How to use your Forusrite Scarlett 16i16 4th gen interface as a guitar DI box

I have recently upgraded to a Focusrite Scarlett 16i16 4th gen interface. It has a bunch of inputs and outputs. I was hoping it could be used as a DI box for guitar recording. I was not wrong.

It's quite easy to set up and you don't even have to worry about Focusrite Control 2 (the digital control surface of the interface). I use Cubase, but this will be applicable in most DAWs.

In your I/O (input/output) settings (in Cubase it's called Studio Setup, you can open it with F4 I believe) create a new output bus. It should be a mono bus as we're only doing mono stuff for now. Let's call it "Guitar Out". I used "Output 3" for this one, as Outputs 1-2 are already used for my monitoring.

Add 2 mono audio tracks to your project. Their I/O settings should look like this: GUITAR DI: - input - whichever input you're using to plug your guitar in (for me it's Input 2 / Right - Stereo In) - output - "Guitar Out" GUITAR WET: - input - whichever input you're using to record the processed signal (for me it's Input 3) - output - Stereo Out

So in my case I just wanted to test if the signal routing works. I plugged my guitar into my pedalboard, took the output of my last pedal, plugged into INPUT 2 (Right - Stereo In), configured my DI track as said before, took a guitar cable and connected Output 3 to Input 3. Basically it really is just a guitar cable from Out 3 to In 3. That's how easy it is. You can even use a patch cable if you'd like. It works. My GUITAR WET track recorded my processed signal coming from GUITAR DI (I used an amp sim to make sure something was in fact happening under the hood).

Now the more practical approach would be (and this is what I do when clients come to record): You have a couple of things in the studio. A guitar. A pedal board / multiple effect pedals. An amp. A cabinet. Some kind of amp simulation in your DAW. An SM57 mic. The amp of the client even has a line-out function. What do we do?

For me, even though I heard it's better to commit to one sound early on, I like to keep my options open. But not regarding the tone or sound we're going for. We already set up the pedals and amp in the room. It sounds great. Now it's time to record. How would you go about it?

What I found works in most cases (especially if you have the option / you have enough inputs haha): if the pedals are essential to the sound the guitarist is going for, great. Plug your guitar into the pedalboard, and connect the output of the last pedal into your interface. Record this signal onto the GUITAR DI track as you "dry signal" (even though it's going through pedals, this is the bare minimum the guitarist wants). Now route your signal out through "Guitar Out" (Out 3) and into the amp. Record the amp as you'd like. Use microphones. use the line-out. Whatever you'd like. If when mixing the song you don't like the sound of the amp (maybe it was too noisy, or of not that great quality), use an amp sim. You don't even have to use any effects. Just use the amp and cab. It might work wonders. This way you have plenty of options to find a solution that works.

If the pedals are not essential and maybe you'd like to be able to remove unnecessary delay bleed or cheap sounding overdrive, just plug straight into the computer. Now route the output signal of the GUITAR DI channel back into the pedalboard. Continue from there as you would normally. Now you have an absolutely clean DI to manipulate if you need to later.

Why would you do this? It's always good practice to record guitar DIs just in case. A dry guitar DI signal can come in handy especially when you're editing. If the guitarist made a mistake while using a delay pedal and it went unnoticed, you won't be able to salvage the take afterwards. If you have the DI however, you can still save the day. Or even if you accidentally recorded the amp with 10dB of hiss at 3kHz and you just can't make it right with EQ (which you shouldn't, you're already screwed at this point). Or if you'd like to try a more "roomy" or more "tight" micing sound in the mix because that's what would fit the song better. Of if the band thought a darker guitar sound would be perfect and then 10 songs later they realise it won't be nowhere near bright enough for what they had in mind. I'm just saying, it's pretty simple to set this up with modern equipment such as the Focusrite Scarlett interfaces. It won't hurt anybody.

I hope this article helped you in your journey to better guitar sound when recording. Cheers.