech Specialist