Focusrite has introduced the Red 4Pre, a new ‘flagship’ audio interface that offers 58-in, 64-out IO, four digitally controlled ‘Red Evolution’ preamps, plus high-headroom instrument inputs, a new high-performance conversion system, and Thunderbolt 2, Pro Tools HD DigiLink and Dante network connectivity.
Focusrite’s 58-in/64-out Red 4Pre includes Thunderbolt 2 connectivity for low round-trip latency, letting you track and overdub with your preferred plug-ins and effects in real time. You can use the Red 4Pre seamlessly in any Pro Tools | HD system, or use it with existing Avid interfaces, thanks to its twin DigiLink connectors.
Dual Thunderbolt 2 ports allow daisy-chaining of additional components such as hard drives and displays. Plus the Red 4Pre is network audio enabled right out of the box, with dual Ethernet ports for Dante audio-over-IP networking, letting you expand your recording capability over Ethernet for up to 64 additional channels anywhere on your network, with low latency.
Additional Red or other Dante-compatible components can be connected to the Ethernet ports of the Red 4Pre to provide additional channels irrespective of the interface used to drive the Red 4Pre.
Here’s the official intro video:
The Red Evolution mic pres in the Red 4Pre deliver –129 dB EIN and 63dB of gain. The mic pres can be controlled digitally, for adjusting/recalling settings and stereo linking via Focusrite Control software.
They also include Focusrite’s ‘Air’ effect, recreating the sound of the transformer-based mic preamps in the ISA range. When ‘Air’ is enabled, the microphone impedance is set to 2.1k? and the frequency response curve is given a subtle mid-high boost – all in the analogue domain.
Focusrite says that the converters in the Red 4Pre are the best they’ve ever made, employing a ‘parallel path summing’ configuration to lower the noise floor. With 24-bit/192kHz sampling capability and 118dB(A-D)/121dB (D-A) dynamic range, it is ideal for high-resolution audio.
The Red 4Pre delivers ?0.0009% THD+Noise and a frequency response flat from 20Hz to 35kHz ±0.25 dB or better.
Pricing and Availability
The Focusrite Red 4Pre will be available in mid-April, priced at £2099.99 / $2499.99 / €2699.99. See the Focusrite site for details.
Have to say this]
4 four , 4 audio in
I am tired of hearing about lots of audio ins and that is its a special input
its allot like behringer’s number system for their mixers, but to be fair with behringer it is at least a tru single line in and not some form of a multi io port
It has been driving me up the wall when I go looking for a multi port audio interface so mix some gear and see what says a 12 port and it has only 4 true analog and a spdif for the 8
really
now i have to find another mixer deck to get my FULL 12 analog
they need to come up with a better way to name
uh…they did name it the 4Pre.
well, give them that BUT it does become annoying when you want to mix a couples pieces of gear and you think you are covered until you run into (need more interfaces problem).
At least a tascam 12 in i saw the other day had ACTUALLY 12 analog inputs
I agree that it’s becoming hard these days to determine just from a headline statement whether a given interface provides what one needs or not – which is more often than not Line / mic / HiZ ins and Line outs. ADAT? fine. S/PDIF? Fine. Other input/output? Fine. But state up front how many actual Line ins/outs something has. 🙂
Why no windows drivers? Windows officially supports thunderbolt.
Windows 10 only (officially) supports thunderbolt 3. :/ if I remember correctly they won’t back support TB 1+2. So it looks like we will have to wait at least until next year to see any Windows TB products and hopefully the next gen of UAD Apogee focusrite etc interfaces will use tb3 and have Windows drivers.
how about mime driver?
couldn’t resist
This sounds like a great unit, but I’m dismayed at the current state audio interfaces for Window PC users. We are other stuck with firewire (UAD) or USB2or3 which simply doesn’t provide the low latency that I desire. Moving to Apple computers is simply something I will never do for many reasons – and that is not a anti Apple rant.
Thunderbolt is an intel invention, not an Apple invention and the PC industry is being held back by MIcrosoft due to how the protocol communicates directly to the PCI buss. Microsoft need to get off their butts and figure it out. Manufactures like UAD, Focusrite, Apogee etc. should be pushing to open up the thunderbolt option to PC users.
Better yet network audio (cat 5 cat 6 connected) seems to be the future of inter-connected audio if it wasn’t so poorly marketed and expensive by the likes of Focusrite (Rednet) and Waves (Soundgrid) in particular. I hope this improves in the future. Network audio could potentially end this silly PC vs. Mac compatibility situation we currently have with Thunderbolt.
The Focusrite 4pre is very much the kind of all in one 1 rack space interface I’d be interested in, but I see no PC compatibility information on focusrite’s website for this unit which is very disappointing. Could I assume that if I had a Dante card in the back of my PC that I could take full advantage of the units Dante compabilities?
It’s even worse — Focusrite’s firewire-based boxes are having problems with Windows 10. I have a useless Saffire 56 until I roll back to Win 7.
you can directly connect a number of interfaces to the pci port of a pc desktop. So i would say that in that respect apple computers are quite limited. With the exception of one very expensive desktop model, all others need to connect with usb,firewire or thunderbolt….
Great to see Its not me amused and bemused by such false and misleading articles. Hilarious to see the back of this.
This TB 2. Expect this product is just a standard audio interface with a TB bridge to network +and USB or /FW added. Remember, TB is nothing more than a PCI bus with Display port So the hardware behind the bridge likely is just a PCI to network chip adding a PCI USB or Firewire interface and behind that the Scarlett/ Saffire process/DSP logic, The audio / Preamp probably is llkely recycling of the same hardware. TB causing higher cost and logic , less cross hardware compatibility (no Windows/Linux support) to the table without adding any benefits. It’s just moving the PCI-e bus outside of the box, great for laptops. totally nonsense for desktops, it basically just Mac focussed. . Of-course you may have another assessment, glad to hear. Waiting for Apple to buy out Focusrite ?