Focusrite Scarlett 8i6 3rd Gen USB Audio Interface Reviews

Plugged it in and just works. My second Focusrite Interface that sounds good and is seamless to use.

No real complaints from me thus far, I've been using Scarletts for years now and they seem to be a solid value for how affordable they are comparatively. With this I just wanted to upgrade to more inputs since I had been using the 2i2 for so long, and so far it's worked absolutely great; especially in recording multiple instruments at once which sounds basic but was something I was unable to do for a long time due to money and circumstances. Very happy overall!

Replaced Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 3rd Gen USB Audio Interface with the 8i6 because it does not require a computer for power. The 8i6 has external wall power adapter, on/off switch and more connection features over the 2i2. Both are excellent units.

I needed something so I could practice during the week for Sunday morning Worship without playing through an amp and speakers and disturbing my family. This Scarlett 8i6 was the answer to my prayers and it also has the added bonus of being a great recording device and came with a huge amount of free software. So thankful I ordered this piece of equipment!

So easy to deal with. The folks at Sweetwater were helpful at every turn. When there was a problem the took care of it immediately. Now I'm enjoying my new Interface.Great folks!!

I just upgraded to the Scarlett from a Presonus Audio Box. The sound quality of the Focusrite is cleaner in my opinion. I record using an analog preamp, so having a pad on the input is very useful. Another wonderful feature is that the Scarlett has balanced speaker outputs, which eliminated a big "pop" I had on my studio when other equipment was switched on or off using the Presonus. I don't know why, but the Presonus Audio boxes do not have balanced outputs, although their sub woofers do.??
The Focusrite control software also provides multiple options for assigning the numerous inputs and outputs. Another great feature is that you can monitor your tracks as you record directly from the Focurite before going through the DAW, which gives you basically no latency.
Well worth the money. Much more control and flexibility than Presonus AudioBox.

Having the gen 1 2i4 scarlett, I needed 2 sets of balanced outputs (2i4 has unbal for the second output that picked up interference in my studio) and standalone power instead of bus power through the USB. I'm running Cubase 11 pro and a full suite of Arturia and Komplete Kontrol standalone VST's. Win 10 intel i7 1400 (from 2013 Dell XPS tower) 8 GB ram.

Pros

Having TRS cables for all the audio outputs eliminated the noise I had previously.

Ultra low latency when using this with VST instruments is a godsend.

Audio playback quality is now better through my Rokit 5 gen4 speakers. The speakers were hooked into the bal outputs of the 2i4 previously.

After a lot of research I found this to be the most flexible desktop interface for its physical size and price.

This interfaces are the best thing that the humans have created for musicians. It gave us a chance to be creative and to get a great quality recording during that creative process. The Focusrite Scarlet it's so easy to use and understood and this particular model have so many options for the price that you can even record a small band rehearsal or go live on Facebook or record a video to post on YouTube.

An easy to set up and use, very transparent interface. Takes up less space than my 18i20 (another good machine).

My focusrite 8i6 came new in box from Sweetwater I use Cubase 6 and was having trouble routing my mercurial reaxis program but I called my sales engineer Gage Massey and he said go mono in and stereo out then I figured out the rest and got everything working! Thankyou Gage for your help you were more helpful than focusrite support! Sometimes I hear clicks and pops but I think it's because of the mercurial reaxis program I set the quality to x8 instead of x2. I also use the free vst bod sansamp tech21 for my bass sounds! I plan on buying an Ibanez sr505e black dual fade bass when I find one with a good neck and have more money. Thankyou Sweetwater!!!

Easy to setup, nice clean sound, good headroom, and really nice to have dual headphone outs (great for mastering with a 2nd engineer). Love ease of use. This is a real bargain. Never had a single issue with Mac Mojave over USB.

I have a Scarlett l8i20 but needed something smaller for livestreaming. Selected this unit because it also has AC. Preamps sound great. Fantastic value for the price point.

Wow! I've struggled with trying to record/make music with my PC for decades. Now everything just works. Everything is connected to everything and sonic clarity is perfect - well, it sounds perfect to me. I'm learning Pro Tools (works great with the 8i6) and it routes the output from my PC media library to my power amp and speakers with sparkling clarity.

Little learning curve, but I'm up & running & it works well.

Replaced my old 2i4 with this one, and it really seems night and day as far as performance. Focusrite did really well making this. The addition of "AIR" cements this as a really good audio interface and does exactly what I need it to do and I'm very happy with it.

I am using the Focusrite Scarlett 8i6 for live music steaming on my iMac. I had been relying on the internal microphone but was not satisfied with the results. So far I have only received positive comments about the high quality of my sound. I connected a Shure Beta 57, my iPhone for drum tracks and two channels of my organ directly into the Scarlett. Now I sound like a pro, everything is heard with exceptional quality. The software used to control the unit is very easy to use and understand. I should have purchased it before. Needless to say, the service and personal treatment at Sweetwater was perfect.

Great sound, very flexible and easy to use. Love the dual Headphone mix and tons of gain on the preamps.

Came through as advertised ! Fast Delivery !

I bought this to replace my trusty MBox3, which I have had for many years, only because I needed more inputs and outputs. The sound is clear and detailed, the inputs are simple and intuitive to use. The installation was quick, easy and bullet-proof. The Focusrite Control software seems a little slow to close after changing settings but works well and the front panel always shows clearly which features are in use. I haven't had to use the PAD function yet but instruments and mics record beautifully with plenty of headroom. I particularly like the AIR function. It's quite subtle but it's a very useful tool to give that little bit of brightness that just makes things sit better in a mix, which means that you don't have to add EQ so you conserve CPU power. So far, a great buy. Well engineered, versatile and it's even nice to look at.

The Focusrite 8i6 is a great audio interface! It is easy to hook up and use, works well for my recording of saxophone, flute, keyboards! Highly recommended!

Being an owner of multiple focusrite interfaces, I wanted to stick with them on my personal set up. For 11 years I used the saffire pro 24 dsp. It was a work horse. The one feature that I loved was the loop back. I stayed with the pro 24 (FIREWIRE) for so long because of this feature. I knew it was coming time to update my setup. When I upgraded my computer to a Ryzen 7, and new mobo, when I hooked my pro 24 up to the pci-e firewire card, I experienced dropouts bad. So here comes the SCARLETT 8i6 3RD GEN WITH LOOPBACK. sold!!!!!

I have owned and used a LOT of computer interfaces over the years....Digidesign (Avid), Roland, MOTU, Apogee, RME, Universal Audio, Audient, Native Instruments, and even previous generations of Focusrite (Saffire range). I feel like I am pretty well versed in how an interface should perform and sound. There always seems to be an area of compromise; either the sound is lacking in some area, the drivers are not stable or have large amounts of latency, the headphone outs are not powerful enough, not enough or the wrong type of I/O, preamps are sub-par...etc. You get the picture.
So please believe me when I say truthfully this little box is a STEAL! I would not hesitate to recommend the Scarlett Gen 3 range to ANYBODY. Preamps are typically clean, but the AIR function opens up the top end nicely without being strident. VERY useable. I was initially considering ordering outboard preamps to go with this....but for now I am holding off. Great AD/DA....easily competing with units two to three times the price. Not kidding here. Great options along the range for I/O. Just pick the one you need and go for it.

Latency. Ok it took them a while to get on match the performance from the best of the rest. I am able to track on this box realtime through plugins at 128 sample setting in Logic with amazing results. No 'doubling' or comb filter-y sound. Just incredible. I don't know what it measures....but I know in a real world application, it "feels" like it's comparable to the performance of my Babyface Pro. Yep...you read that right. Focusrite on par with RME for driver performance from my subjective tests.

I/O. Find another USB interface in this price range with this kind of I/O....nope. Add in the ability to use the Control software to route ANY input to ANY output in realtime...wowza. I am using this box as a digital connection to a Fractal Audio AXE FX3 via SPDIF. I can plug a guitar into the AXE FX and get incredible amp / cabinet sims and effects, and monitor through Logic ...no delay...no hiccups. PLUS...I can route the mic or line inputs from the Focusrite INTO the AXE FX to add effects or run through its engine in realtime. Focusrite's Control software makes it all incredibly flexible...and best of all...it performs exactly as it should and while simultaneously sounding incredible. Save your custom I/O routing as a preset and recall instantly. You can even load a preset - say, using this box as a two channel mic pre direct to digital outs - then DISCONNECT it from the computer, and take it to a gig or another recording setup and it will remember the routing when powered on (WITHOUT a computer!) so it can serve as a cool standalone little mic pre / AD-DA unit.

I guess I am kind of smitten with this little box. It does exactly what it is supposed to do and sounds great doing it - at a price that doesn't break the bank.

There is a button above labelled "Add to cart". Press that button now and thank me later.

This is my second Focusrite interface. It works and sounds great. It's important that it runs on a 12 volt supply as opposed to being buss powered at maybe 5 volts. I wish their 2 channel interfaces were as well. The one thing I'm puzzled by is the lack of a USB-C cable (on both ends). Why is that not included? Instead it's an adapter cable to the original USB. So, on a newer mac, you're using an adapter with their adapter until you order a USB-C.

This interface works great and sounds spectacular! One little flaw I found is that you can not have all 8 input channels "active" at the same time. In order to use the S/PDIF channels you have to deselect active analog channels in the focusrite control software. Not a huge deal but does make me scratch my head?

I chose this unit because I want to record and livestream multiple people some of whom have stereo instruments. The preamps sound nice a clear, and provide a nice signal lift. The other reason I wanted this unit over others is the multiple headphone outputs. There is a tiny bit of latency that I only notice when I'm wearing open back headphones. I get a slight flanging effect as the singer moves around a bit because of this, but the recording is fine, and it isn't noticeable if you have better isolation. I would love to have another preamp channel or two as a part of the 8 inputs, but my biggest annoyance is the ring instead of a more traditional level meter. The reason for this is if you are using channels one and two as a stereo pair, you are relying more on your DAW to balance the LR balance instead of being able to balance the level on the unit. I am looking forward to laying down more tracks with this! It is easy to use, and aside from the minor criticisms, it is very easy to use and sounds great!

The sound is just as good when my band is together. We were playing online with our amps. Now, our neighbors appreciate the use of a audio interface.

It does everything you'd need an interface to do. Id rate the interface higher but after a year of owning this thing ive noticed a pretty big issue: the preamp, more specifically when it comes to handles bassier sounds, is awful. This interface is still good dont get me wrong but when I record my bass I have to do so much tweaking to make sure its both loud enough and isnt clipping

Also side note the ASIO on windows machines are really odd and cutt audio out completely sometimes depending on the program you use

You can use this interface on Linux. But:

There are some things to know.
1. Focusrite Control
A. It's garbage
B. You need it to
i. Change the preamp modes
ii. Take the device out of storage mode and enable the MIDI ports (though there is a hack - power on the device and hold down the 48V button for a while - I didn't do this myself, but I've read about it)
iii. Set I/O - this has been "simplified" in software so you have no idea what it's actually doing. You have to poke around until you stumble on the settings you actually want. See 1A.
C. There's no Linux support. Some enterprising souls are are working on a FOSS solution, but at this point it involves building binaries yourself. So if you're not into that you'll need a device running:
i. Win10

Been using this with Pro Tools 12 on Windows 10, with mixed results. Switching between sessions with different sample rates, like from a 44.1k session to a 48k session, always freezes Pro Tools (not responding). I guess this is a known issue Pro Tools has with third party interfaces. Anyways, when it works, it sounds great, and I'll still use it for multitracking, but for mixing a variety of projects, I guess I'm going back to my Avid mbox.

The overall quality of this product is quite good, but there's one fatal flaw: their software is completely void of support for the Line Inputs (3,4,5 & 6) on the back of the device. I've been trying to get my Roland TD-12 output connected to the back of the device for 2 days with absolutely no success. Even worse, the Focusrite Control software has no way to troubleshoot the problem because there is no way to adjust the volume or even acknowledge that anything is connected. Worst of all, apparently this issue is not just specific to this particular device: the Control software totally ignores the existence of line inputs for any device that uses it (and that includes most of their Scarlett products). I don't know about you, but I consider this not as just not some minor flaw that has little bearing on the overall operation of the device: it's a critical oversight that needs to be addressed by the manufacturer. For a product that does its primary functions as well as it does (the inputs on the front of the device are outstanding, 80% of the overall focus and are very well supported by the software), this strikes me as incredibly neglectful. If Focusrite was so inclined, I don't see why they wouldn't be able to upgrade the software to provide input control management and release it separately for all their existing customers. The only reason they haven't done it already—I'm guessing—is because there hasn't been an outcry from customers because their units do their primary job exceptionally well.

What's even more frustrating, is that I know that there's a signal reaching the unit. On my MacBook Pro, in the Sound section, I can confirm that input is reaching the unit and I can adjust the volume of the input and it adjusts accordingly. But that's as far as I have been able to get. Even if I am able to get it working, due to the software limitations there still will be no way to monitor or adjust the volume for anything connected to the inputs on the back of the unit. I have no easy way to confirm this because I don't have any equipment in the location that uses the SPDIF In, but apparently the software completely ignores that as well. In a way, this is my own #@$* fault: I previously purchased one of their products 10 years or so ago and also had issues with their control software being very non-user-friendly but I erroneously assumed that they would have addressed this problem by now. I have seen no other users mention this in their reviews, but I was watching a video yesterday that made it quite clear that there is no support for the line inputs. I wish I had done my due diligence and done more research before making the purchase, but this is a currently unforgivable oversight IMHO. So if this is something that's important to you, I would look elsewhere. Other manufacturers care more about their users than Focusrite apparently does.

Bought this product with high hopes. However, after days of work and updates of all drivers, the product is still buggy as hell. It cycles on and off, primarily when switching applications. I also get the blue screen of death occasionally. Which is absolutely unacceptable. Will not buy another one of their products.