One of those unexpected studio upgrades...
So earlier this week I launched the DAW for the first time since before Christmas, and I was listening to music when my Scarlett audio interface appeared to drop off and on, as if it was rebooting. Twice over the course of two hours or so.
I came back with a plan to investigate the next day, crossing my fingers that this wasn't due to an issue my DAW's USB ports. After a bit of troubleshooting, I realized that the culprit was the audio interface itself. That's the second time the unit fails me in two years, so in spite of Focusrite's outstanding customer service, I'm starting to feel that I can't rely on that interface.
As some of you know, they've just announced the closing of my wife's show before Christmas, so this is a particularly bad time for stuff to start breaking up (and, obviously, that's usually when it all happens. That and pets getting sick). Not that anything justified immediate replacement, and I was still waiting for Focusrite to get back to me after contacting them Friday, anyway...
This morning we were woken by a phone call, and, long story short, my wife needs to record vocals on a few songs for an audition for a (very interesting) potential contract, before the end of the week. So waiting for the good folks at Focusrite to sort things out just isn't an option.
A little searching on the web and I'd found an inexpensive replacement in the form of NI's Komplete Audio 6 (one of the things which played in its favour was that it was available at the GC around the corner). Actually, besides Mackie's BlackJack, which is dirt cheap but seems quite nice, it was the only option that I liked.
An hour later, I was back home with the new audio interface. Unpacked it, plugged it in and I'm all set up. And to be perfectly honest, though it's a bit more compact, I actually like it a whole lot more than the Scarlett. Plus, it's built like a tank (and it is surprisingly heavy)...
Thumbs up for German engineering.
Now, let's see if this thing will pay for itself and justify the expense.
post edited by Rain - 2016/01/10 19:37:07