Using Outboard Gear - Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 4th Gen User Manual

Using Outboard Gear

Your Scarlett 4i4 has enough outputs and inputs to use 'outboard' gear in your mixes. By
outboard gear or equipment, we're referring to effects you may want to include in the mixing
process, for example, equalisers (EQ), compressors, reverbs, delays etc.
There are two ways to mix with outboard effects, either as insert effects (often EQs or
Compressors) or Send and Return effects (more common for Reverbs and Delays).
• Inserts - the effect is placed in the path of the signal so the entire signal is affected by
the outboard equipment.
• Send and Return - you send the 'dry' signal to the outboard effect and return the
'wet', or affected, signal to your DAW, often on a different channel. You can then mix a
combination of the original dry signal and the affected wet signal.
Tip
There are no strict rules for using effects as inserts or send-and-return effects. One
interesting technique is utilising a compressor as a send effect, commonly referred to
as parallel or New York compression. This technique can be highly effective for adding
more weight to parts of your mix.
The setup below shows how you can connect your outboard equipment to your Scarlett 4i4 and
use Focusrite Control 2's Mixer to route the signal. To get the signal out of your DAW, most DAW
software will have a guide on using an external processor as an insert or as a Send and Return
effect. Use this guide in combination with the user guide for your DAW.
Hardware Connections
To set up the hardware we're going to connect the equipment in the order of the signal
flow.
Scarlett 4i4 4th Gen User Guide
1. Connect a 6.35mm balanced TRS jack cable from one of the spare line outputs of your
interface (e.g. not outputs 1-2 which are usually reserved for monitors).
2. Connect the other end of the cable to the input of your outboard effect processor. This
may be a 6.35mm jack input, but it may also be XLR. If it is XLR make sure the input is
suitable for line-level input signals.
3. Connect the output of your outboard effect processor to a spare 6.35mm jack input
on your Scarlett 4i4. The outboard of outboard effects processors is likely a line-level
signal so you must connect it to a jack input on your Scarlett 4i4.
Software Routing
The following steps offer a high-level overview of the routing in software. Steps may vary
between DAWs.
1. Add an Insert or Send to the DAW track you want to affect. Make note of the software
output of your Insert or Send e.g. Output 3.
Logic Pro's I/O insert plugin– for Send and Return effects, use this plugin on a Send, or Bus, channel.
2. In Scarlett 4i4 make sure the software output from your Insert or Send, e.g. output 3,
is routed to the output you connected from your Scarlett to your outboard gear. For
more information on routing see
34
Focusrite Control Mixer [36].