My home studio is centered around an older Clarett 8PreX Thunderbolt interface with a Presonus Studio 192 as extension plus now also this Clarett+ OctoPre as additional extension. I rarely record more than 1-3 channels at once, so I don't need 24 channels for tracking – ever. But it simplifies the use of outboard gear to not have to constantly repatch everything.
The only reason I bought this unit was that several reviews (as well as the specs on paper) said that it was even cleaner audio than the original Clarett I already had. I doubted that my less-than-golden ears would actually register any difference, but to my surprise they did. I have the distinct impression that the audio from this one is more pure even though I never had any complains with the sound of the older unit.
So now this is the main unit used for tracking, because it has the purest sound of the three.
A small tip: Took me a while to figure out that you can switch back and forth between the AIR mode and the Insert mode. It's not either or – it's just that the buttons have double function. You can first switch AIR on for the channels you want, then go into buttons mode = insert and subsequently switch insert effects in and out. That wasn't clear to me from the manual.
The only thing I miss on this unit is that there is no way to ensure 0dB loop gain for an output-input loop because the channel gain knobs also change the line level input gain. I prefer the solution in the Presonus Studio 192 where channel gain only alters the input gain for microphone and instrument level inputs while keeping a 0dB (unity) gain for line levels. That's much more useful for me, particularly for a stereo effects loop.
Also, I got audio dropouts when syncing the clock over BNC cable (which could possibly be something I did wrong, though I don't think so) but syncing over ADAT works perfectly.
All in all, this is an awesome piece of gear that I wholeheartedly recommend. The preamps are great and the sound is very clean.
