Focusrite Red 8Line

The spearhead of Focusrite Pro’s Red range enjoys some light refreshment.

Back in 2016, Focusrite’s Pro division entered the market for high‑end audio interfaces with the Red 4Pre. Not just a good‑sounding Thunderbolt interface, the 4Pre was also a gateway to the wonderful world of audio over IP, providing both native systems and Pro Tools HDX rigs with the means to access up to 32 I/O streams from a Dante network. Focusrite swiftly followed up with 8Pre and 16Line variants, which retained the Dante connectivity whilst offering different complements of local I/O.

Four and a half years on, the original 4Pre has hung up its spurs, to be replaced by a new junior member of the range. This new interface is so similar to its predecessor that it could have been christened the 4Pre MkII, were it not for one thing: it has lost two of the four mic preamps that gave the Red 4Pre its name. So, making a virtue out of...