Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 4th Gen USB Audio Interface, for Multitrack Recording, Music Production and Podcasting — High-Fidelity, Studio Quality Recording, and All the Software You Need to Record

***If you are looking for an industry professional or musician's take, read another review. I am neither.***I write this review with utter sadness, because I bought this after returning the Apollo Solo. That Apollo Solo was so beautiful. Sounded so fantastic. Had features I could only dream about. Sadly, my setup just could not handle it. One day, I will upgrade my hardware that includes a Thunderbolt 3 header. Then I can buy the X4 variant. Then the API and Maag EQ will be waiting for me in my UA account.With that obituary out of the way, let's talk about the Focusrite 8i6.I wanted something I could rackmount, but I did not need 8 mic preamps. I am just one person, and I am not recording a band, or having guests on a podcast or radio show. I am simply messing with "music", even though I am not a musician or audio engineer. I might just put this on a 1u rack shelf, because my space is limited. I encourage Focusrite to make something to make the smaller units rackmountable, even if I have to buy it separately. Thank you in advance.*Features*The features are straightforward. 4 line ins, MIDI, coax, 4 outs, 2 pres, 2 headphone jacks, and maybe some other things I forgot. That leaves plenty of flexibility for my personal setup. The one feature I am really loving is the Focusrite Control software. Very easy to use, and has a loopback feature. That is very nice, because I do not have to resort to Voicemeeter Banana. My setup hates Voicemeeter Banana. So anytime I can avoid that, I am one happy guy. The old 2i2 does not have the loopback feature. So now I can stream without having to use the native Windows drivers to stream.*Price*It's not UA level price, but it is not exactly cheap, either. If you do not need that many inputs or features, you might be better off getting something smaller. However, if you want loop back, etc., make sure you double check what the software offers you! Do not be afraid to look and ask around.*Included software*I am sure some will find the bundled software useful and good. I am sure it is wonderful. However, I have Ableton Live 11 Standard and Studio One 5 Pro. The included Control panel is really nice.*Would I recommend it?*Yes. If it suits your needs. There's lots of interfaces to choose from. The only advice I have for you is, do not fall for the shills or the gear snobs. They are not paying your bills. Always, always get what serves you best, and what is in your budget. The point is to have fun and be productive. Not show the size of your lollipop.

My Line 6 UX2 was fun in its time, but it was long past time for an upgrade. This Focusrite box is just about perfect for what I do. It has independent power instead of drawing from the USB port. It has 4 monitor outputs instead of the 2 I had. It has 2 headphone jacks as well so you can have another set of ears in the mix if you want. This box is also capable of supernatural sampling rates up to 192 khz. If we get bionic hearing someday we might notice it.Has a metal case instead of plastic. Setup could be accomplished by a 5 year old in about a half hour. If you don't hear your headphones, reinstall the drivers, restart, and make sure you click the follow up prompt when you login to finish. Then everything is controlled in the Focusrite Control software. The only thing that sucks about the software is you can't use the sliders with the mouse, you have to physically turn the volume knobs. The software just provides a graphic to show the levels. Not a big deal, but sometimes a person's interface is buried so you have to reach. Would be nice of the sliders controlled the knobs as well, but that is a motion controller that would have to be soldered into the next model with code written for it. Might not be able to keep it under 500 bucks that way.The 18i8 is meant to make music or podcast, but it is a great base for an entertainment system. Movies with quad monitors where you can control the pans to get it dialed in perfectly to your location in the room. Yeah, might want to rewatch star wars after setting something like that up. PvP gaming is insane because you can setup the quads to where you can hear footsteps from any direction, like you are actually getting jumped.

Why did you pick this product vs others?:If you are looking for a good. interface this is it works well. The studio program is way more complicated then what need to be I don't use it.

This is great hardware. I use to do my production hobby work on a desktop that died prematurely. My previous incarnation I ran a R-Bus into my Roland VM-3100 and additionally ran a SoundBlaster Emulator X. Unfortunately running those on an outdated laptop was not an option.I recently purchased a HP Laptop and tried running FL Studio. The audio out was lacking so I decided to look into audio interfaces and their software bundles. I already own an outdated version of Reason, Cubase, and Ableton. So I wanted to see what could I beef up my arsenal with. After seeing what Focusrite had I was thoroughly impressed. My next need was midi i/o. Again I had outboard gear in the form of two MidiSport 8x8. This filled in that gap with it being MIDI capable. My next option was multiple audio inputs and outputs. This more than covered my needs. I just needed a headphones out and it has two. I also needed something to connect my monitors and this was covered. I can chain my MIDI and use my patch bay if needed to route audio in. This device covered more than I needed which is perfect!Setup was pretty much straightforward but a tiny bit awkward. Everything on the Focusrite side is in perfect condition. Downloading everything is simple due to a lack of a DVD drive.Unfortunately I hit a brick wall with the software bundle. Some of the instructions are lacking. After finding a way to download most of the software I found myself at a crossroads. ProTools decided to discontinue their support of PT First. So that DAW isn’t an option for use. You’ll have to rely on Ableton’s Live in order to get any production work done.My other issue is with a bundled reverb. It crashes my DAW of choice every single time. I have a support ticket open for it so who knows if there’s a fix or if it’s just a problem with my configuration. There’s a lot of people with the same issue and different DAWs…???Overall I love my new system. It’s been able to resurrect my love of production.