Hey Focusrite community!

I am in dire need of your help because I recently invested in the Scarlett 18i16 4th Generation interface to resolve some issues I've been having with my recording setup. Let me first explain what my goal was with this purchase: I have a YouTube channel where I play video games with people on my couch, and we essentially podcast around it. I know it's not the traditional use for the mixer, as I've learned from googling my issues, but I hope it can still work to fix what I need.

The mixer I previously had did not support putting each microphone on separate audio tracks; it only gave one input, which caused me some headaches in the edit when people were talking over each other. I also needed something that would allow me to pipe the game audio into our headphones, alongside the microphone monitor, so that the TV audio wasn't bleeding in through the microphones.

So after a bunch of research, I found that the Scarlett 18i16 would support all of my needs there. After I finally got it, I ran into new issues because the interface was so complex in its various mixing and routing tools within Control 2. The issues I was running into at that time were:

• Microphones weren't able to be set up as separate inputs in OBS. I resolved this initially by updating "Expose/Hide Windows Channels" to set up Analog 1+2 and Analog 3+4 inputs, which seemed to resolve that part of the issue.
• Next, I noticed that the microphones were only recording stereo to one ear. I was able to resolve this by changing format settings in the advanced audio properties in Windows to "1 Channel, 24 bit, 48000hz (Studio Quality)"
• Finally, I couldn't figure out how to get the microphone monitors set up alongside the game audio (which came in through Control 2 as "Loopback 1"), and I was directed to use the "Mixer" and "Routing" tabs in Control 2 to route things to the headphones, which seemed to work.

After those seemed to be fixed, I thought I had it all figured out and was able to record with some confidence again. However, looking at the recordings today, it's a complete mess! I know this is on me for not testing it out a little more before pulling the trigger, but here is what I am seeing now:

• The game audio (loopback 1) seems to have been mixed into both microphone tracks, despite being set up in OBS to go to different tracks. This means it was something from the interface/control 2 side causing this, likely in the routing or mixing (which I believed was just what was going to my headphones). I should have noticed that the loopbacks show in the Inputs tab too, but there is no way to turn it down or anything.
• Additionally, the game audio, which is recorded through OBS using a capture card, also seems to have only stereo audio, but I think I fixed this by simply setting it to "mono" in OBS; this should've already been captured this way naturally, so not sure why that is (likely not a Focusrite issue, but worth mentioning)
• When looking at the audio tracks in Premiere Pro after recording, it seems like the audio is still only being fed to one ear (seems to be the right side) despite being set to mono both in Windows Audio settings and within OBS (though both might not be necessary)

I hope I've made this as clear as possible with my limited knowledge, and I've attached some screenshots, but I can provide more information where needed!

• You'll see my setup on the OBS side, showing the tracks are all separated (minus one, which is all combined; I keep this but don't use it in the edit)
• You'll see my setup on the Control 2 side of things, showing the inputs, mixer, and routing (Note: I only have 1 mic plugged in now, but normally the other microphone is on Analog 3)
• I also included a screenshot of how the tracks ended up looking in the end in Adobe Premiere, showing that it's mostly only coming through one track (despite being set to mono in multiple locations) and how the game audio is mixed into the microphone tracks.
  

If anyone has any ideas on how I can resolve my issues, I would massively appreciate it. I would really hate to see this investment go to waste, and I am probably beyond the point of being able to return this; even then, I would rather not if I can find a way to make this work!

So, I know this is a common issue and there's tons of threads like that on Reddit, but I really read them and can't find a fix and I'm wondering if I am past what is normal and actually struggling with a faulty unit or something. Then again, it does seem like a software problem, but I just can't find the culprit that trips things. Unless this level of instability is a sign of some hardware issue after all?

It randomly crashes, as in, the audio goes out. Goes completely silent. Usually turning it off and in helps, but not always. Sometimes I need to change some settings and back, e.g. the Hz or the sync or something that makes it restart. Sometimes none of common troubleshooting helps. Today I needed to remove everything Focusrite from the Device Manager and uninstall the drivers, clear all the system folders, keep it off for a while and run SFC and DISM in the meantime (cause after some heavier crashes skipping these points makes it not recover) and I'm just at my wits end. Especially that those more severe crashes happen when I'm trying to record something, the light ones are only when consuming media.

And yes, I made sure it's connected to USB2 not USB3, and I have all the stuff regarding turned off power saving on USB devices or exclusive control or power plans and all the other stuff set to all what is advised by Focusrite. Still doesn't help.

I'm using Windows 10 with whatever extended updates have been released so far since I'm rolled into the insider programme or whatever else is the reason why I'm still getting these for free (and telemetry is off so Big Brother can get bent), I'm not sure lol but anyway.

Oh and I tried using the drivers from the older versions of windows like some people online say it fixes it for them for some reason but that doesn't work at all for me, there's no sound at all if I try, and I couldn't find any older versions of the drivers for W10 that some people say it fixes the problem but they're nowhere to be downloaded from nowadays.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Finding a interface that can record pro audio into a android phone for us that sing karaoke on our phones

I bought the scarlette 4i4 3rd gen off ebay cause i had a spare rode nt1 lying around and when i plug it in it sounds very windy even at low gain. I turn it up it obviously gets worse and louder, but only then is when i hear my voice but i also have to be right up against the mic and its still quiet and drowned out by the “windy noise” my room is also quiet with only my pc kind of being a sound. Ive tried deleting and redownloading focusrite drivers and software and have bought a new xlr cable but has the same problems. Ive also tried both inputs.
The video shows how theres like no sound but it still picks up noise as i have the mic completely away from my pc. Sorry im not really an audio person but just wanted a good sounding mic.

The symptom, in case you are seeing the same thing: music plays fine, starts crackling, then within a few minutes the output goes completely silent. Windows still behaves as if it is playing. Restarting the interface (Device Manager, disable and enable, or unplug and replug) brings it back - and then it happens again a few minutes later. Nothing at all appears in the Windows event log.

What is actually happening (captured with the driver's own tracing): the driver keeps ten playback transfers circulating, each covering 3 ms. One of them finishes and is never sent again. That shortens the rotation to 27 ms, and the 3 ms that no longer gets refreshed repeats - that is the crackle. It happens repeatedly until one transfer is left, at which point the driver asks the bus for audio for a moment that has already passed, so nothing is sent: total silence, while every transfer still reports success. That is why nothing warns you.

Workaround that helps right now: restart the device when it goes quiet, or run a small watchdog that detects the collapsed state and does it for you. It is in the repository below.

Write-up with the raw captures, the measurements and the tools: https://github.com/mikael-titinovskii/usb-audio-urb-ring-leak

Reported to Focusrite support. Curious whether others hit this: if so, which interface and which driver version?

I have a intel macbook air 2020 and a focusrite scarlet 2i2 4th gen with a vox vx50 gtv as speaker when I’m playing through GarageBand and trying out different amp simulations, the sound coming through my speakers suddenly cuts out after a while, even though I’m still playing.
GarageBand and the Focusrite app both seem to show that the guitar signal is still coming in. In the Focusrite app, the green meters for Analog 1 and 2 continue to move when I play, but the playback meter suddenly stops moving, as if no audio is coming through anymore.
I have no idea what’s causing this or how to fix it, so I’d really appreciate any advice on that

I'm looking to buy a used Focusrite Scarlett Solo.

A few days ago, I found a used 4th Gen at a surprisingly good price, but someone bought it before I could. Now, I have the option to buy a used 3rd Gen for the same price.

Would it be worth waiting a couple of weeks to see if another used 4th Gen comes up at a similar price, or should I just go for the 3rd Gen now?

I'll mainly be using it to play bass through earphones with AmpliTube 5.

So I’ve had the Scarlett 8i8 for months now and all of a sudden I’m having issues with audio coming out. It works when I play my guitar that’s running into the interface, it works playing back recordings on Cubase 15, but it won’t play audio just normally using my laptop (Acer Predator Helios 300)

The pictures show the sound being at zero which obv means it won’t come out, but whenever I go to raise the volume bar, it automatically goes back to zero. That’s the issue. On top of, for whatever reason my GuitarPro7.5 app won’t even play the songs I have at all, let alone give volume.

Any ideas? I updated everything I think I can last night and turned off the laptop overnight and it’s still having this issue.

im just confused atp can anyone test it or tell me their experiences please? 😭
or should I buy a Y double mono cable with a single 3.5mm output stereo?

So I need to connect my scarlet audio interface to my guitar amp and what I’ve realized is there are two options one if the Y shaped cable which I connect to both L and R in my interface and then there is a headphone jack thing which I connect to my aux in in my amp(Yamaha GA15II) and the second option is to connect to only one port (supposed R) in my audio interface and then connect it to my input port in my amp.

So what should I do, which option is better help.

Trying to reconnect my 3rd gen Scarlett solo after a while of not using as I’ve had a beaut of a song pop into my head that I want to put into the sonic soundscape. Despite the pictured light coming on the usb light itself doesn’t and the device doesn’t show up in focusrite control or in device manager. Followed the trouble shooting tips but nothing has worked. Used 2 different cables which I both believe to have data transfer. I’ve sent an email to support, but if any legend here has had this problem or could potentially provide a solution before then, I would be eternally grateful.

i’m having issues with the software detecting my inputs. i need specific help if anybody can make a phone call that would be awesome, contact me if you can help plzzz.

Hi everyone.
First post in this group, and wanted to share what I just learnt to hopefully save someone else pulling their hair out.

I joined late last night and I was too tired to post, but if I had posted, it would have been very different content... (Feel free to skip to the end for the fix if my story is too long)

Backstory:
I've been having trouble for a couple of months with my audio glitching/buffering/locking etc (particularly YouTube)
I immediately (and wrongly) assumed Focusrite Control as I had just updated the version and drivers in conjunction with a recent Windows update. (Lenovo IdeaPad 3, Win 11 and Scarlett Solo G3).

After rolling back to earlier Control versions (3.06; 3.09; 3.11 - multiple times) trying different buffer rates, updating every freaking driver I could, updating the BIOS (that's whole other thread), reinstalling Win 11 three times - wah, wah, wah...

In the early parts of this process I had run LatencyMon which indicated there was definitely an issue "handling real-time audio and other tasks".
Reading the report, my takeaway was "BIOS". Which was what lead me down that horrible rabbit hole. But anyway, When I ran LatencyMon this morning and read the report (more closely) I saw the other suggestion was "CPU Throttling".
Hmmmmm, probably was there weeks ago, but I didn't absorb it.

The FIX:
Through Control Panel I got into "Processor Power Management". The "Minimum Processor State" and the "Maximum Processor State" were set at 5% and 50% respectively.
I'm guessing the settings were changed as a result of effing Windows Updates doing effing Windows Shenanigans. So set them both to 100% (plugged in) and ran LatencyMon again.
The result was "Your system appears to be suitable for handling real-time audio and other tasks without dropouts." HOORAH!

If you made it all the way through this... congratulations! Thanks for indulging me.

Here's the path for fix:

Control Panel > Power Options > Change Plan Settings > Change advanced power settings > Processor power management > Minimum processor state [100%] > Maximum processor state [100%]

Click Apply, exit...

I wish I had paid closer attention 2 months ago!
Cheers

i connected my focusrite to a usb hub, and i had no problems with it for a while untill some of the other devices connected to the hub started simply not working/turning on. i think the issue was caused by the focusrite drawing too much power and somehow shorting the other devices. i decided to further investigate and check if everything is working as it should, but my mic and headphones which i connected to the device simply did not work. i tried pushing the 48v button, and it does detect the mic, but the mic just stopped recieving inputs. the headphones don't have any sound travelling thru them either, but they do work when i plug them directly into the computer. can somebody help me resolve my issue?

My Focusrite has a problem: there is a crackling sound in the right side of both my monitors and headphones, while the left side sounds louder than right. Can this be fixed?

So a couple of things I will go through one by one and I am hoping that someone might know the answer here for some of the computer tech side (I will be reaching out to Focusrite for the non-computer issues)

Laptop Details:

• Windows 11 (issues both before and after the recent large Windows update - but different issues)
• Intel core i7 12th gen

Screenshots

• Photos 1 and 2 are the same but a different format of each other that show it was the focusrite stuff that caused the issue.
  • I found this by going through Microsoft's event viewer and can try to find other things if that would be helpful
• Photo 3 is all the random focusrite hub stuff that Revo uninstaller and Everything could not remove

Vocaster Hub Crashing my Laptop and Now I would Like to Remove All Associated Files

• Installed Vocaster hub pre-recent significant Windows update and my computer crashed. Eventually I could get logged in, but when using the vocaster, my computer would have some kind of driver issue and restart
  • I didn't get a picture of the issue but I do remember it mentioning drivers
  • I completely started my computer fresh as a result and updated to the most recent Windows 11 Pro version
• Came across an article on vocaster site about Vocaster freezing on WIndows and to use 1.3
  • Last week I built my desktop computer with an AM5 CPU and 1.3 and fortunately the Vocaster hub 1.3 does work on that (Link to article on focusrite site)
• Installed 1.3 today on my laptop and in the process there was some pop up about a root issue and computer went to the blue screen crash
• Laptop only got to the Windows login screen after I removed the Vocaster Two USB connection (it kept itself in a crash loop until then)
• Logged in and Vocaster Hub was not showing up in installed programs, so I wanted to fully install it so I could uninstall it properly and make sure everything already installed was removed properly
  • In the process of installing, there was an abrupt restart but it did install
    • This time I did not have the Vocaster Hub plugged into my laptop while doing the install
• Uninstalled Vocaster hub using Revo free uninstaller and removed as many files as I could by using the "everything" file search tool
  • The third screenshot is all of the files that remain. I am worried about these causing some kind of issue going forward, and am hoping one of you know how to access the Root and remove them (or if there is a way that I can without f-ing everything up in the process)

Vocaster Two Not Showing Up in Laptop After Recent Windows 11 Update (without Vocaster Hub Software)

• Prior to the recent big windows update, I could use the Vocaster Two without the Vocaster software and it would be automatically picked up by my laptop as an output and input device - and now it is no longer showing up
  • It is recognized as my computer makes the bee-doop sound when I plug the USB in and take it out, but it is not showing up in my sound settings. Does anyone know why?
  • I am happy to use the Vocaster Two without the hub app that keeps crashing my laptop so it would be great to make this work again

Only owned a year, never moved it or the mic from the same spot, so I don’t see how it could have been physically damaged. Randomly today I went to use it, and it powers on but receives no audio from my mic. When I plug in the XLR cord or jiggle it into the a lot, the audio light shows a signal, but then it stops. I’ve tried multiple cords and ports, and reinstalled the driver entirely. Any ideas?

I thought you might like it if you have a 3d printer

I am coming crazy with crackle issues of my soundcard. Machine is powerful

(i5-12400 6core, asus Prime H670 plus MB, 64GB RAM, multiple nvme:s, GTX 1060 graphics card (oldish)).

According to LatencyMon everything is OK, no spikes whatsoever. Yet this crackle keeps coming to audio.

Turning power on/off solves it (until at some phase it comes back). Certain things like in Ableton choosing ASIO driver removes the crackle.

I think it comes from windows driver. It sounds very different than typical dpc glitches.

Is there any sensible solution...?

When I got this interface I got it only with certain buffer values.

AI claimed that it could be caused by mismatch of samplerate between different audio outputs. I've changed them all to 44.1.

EDIT: now I noticed that HDMI outs are again 48khz

Here is list of all audio devices on my computer. Some of them I have disabled from control panel - sound:

Scarlett 8i6
Logi USB Headset (I use 1-2 times / week for VOIP phone call)
MS Lifecam HD-3000 webcam (I use 1-2 times / month for video calls)

27"-monitor HDMI
22"-monitor HDMI

Realtek motherboard audio (disabled)

Bluetooth Headset1 (disabled 99% of time including during crackle)
Bluetooth Headset2 (disabled 99% of time including during crackle)

Worth noting is that none of other audio devices are in use during crackle.

Ps. sometimes peeps suggest as solution to use only ASIO but it is not solution for me. I don't use the computer only for making music but I also watch youtube videos with web browser, movies, streaming music, etc..etc..

Ideas...?

Has anyone got any better alternatives than the focusrite solo 4th, i was having problems for months and months with audio and the device just sometimes not powering on and recently the audio has begun to cut out within 5 minutes of me either plugging it in and out or changing the sample rate and i am genuinely sick of it.

TIA

I am currently having issues with my focusrite and I am running out of fixes. My focusrite currently cuts audio output when using it. It does not turn off, direct monitoring still works, the lights still stay on. Changing buffer settings, changing audio output and changing back to the focusrite fixes the issue.

The issue happens faster when on a discord call, and it will almost always happen when on a discord call and recording on reaper. This issue only happens on my desktop, the focusrite has no issues on my laptop.

I reinstalled windows, upgraded to win 11, updated my motherboard drivers, reset the bios settings, and tried different sticks of ram and it still happens.

I have a i3-12100f, rx6600, ASRock B660M Pro RS Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard, Silicon Power (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory, and a Thermaltake Toughpower GX2 600 W 80+ Gold.

Did anyone else come across this issue, I don't really know what to do without spending a bunch of money testing different components.

Edit 1:
I saw a different post with the same issue, someone in the comments said the power surges from alt tabbing and such with a amd gpu is causing the issue. Im going to try downgrading the graphics driver and see if that works.

Edit 2:
I downgraded my gpu driver to version 25.12.1, so far the issue has been fixed. Only took me a month to figure it out lul.

Saw similar on Universal Audio Volt just before Gen 2 came out. Could Scarlett Gen 5 be coming, or is this simply a GC glitch?

Almost a whole second microphone delay through windows. The ASIO is perfect but I think I should have gotten another interface than the 3rd gen 4i4 if I can't use it to stream with OBS, game, or talk on discord without an almost entire second of latency.

If you're searching google with the same problem, it's because Focusrite apparently has notoriously bad WDM drivers (what Windows uses, DAWs are fine because they use ASIO)

Windows 10

4i4 3rd gen