Focusrite Octopre

I recently added the Focusrite Octopre to my studio front end. It's basically a channel strip with eight discrete pre-amps. It interfaces seamlessly with the Digi002 system that I use. Because you need at least four channels to get a decent, stereo image of a drum set, this seemed like a good investment.

I've been using it for about two weeks now. I've had three minor issues with it. All made me think that I would need to return it; I thought it was defective. There are some simple things to look for if you're using this piece of gear. I hope that in sharing these stories, you might save yourself a trip to the repair shop.

First of all, if you have a noisy fan, don't panic. About two hours into a session last Saturday, the fan in my Octopre kicked on. It didn't sound right. I understand that these units have a cooling fan that can make a little noise, but it shouldn't sound like an electric shaver. Before sending it to be repaired, take the top off of the unit (of course, make sure you disconnect the power, unrack the unit, and remove any connecting cables first). Now, on the underside of the top cover on my unit, there was a sheet of plastic that had been sucked into the ventilation system. I was able to easily peel this plastic sheet away from the underside. When I re-assembled the lid and turned the unit back on, it sounded fine; no more playing-card-in-the-spokes sound.

Secondly, it's important that you match your sample rates and bit depth. If you are running a session that's 24 bit and 48kHz, make sure that the Octopre has that setting as well. If you run these things at different rates, you'll find that your song will play back at a different speed! That's not good. It was a bit confusing to me when I was recording a song in E and then it played back a semi-tone flat of the key of F. "Wha Happened," you say? Unmatched sample rates.

Thirdly, you have to set the master clock to the ADAT setting. This can be done in your "Hardware" menu setting of your Pro Tools system. If you don't, you'll get some annoying pops and clicks. If I had hair, I would have been pulling it out had I not read a tech tip on a non-Focusrite site.

So, in summary, the Octopre is a great way to add 8 channels to the front end of your digital workstation. If you aren't familiar with how it interfaces, it can be a little confusing. Just be patient and you'll figure it out. I did.