Focusrite Platinum TrakMaster

The few corners that have been cut to keep the cost of the Trak Master down to an affordable level don't compromise its audio performance and don't impinge too seriously on other aspects of its use. The most significant economy is probably the replacement of a proper input level meter by a two‑LED 'enough/too much' indicator. Also, only the bypass switches are illuminated, so you have to be careful to check your switch settings. These points aside, the Trak Master is easy to set up and very sweet sounding, both on vocals and instruments. It makes recording high‑quality vocals easy, but it also sounds brilliant on clean electric guitar or bass. It may not have gates, de‑essers or limiters, but it provides the essentials of clean amplification, musical compression and smooth EQ in a surprisingly affordable, easy‑to‑use package which should be particularly attractive to those many readers who are using soundcard‑based studios or hardware recorders with only line inputs. Fitting the digital output option would be a good strategy for anyone wanting to get high‑quality audio into a budget soundcard that has an S/PDIF input, and though I still feel that 96kHz is irrelevant for 99 percent of all real‑world users, at least it is available if you need it. In summary, the Trak Master is a welcome addition to the Platinum range, and its low UK price and high quality should endear it to a wide range of users.