My Scarlett 18I20 stopped working. As a result of a recent storm, the device is no longer recognized by any computer (I tried different computers and cables). I am now faced with a decision: should I have it fixed, or buy a new interface. Scarlett has always been a bit of a pain under Linux. Anyone has any suggestions which interface would be the most problem free?
BUS: USB or PCI
8 tracks would be ideal
MIC PRE included
I also have a behringer BCF2000 that I would like to use with it.
Pretty much what Scarlett has, but working better under Linux
Hi there,
Despite old string, I feel the question is still relevant.
@michielderoo - There is a GUI over the ALSA mixer here: https://github.com/x42/scarlett-mixer that can be used to do the mixing Scarlett’s mixing under Linux (or so I understand). It’s quite recent (April 2018). There used to be another option here: http://breizhme.net/alsajson/mixers/ajg#/ but it seems like that link no longer works. Here’s the GitHub project it referred to though: https://github.com/fulup-bzh/AlsaJsonMixer, which is still there. Searching in GitHub, there are a few more projects around this.
I thought I’d mention it.
I have seen Soundcraft Ui24R on the net. Anyone tried using this device? I cannot find any details on recording quality but I assume it’s not that good (otherwise they would advertise it).
I haven’t looked into it lately, but the Soundcraft Ui series wasn’t designed by Soundcraft originally, they bought a different company and they were surprisingly noisy when released finally as ‘Soundcraft’.
Unless things have changed since released I wouldn’t look to them for great quality at this point.
Thanks for that. What is interesting about this device is that all mixing is controlled from a browser. This means full Linux compatibility (as far as browser is compatible with HTML5). Are there any other units that would be fully compatible with Linux (or use web mixer interface)?
I have both the 18i20 first gen and second gen, and I don’t have any problems with it under Linux. And I use it under Linux on a daily basis. What kind of problems did you have with it?
You can also try to find a card that has no internal mixer, then you don’t have problems using it under Linux One of those is Behringer UMC1820. The usual warnings about Behringer build quality goes here
Another one is M-Audio M-Track Eight. I have no experience with this device, but according to these pages the device is USB Class Compliant:
Both “MOTU Ultralite AVB” and “Soundcraft Ui24R” have web interfaces for their mixers. That means the mixer can be controlled from a web browser. I am sure that there must be others.
Soundcraft Ui24R can record at 48KHz/24BIT. It is a completely redesigned unit, different from Ui16.
MOTU can do 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192 kHz at (I think) 24 Bits
So Motu is better recording quality, I like that Ui24R has all inputs on the front panel and you can attach an HDMI monitor, keyboard and a mouse directly to the unit if you need to. It can also record directly to a USB.
Not sure what quality I “really” need. To be on the safe side, I would say I’d like 96Khz/24Bit but I don’t know if I get any benefit since normally I would scale down to 44Khz/16Bit stereo after mix.
Alsa has had support for the internal mixer of the 18i20 (at least the 1st gen, which what I have) for a while. It’s a little tricky to navigate, but using alsamixer I believe you are able to change every setting.
Don’t know if it’s possible to upgrade firmware under Linux but I doubt it.
If I had to buy one now, I would try the Soundcraft. Mainly because it has plenty mic preamps and onboard compression. It’s unclear though if it is class compliant. It’s also unclear if the signal goes to the USB interface after the compressor or before (like an insert). So I would really have to try it.
If I didn’t care about mic preamps and all the other features, I would choose the MOTU, mainly because MOTU has a very good reputation on audio interfaces. You can be sure this is a high quality interface.
I had to repair my Focusrite Saffire twice. Once i’ve burnt the Firewire port, just replaced the firewire chip on the board. The second time the power supply blow up. I’ve contacted to Focusrite and they shipped the new power supply to me. So I think it’s not very critical.
If you want to throw away your device, please ship it to me instead :).
In the past motu had a lot of problems on linux. but i m not aware of the recent developments… I m a big fan of RME and multifaceII and other cards are well supported under linux. but then you might need extra mic pres…
Lets be clear, in the past MOTU was outright HOSTILE to Linux development. Most manufactuerers just wouldn’t support it, MOTU was hostile.
That being said, that is the past, and I spoke with some folks a few years ago when they first launched their AVB interfaces that were at least open to the idea, so maybe things change.
I use a MOTU 16A which is listed as class compliant. It is a little finicky in that I need to fully boot the interface up and plugin the USB BEFORE I start my laptop (running Ubuntu Studio 16.04 - not sure if this is universal to all linux distributions or an Ubuntu issue). I had been running a Tascam US-16x08 - that also works, but there was some initial fandangling to get it recognized (going off memory but before JACK was integrated in Ardour, I think I had to manually set inputs and outputs and save the devices profile). I record nearly every rehearsal of my band and have 12 simultaneous tracks going - not using the full compliment of 16, but overkill nonetheless - so number of in’s was important to me when selecting an interface.
The control software won’t run under wine either.
One of those is Behringer UMC1820. The usual warnings about Behringer build quality goes here