Never had trouble with Focusrite stuff on a mac. Never could get any of it to work on multiple windows boxes. Rage quit/sold and went with MOTU. 
. RME is another quality choice. Iām never touching a Focusrite again.
I had windows driver issues with a new 18i20 gen2 that I purchased back in 2017. I did not have it long enough to assess the hardware quality, but it looked great and seemed pretty solid. But despite patient help from focusrite support, who even provided special versions of the driver for me to try in the hope that they would fix the issue, I could not get it to work reliably. I ended up swapping it for a motu 8a which has been totally reliable ever since.
Yes RME is much better than Focusrite. I will never look back.
The Digiface USB is reasonably priced, although you will need to add ADATās
If I wanted to connect one UMC1820 to my MPC Live and another to my MacBook (Iām using Keyscape), would I be able to link the output of the first via Toslink to the 2nd, and be able to get MPC audio via this configured as two of the ADAT outputs, thereby getting 8 channels (including 2 MPC) from the first, 8 from the second and also the MacBook audio?
Just hopping back in here to rant about how much the scarlett has been pissing me off lately. I might try and contact customer service because I would like for my interface to be updated and working with focusrite control, but that doesnāt seem possible. Their suggestions on their website for what to do when it says āno device connectedā or whatever yielded no results. Even tried plugging it into different USB ports. The last post on this reddit thread sums up my feelings:
And on top of that, they make it extremely difficult to download old drivers or just roll back to what you had. Iām looking at softpedia now and the most recent one I can find is from 2014, so Iām pretty sure Iāll be installing gen 1 drivers on here, which I think are causing issues with my computer and having it restart itself over and over again. Also voicemeeter (which I use for zoom lessons) doesnāt like any of this nonsense either. It doesnāt even recognize that there is a driver even though I installed focusrite control which āupdatedā my drivers and got rid of the old ones.
I want a new interface, but if what you guys say about the UMC1820 latency is true I might consider something else.
AFAIK I was the only one moaning about latency and honestly I am not sure if itās not just me / my PC.
If UMC1820 is interesting to you you should probably try it out. Nothing to lose if you can send it back and get a refund. If you do not need all the extra-routing software possibilities or any software at all and no standalone action etc. it might be a good choice for you.
Same, no probs with a Mac Mini.
Use the 18i20 2nd Gen more as a standalone preamp/mixer. No computer needed 
Well can I play in stereo? Because I often hook up a stereo output from a synth and in scarlett mix control you hit the little button that makes, say, channels 1 and 2 a stereo input.
I do not think that this is possible with UMC since there is no software included to do routing, link channels etc.
However you can of course plug into the Inputs and Outputs whatever you want to.
I think something must be up with your computer, Iām on a Windows 10 machine, update 21H1, it all works flawlessly and always has for years now. Or, maybe your interface has a very very old firmware installed? Can you post which firmware version youāre running, and which version of Focusrite Control? Also, which version of Windows 10.
1 Like
Just stopping in to say that Iām a complete idiot 
I contacted focusrite live chat customer support and they were really helpful. Eventually the lady said to me āOh you must have a 1st genā which prompted me to look up photos and sure enoughā¦my interface is a 1st gen, not a 2nd gen.
So now Iām running the most recent scarlett mixcontrol and itās working fine with my DAW (Studio One 4) and with voicemeeter. Wow.
Iāve had this thing for probably four years now. I could have saved myself a lot of headaches lol.
6 Likes
Excellent to hear! Sure people say RME or whatever is better, but not all of us can afford to buy the creme de la creme of everything
Have a 3rd gen 18i8 hooked up by ADAT to a 1st gen 18i20. Been flawless for me.
Preamps sound great on both. The 1st gen needs the older software for configuration and that was a bit of a pain to set up correctly to get the ADAT working. Only had to do it once though. (not sure if the 2nd gen is compatible with the updated MixControl software or not). The new software is great and thereās enough versatility in channel setup for me.
Iām only one human, but have used Scarlett interfaces since 2014 and have never had an issue.
1 Like
Ahhhh no way dude, haha jeez, at least youāve got it figured out now! I was so confused by the terrible time you were having, I really like the interfaces and Focusrite/Novation products in general, especially their firmware/software support, so I was like hmmm something is up.
1 Like
In order to get some closure for this thread here is now what I have finally done.
In the end I have bought the 18i20 3rd Gen as a B-stock from Thomann. Price is more or less similar to 2nd hand market but having warranty and fresh software licenses feels good. Although I have not downloaded any of the software yet and doubt I ever will.
I would like to share my experience of the first two days with the 18i20 and compare it slightly to the UMC1820.
Okay, the first impression is great. It simply looks and feels beautiful and valuable alas totally different from the UMC1820. Since I use it in combination with an ADA8200 the design fits perfectly. Both units have a red frame on the frontpanel.
Hooking it up was easy since I plugged everything the same way as before.
The instructions from Focusrite were so detailed that even my 80yrs+ mother could not have failed.
But next was the Control software and Focusrite leaves you standing in the rain with that. Neither the manual nor the official tutorial videos were any help at all. The support (via chat) was semi-helpful and surprisingly semi-friendly. In the end a really great YouTube video did it for me and after having spent 2 evenings more or less everything is working as expected.
3 Likes
So to compare the 18i20 3rd Gen with the UMC1820:
Proās for the 18i20:
- Classy look & feel
- the levelmeter is really nice and helpful
- because of the Control software it is way more flexible
- while latency seems to be similar I have the impression of less jitter. Using a clocked Blofeld together with the UMC was not possible for me. There was clicking and glitches almost every two seconds even if I played just a dry pad. Have not noticed any issues with the 18i20 yet. Need to test more things though
- running OB and the 18i20 simultaneously in Ableton on Win 10 also is a smoother experience, more stability, MIDI and Audio overall seem to be tighter
- there is some help and support at least
Same-ish:
- the sound! Using nearfield monitors that were slightly cheaper than the 18i20 there is no difference. However that was absolutely expected
- the workflow (once done with Control)
- have not tested the Air mode yet, so can not say anything about it
Proās for the UMC1820:
- Unfortunately I use my PC for everything and not just producing. My music gear is off when doing other stuff and so is the ADA8200. No problem for the UMC1820, it automatically switches its sync from slaved to the ADA to master. The Focusrite does not and it has to be switched in Control although there is like a āquick functionā for it in the system tray which also confirms the success of the switching by a pop up window. Well, but the 18i20 did not and refuses to play until switched in Control. Minor pain in the ass
- The audio setup within Win 10 gets messed up when I use machines that also work as an audio interface (the Elektrons, TR8S etc.). For instance when I switch those machines on after the 18i20 but before starting Ableton this mostly happensā¦ It might mess up my W10 audio configuration. so that standard audio driver is not the 18i20 anymore but DT. Same e.g. with TR8S until I pulled the USB-cable for good.
Probably thatās just my crappy PC and 18i20 is innocent but I do not remember going through that hassle with the UMC more often than once a year
So thatās basically my report after 2 days. So far I really like the 18i20 and feel no remorse. Looking forward to learn more and having lots of fun with it.
Might be a treat if you do further research on the Focusrite Control. Thereās a bunch on YouTube. I also couldnāt find anything to help me with it except for the kind people who shared tutorials on YouTube.
I only have the 4i4 but the Focusrite Control software helps me a lot. Iām new to this whole thing as well but every now and then I use the Control a bit for routing purposes.
The AIR function I donāt use too much as well since I donāt really use microphones, but it might make a different if youāre doing vocal recordings. At least from what Iāve seen on videos. 
1 Like
Thank you for your input, highly appreciated.
Yes, if you have never done any routing like that before the Control software is just confusing and overwhelming. The tutorial I have watched was like 40 minutes long and covered almost everything. That guy really was a huge time- and nerves-saver for me. Would buy him a beer immediately!
There is still a minor thing that I could not achieve yet and honestly do not know if I really want to:
With the UMC I have been using output 1&2 as my main mix in Ableton while output 3&4 were my main output for anything else coming from Windows. That worked fine for me because windows sounds are usually way louder in my setup than the output coming from Ableton so I could reduce the volume on 3&4 massively to have more or less the same volume no matter what I was doing.
Also, I have not really understood that whole Loopback thing, yet. So investing more time definitely is a smart idea.
Yes, no instruments and mics here either, it is all synths. So AIR is something to try out but more like a gimmick in my use case i guess. But will definitely try it out one day.
I still use an 18i8 1st gen and the only annoyance for me is not being able to mute channels going directly to the monitors without using the software. Itās no big deal but the newer ones have mute buttons on the actual device I think. Wouldnāt mind the usb C on the new ones too
1 Like
The 18i20 3rd gen has no mute buttons either, just Pad for dimming. Same goes for the UMC1820.
I guess that is what mixers and DAW-controllers are made for ā¦
AFAIK the USB C only gives you a better performance if your computer also has USB C. Unfortunately mine has not. But not having to care if the plug is pointing in the right direction while hooking up USB is nice, indeed. Especially on the backside of a rack! 
1 Like