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After asking for some recommendations in this thread to replace my "ancient" first gen Scarlet 2i2, I ultimately ended up buying what I was already focused in on, the Komplete Audio MK2. While it sounds like the whole "ask for recommendations, then ignore them" schtick, what was recommended actually did help me explore the options and really hone in on what I wanted, which was solid preamps, good meters (instead of rings) and two headphone/audio outs for monitoring. All of which the Komplete has in it. So, thanks again to all who suggested other options - it really was a big help.
After contemplating a bit, and nearly pulling the trigger on ones recommended in the above mentioned thread, I figured I should just grab this one and if I don't like it, I can just return it and move to the next in the list.
So far it feels/sounds/seems to be a substantial upgrade over the Scarlet.
In order to get it up and running, I simply had to go to the Native site, download the Narrative Access app, ignore the insistence that I download Abelton, and plug the Komplete 6 in. Unlike my disastrous attempt over the holidays to upgrade to a Scarlet 2i4 third gen, the Komplete was a breeze.
The gain/preamp options give me much better control over the signal gain into my DAW. The Scarlet seemed to have that thin line between too low and too loud that required a lot of knob tweaking from the Helix Rack output to the HX Edit output to the Scarlet input gain to get it just right. No more.
The other bonus is the dual headphone/monitor outs. On the Scarlet, I only had one so either I could run both 'phones and monitors off a splitter, which I don't dig, or I could just un/re plug them all the time when I switch back and forth. Which is what I've done for the last 8 years. With the Komplete, I can leave them both plugged in and just adjust the volume controls for whichever I want to use and/or just don't turn my monitors on if I need to roll with just the cans.
From what I can tell so far, the signal is cleaner/clearer than the Scarlet... but that might also just be a bias to new gear. I'm not the world's best audio engineer, so not gonna act like I can empirically prove the sound is clearer... but it sure seems like it. Signal to noise ratio is better and the gain swing is larger, ie I can get more DBs out of my monitors now than I could with the Scarlet, and at the higher volumes, it sounds better.
While, at the end of the day, it's an Audio Interface and there's only so much to rave about, knowing it does what I want it to do and does it better is a huge win for me.
After contemplating a bit, and nearly pulling the trigger on ones recommended in the above mentioned thread, I figured I should just grab this one and if I don't like it, I can just return it and move to the next in the list.
So far it feels/sounds/seems to be a substantial upgrade over the Scarlet.
In order to get it up and running, I simply had to go to the Native site, download the Narrative Access app, ignore the insistence that I download Abelton, and plug the Komplete 6 in. Unlike my disastrous attempt over the holidays to upgrade to a Scarlet 2i4 third gen, the Komplete was a breeze.
The gain/preamp options give me much better control over the signal gain into my DAW. The Scarlet seemed to have that thin line between too low and too loud that required a lot of knob tweaking from the Helix Rack output to the HX Edit output to the Scarlet input gain to get it just right. No more.
The other bonus is the dual headphone/monitor outs. On the Scarlet, I only had one so either I could run both 'phones and monitors off a splitter, which I don't dig, or I could just un/re plug them all the time when I switch back and forth. Which is what I've done for the last 8 years. With the Komplete, I can leave them both plugged in and just adjust the volume controls for whichever I want to use and/or just don't turn my monitors on if I need to roll with just the cans.
From what I can tell so far, the signal is cleaner/clearer than the Scarlet... but that might also just be a bias to new gear. I'm not the world's best audio engineer, so not gonna act like I can empirically prove the sound is clearer... but it sure seems like it. Signal to noise ratio is better and the gain swing is larger, ie I can get more DBs out of my monitors now than I could with the Scarlet, and at the higher volumes, it sounds better.
While, at the end of the day, it's an Audio Interface and there's only so much to rave about, knowing it does what I want it to do and does it better is a huge win for me.
