The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    Expensive season for me. The techno gremlins struck with a vengeance. No Tone Master under the tree for me this year.

    Had to replace both the audio interface for the iPad and the interface for the desktop. The PC is about seven years old and past end of life for hardware reliability and at the end of Microsoft support for Win 7. Got a Dell on sale at Costco, Win 10. The old interface, Presonus, connected via FireWire. Remember that one? Now consigned to the dust heap of old technology.

    The charging chip/battery failed on the 4 year old iPad Pro. It’s interface, Focusrite iTrack Dock, connects via a lightning plug. The new iPad is USB-c. Neither of the adapters I tried worked.

    Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 works for both. Yay! Also found an inexpensive micro USB to USB-c short cable to replace the modular connection on an IK iRig HD 2. Everyone should do modular connections, thank you IK.

    The Scarlett is 4 in 4 out, bus powered, 48v phantom and Midi Din. Comes with internal routing configuration software on Win or Mac only not the iPad. I am a fan of Focusrite pre-amps. Did not notice any battery drain while enjoying it last night but I’ll probably get a powered USB hub so it does not become an issue and so a USB Midi keyboard can be plugged back in.

    Scarlett 4i4 | Focusrite
    Last edited by TedBPhx; 12-21-2019 at 03:19 PM.

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  3. #2

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    Ted, do you see any advantages to the 4i4 over the 2i2? There's a $70 price difference but I still see only 2 inputs on the front. I'm guessing you looked into this and that's why I'm asking. Thanks.

  4. #3
    The. Only reason I went with the 4 instead of the 2 was the Midi ports on the back. The 4 has 6 outs for a loop back trick I don’t understand and probably won’t use. Maybe for re-amping?

  5. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by TedBPhx
    The. Only reason I went with the 4 instead of the 2 was the Midi ports on the back. The 4 has 6 outs for a loop back trick I don’t understand and probably won’t use. Maybe for re-amping?
    Love the iPad Pro powers this with it’s bus!

    I opted for the 2i2 since if I go MIDI I would just use USB-MIDI in. No need for MIDI ports when I’d never multitrack in a 2i2 setting. I got this for a portable right though, as I have a 8 channel pro40 rackmounted. The 2i2 better preamps is nice still for single tracking over the pro40 now, though.

  6. #5

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    i have the 18i8 but am not impressed with scarlett's support or their drivers. They periodically come up with minor revisions to their hardware and then no longer update the older versions. For example, they are now on an 18i8 3rd gen and the drivers are not compatible (why????) and so I'm left with bugs that will never be fixed. The worst of which is that there were certain power glitches that caused the computer to blue-screen when the device was plugged into the power supply which I frequently have to do because the driver will be unrecognized and disconnecting/connecting the usb does not fix it. Only disconnecting/connnecting the p/s causes the computer to recognize it. About 25% of the time when that happens, it crashes the windows kernal IRQL_GT_ZERO_AT_SYSTEM_SERVICE. If you do a search, this is fairly common with their drivers.

  7. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by jzucker
    i have the 18i8 but am not impressed with scarlett's support or their drivers. They periodically come up with minor revisions to their hardware and then no longer update the older versions. For example, they are now on an 18i8 3rd gen and the drivers are not compatible (why????) and so I'm left with bugs that will never be fixed. The worst of which is that there were certain power glitches that caused the computer to blue-screen when the device was plugged into the power supply which I frequently have to do because the driver will be unrecognized and disconnecting/connecting the usb does not fix it. Only disconnecting/connnecting the p/s causes the computer to recognize it. About 25% of the time when that happens, it crashes the windows kernal IRQL_GT_ZERO_AT_SYSTEM_SERVICE. If you do a search, this is fairly common with their drivers.
    UG, that sucks, but I wanted to add that I contacted Focusrite technical support twice about my 2i2 (four years ago for driver issues on Win 7 and last year regarding some technical questions) and both times I received superlative support (in the former case they sent me a beta driver that fixed the problem). Decided on that basis that my next interface (which will probably just be a newer 2i2 with pad, yeah I know I can just use a DI) would also be from Focusrite.

  8. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by zdub
    UG, that sucks, but I wanted to add that I contacted Focusrite technical support twice about my 2i2 (four years ago for driver issues on Win 7 and last year regarding some technical questions) and both times I received superlative support (in the former case they sent me a beta driver that fixed the problem). Decided on that basis that my next interface (which will probably just be a newer 2i2 with pad, yeah I know I can just use a DI) would also be from Focusrite.
    You're lucky. When I contacted them, they refused to do anything unless I sent them the windows dmp file from the crash. Which I did and never heard back from them. Multiple others with the same story.

  9. #8
    Lack of support is worrisome, especially for a major piece of gear like the 18i.

  10. #9

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    You can also get an Audient iD4 shipped from the UK for about $140 depending on the exchange rate these days. Way cheaper than buying in the states. You forego the warranty since it's made for a different market, but they are built like tanks and the repair process in the states for any of their gear isn't great...only one place in California. Most likely if you need it fixed, it will be after the warranty period anyway. You can actually do the same with any other model (buy from the UK or EU), but will have to buy a power supply. I like their products better than focusrite.

  11. #10

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    I have the 2i2 and have been really happy with it for the most part. The headphone volume is pretty low but maybe is saving me from destroying my ears. It does just tend to work (on a windows laptop).

    Next step would be a universal audio thing and that's a huge and probably unnecessary step.

  12. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by jzucker
    i have the 18i8 but am not impressed with scarlett's support or their drivers. They periodically come up with minor revisions to their hardware and then no longer update the older versions. For example, they are now on an 18i8 3rd gen and the drivers are not compatible (why????) and so I'm left with bugs that will never be fixed. The worst of which is that there were certain power glitches that caused the computer to blue-screen when the device was plugged into the power supply which I frequently have to do because the driver will be unrecognized and disconnecting/connecting the usb does not fix it. Only disconnecting/connnecting the p/s causes the computer to recognize it. About 25% of the time when that happens, it crashes the windows kernal IRQL_GT_ZERO_AT_SYSTEM_SERVICE. If you do a search, this is fairly common with their drivers.
    Thanks for that post. I was thinking of trying them out.

    I'm having good luck with my Behringer UMC404HD so maybe I'll stick with it. Four xlr inputs/channels and midi in/out is all I need anyways.