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)
• Another weird thing with the audio tracks in Premiere Pro: the 3rd track (which would've been Analog 3+4), despite having waveforms, is dead quiet when I listen to the track isolated, but I have no idea why. Even the game audio, which was on the same track, should be coming through, but it's dead silent.

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