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Today's Bonus:
- Two high-quality award-winning Focusrite preamps
- High-quality 24-bit/96kHz USB interface
- Total I/O count of 8 inputs and 6 outputs
- Scarlett MixControl ultra-low-latency DSP mixer/router
- Xcite+ Software Bundle
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I have not experienced any of the issues that previous reviewers have encountered. I am running a Windows 7 desktop with a 6 core AMD processor and 8 GB of memory. I installed the software directly from the Focusrite website and was up and running quickly. This is the first interface I have bought for home recording and have found it relatively easy to use. The Scarlett Mix Control was a little confusing at first but after carefully reading the manual I have figured it out. I installed Ableton Lite with no issues and have also installed Reaper which is mainly what I have been using as far as DAW software. The pre-amps in this unit sound wonderful and I have been recording guitar and bass dry and adding effects afterwards and I am totally happy with the sound. I have been recording vocals with an Audio Technica AT-2040 mic and vocals sound great through these pre's. I don't know what to think about other reviews here but I have had no problems with this unit. I am a computer technician so I tend to pick up quickly on computer related things and out of the box I was up and running and starting to record in less than an hour after unpacking. And this from a guy who has never used a recording interface before. Focusrite has a great reputation and having used Focusrite preamps in the past I was sold on buying this unit and I am glad I did. I am completely satisfied and I highly reccomend the 816!I have owned the Presonus Firepod for 7 years and recently gave up my old desktop for a laptop which does not have firewire. So after 3-4 hours of research I decided on the Focusrite Scarlett 816. I read the issues about the latency/static/drivers but am a computer person and had exp with the firepod so I crossed my fingers and bought a factory refurbished model for $175, hoping I could deal with any issues that came up. I got the unit, and first off really like how compact it is compared to the monstrous Firepod, loaded the drivers turned it on, plugged in my bass and was able to hear it through my headphones...but there it was...the terrible glitchy static sound. I screwed around in my prefferences on Ableton for 10 mins like a dummy and then just went out and registered the Scarlett and downloaded the new drivers, rebooted everything, and then plugged back in and everything was perfect and i was relieved. I goofed around with it for 5-10 mins with no effects and was impressed with how warm my Peavy Cirrus sounded just straight in. It is early, but to me it had a much warmer and authentic sound than the Firepod. (In the pod's defense it is 7 year old technology.) As for the unit itself, it is nothing fancy to look at but made solid with well made knobs and looks like it is made to do what it is supposed to do with no frills...which I don't have a problem with. I have not tested the phantom power which I need to do but may update once I test with Audio-Technica 4040. I am rating this a tentaive 5 stars assuming it will continue to work as it did on the initial tests.The Good:
1. Seems to sound better than Firepod
2. Compact and light. Runs very cool compared to Pod.
3. Appears solidly built
The Bad:
1. Faulty out of box software drivers.I went out and bought the Scarlett 8i6 at the local music store the salesman there, who runs his own home recording studio, didn't have any qualms about the piece. And after owning it overnight, I do not either.
Sure there were driver updates to go through, but that took an hour and a half, maybe two hours. So I started updating, and took a few breaks, watched some football. After that, the system was ready to go, and I was able to record my first song after following some of the ableton directions. I guess a possible source for poor quality may be in the sound: I don't really know because I didn't hook up any monitors yet (I've gotta save up for those first).
So maybe I'll check back in a little while to see if I'm having the same problems as everyone else. Hopefully not, but I guess there's always a return policy.
Fingers crossed.
Edit: Ok, so I've now been using the interface steadily: I have no problems with the 8i6. In my opinion, it is a fantastic tool for all my small home recording needs. It comes with Ableton Live Lite 8, which is great for just about anything. I would recommend this to anybody starting to record music, and I'm sure it will still work wonders for a trained studio musician looking for an interface.For the price, this is a great interface. Never had one problem with is honestly. It is a drag that to turn it on you have to plug it in. Very odd. Doesn't have an on and off switch (that I know of). If it's plugged it is on, if not its not. That's a drag but I can get over it. maybe 2% of the time I plug it in and the signal is totally weird. All I do is reset it and the problem is always gone. This is a great interface, easy to use reliable and well made. I highly recommend it. I run it through logic 8 and it is great.
I had first considered the Akai EIE Pro when it first came out but decided that I should wait to see what bugs may have arisen. It seems like there are several issues with this model from what I have read and more than I care to even consider dealing with.
I then researched both Tascam's US600, Native Instrument's Komplete Audio 6, and the Scarlett. All seemed to be what I was looking for but after reading that the Komplete has considerable latency issues with the analog inputs (having to do with analog->digital sound conversion I think) that there is no solution for (as confirmed by NI) I knew that the Komplete was no longer an option.
So it came down to the US600 and the Scarlett 8i6. After much deliberation and consulting a few friends, the Scarlett 8i6 dropped to ~$190 around Thanksgiving so I took a chance and picked it up.
It was very simple to set this up with Ableton, almost plug and play. Took me just a little while to configure Ableton so that my Ultranova would route audio through the Scarlett. I have had NO issues whatsover with this and am super stoked that I made the right decision with this interface. The sound quality is pristine, the build is nice, and although I have not hooked up a mic to check out the quality of the preamps, I have opened many tracks in Ableton with A LOT going on at the highest quality audio and have not had one instance where there was clicks, pops, or latency that was noticeable (I think the latency in Ableton is set to .86ms) running on an HP with 8GB of RAM and a 3.2 GHZ processor.
It also works great when set to be the PC's default audio card.
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