Anyone have experience with focusrite audio interfaces?

Z

zeke

Well-known member
I’m looking at either the Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 (usb 2 interface) the saffire pro 40 (firewire interface, but otherwise identical to the Scarlett 18i20) or the Focusrite Liquid Saffire 56 (firewire interface). All the reviews I’ve read or seen have been very positive. Would like to hear from someone with extensive real world experience.

If these audio recording boxes are as good as the reviews say they are, they have an excellent cost/performance ratio.

I'll be using a laptop (Dell 4800 laptop workstation) which has built in USB 3 ports. I can add firewire via expresscard if needed.
 
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I do not qualify as having extensive experience but I will tender my opinion anyway. My brother tried a focusrite on a PC and had no luck at all with the USB and brought it back. We eventually got the m-audio one working but it wakes up often forgetting it's configuration. I find all the usb audio interfaces fiddley and horrible. I use direct boxes, a mixer and an m-audio card card in my PC for midi and audio. good luck
 
hscully said:
I do not qualify as having extensive experience but I will tender my opinion anyway. My brother tried a focusrite on a PC and had no luck at all with the USB and brought it back. We eventually got the m-audio one working but it wakes up often forgetting it's configuration. I find all the usb audio interfaces fiddley and horrible. I use direct boxes, a mixer and an m-audio card card in my PC for midi and audio. good luck
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Funny, I've heard just the opp0site, that firewire is problematic and the latest USB interfaces are superior (based on latest usb chipsets in laptops). Since I'm using a laptop, no option (even if I wanted to) of using an internal card. BTW, you didn't mention which focusrite product.
 
I have a pro 40 and have used it w/ a macbook running 10.6.8 and it has been very solid. I've not had the chance to use it with my new mbpro. I also regularly record at a friends place he has a 56 in to some sort of pc and again has always been rock solid. They are both great bit of kit for the money (IMHO).
 
SoundMonger said:
I have a pro 40 and have used it w/ a macbook running 10.6.8 and it has been very solid. I've not had the chance to use it with my new mbpro. I also regularly record at a friends place he has a 56 in to some sort of pc and again has always been rock solid. They are both great bit of kit for the money (IMHO).
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Literally every review I've read says the same thing. 8 mic preamps, onboard compression, plug-ins, plus with 8 line outs I can do 7.1 mix if I want to.
 
Mac's since OSX came in have been pretty happy campers with USB and FW devices. Windows has less built in support for devices, especially FW.

Of course now Apple has dropped FW so... Point is that most problems with either are driver related. So that is what I would google. Your specific laptop and OS + the device + "driver problems".

The products them selves are good but how "good" they are for you really depends on how well they play with your particular computer/ OS.

I do the same for Mac since audio devices usually need a driver on any system and some are written a lot better than others.
 
Yes, I've already checked out which expresscard based firewire ports work with Focusrite products. I'm inclined toward that so I can use the USB 3 ports for external storage devices. I'll have to check about driver issues with Dell laptops running Windows 7.x 64bit.
 
On the other hand.....Sonnet makes a great dual port 6GB SATA port for the expresscard slot. It will also support SATA raid. Decisions, decisions.
 
For what it worth, Focusrite Scarlett products are USB audio class compliant. That means you should be able to use them on (m)any computers having an USB2.0 port without requiring a dedicated driver (incl. Linux or iPad). It should work out-of-the-box with the system provided USB audio driver.

But, firmware upgrade and the hardware mixer application ("Scarlett Mix Control") for Scarlett 6i6 USB interface and above are only available for Windows and Mac OS (http://global.focusrite.com/downloads?product=Scarlett+6i6). As many important configuration options are only available through "Scarlett Mix Control", that means if you use any system other than the two officially supported, you will occasionally need to use a Windows or Mac OS computer to have access to the full capabilities of your USB audio interface.

This is not an issue for zeke as I assume you will be using Windows on your laptop. But for other users coming to this thread by a search, it might worth considering.


If the real issue is with the USB/FW choice, you have some devices having both of them. Like the Berhinger FCA1616 (USB audio class compliant too, but with many more controls on the front panel -- thus not requiring to use any software configuration tool). This is only a suggestion as I don't know if its other features will match your needs.

- Sylvain
 
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I have used a Motu firewire interface with my Toshiba laptop for years. It has worked with no problems at all under Win7 64 bit. Had some problems with lack of 64bit ASIO drivers under Vista before the 7 upgrade so it only worked in 2 channel mode, didn't fully support all 8 channels on the box. I use it for FFT real time analysis for acoustic environment measurements and for tuning audio systems. Will be adding a firewire card and connecting it to my new edit workstation for voice over recording.
I picked the MOTU because it has full time code functionality for video and can act as a master or slave. With USB interfaces it is recommended to plug them into the same USB port on your laptop every time. Serial port assignment in the OS and software may not automatically follow if you connect to a different port than the one it was initially set up on.
Focusrite has a reputation for excellent analog preamps.
 
I've had my Saffire Pro 40 for the past few years and it's been flawless. The only downside is that it only goes up to 96kHz. I've been wanting to get the MOTU 828mk3 Hybrid for it's versatility and 192kHz. I've used both the Pro 40 and 828mk3 on big budget things and both have been flawless.
 
If you are thinking Motu, you might want to consider a Traveler Mk3 though it is firewire only, not USB. It has 4 good phantom preamps, more inputs and outputs than you can count which are programable, can be powered from multiple sources including firewire power from your laptop. (check that if you are using an expansion card) Think of it like the Swiss Army Knife of interfaces. The Motu software has a learning curve, which for me has been the only drawback.

Grant
 
Thanks for the advice everyone. The traveler Mk3 is a little out of my price range, plus I don't have mics to take advantage of 192khz recording. Most of the time, it will be in 16bit 48khz for voice recording. The focusrite is AC only, so will have to get creative with power solutions when in the field.
 
I recently acquired the Focusrite Saffire Pro 24, and I'm very happy with it's build quality and performance.

Im running Mac so FW was my first choice the Scarlett series needs some workaround on Maveric if I'm not mistaken.
 
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