Focusrite Scarlett Solo 3rd Gen USB Audio Interface for Guitarists, Vocalists, Podcasters or Producers to record and playback studio quality sound

Perfect for my needs
I started taking vocal lessons recently and bought a kind of cheapo mic from a store in town. It was working okay until a software update completely screwed up my mic settings. The mic had a voice effects option, but I never used the option, hadn’t wanted it, and only bought the mic because it was decently priced and pretty much the only one my store had in stock. I didn’t think it would matter.Fast forward two months and following a software update, I started my online lesson and found my instructor was completely thrown because I sounded “weird” to him. After several attempts to figure out what was wrong (I wasn’t hearing it on my end), I finally had to do my lesson via cell phone and only got 15 minutes’ worth of instruction. When I went back and watched the Skype video recordings of our attempts to fix whatever he was hearing, I was absolutely mortified to hear that the update had very obviously applied a random voice effect and made me sound like a cartoon. I also couldn’t get the effect turned OFF.That was the event that led me to buy a much better mic and audio interface. After doing a bit of research, I settled on the Focusrite Scarlett Solo 3rd generation interface. I can only speak to how well this works on Skype for vocal lessons, but would imagine it’s just as great with instruments and recording. As this was my first audio interface, I did have to ask the company a few questions. But their customer service is superb and I was able to easily set this up and use it pretty quickly. It’s been working great and–best of all–I no longer have to worry about audio issues or having my voice unexpectedly start sounding like Yogi Bear to my instructor. The price was really great as well.

Easy to use, Quality
Soild and comes with online courses to aid with set up! Compatible with Mac and windows. Good sound and sturdiness

Focusrite Scarlett Solo 3rd Gen
This was three month wait for me to do a review on the Scarlett Solo 3rd Gen. The one part I can say is the fact that there was no paper instruction for me to set up the device and after I got my dad to help me out with the audio interface box, it worked out very well. The Rode mic connection worked well with it capturing its audio recording and working well with the audio recording apps that I currently have on my laptop. I’m very well impressed with it and it is going to help me out in a couple of voice recording classes that I am enrolled in.

Sem sombra de dúvidas, uma das interfaces mais cobiçadas do mercado, Scarlett solo tem um nome grande, e quando pegamos ela pessoalmente e testamos o seu potencial, o seu sucesso faz juz ao equipamento.Super recomendo pra quem estar iniciando no áudio.Seja pra gravar suas músicas no quarto, gravar instrumentos, graças ao ruído quase que nulo.PRÉ AMP de qualidade, Direct monitor com uma latência impressionante.Me impressionou em diversos quesitos.Só dou um adendo na questão dos drivers no Win10, de uns anos pra cá, a compatibilidade não é das melhores.Você pode estar sujeito a áudio picotado as vezes, um leve ruído, umas estouradas e etc…Comigo ocorreu umas 2x, isso com 2 semanas de uso, o que fiz pra não ocorrer mais foi;Desinstalar e instalar o driver da Focusrite.Não mexer com áudio enquanto a CPU está acima de 85% de uso.Deixar o buffer bem baixo, por volta de 192/256…Nunca mais tive esse problema.

I won’t bury the lede here, this is an amazing piece of kit. With gain at maximum the level of background noise from the digitiser is effectively inaudible even when supplying 48V DC to drive a “phantom” powered microphone.I’m using mine to develop a new microphone adapter to upgrade those cheap Chinese imported microphones that make decent donor bodies. I won’t ask Amazon to link to the project as it’s off-site and you can’t buy the board here (yet) but it’s on the DIY Perks projects so it’s easy to find if you’re in a rush.Why would I do this? Well the problem with Phantom power is that a lot of (early) stage mixers are noisy… and I mean really noisy. Studio gear is a lot quieter (live performances are have so much background noise that no one can hear the background hiss). In the studio (or perhaps, outside recording something like birdsong when every dB counts) that hiss is going to get in the way of the really quiet stuff.I paired mine with DT990 Pro headphones and it sounds delicious. The 990’s 4.5 rating on Amazon’s >15,000 reviews speak for themselves. They’re very, very good. While they don’t seem sufficiently robust to take the abuse I’d expect in a professional studio, sound-wise, they’d be right at home.And this is where the Scarlett shines. Focusrite produces some of the world’s top quality studio gear and that heritage has trickled down to the Solo. When I was into this stuff in a big way, the idea that I could get a studio-quality setup for under a couple of hundred quid (headphones, mic and digitiser) was laughable.And yet, here we are in 2025 and it’s not just practical, it’s here – and fully portable too!Just add a laptop (Windows, as per usual, is preferred) but it does work with Debian Linux and Audacity albeit with more limited features.And that is the only real “gotcha” that I’ve noticed. You really have to use a computer to power this little fella or you won’t get full functionality – including 48V phantom which is… odd but Waveshare clearly knows what its doing so I’ll forgive it that.Getting 48V at up to 12mA (the P48 standard is limiting and demanding) from 5V is no mean feat I can tell you but Focusrite has achieved that without the hideous squeal from a simple Schmitt-trigger inverter and voltage multiplier. (That’s technical detail of course, but there ARE cheaper 48V pre-amps that run from little wall warts from the Chinese that add a lovely background whine, replete with harmonics up the wazoo to every recording you make.) So … bad. Yes.It’s details like this that make the Focusrite an absolute MUST BUY for anyone serious about their recording particularly where that instruments like acoustic guitars and human voice is concerned. For rock where volume is the name of the game, a cheaper unit will suffice but most people would outgrow it.But there’s more!The Focusrite is beautiful to use too. It just “feels” like a quality product that’s going to last. The ability to monitor what you’ve recorded while recording a new track is an essential for many solo musicians but it’s baked in!And better yet (for duffers like me who don’t pay anywhere near as much attention to the level meters as I should) the gain control has a VU meter built in. You just set the level by running a test and setting it so the average is just flashing a green ring and you’re good. As the level exceeds 3dB the ring goes amber and then red – which means the recording is clipping.A feature that doesn’t make sense to me (but will to others) is “Air” which appears to be a treble boost. Something that former Rode chief designer Doug Ford calls “whoohoo” – for “flat” microphones. Focusrite has an excellent reputation and if the rest of its products are as good as this *budget* model that’s clearly well-deserved.