Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 3rd Gen Reviews

Great Product

I am currently using this Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 3rd Gen in my new studio.

The clarity is amazing, makes my drum sound cristal clean, you have a wide range of scope.

This is just a thought. I wonder if focus rite will ever make 1 device like this with 16 channels instead of having to buy two product.

Interface on another level

I have never in my life even remotely thought that interface can change my workflow this much. Integrated zero-latency hardware 1 bus mixer is game changer since... it works even if PC is turned off and interface is unplugged. It means that you can actually set this interface up in such way that when PC is off Scarlett 18i20 can behave as pass-through device passing any line-in of your choice (eg. inputs 7-8) directly to your main XLR monitors. It makes it really easy to connect multiple either balanced or unbalanced devices to monitors. Kinda like... monitor controller or actual mixer AND interface in one device.

Really nice. Value added by this device is simply incredible. Also it works under Linux (as of today there's kernel patch available on linuxmusicians fixing implicit USB feedback issue).

The only issue I have with this device it's that it has ONE bus mixer. Means you can create one "custom mix" aka virtual mixer (with whichever physical or software inputs you like) and then assign this one mix output it to whichever outputs you like but there's only ONE such stereo mix. It means that you can't for example pass line-in 7-8 to out 1-2 and line-in 5-6 to out 3-4 as that would require 2 independent virtual mixers which is not possible.

pros:

- standalone 1 bus mixer

- signal level meters and other back lit indicators look super dope

- 10 built-in output channels (a lot of devices have only 8). In general great i/o

- rubber caps to cover rack ears mounting holes if you don't use them

- kind of works with Linux as well as smartphones

cons:

- standalone ONE bus mixer

- i believe more controls should be exposed as physical buttons. Eg. AIR switch which is physical on some other Scarlett devices.

really good

A really good interface for the price. great preamps and control app.

side note: I wish it would've included a type c to type c cable...

Pretty solid rackmount. For the price this thing is great, but it's a little clunky in terms of operation when you first boot it up. Now that I'm used to it - it's fine, but there are definitely "better" interfaces out there if you're willing to spend the cash. But again - I like this and it works great for my needs now that the learning curve adjustment is over!