Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 with Windows 10

Here's an update to my experience with the Scarlett 18i20 interface running with Windows 10. This has been a great interface with the following caveat. The 18i20 requires a USB 2.0 port. Connections to three versions of USB 3.0 ports have worked initially but have been subject to disconnects, sometimes after several hours and sometimes when changing clock rates or turning Reaper off and back on.

The Focusrite manual specifies a USB 2.0 port, but their service rep has stated that the interface is fine with Windows 10 and USB 3.0 I have a support case open with them and will update this post if anything changes. Using USB 2.0 has been rock solid for several weeks now so there is a simple enough work-around. When the USB ports fail I haven't found a solution short of rebooting the PC. I'm going to try the interface with my Mac mini USB 3.0 ports when I find time.

The three USB 3.0 versions that gave problems were:
Intel C610, part of X99 chipset, driver 10.1.2.9, 7/28/2015
VIA USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller, driver 10.0.10586.0, 10/29/2015
ASMedia ASM1142 3.1 controller — don’t have driver details

EDIT: I received excellent assistance from Focusrite support in spite of the fact that their interface was 100% functional when I used a USB 2.0 port. They pointed me to an Intel Automatic Updater that provided a newer file than what MSI had on their site. Same with VIA though their web site was a bit cryptic in terms of locating the best driver. Interestingly, Microsoft sent an upgrade today with a new ASMedia driver which didn't work for me, but it apparently cleaned something in the registry as I was then able to load an even newer driver from the MSI site. Interesting experience as I was apparently too trusting of the motherboard manufacturer's "latest" drivers.

So I can now recommend the Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 with no reservations of any kind.

I have a portable Hauptwerk laptop which I use with two different consoles/sites. One of them was operating with the onboard soundcard until some days ago, when I purchased a Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 interface for a future 4 channel setup and to give up of the Realtek thing. The audio quality is superb but I have three problems with it:

1) The interface is not recognized after restarting Windows. It's ok with turn off/on, hibernation and suspend modes. But if I select a simple Windows restart, the interface disappears. I have to unplug the USB cable and plug it back to solve the problem. I know there's a simple workaround of turn off then turn the computer back on but this interface is the first USB device is 20 years of USB usage with that behavior.

2) The interface emits some bump and pop noises not only when connecting the USB cable but also everytime a software (Hauptwerk and Dirac) changes the samplerate of the ASIO driver. This occurs when changing organs between different samplerates (44k vs. 48k). They are strong enough to disturb me and I suspect that it could cause problems to the speakers on the long run.

3) Finally, the latency of its ASIO driver is mediocre compared to, for example, the Steinberg UR22 drivers. Second to some tests I have done with RTL utility, it gives me the twice the time I get with ASIO4ALL attached to the interface WDM drivers with the same buffer size, even if I select RECORDING performance mode. I could use ASIO4ALL with the Scarlett WDM drivers, but as the Dirac Live virtual interface does not even have an ASIO driver and its WDM driver is only stable at 2048 frames (which causes a huge latency). As I didn't manage to use ASIO4ALL simultaneously with the different sound devices, I prefer to use ASIO4ALL attached to the Dirac drivers.

So, unlike your experience with Focusrite, mine is not good enough and I do not recommend people purchasing the same interface with similar circunstancies and demands of mine.

I would suggest you send an email to Focusrite support with info about your OS version, hardware, USB driver versions and date, etc, so they can help you get the normal latency that the interface is capable of. I run my 18i20 at 240 samples per second which is a one-way latency of 5 seconds or your test might give a round trip of 10 or 11 ms. Audio interface latency is the direct result of the number of samples and the sample rate. There's nothing in the audio interface itself which buffers up larger amounts of data and causes excessive latency. So if an interface operates at 5 ms latency without audio glitches than that's what we are aiming for. Somewhere around 8 times that long the delay is actually detectable.

I have run into USB ports and improperly configured PCs which do cause huge latency. The same is true for DAW's when misconfigured so if there's anything like Reaper in the audio chain it may need a few tweaks like making sure the Hauptwerk VST channel is armed to record which apparently puts a "realtime" priority on the audio threads.

I'd suggest avoiding ASIO4ALL like the plaque and in any case you shouldn't need it as HW and the interface operate best under real ASIO.

The complaint about audio ticks when powering on and off and changing sample rates is to be expected. Always have the entire audio chain powered up, speakers last in these cases. There may be some quiet interfaces, especially the more consumer oriented ones, but the RME's I've used pop as well. I don't have any 44.1k samples but I do run internet audio through the 18i20 from time to time and have my 9 speakers turned off as I make a clock switch.

I would suggest you send an email to Focusrite support with info about your OS version, hardware, USB driver versions and date, etc, so they can help you get the normal latency that the interface is capable of. I run my 18i20 at 240 samples per second which is a one-way latency of 5 seconds or your test might give a round trip of 10 or 11 ms. Audio interface latency is the direct result of the number of samples and the sample rate. There's nothing in the audio interface itself which buffers up larger amounts of data and causes excessive latency. So if an interface operates at 5 ms latency without audio glitches than that's what we are aiming for. Somewhere around 8 times that long the delay is actually detectable.

I have run into USB ports and improperly configured PCs which do cause huge latency. The same is true for DAW's when misconfigured so if there's anything like Reaper in the audio chain it may need a few tweaks like making sure the Hauptwerk VST channel is armed to record which apparently puts a "realtime" priority on the audio threads.

I'd suggest avoiding ASIO4ALL like the plaque and in any case you shouldn't need it as HW and the interface operate best under real ASIO.

The complaint about audio ticks when powering on and off and changing sample rates is to be expected. Always have the entire audio chain powered up, speakers last in these cases. There may be some quiet interfaces, especially the more consumer oriented ones, but the RME's I've used pop as well. I don't have any 44.1k samples but I do run internet audio through the 18i20 from time to time and have my 9 speakers turned off as I make a clock switch.

Thanks for your comments. I will surely contact Focusrite to check if there's something fixable by software upgrade. Meanwhile, I discovered that the problem of not wakening audio interface after a simple reboot does only occur when the interface is attached to the USB 3.0 ports. Unfortunately, my laptop (a Dell 2-in-1) has one USB 2.0 port only, and it's located on the side I use to support the laptop in portrait position for music reading. As for the latency, I will compare it with an Steinberg UR-22 I have installed in another site. If it's really half the Focusrite one without ASIO4ALL refuge, combined to the problems I already have (on/off turning and samplerate changing noises and USB 3.0 limitation), I'll surely have to purchase another interface. Curiously, before purchasing the Focusrite interface, I was considering the Behringer UMC204HD, and chose Focusrite because of its reputation on drivers' quality and stability.

To clarify this issue for anyone considering the Focusrite Scarlett range of audio interfaces. We are not seeing issues with Focusrite software or drivers but with PC manufacturer's supplied USB 3.0 drivers. In the three cases I experienced using three different hardware modules on my motherboard the problems were solved by getting the latest drivers from Intel, VIA, and ASMedia.

It's easy enough to bypass Focusrite if you go to the computer manufacturer's support, find their latest driver versions, and then double check the OEM vendor's sites for possibly even newer drivers. I only suggest Focusrite because their support is stellar and they will guide you through this process.

One would think that USB 3.0 had been out long enough for backward compatibility issues with USB 2.0 to have been ironed out but this doesn't seem to be the case.

To clarify this issue for anyone considering the Focusrite Scarlett range of audio interfaces. We are not seeing issues with Focusrite software or drivers but with PC manufacturer's supplied USB 3.0 drivers. In the three cases I experienced using three different hardware modules on my motherboard the problems were solved by getting the latest drivers from Intel, VIA, and ASMedia.

It's easy enough to bypass Focusrite if you go to the computer manufacturer's support, find their latest driver versions, and then double check the OEM vendor's sites for possibly even newer drivers. I only suggest Focusrite because their support is stellar and they will guide you through this process.

One would think that USB 3.0 had been out long enough for backward compatibility issues with USB 2.0 to have been ironed out but this doesn't seem to be the case.

Another problem I have just discovered is that Scarlett 2i4 interface generates noise to the organ audio input when not powered by the USB line. Since my console is not full time dedicated to Hauptwerk, this is a major drawback, as I have to physically disconnect the audio cables between the console and the interface to be free of that noise when practicing without HW. This does not occur with the Steinberg UR-22 interface nor even with the laptop onboard sound device (when it's connected but turned off).

Already sent some inquiries to Focusrite. I will let you know when and what I receive from them.

To clarify this issue for anyone considering the Focusrite Scarlett range of audio interfaces. We are not seeing issues with Focusrite software or drivers but with PC manufacturer's supplied USB 3.0 drivers. In the three cases I experienced using three different hardware modules on my motherboard the problems were solved by getting the latest drivers from Intel, VIA, and ASMedia.

It's easy enough to bypass Focusrite if you go to the computer manufacturer's support, find their latest driver versions, and then double check the OEM vendor's sites for possibly even newer drivers. I only suggest Focusrite because their support is stellar and they will guide you through this process.

One would think that USB 3.0 had been out long enough for backward compatibility issues with USB 2.0 to have been ironed out but this doesn't seem to be the case.

Another problem I have just discovered is that Scarlett 2i4 interface generates noise to the organ audio input when not powered by the USB line. Since my console is not full time dedicated to Hauptwerk, this is a major drawback, as I have to physically disconnect the audio cables between the console and the interface to be free of that noise when practicing without HW. This does not occur with the Steinberg UR-22 interface nor even with the laptop onboard sound device (when it's connected but turned off).

Already sent some inquiries to Focusrite. I will let you know when and what I receive from them.

I will be interested to hear what you find out. I've found that the preamps on organ consoles can be quite terrible. I have a Johannus console and I cant stand to plug anything into it. The console itself even emits a hum.... The only way to get rid of it is to turn the speakers completely off (which, fortunately my model has a switch to do.)

The pre and amp of both Roland C380 and Viscount P31 I use are ok with the Steinberg UR-22 and Realtek onboard sound device. There's no hum, no crackling, when those interfaces are connected to the organ input and computer (turned on), nor when they are physically connected but turned off (without USB power, computer turned off). The problem with the Scarlett 2i4 is that, when the computer is turned off (no power for USB line), or even when there's no USB connection/cable, its feeds a very periodic, strong and high pitch noise to the organ input. If I disconnect audio cables from the Scarlett, even if I leave the same cables connected to the organ input, the noises disappear. I have tried balanced and unbalanced cables, connected to both TRS and line outputs. No solution. It seems there's something peculiar to the Scarlett circuitry (related to grounding?) that does produce those noises when connected to a power amplification while still turned off. This is a problem to me because sometimes I do not intend to use Hauptwerk, only the original disposition and sound generation of the Roland console. In this case, since Scarlett purchase/installation, to avoid these noises I had to do the additional procedure of disconnecting cables between interface and organ input or turn down to zero the input volume of the organ sound system.

I'm really somewhat frustrated with this interface. Last, I have just discovered that the latest beta drivers (3.2.2) have problems changing ASIO samplerate, as does the official 2.5.1 release. Hauptwerk does not have the ability to change ASIO samplerate according to the native samplerate of the loaded organ. The user has to do it manually, opening the ASIO control panel through HW audio output setup and change samplerate accordingly. The previous two beta releases (3.2.1 and 3.1.0) does not have this problem. All that bug-out/bug-back thing makes me think there would be not much control on bug removal.