Problems with the hopeless Focusrite interface - request for recommendation of other equipment

[meizo]

Hi!
I've had the Focusrite Scarlett Solo 4th Gen interface for a long time now. I bought it despite people advising against it due to driver issues, crackling, and other problems. The only thing that surprised me was that when I turned the volume knob on my headphones, it would sometimes crackle, but it didn't bother me, and it seemed to me that the vocals were recording normally, and the sound in the headphones was fine until then. Once I tried to compress the vocals more than usual, it turned out that the vocals simply had moments of crackling and only heavy compression revealed it. Yes, it can be fixed with plugins, but that's not really what I mean. Today, since the algorithm likes to adapt to us, it decided to show me a guy who also complains about this equipment. Out of curiosity, I wrote to him and it turned out that he had the same symptoms as me and replaced the interface. I'm not really counting on fixing this problem. I've been trying to fight it for three days in various ways, and it looks like it's a flaw in the Focusrite equipment, especially since yesterday, out of nowhere, the sound from the headphones started crackling, and I had to change the buffer size to something else and then set it back to what it was before—only then did it stop. I am very dissatisfied, although I am comforted by the fact that I found a solution to remove these crackles from each project. What would you recommend instead? I want to record in real time sometimes, so I was considering the MOTU M2 (low latency) or Audient iD4 MKII or SSL2. Unless someone has a solution to the problem, but I suspect not, judging by the many negative reviews of this equipment.

Headphones: DT 770 PRO 80
My microphone: Warm Audio WA-47jr

Other:
Ryzen 7 5700x
RTX 3060 12 GB
RAM 2X8 16GB 3200 Mhz
Windows 11

Thank you in advance and best regards

 

[AnalogSteph]

Several possibilities I can think of there.

How old is your mo/bo BIOS? There were several fixes for audio issues over the years. fTPM related issues should have generally been solved but using an external TPM may still be the better option. It's this kind of stuff that made me stick with Team Blue last time I needed a new PC.

Also, overly tight RAM timings can result in glitches as well. 3200 generally shouldn't be too problematic though, it's more common with DDR4-3600. The chiplet-baseed AM4 CPUs are more prone to this than the monolithics.

GPUs can be interrupt hogs, with results varying by driver version.

See whether LatencyMon provides any insight.

 

[respice finem]

This is strange, the Focusrite interfaces are not really "trash class". I have a suspicion: Some mainboards have strange USB solutions - I have once had one that hasn't even "seen" a DAC on any USB port except one. I would suggest to try another port, and/or another USB cable. If all that fails, it's probably a case of "bus powered USB device" gone wrong.

 

[kemmler3D]

Good comments on the thread so far, but fwiw I've had a good experience with the M2.

 

[DVDdoug]

when I turned the volume knob on my headphones, it would sometimes crackle,

It's not unusual to get a dirty/noisy/scratchy volume control but it usually only happens after many years. There are spray cleaners that sometimes work. Normally you have to open the unit and spray from the inside/back but sometimes you can remove the knob and spray it in from the front. But there are some potentiometers that are sealed. You turn the thing off (or unplug form power, spray-in the cleaner and rotate the pot repeatedly. Usually it works.

and I had to change the buffer size to something else and then set it back to what it was before—only then did it stop.

That's not a hardware problem and it's not the drivers either, except that ASIO drivers (if your software supports them) can sometimes help.

Something is interrupting and "hogging" the system for a few milliseconds too long. The buffer isn't read in time, it overflows and you get a glitch. (with playback/monitoring you get buffer underflow when the buffer isn't re-filled in time.) Note that multitasking operating systems are ALWAYS multitasking and interrupting, even if you are only running one application and that's why we need buffers. LatencyMon should help you identify the problem there is a FREE online book called Glitch Free about optimizing Windows for audio.

 

[meizo]

Thank you for all your responses. Here is what I have already done:
1. Latencymon results:

2. I disabled power saving for USB in Device Manager
3. Game mode disabled
4. In the NVIDIA panel, I set the power saving mode to maximum performance
5. I connected two other cables to the interface and tested every possible USB port on the front and back
6. I disabled all other sound sources, such as the speakers connected to the back of the motherboard, in Windows
7. Accelerated GPU hardware processing disabled in Windows graphics settings
8. In the sound settings in the interface, I unchecked "allow applications to take exclusive control of this device"
9. I turned off virtualization in the BIOS
10. cpu power management/c state off

I also checked one project after purchasing the interface, and indeed, after compression, there is crackling in the vocals, so the problem has been there from the beginning, and now, with a sensitive ear, even without a microphone connected, I can hear crackling in the headphones from time to time. I have no idea what is going on here, I am leaning more towards the version and opinions of people who advised against purchasing this interface due to the lack of stability of the interface and drivers with Windows systems. I think that if there is so much criticism, it is not without reason. especially since, as I mentioned recently, I spoke to a guy from my country who had the same problems and they were resolved when he replaced the interface, in his case with a universal model.

My motherboard is an ASRock b450 pro4 with almost the latest BIOS. If this continues, I will probably change the interface to something better anyway, because I would like to record with a stable interface, and if the problem persists, I will have to find other solutions, so what would you recommend for this Warm Audio WA 47J microphone?

Good comments on the thread so far, but fwiw I've had a good experience with the M2.

What system are you using? I read that there are problems with drivers on Windows 11, maybe not like Focusrite, but some cases do occur.

Thanks you guys again!

 

[cmld]

I had a similar issue with my audio interface and my DAC. I tried various solutions I found online, BIOS settings, etc., but nothing helped. BUT the problem suddenly went away "on its own." I'm not sure what fixed it: maybe a Windows Update or an update to my NVIDIA graphics card drivers.

 

[phofman]

7. Accelerated GPU hardware processing disabled in Windows graphics settings

Would that not increase the CPU load, the contrary of what is trying to be achieved? Just guessing...

 

[meizo]

Would that not increase the CPU load, the contrary of what is trying to be achieved? Just guessing...

Today, I found many posts on the Microsoft forum with problems with this interface, identical to the ones I am struggling with. I try to test recording after each step to see if the problem has disappeared, so it doesn't really matter. Unfortunately, I'm slowly getting fed up, because how long can you fight this and put off work? If this continues and no one helps here or anywhere else, I'll be forced to buy a Motu M2 and see if the problem is still there, because I'm starting to suspect that it's the fault of the Focusrite drivers - which is what its users are writing about.

 

[respice finem]

It might, but OTOH many will not have problems, if only a few complain, probably. One possible chance before changing gear: "deep" uninstall all Focusrite drivers using Revo Uninstaller (the free option is OK), including settings, and then unplug, reboot and install them from scratch.

 

[digitalfrost]

I have 1st gen Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. Depending on the drivers you use, it works or it doesn't. I had an issue, where over time it would rack up ~4 seconds of delay. I used the interface for VoIP back then and when gaming it would start out in sync and then have 4 second delay at some point. You can image how well that worked. Their drivers are absolute garbage. If you happen to find one that works, stick with it. They split them into Win10/Win11 "compatible" but I found for example old Win10 drivers working better for me than the newer Win11 ones. Regardless I've moved on. I still use it for vinyl recording, that works well, but I will not buy another Focusrite interface.

If you want something that does not rely on drivers at all I recommend getting an interface that works with UAC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#Audio_streaming

This way you do not need to rely on driver support.

 

[TrevorFocusrite]

Hi!
I've had the Focusrite Scarlett Solo 4th Gen interface for a long time now. I bought it despite people advising against it due to driver issues, crackling, and other problems. The only thing that surprised me was that when I turned the volume knob on my headphones, it would sometimes crackle, but it didn't bother me, and it seemed to me that the vocals were recording normally, and the sound in the headphones was fine until then. Once I tried to compress the vocals more than usual, it turned out that the vocals simply had moments of crackling and only heavy compression revealed it. Yes, it can be fixed with plugins, but that's not really what I mean. Today, since the algorithm likes to adapt to us, it decided to show me a guy who also complains about this equipment. Out of curiosity, I wrote to him and it turned out that he had the same symptoms as me and replaced the interface. I'm not really counting on fixing this problem. I've been trying to fight it for three days in various ways, and it looks like it's a flaw in the Focusrite equipment, especially since yesterday, out of nowhere, the sound from the headphones started crackling, and I had to change the buffer size to something else and then set it back to what it was before—only then did it stop. I am very dissatisfied, although I am comforted by the fact that I found a solution to remove these crackles from each project. What would you recommend instead? I want to record in real time sometimes, so I was considering the MOTU M2 (low latency) or Audient iD4 MKII or SSL2. Unless someone has a solution to the problem, but I suspect not, judging by the many negative reviews of this equipment.

Headphones: DT 770 PRO 80
My microphone: Warm Audio WA-47jr

Other:
Ryzen 7 5700x
RTX 3060 12 GB
RAM 2X8 16GB 3200 Mhz
Windows 11

Thank you in advance and best regards

Hello, we are sorry to hear that you have had a poor experience with Focusrite. There are a handful of potential causes for audio issues when working with Focusrite interfaces, and we suggest that users experiencing problems such as dropouts or glitchy audio contact the support team. The support team is very successful when it comes to diagnosing audio issues and getting users back up and running, which allows the large community of Scarlett users to continue capturing and recreating high-quality audio. If anyone is experiencing issues of this nature, please reach out via live chat, email, phone, or via direct message to one of Focusrite's social media pages.

https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/requests/new

 

[Keith_W]

Hello, we are sorry to hear that you have had a poor experience with Focusrite. There are a handful of potential causes for audio issues when working with Focusrite interfaces, and we suggest that users experiencing problems such as dropouts or glitchy audio contact the support team. The support team is very successful when it comes to diagnosing audio issues and getting users back up and running, which allows the large community of Scarlett users to continue capturing and recreating high-quality audio. If anyone is experiencing issues of this nature, please reach out via live chat, email, phone, or via direct message to one of Focusrite's social media pages.

https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/requests/new

Welcome to ASR! Please get in touch with one of the mods @amirm or @RickS if you represent your company. Focusrite is discussed a lot here and your input would be valuable.

 

[iGmole]

Not sure if this is a thing anymore but Nvidia drivers can be problematic with DAW work. Something to do with the DPC latency already mentioned. I've had issues like this before and they were solved by ditching the Nvidia GPU and installing whatever AMD equivalent was available. Has worked at least twice on two different systems.

 

[dualazmak]

Have you ever tried your Focusrite Scarlett with Intel-CPU based motherboard? If not, it would be worthwhile to try...

 

[dualazmak]

Another minor (but free) suggestion worthwhile to try...
Have you ever checked your USB-device configuration using "USB Device Tree Viewer V4.6.0"?

I assume your PC-motherboard has multiple USB root-host-controllers. If this is the case, you may try to connect your Focusrite Scarlett to one of the USB root-host-controller's USB port on motherboard, and do not connect any other USB device to that USB root-host-controller.

 

[meizo]

For anyone looking for a solution after trying a multitude of steps to fix this: buying a different interface, in my case the Motu M2, I can't recommend it in the long run, but the problem was solved, so I blame the Focusrite drivers like many other users. Please note that everything works correctly for me with the appropriate optimization for recording on Windows 11. In the case of Focusrite, these steps did not help, and I suspect that Motu would work stably even without these steps, but I will not mess with it or roll back if everything is working fine now. For everyone, all the options I currently have under MOTU M2 and it works very well:
1. I disabled power saving for all USB in Device Manager
2. Game mode disabled (important - I noticed that there are bigger cracks in FL Studio when is on)
3. In the NVIDIA panel, I set the power saving mode to maximum performance
4. I installed Nvidia Studio drivers (don't worry about games, it's only 1-3 fps less).
5. I connected all other devices to USB 2.0, and motu M2 as the only device to USB 3.0.
6. In the power plan, the selective USB suspend setting is disabled and link-dependent power management is disabled on the PCI Express bus.

Note: Do not record with other programs running in the background.

Thank you all for your help! Apparently, it's not always our fault when there's a problem.

Hello, we are sorry to hear that you have had a poor experience with Focusrite. There are a handful of potential causes for audio issues when working with Focusrite interfaces, and we suggest that users experiencing problems such as dropouts or glitchy audio contact the support team. The support team is very successful when it comes to diagnosing audio issues and getting users back up and running, which allows the large community of Scarlett users to continue capturing and recreating high-quality audio. If anyone is experiencing issues of this nature, please reach out via live chat, email, phone, or via direct message to one of Focusrite's social media pages.

https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/requests/new

No, thank you. I turned to the forum and not to you for a reason. I heard about your great technical support. Fix your drivers first. Best regards.

 

[RPoitou]

I've been lurking here for many months and just joined in order to answer this particular thread simply because I happen to have exactly the same motherboard as the OP.
Brearing in mind that, yes, there are complaints about Focusrite all over t'internet it seems to me that the main hurdle to overcome is your overspecced PC - a computer for audio work does not need a powerful CPU or graphics card. Keep things simple, that way there's much less to go wrong. A basic cheap Ryzen (with a G at the end of the name) will allow you to use the perfectly adequate onboard graphics of the motherboard and get rid of that power hogging graphics card. Always best to avoid mixing NVidia and ATI(AMD) in the same machine. Just for reference I should mention that although I don't use a DAW I do record vinyl and the PC is my main music source, I'm very happy using a Steinberg IXO22 as ADC/DAC with nothing else between the PC and the power amp.

 

[dualazmak]

....
..... it seems to me that the main hurdle to overcome is your overspecced PC - a computer for audio work does not need a powerful CPU or graphics card. Keep things simple, that way there's much less to go wrong. A basic cheap Ryzen (with a G at the end of the name) will allow you to use the perfectly adequate onboard graphics of the motherboard and get rid of that power hogging graphics card. Always best to avoid mixing NVidia and ATI(AMD) in the same machine.

Yes, I essentially and generally agree with you.

My two audio-dedicated completely-silent Windows 11 Pro (now 24H2 build 26100.4946) PCs are rather outdated old ones, but they are quite stable and efficient-enough (with much CPU-power head room) in my PC-DSP-based multichannel multi-SP-driver multi-amplifier fully active audio setup (ref. post #931 and #1,009 for the latest system configuration including the two audio dedicated PCs.)

Spoiler: two audio-dedicated completely-silent Windows 11 Pro PCs; outdated but simple stable and efficient enough

The two PCs are just backup PC with each other; I can change/switch the PC within less than 5 min, the sound quality, of course, is excellent and identical in both of the two PCs having exactly the same OS and software configurations.

The version of Windows OS in the two PCs is Windows 11 Pro (x64) 24H2; please refer to my post here for the Windows update from 21H2 to 24H2 in these rather outdated PCs.

 

[Ifrit]

The only good things I can say about Focusrite interfaces are limited strictly to their Red/RedNet line.