Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 3rd Gen Reviews

Simple to use.

Simple to use and comes with ableton live 11 lite free. When you register the product it comes with a easy to understand setup tutorial.

Magic box

This is not just an interface for your gear.

This is an interface for your soul as a means to record any flow of creativity and ideas that your fertile imagination births.

Applies as well to any stream of consciousness. Just buy a mic before that, it has the 48V phantom power feature.

Works like a charm

This input/output is enough for most applications. It is sturdy, the software layer has been working perfectly on several different computers I have.

Sound is excellent, design as well, and it is super compact.

I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a first audio interface - you can't go wrong with this. A bit pricy but worth it to avoid the weird audio interface troubles

Incredible sound quality

A friend of mine recommended this sound card. It is great! Thank you!

cant say much about this, simply amazing

Fantastisches Interface!

Vorab muss ich sagen, dass ich das Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 nun schon seit über zwei Jahren besitze und somit auch ausgewogen testen konnte und ich muss sagen, dass ich mehr als zufrieden bin.

Ich nutze das Interface mit einem Shure SM7B und einem Cloudlifter als Mic-Preamp und bisher funktioniert alles makellos, dank 48V Phantomspeisung, welche das Interface mit sich bringt.

Das einzige, was ich als Umsteiger von Mischpult auf Interface vermisse sind die EQ-Regler, was aber hier auch nicht zu erwarten ist.

Fazit:

Für jemanden, der EQ-Regler als Notwendigkeit ansieht ist dieses Interface nichts. Ansonsten ist es in der Handhabung, sowie sound-technisch herausragend und bietet alle Möglichkeiten, die zur Nutzung eines Mikrofons mit Bedarf an 48V Phantomspeisung nötig sind.

Top Gerät

Would recommend

very easy to set up very easy to use, great for recording would highly reckons

Best Home Studio Audio Interface

I can say only the best...

Reading reviews online should say to you this is an exceptional piece of gear (and is not that expensive!)

Its used from Industry professionals to hobbyists...

Great for recording demos at home but also exceptional for recording full tracks

Just what I needed

Perfect, solid, pretty red colour :3

But seriously: plug and play, solid positioning, do not move when slightly tackled. The dials are working smoothly and precisely, the XLR-jack combo is neat addition.

Everything I needed in my home setup.

Quite handful for a starter

Is as good as it gets to get familiar with music production and recording. I am not a pro but for my use is ok.

A very popular product, and with reason

Works very well. Haven't had any software or hardware troubles with it so far. Good package.

Doesn't require software sign-in which is great, but if you choose to do so you'll get some extra software which is nice.

Audio and phantom power issues

Has great features and is more than enough for usage at home but had constant issues and eventually the XLR input broke completely. Trying to solve this through support has caused me nothing but a headache and months of wasted time. Sometimes the interface works fine for an hour or even more before it starts dying. Sent the product in for RMA and got told nothing was wrong with it so I guess my money went down the drain.

After two years the interface began cutting off my phantom powered microphone randomly. The whole input would just shut off and the lit up ring would turn off when I spoke into the microphone. Tried pretty much everything to fix it including changing computers and getting a new microphone but nothing seems to work. Also the volume of the microphone dips massively when this issue crops up. I suspect something in the power delivery circuit has broken. The jack inputs still work fine with my guitar and bass.

I've been trying to solve this issue for months now through emails, even contacting Focusrite, but I'm just getting told to try a different cable or to change Windows settings which I've of already tried countless times. Even reinstalled my operating system with no luck. The only thing I cannot try is a different interface because this is my only one.

Also had weird crackling and background noise at times even before the eventual breakage, regardless of settings. Somehow changing the sample rate or buffer to something else and then back fixes it.

I really wish I could love this interface. The card has pretty much all you'd need and is a great product but it's just issue after issue and it's not reliable. You're really playing the lottery when you buy one.

Maybe I just got unlucky and received a faulty product but the fact is that I'm now stuck with a broken interface. Focusrite really needs to up their quality assurance. I will be considering other brands in the future.

Does what it says on the tin

Really no complaints. USB-C is pretty much a requirement for me for any new hardware, sound is good, the UX is nice. Works perfectly with my iPad as well as PC. Seems sturdy, and drives 250 ohm DT-770s adequately even though they're a bit higher impedance than Focusrite says the device will support. I've used it for a guitar and mic.

I have not yet used it to send audio to monitors, just headphones, my PC, and my iPad, so I can't comment on that aspect.

Excellent Interface

I've had absolutely no issues with this Interface unit, sound quality is excellent and I can control my headphones and monitors separately. It came with useful bundled software for windows and actually works quite well on my Linux partition. Highly recommend if you need a simple, easy to use input and output unit.

Totally pleased

I have no complaints. A great choice for home recording.

Works well with Linux

Been running it for a year now on Linux, everything works great (both PulseAudio and PipeWire). The only caveat is that the inputs are recognized as one stereo input instead of two mono ones, which can be fixed with a configuration and doesn't matter anyway if using a DAW allowing to individually map inputs and outputs (like Ardour).

this is what everyone should have :)

what can I say? I just upgraded to Windows 11 and my previous M-Audio USB audio interface stopped working as it should. I immediately searched for Focusrite, because I know the product very well and all I wanted to know is if it supports Win11. It does, so I didn't hesitate and I'm extremely happy!

Very easy to install/configure, the included software is very good and intuitive and has a lot of bonuses available to download. Works like a charm with my Reaper too.

Totally recommended!

A great straightforward product to get started

I needed an audio interface in order to be able to record vocals for songs I've been producing as well as having a more stable connection for monitoring and mixing. I'm a beginner to everything but have found that the Focusrite was the perfect choice.

You won't get too far if you're into analog recording because you only have 2 inputs in this model, but if you're looking to produce music digitally with a DAW, this model is great.

Additionally, I found very useful all the bundled software and benefits that you get when you buy this product. You have access to the Lite version of Ableton and Pro Tools, which are the standard softwares for digital and live music production respectively. On top of that, there's lots of samples and packs to get your creative juices flowing!

I don't know why this is the standard

It sounds really good, when it works. I've had more problems with this than with a Behringer almost 1/3 the price. It's sounds just a little better, but not enough to justify the jump in price. The software isn't much better, it randomly decides what your sample rate is, protools at 48Khz? now it's there until you change it. Even if you change the default it will just stay at whatever the program put it at. The Behringer always switches back to what it was at before the program was opened. The buffer needs to be at least 512 or it'll start shitting, sometimes even needing 1024. Behringer needs only 256. The volume pot has started to crackle and pop after less than a year of use and these are known for being hard to service or even get inside.

No pad function, so no high level recording (a problem with some vintage equipment). The buttons are all "digital" if you unplug it and plug it in again your settings will have changed back to default instead of keeping it wherever you had it. I've heard a lot of people speak highly of the product but was very disappointed. I would not recommend this to anyone.

The home studio standard

Quality biuld, low noise, low latency. Used it with just electric guitar, but also with mic, and both of them broduced very good quality sound. Installation was a breeze on windows. Like the air mode when recording acoustic guitar. Direct monitoring works without latency.