I tested it just weeks ago with the updated driver and firmware same issues.

 

If you look at the title of this thread it´s saying: worst piece of ......... I´ve ever bought. Im not trying to convins anyone to have the same opinion/experience ..... in other words: this is my very personal opinion based on my peronal experience!
I have tested this soundcard with all drivers available, searched for help several places etc etc. and I simply gave up!!!

After I´ve connected my old Lexicon the situation is this:

-No noise, pops, artifacts etc
-No more Cpu on overtime
-Even the quality of the sound in my monitors are redically changed to the better

I run a great Intel i7 PC with loads of RAM and SSD disk and everything but the Focusrite works with it.

I´ve been fighting with this Focusrite soundcard for over ½ year now, tried everything that came into my mind that could solve these issues - based on my 20 year long experience with soundcards (I have owned a "few"... like RME etc and setup loads of them for friends etc) - and nothing really helped.

It could be it´s my PC that seriously sucks, it could be my lack of knowledge and experience with these issues but frankly I doubt that very much.

My focusrite is really cheap for sale right now, so if you´re interested give me a call ;-) .... just jokin westfinch.

My life is TOO short for NOT WORKING hard - and software

 

I do not know about the USB units but my Pro 40 Firewire is rock sold. WIn 10 and win 7. Sounds great to me.
I am not saying RME is not better but my Pro 40 is working perfect. Maybe you should get a better dedicated USB port. You might have other devices hogging up all your USB bandwidth.

 

focusrite are not too bad you encountered, but theres alot of good product here
for entry model, steinberg ur rt,
for personal use, rme babeface pro
for mac, apogee
for hardware console, pro tools
why focusrite?
personally i dont like its outlook, i would never try this brand unless change its look

 

I have a RME 802, and have to say a warning: their support SUCKS, I once asked in the forum how to figure out the routing, and one with "high score" answered with a lausy short answer
I then then asked if they could explain it for one that never have worked with a rme before, no luck, then admin got involved and that didn't help either !

 

You are correct to suggest using different USB cards/ports. In my experience I've used 4 different combinations of external cards and internal options, each with issues of their own, as well as sharing similar issues. From what I gather, it seems that the Gen1 of the Scarlett series are the most buggy of the entire Focusrite lot. Gen2 gets better, and the Clarrett series are even better still.

 

If GEN one is and issue he / she should try and get an upgrade from Focusright.

 

Maybe not, I never tested UR22, so I can't comment on its qualities. On its own, my UMC204HD was good, but generally unimpressive.

• Headphone volume control clipped at just 12 o'clock
• Noise floor reached -86dBFS even with all pots down.
• Useable latency started at 192 samples @ 48kHz without dropouts
• No balanced outs

Yes, UMC does have its dedicated drivers, but as long as your OS support UAC2 (all major OSes except Windows), no drivers are necessary.

 

My 8i18 sold in less than ½ hour today for 250 US .... the buyer was happy and so was I

No more Focusrite in the future ................

 

The problem is humbuckers and the lack of -20dB pad on the interface. Had the same exact issue with Presonus Audiobox, fortunately switched to Behringer UMC404 which worked beautifully

 

I actually liked the preamps of my 1st soundcard, the Saffire6 USB but monitoring was horrendous and it's incapacity to deal with any heavy lifting of vst instruments or plugins was frustrating as hell. However, I have heard that the newer Clarett line has good drivers and the pre's sound stellar. It would probably be hard for you to go the Focusrite route again. The red color would most likely give you agita just looking at it at this point. I still have an issue with Behringer after all these years but hope to get over it so I can buy a Klark-Teknik KT-2A compressor. They do sound incredible for the 312 bucks (if you are willing to wait 6 months for delivery...CHF595 now in stock) that we can get them here in Switzerland...freaking crazy.

 

Congrats! I was wondering why the thread title was changed to "Solved" lol I guess that would do it.

I might have to go this route, but for now my laziness and hopeless optimism has got the better of me. I'm hoping that this new Windows 1809 update will solve all my problems (wishful thinking, I know).... but we shall see. If not, it's only a matter of time before I follow your path.


Perhaps let us know what you ended up replacing it with when you get a chance.

 

Hi SLS........can you explain "heavy lifting"? Just don't quite understand what you are saying.

BTW, wish I could be in Switzerland. Always wanted to tour there years ago. Never got a chance.

 

By heavy lifting I mean...unusable latency to play live when using a few synths and/or plugins before it buckles under the weight of the limits of it's USB 1.1 driver. While playing electric guitar was nearly impossible to track. This was a letter written by a Focusrite Customer Service tech in 2010. As far as I know the issue was never resolved in any update to the driver.

If you ever get to come to der Schweitz, let me know and so we can have a drink and a jam. The coffee is awesome as well as the beer and the schnapps. And if you like chocolate you will be in heaven, even the supermarket stuff is top shelf.

Unfortunately this is an issue that has arisen recently and appears to be an incompatibility between USB 1.1 devices and Intel's i-series processors whereby the is no audio output at low buffer sizes.

We are now aware of this issue having reproduced it in house and will be looking to resolve this when possible. As yet, it is not clear whether this is something that will have to be resolved by Microsoft or that can be resolved by a driver update and this is something that we will have to determine before any work can be carried out.

It seems that we're not the only company with this issue:
http://social.answers.microsoft.com...e/thread/fc196208-0df2-4329-9e48-20112c6d4780

If possible, I would advise you to use buffer sizes of greater than 3ms - although I understand that this is not always convenient.

Sorry if you are experiencing this issue and I hope that it will be resolved as soon as possible.

 

Last year I bought Focusrite 2i4 (2nd generation) and tested it on Windows 7 and Windows 10. My experience is as follows: on Windows 7 it happens that my sound may be lost in half a second, but in Windows 10 everything works perfectly, without any mistakes or cracks ... and I can say that I'm very satisfied with Focusrite.

 

Thank you so much for the invitation ! All of that sounds great, and I know we would have a good time. I likewise extend the same invitation to you if ever you visit the home of the Blues, birthplace of Rock & Roll, and the land of Elvis. Unfortunately, everything here is lowest shelf (like...on the floor), so it would be a bag of 40's, and flavored moonshine. But there is Jack Daniels, Gus' Chicken, and the best damn Bar-Be-Cue that ever melted in your mouth.

Thanks for the explanation. I understand very well now, and I have experienced those kinds of problems before.

 

I've got the Audiobox USB with that problem. I ran my guitar into it via my old Boss SE70 gave me the option of printing something as i recorded, but with guitar VSTs i only ever used the limiter as a safety and then through my mixer.
This works but i would like to have a unit I could just plug a guitar into. I may be getting rid of all hardware soon, (except the guitar and mic stuff) so I have begun looking.
The UMC 404 is a bit bigger, but at that price...

 

Klark-Tecknic is an amazing brand,they sell a 1176 compressor 200 US$ too!!! It's 10 times lower than the Universal audio one!!!
When you see that you understand that Universal Audio is insanely overpriced...

 

RME That's all that I use now. Babyface Pro has the best RTL (real-time latency) for AD/DA converters and VSTi response in this "small-interface" size category. Rock solid drivers (plug it in and forget); expandability (optical i/o); dual use LINE i/o / instument inputs; looooong time driver support (even when interface may be discontinued) and of course TOTALMIX. I hear that the QUANTUM interface is no slouch either, but the only thing Presonus that I'm ok with is my ADL600 and I̶S̶A̶ ̶T̶W̶O̶ rack gear.

One should really just save up for RME and just pull the trigger at $$$ checkout cart now a-days. imo.

 

Last edited: Oct 7, 2018

I know, it is crazy how they fabricate for such little coin with the good quality they produce. My current needs are minimal these days, and if I already didn't have the Warm WA76 might look in that direction.

The Babyface Pro will probably be the next when I retire it's papa, the original silver Babyface. That extra input is all I really need to have a couple of mics on the acoustic guitar and the third for my voice. If I ever should need more (and I actually hope to record live string quartets or slightly bigger ensembles for an exciting and grandious project that I am conjuring, would get the RME 802, UCX or buy an external 8 pre unit (as well as a few more mics and stands, cables, etc). RME drivers still are the best that I know of as well as their documented support of just about everything they have ever sold. Sexy!!