GEAR REVIEW
FOCUSRITE ISA C8X AUDIO INTERFACE // HERITAGE MEETS THE MODERN WORSHIP STUDIO | Steve Sattler
KEY FEATURES
• 26-in, 28-out USB-C interface in a 2U rackmount chassis.
• Two ISA transformer preamps deliver up to 79dB of gain.
• Console and 430 Air modes add analogue character and presence.
• Six Focusrite preamps provide 69dB gain, Air, and variable Drive.
• 24-bit / 192kHz conversion delivers up to 125dB dynamic range.
• Multichannel Auto Gain sets all eight preamps simultaneously.
• Twelve balanced outputs support monitoring configurations up to 7.1.4.
• ADAT, S / PDIF, MIDI, Word Clock, and dual headphone outputs expand connectivity.
There are pieces of recording equipment designed primarily to solve a technical problem, and there are pieces that carry a certain amount of history with them. The Focusrite ISA C8X manages to do both.
That history goes back to 1985, when Sir George Martin commissioned Rupert Neve to design the console project that would eventually establish Focusrite and produce the ISA 110 microphone preamp. At the heart of that design was the Lundahl LL1538 input transformer. The same basic transformer circuit would continue through the Forte console, the Focusrite Studio Console, and four decades of standalone ISA microphone preamps.
Forty years later, Focusrite has taken that analog heritage and built it into something decidedly modern. The ISA C8X is a 2U, 26-input / 28- output USB-C audio interface with eight digitally controlled microphone preamps, professional conversion, extensive analog and digital I / O, monitor control, standalone operation, and remote control through Focusrite Control 2.
For worship musicians and church production facilities, this is an interesting combination. A modern worship studio may record a vocal and acoustic guitar in the morning, a full rhythm section that afternoon, and become an editing and mixing room the next day. The C8X has clearly been designed around that kind of flexibility.
TWO DIFFERENT PREAMP DESIGNS The first thing to understand is that the C8X does not simply contain eight identical microphone preamps.
Channels 1 and 2 are transformer-based ISA microphone preamps using Lundahl LL1538
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