Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 3rd Gen USB Audio Interface for Recording, Producing and Engineering — High-Fidelity, Studio Quality Recording, with Transparent Playback

Product Information

The Focusrite Scarlett 18i20, a USB audio interface for Mac and PC, is the flagship of the acclaimed Scarlett interface series. Focusrite offers a selection of software you can use to get started, including the digital audio workstations (DAWs) Ableton Live Lite and ProTools Artist, and a three-month subscription to Splice Sounds.

Once I had downloaded the 32bit version, I was able to run the Korg Legacy Pack from within Ableton, alongside the 32bit version of GuitarRig 5. On top of this you also get a free three month subscription to Avid® Pro Tools Artist® Subscription. The Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 3rd Gen USB Audio Interface features the best preamps ever used in a Scarlett audio interface and the largest range of I/O in the line. Super easy setup and I honestly expected the Focusrite nit to sound quite as good as the much more expensive RME but I was really surprised with the quality of the pre amps and DAC on the Focusrite kit. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.With 25 years experience as digital audio engineer this thing is the craziest routing software I've EVER seen. It is included with the Scarlett USB audio interfaces, Clarett Thunderbolt™ and Clarett USB Focusrite ranges. So I have all 10 line outputs available for outboard processing (actually 18, bc I've attached a second 18i20 via ADAT so I have 16 analog inputs and 18 analog outputs, enough to do all my mixing outboard).

But for me to even consider them I'd need a professional sound booth, and once were going down that route then the cost rises considerably and is outside the scope of who this device is actually targeted at. Line would be for powered devices like a synth or a guitar that's run through an external amp, or any other kind of line input. Focusrite Control makes it simple to route your audio and cue mix, loopback and monitor mixes, from your Mac®, PC, iPad®, iPhone® or iPod touch®.I bought this as a successor to my trusty Delta 44 PCI soundcard, which doesn't support versions of Windows later than 7. The free/open source community will fix the driver issues in time, and the device is already quite usable, but all the troulbe make one beg the question: why make things so difficult, Focusrite? on 1st Generation Scarlett 18i20 also requires a manual change to the channel integer value in Audio MIDI Setup (see this article). The Hitmaker Expansion has everything you need to bring big studio sound to your songs, with an unbeatable range of record-making studio tools from the biggest names in the business.

I measured it with RightMark Audio Analyser - frequency response and noise plots are shown in the attached screenshots. To make things simpler still, Focusrite has included a “Quick Start Tool” and put together an impressive and comprehensive package of free software, some in the box and some available for download, which includes Ableton Live Lite, Pro Tools Artist, Focusrite Red Plugin Suite, Focusrite Control, Softube Time and Tone Bundle, a three-month subscription to Splice Sounds, and a software tool of four XLN Audio Addictive Keys of your choice. Your recordings will retain all of their sonic qualities so that you can hear all the details in your track on playback. A pair of virtual loopback inputs are also present so you can capture the stereo feed of any combination of hardware input and software playback which is ideal for podcasting and livestreaming. Generally, these cookies are only created based on actions you take in response to a service request, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in, or filling out forms.The revamped mic preamps can emulate the Air effect of Focusrite's original ISA mic preamp on demand, giving your vocal and acoustic recordings a more transparent sound. All you have to do is register your gear, and Focusrite Control will be featured in your Focusrite account. I hope in the future that Focusrite will cooperate more with the Linux community to provide a version of Focusrite Control for this platform so that this workaround is not necessary.

The Eight combination input mic preamps will give a natural and colour free edge to your recordings. This impressive 18in/20 out is perfect for all your recording needs, whether that is vocalists, drum kits, synths or other various instruments. I recommend using a dedicated USB socket, preferably on the rear panel of the PC (desktop) rather than a Hub (Desktop/Laptop) so you enable the shortest path (better for lowering latency) and reducing noise/interference.With the lowest roundtrip latency in its range, the i20 will confidently and effortlessly record and monitor in real time with software effects. Generation 8i6 and 18i6 are discontinued products that are no longer covered under development support.