When I bought my first ever audio interface, I forked out £99 for a 2-in, 2-out device with minimal features, average sounding preamps, USB 1.1 connectivity and a copy of Cubase LE. At the time, this seemed like a bargain to me, but things have changed since then. In fact, it wasn’t until I became introduced to the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 that I realised just how much things had changed! For only £20 more (at the time of writing), Focusrite are offering a device with similar features, but that makes use of high-speed USB 2.0 connectivity, includes two of Focusrite’s renowned preamps and comes bundled with four top-quality plug-ins and Ableton Live Lite 8! To me, this seems like an absolute bargain and with prices like this, it definitely pushes the older USB 1.1 protocol closer towards extinction.
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