Review: Focusrite Octopre MkII

3 Reviews:

Review by	MusicPlayers.com
Submitted on	2011-12-21 11:24:38
Rating	8
The Focusrite OctoPre MkII offers some subtle revisions to one of the company’s popular and affordable eight-channel preamps. Ideally suited to tracking drums and electronic instruments (it has instrument inputs on the front panel, too), this preamp is the kind of workhorse that would be at home in many home and project studio environments. If you need multiple microphone inputs and a preamp that (sonically) stays out of your way, passing through a clean, uncolored signal, the OctoPre MkII delivers a fantastic value.With built-in ADAT digital outputs (up to 96 kHz) in addition to analog outputs, the OctoPre MkII connects easily with most DAW environments. The straightforward interface makes getting up and running a breeze, but if you’re contemplating replacing an original OctoPre or OctoPre LE, a few physical interface changes from the first generation should be explored first to make sure that the MkII will properly interface with your studio configuration.

Review by	MusicRadar
Submitted on	2011-12-21 11:22:59
Rating	9
MkII successfully relaunches the OctoPre as a highly desirable unit. So many of us have unused ADAT ports on our interfaces that being able to suddenly capture an additional eight channels of audio via high-quality mic pres and pump those into our computers with no physical 'port loss' will be very attractive, to owners of some Pro Tools hardware in particular. For live sound engineers this is also a unit to look at closely, as the option to output both analogue and digital feeds means that you can now offer bands the option to provide both live sound and multi-channel recording simultaneously. The OctoPre MkII is versatile and competitively priced, which could prove to be an irresistible combination. Verdict Accurately-priced and even better specified, this is a great update to any ADAT-ready interface.

Review by	Sound On Sound
Submitted on	2011-12-21 11:22:26
As with the rest of Focusrite’s Saffire range, the quality-for-the-price of the Octopre MkIIs is excellent. That said, both units are priced above the budget ADAT-equipped mic-preamp competition (Behringer’s ADA8000), and they’re only marginally lower in price than Focusrite’s audio interfaces, which can perform pretty much the same role. Both of these units proved capable of good results, but I suspect the market for a bank of eight identical compressors may be a little smaller now than in the 16-bit days, when we all used to strive to keep recorded levels high. However, if you are one of those people who like to exert some dynamic control over your signals at the tracking stage, or do a lot of live recording, the Octopre MkII Dynamic could be just the right tool for the job.